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SAUL: His sad end

Published August 11, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Saul falls on his sword1 Samuel 28

Without a doubt, King Saul is a tragic character.  Over the past few weeks, we have studied his life and tried to understand what happened to him and why he stubbornly refused to submit to God.  As always, the Bible gives us some insights; we don’t need to put Saul on the analyst’s couch to make sense of his life.  All we have to do is turn to the God’s Word.  Consider Matthew 19:16—22.

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man inquired.

Jesus replied, ” ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The rich young man’s response to Jesus was similar to Saul’s response to God:  he went away.  Unwilling to do what was necessary to follow Jesus, this young man simply walked away.  Saul was unwilling to be obedient to God, and so Saul simply walked away.  Neither man was sent away; they went away.   When a person turns their back on God and walks away from His Light, there is no place they can go but into the darkness, and the darkness is a cold, hard place in which to live.

It has been almost 40 years since Saul committed his very first act of willful rebellion at Gilgal, where in his impatience and fear, he offered a sacrifice that was contrary to God’s will.  That may seem like insignificant thing, the sacrifice was done correctly after all, but that act was the thin edge of the wedge, and here near the end his life, Saul’s sin was not offering a genuine sacrifice to God, but involving himself an evil, Satanic practice.  Sin will always take you farther than you wanted to go.

1.  Saul, the fearful, verse 5

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart.

Once again the Philistines were mustering their armies to fight Israel.  David, fleeing for his life, found refuge with the Philistines and had become a kind of bodyguard to Achish, leader of the Philistines.  Now, David gave no direct pledge to help the Philistines in this battle, but it seemed that he and his band of followers had to march with the Philistine army.

Samuel, the beloved prophet of Israel, was dead.  The Spirit of God had left Saul.  To whom would Saul turn?  Because of his stubborn, rebellious heart, King Saul had no friends he could trust.  He was alone in the world.  Saul’s poor, miserable, self-confident heart began to crumble.

The last sentence of verse 3 is an explanatory note that seems out of place but necessary to set the scene for a terrible incident that will follow shortly.  At some time during King Saul’s reign, he apparently drove out all the witches and diviners from the land in keeping with the law of Moses.  Here was one incident where King Saul actually did the right thing, but to no avail, as we shall see.

Verse 5 is so telling:  he was afraid; terror filled his heart.  Apart from the grace of God, what can possibly sustain us when the hard times come?  Paul, with great inspired perception wrote—

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  (Romans 7:18)

A person without the Holy Spirit is incapable of helping themselves because there is nothing good in them!  There is not one thing in a person that can take the place of the Holy Spirit!  There is not one thing outside a person that can take the place of ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Our own wisdom, our own strength, our own resources are very poor substitutes for the presence of God.  Jesus put it best when He said—

[A]part from me you can do nothing.  (John 15:5)

You can’t even help yourself apart from Christ!

2.  Saul, the desperate, verse 6

He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.

There in another version of this incident recorded for us in 1 Chronicles 10:13—14—

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,  and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

Is this a contradiction?  John Haley, who writes about alleged discrepancies in the Bible offers a great explanation:

[I]t may be correctly remarked that Saul’s attempts at inquiry were of so unworthy a nature that it would be a misuse of language to speak of him as really inquiring of Jehovah.

Saul was desperate, but he was not sincere.  Desperation should never be equated with sincerity.  Many a confirmed, unrepentant sinner has called out to God in desperation when the circumstances warranted it, but that is not the kind of prayer God responds to.  There are times when God closes His ears to our prayers—

“Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me.” (Proverbs 1:28)

If we harbor sin in our hearts, God will not hear us when we pray.  If we live in rebellion to His revealed Word, He will not hear us when we pray.  Unconfessed sin will always muffle your prayers.

3.  Saul, the apostate, verse 11

Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said.

With this one verse, we see Saul’s complete devolution and complete absorption into the Saul and witch at Endordarkness of his blackened soul.  In the Hebrew, his words are as emphatic as they can be.  Saul was so desperate; he would do what no Hebrew was allowed to do.  In the desperation and bitterness of his heart, Saul longed for even a brief word of advice from someone who had a relationship with God.  He had previously slaughtered all the priests of the Lord in one town, so who among those left alive in Israel would dare say a word to Saul?  So Saul, bereft of one ounce of God’s Spirit, will dance will the devil to get what he thinks he needs.

This story of the witch at Endor fascinates many.  What really happened that night?  Did she really raise Samuel’s spirit?  Did she communicate with the dead?  Theories abound, but J.B. Chapman boils them all down to just two:

First, Samuel did appear by special providence of God, and His appearing was a judgment upon the wicked king and a surprise to the witch, whose usual fakish claims were over-shadowed by this unexpected divine intervention.  Or second, this was just another unfounded claim of the witch to which the troubled heart of the king gave credence.  I think nine-tenths of the experiences of spiritism can be explained upon the basis of psychology, including telepathy, and whatever is not human about it is directly of the devil (1927).

Did Samuel really come back from the dead?  If so, then it is the only occurrence of this in the Bible.  Scripture roundly condemns the practice of necromancy in Deuteronomy 18:9—14, among other references.  In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, found in Luke 16:19—31 we learn that the rich man, who was dead, was strictly forbidden to return to the land of living and could not communicate those alive.  The apostle Paul was caught up to heaven was silenced; he was not allowed to speak of what he had seen and heard (2 Corinthians 12:2—4).

The fact is, Saul never saw Samuel that night; it was the witch, who may never have seen Samuel while he was alive, that claimed she saw a man wearing a robe, probably the kind of robe a prophet would wear.  Naturally in his desperate, apostate state, Saul would believe anything this woman said.

Saul had completely opened himself up to being deluded.  Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he had no discernment and his mind was ripe for satanic delusion.  Those who turn away from the truth will be deceived through believing a lie.

For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.  (2 Thessalonians 2:11—12)

4.  Saul, the suicide, 31:3—4

The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

This chapter is repeated, in an abbreviated form, in 1 Chronicles 10:1—12, where it serves to introduce the life and times of King David.  Here, the battle rages on; it is King Saul against the Philistines.  This “last battle” of Saul went the way of every “last battle” of the one who had turned their back on God.

Saul, wounded and surrounded by the enemy, is afraid that he will be tortured by his enemies before killed, turns to his armor-bearer.  That was a very important position in the Hebrew army; David had once been Saul’s armor-bearer.  He asked his armor-bearer take his sword and run him through before the Philistines could get their hands on him.  In the last few moments of his life, this incident with the armor-bearer must have spoke volumes to the king:  Saul, once handpicked by both God and man to be Israel’s first king, full of promise and anointed with the Spirit of God, had so forsaken God, that even in his death his armor-bearer would not do what he was asked.  It is so true:  God cannot be mocked.  We reap what we sow.  Saul stubbornly refused to obey God, and now his armor-bearer refused to obey him.

Saul wanted to live his life his own way but in the end, all he achieved was dying his own way.  Again, the words of Jesus ring true—

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:25)

Saul was determined to die exactly as he lived:  on his own terms.   Eli, the wayward priest for 40 years who raised Samuel, died by falling off his chair, so also Saul, the hapless king for 40 years, died by falling on his sword.  So is the end of all who turn from God.  There is no glory in living life “your way,” on your terms.

One of the worst lies ever foisted on people is contained in the lyrics to “My Way,” a song that exalts the man who did lived life his way:

To think I did all that;
And may I say – not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

If you try to go out and live life your way, you will end up like Saul.  If you call yourself a Christian, there is only way to live:  God’s way.  We all want to be the exception, but in truth there are no exceptions.  We all want to think that we are exempt from the God’s rules that govern “other” people, but none are exempt.

Paul Davis, wrote about living right:

I know that he gave his life for me
Set all our spirits free
So I wanna do right wanna do right
All of my life

You’ve got to do right
Yes, you’ve got to do right
And he’ll be your guiding light
But you’ve got to do right
And he’ll be your guiding light.

He’s right.  Jesus Christ will be your guiding light, if you live in obedience to Him.  Do right and live right!

(c)  2009 WitzEnd

SAUL: The Lost Man

Published July 27, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Saul rips Samuel's robe

1 Samuel 15

Last time we looked at Saul, we discovered that he was, in his heart, a disobedient man.  He disobeyed the plain word of the Lord given to him through the prophet Samuel.  In chapter 13 we learned the high price he paid for his disobedience:  he would be denied a dynasty.  Nevertheless, Saul was still Israel’s king and God was not eager to withdraw His favor from His king.  Such is the Lord’s “lingering grace,” which gives the stubborn a little more time for repentance.  Saul would be given one more chance to show himself faithful to God.  Sadly, with chapter 15 Saul’s decline would be complete and irreversible; he was denied his dynasty in chapter 13, and now he will be denied his kingship.

Let’s consider—

1.  Saul’s clear mission, verse 3

Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.

Samuel was sent with a message from the Lord to King Saul.  God’s patience had finally run out for the wicked, warlike Amalekites and He would choose Saul as His instrument to completely destroy them, as prophesied as far back as Exodus 17:8—16.

The Lord’s order to Saul was to not spare anything or anybody.  The Hebrew phrase (charam cherem) is somewhat complex but literally means “to put under the ban.”  It is usually used of people and objects that have been set aside as God’s personal property, either to be used of Him or destroyed by Him in an act of judgment.   It is a powerful phrase which to our modern sensibilities is difficult to fathom.  It is a concept that could be used to describe radical surgery performed by a skilled surgeon to prevent the spread of a malignant cancer.

This was no ordinary war; Israel was expressly commanded to take no booty, and all living creatures were to be killed.  This was to be a complete judgment of God upon an evil, godless race of people who were a blight on planet earth and a threat to the continued existence of God’s chosen people.  What a solemn responsibility Saul had been entrusted with!  God, as the sovereign owner of all He has created, may choose animate or inanimate objects to execute His will over His creation.  Sometimes, God had used earthquakes and storms to benefit His people or to judge them.  This time He will use Saul to deal with the Amalekites.

Neither personal feelings nor human reason should stand in the way of fulfilling God’s will and purpose.  When God tells us to do something, we must obey to the letter His command, not embellishing it with our ideas and reasoning.  If God should tell us to walk on the water, we need to be prepared to do just that.   If God should tell us to sell all we have and give the proceeds to the poor, we must obey that command, no matter how strange it may seem to us.  To not obey the word of God is to show Him the highest form of contempt.

2.  Saul’s disobedience, verse 9

But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

The express command of God was to spare nothing, but Saul spared a lot.  He allowed his feelings and his eyes to determine his action and his level of obedience.  Saul allowed his natural instincts as a shepherd, and as a dealer in cattle, to overrule the direct command of God, which no doubt made no sense to Him all; he spared the very best, but destroyed the weak and useless.

How easy it is to give God the things we don’t want and to keep the best for ourselves.  God was not at all pleased that Saul partly obeyed; do you suppose God will accept our partial obedience?  Do you suppose God will accept the weak and the useless from us, even as we keep the best for our own purposes?  To partially obey is to disobey and whenever self-interest is allowed a place in our service to God, we are faithless and open to His rebuke.

3.  Saul’s lame excuses (more of the same), verses 13, 15 20, 21

When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.  The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

This singular event was Saul’s final probation; he had been warned many times before and repeatedly came up short.  It is quite possible that verse 11 is about the saddest verse in all of Scripture—

“I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.

The Hebrew for “grieved” is nacham, meaning “to sigh,” “to be sorry,” “to rue.”   It does not mean that God somehow changed His mind about Saul, as some have suggested.  God does not “learn” about us nor does God have to “adjust” His thinking toward us.   God interacts with human beings all the time and His reactions to what we do show that God is absolutely coherent in his thoughts and He is never caught off guard.  That is, we can predict how He will react with certainty if we act in a dishonoring manner or if we act in way that pleases Him.  The difference between God and human beings is that when we act we often have no idea what the unintended consequences of that action will be.  However, God does.  Our actions never catch Him off guard, and so He never has to change His mind about us.

Walter Kaiser:

God can and does change in His actions and emotions towards men so as not to be fickle, mutable, and variable in His nature and purpose.

God was broken hearted that Saul disobeyed, and Samuel’s reaction was a mirror reflection of how God was grieving.

When the prophet finally met up with Saul after Saul had erected a monument of his victory, the excuses came flowing out of Saul like wet cement.  Like the crowing of the rooster when Peter denied his Lord, so the bleating of the sheep mocked the Word of the Lord to Saul.  To make matters worse, Saul insisted that he had been obedient. Once again, he thought that partial obedience would be good enough for God.

It is pitiful when we, like Saul, justify our sins of disobedience when confronted.  But how many of us are masters of self-deception?  How many of us have actually convinced ourselves that partial obedience is good enough?   How many believers have deluded themselves into thinking they are “right with God” because He hasn’t sent a plague on them or struck them dead?   Galatians 6:7 is a frightening verse—

Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.

You will reap what you sow; if you continually sow seeds of disobedience, you will reap what Saul is about to reap.  God is predictable in how He deals with disobedient sinners.  And God knows your heart, like He knew Saul’s.  We can’t delude Him.

If Saul had only obeyed, how different things would have been.  But most of us are about as reliable as Saul was.  Complete obedience is so hard.  Some Christians think complete obedience is impossible.  Is it really impossible?  Not according to this verse—

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.  (2 Chronicles 16:9)

That is all God wants from any of His children:  a full commitment.

4.  Saul’s “confession,” verse 24

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.

The more Saul spoke, the more his heart was revealed.  He was right to confess that he sinned; he had been caught.  But then the secret came out:  He feared the people, and the fear of man did him in.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.  (Proverbs 29:25)

How many believers never accomplish anything for God because they fear what man will think?

  • I’m afraid to witness to my friend because I don’t want lose his friendship.
  • I don’t go to church because it might make my wife mad.
  • We don’t say grace in restaurants because it’s embarrassing.

We, who think things like this, need to pay heed to what the Lord said to the prophet—

“I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mortal men,
the sons of men, who are but grass.”  (Isaiah 51:12)

The child of God is clothed in the armor of God, but so-called Christians with no backbones are cowards.

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?  (Psalm 118:6)

5.  Saul’s final rejection, verse 26

But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!”

According to Luke 9:26, to reject God’s Word is to be rejected of God—

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Saul’s so-called confession and so-called repentance was too little to late.  Verse 27 shows the violence in Saul’s heart—

As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.

The arrogance of the man!  The tearing of the robe dramatically illustrated the loss of the kingdom.  But God’s ever-faithful prophet had the last word—

Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.   (verse 28)

Of course, that neighbor was David.  Just as “obedience is better than sacrifice” so David was better than Saul.  How ironic that Saul “was better” and “without equal” when God first called him?  Saul’s downfall was his doing; he was his own worst enemy.

Verse 29 says more about Saul’s character than it does about God’s—

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”

Everything good about God was nowhere to be found in Saul.

It is possible to be a Christian, full of the Holy Spirit, yet not live the kind of life that glorifies God and brings honor to His Name.  It is possible to be a Christian but live in disobedience to the revealed Word of God.  But be warned:  such believers live in danger of becoming lost at any moment; shipwrecked on an island of sinful isolation from the body of Christ, a stumbling block to the rest of us and an offense to God.  Someone once wrote:

There is line by us unseen,
That crosses every path;
The hidden boundary between
God’s patience and His wrath.

How close are you living to that line?

(c)  2009 WitzEnd

SAUL: His Decline

Published July 23, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Samuel and Saul

1 Samuel 13:1—15

The history of Saul’s reign as Israel’s first king really begins in chapter 13, and according to the custom of recording the history of the kings, it begins with a statement of his age.  The NIV begins like this—

Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.  (1 Samuel 13:1)

A look at how the RSV translates this verse shows the difficulty translators had in tackling this verse—

Saul was…years old when he began to reign; and he reigned…two years over Israel.

And the literal version sounds like this—

A son of a year [is] Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel.

What does all this mean?  The NIV has calculated that Saul was 30 years old when he became king, but the text does not say that.  In fact, Saul could have been 40 years old.  What we know for sure is that his son, Jonathan, was fully grown by now and an accomplished warrior.   So why is the Hebrew so obscure?  Given the disaster that Saul would become, some Bible scholars offer this paraphrase of the obscure Hebrew—

Saul was like a child of one year when he began to regin…

Saul was chosen out of obscurity and rose to dizzying heights in such a brief time that he was unprepared for the office and as clueless as the people he was leading.  According to God, the only preparation Saul needed was to be obedient to Him.  But no, he could not do that.  Saul was a product of a corrupt generation and the people got a leader exactly like they were.

While the story of Saul’s reign begins here, so does the story of his decline.  It is not a stretch to say that after an initial victory at Jabesh Gilead, Saul was a complete failure as a political leader.  But the prophet Samuel, in love and faithfulness to the Lord, told the nation of Israel in his farewell address in response to this request—

The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.  Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.  For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.  As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.  But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.  Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” (1 Samuel 12:19—25)

Saul was given every opportunity to succeed in his new career, and like another king of Israel, Uzziah, he was helped by God until he was strong—

In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.  (2 Chronicles 26:15—16)

The pride that resulted in his success would surely end in Saul’s destruction.  Did God forsake Saul?  According to Samuel, Saul forsook God and reaped what the seeds of his disobedience produced.

1.  Saul’s duty was obvious, verse 8

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter.

In order to fully understand this verse, we need to glance back at 10:8—

“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

This was some time before the events of chapter 13, but this was what Saul was supposed to do when the situation warranted it.  But here is the true nature of Saul’s heart working itself out in disobedience.   This word from God given through Samuel was given, perhaps, as many as three years before, but that did not negate it; this was a standing order from God for Saul’s benefit.  Saul needed God’s help, and all he had to do get it was to obey.

Saul’s sin was not that as king he was forbidden to offer sacrifices.  Consider what Kinds David and Solomon did—

David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.  (2 Samuel 24:25)

Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.  He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.  Then he gave a feast for all his court. (1 Kings 3:15)

Saul sinned simply because he disobeyed God’s word through the prophet Samuel, and he would do it again near the end of his career.

What is our duty as Christians?  To obey the Word of God; our responsibility is to live according to the light we have in God’s revealed Word, the holy Bible.  There are those in Church today who teach that parts of the Bible are outdated and no longer apply to modern Christians.  Liberal theologians teach that these parts of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, are “lesser inspired” and modern Christians can overlook them.  But, here is what some “lesser inspired” verses say—

Preserve my life according to your love,
and I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.  (Psalm 119:88—90)

The eternity of God’s Word is linked to His unfailing love.  If we, like Saul, are conscious of having been chosen by God and anointed by God by being filled with His Holy Spirit, then the revealed Word must become our absolute rule to live by; it needs to be the unconditional law of our lives—all of it, not just the parts we like or make us feel good.

2.  His faith was tested, verse 5

The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

These ancient enemies of God’s people hated Israel; Israel literally stunk to them.  As a result, Saul mustered his troops to Gilgal.  He started out waiting for Samuel as prescribed by the prophet.  But we read this—

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. (verse 8)

Why did the men scatter?  Obviously they scattered because they were afraid and they were afraid because Saul was not leading them.  Beyond one single battle, what had Saul ever done to inspire the confidence of his people?  In fact, the great military brain of the family was Saul’s son Jonathan, not Saul!  Jonathan won a great victory and his father took the credit for it!  Who would trust a man like that?  He took credit for something somebody else did!  So the men took to hiding.  Poor Saul; he was unable to keep his troops together.

What we are witnessing here is a test of Saul’s faith.  Notice that Saul outwardly obeyed God.  His problem was he failed to trust God, failed to trust Samuel and instead he couldn’t take his eyes off his frightened soldiers.  In other words, Saul’s outward circumstances determined the strength of his faith instead of the other way around.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.  (Hebrews 11:1—3)

For we walk by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Of course his circumstances were desperate; desperate circumstances always highlight a person’s faith.  And there is always a struggle between faith and sight.  But the reality for the believer lays, not in what they can see, but in their faith in what God has said.  We assume that what we see is what is real, but that is not what the Bible teaches. But this is what Saul thought; the desperate circumstances he found himself in negated God’s word.  God Word is never negated by circumstances.

3.  His failure was complete, verses 9, 10

So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings. ” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.  Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

Saul waited almost the whole time, but he grew impatient with Samuel.  Really, Saul grew impatient with the will of God; things were not happening fast enough for him; God wasn’t doing things the way Saul thought they should have been done, so he took matters in own hands.  He chose his own way and stepped out of God’s will and favor.

Every single Spirit-filled believer will have their faith tested.  Even our Lord, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, was not exempt from this testing.  As soon as He was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, He was purposely led into the wilderness to be tested by that same Holy Spirit!   Thank God He remained faithful.

Abraham was tested, and thankfully he passed otherwise he never would have become the father of the faithful!

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.  (Romans 4:20)

And Moses was tested and the whole nation of Israel survived because he stood his ground and remained faithful—

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.  (Hebrews 11:27)

That is how you become useful to God:  by enduring as seeing him who is invisible.  If, when we face our testing, we fear and we take our eyes off of God and see our circumstances, we become life-long cripples in the work of the Lord; we become useless to Him.  Whenever, as servants of God, we choose our way rather than God’s way as revealed in His Word or when we rush ahead of God instead of waiting on Him, we become like bones out of joint in the Body of Christ.  What a painful way to live.

5.  His excuse was lame, verses 11, 12

“What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash,  I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

In a sense, we can almost understand Saul’s motivation to offer the sacrifice.  His army was deserting him, the Philistine army was pressing in, Samuel was long in coming, and Saul’s own patience was waning.  Saul’s excuse to Samuel was to point to the circumstances and point out the urgent need to seek God.  What Saul did not realize is that animal sacrifice was not what moves the Hand of God.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  (1 Samuel 15:22, KJV)

There is never an excuse for disobedience.  We all want to be the exception to the God’s rule, and we make lame excuses just like Saul did:

  • My marriage was falling apart and my secretary loves me more than my wife, so I don’t think I really committed adultery.
  • Things are really tight this month, so God will understand why I don’t tithe.
  • I didn’t lie, I misspoke.
  • Who cares if our new pastor is gay.  He still loves God, and really, everybody sins, right?  He such a nice man.
  • Well, I know that what Jesus said, but nobody can live up to that!  Besides, God knows I am only human, right?

No argument and rationalization can mitigate the guilt of doing what we know to be contrary to the Word of God.   The saddest part of this story is how Saul tried to justify what he did by blaming everybody but himself.

What’s worse is that even after Samuel’s rebuke and solemn warning; Saul showed absolutely no signs of sorrow or repentance.  He proceeded to number his followers.  When we have sinned and when we find out we have made a mistake, when we stumble and fall and fail, and when we disobey, repentance and confession is the only way to get back into God’s favor and make things right.

6.  The consequences terrible, verse 14

But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.”

Saul turned away from God, and so God chose another man to take his place.  Saul was a man after his people’s heart, but God’s new man would be a man after God’s own heart.  We might look at this and think God was reacting harshly to what Saul did.  But Saul was warned not once but twice that if he did not obey God’s command, he would be replaced by someone else.  This tells us what Saul really thought about God; he didn’t think God really meant what He was saying.  Or he thought God was not a God of His word.  He soon found out otherwise.

God means what He says in His Word.  There are no exceptions to His rules.  We, who live in this present dispensation of grace are fortunate enough to experience the forgiveness of our sins.  But God’s rules are still for us.  We have an obligation to live in obedience to them.

For Saul, all his plans for establishing his kingdom in Israel  would come to nothing because Israel’s God had plans and nothing Saul could do could change that.  Saul’s power was gone.  It is sad but true  that there are believers who perform like Christians very well but they are doing so in the power of the flesh because there is no Spirit empowering them.  To choose to live our lives according to our set of rules is to choose a life of defeat and failure.

May God give us the wisdom and the ability to allow Him to work in us to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

(c)  2009 WitzEnd

SAUL: The Courageous

Published July 16, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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1 Samuel 11

 Saul had been anointed Israel’s first king in the previous chapter and now in chapter 11 he has a chance to prove himself.  Following his declaration as king, Saul inexplicably went back to tending his father’s sheep.  Why did he do this?   Many Bible scholars point to Saul’s humility but it may very well be that Saul was demonstrating a measure of wisdom in returning home.  Israel had never had a king before so the monarchy was new and we have already read about some resistance Saul encountered from a bunch of worthless people (10:27).  Perhaps Israel’s first king went home to wait for God to act, after all, God had chosen Saul to rule over His people, Saul had no desire to become king, and perhaps Saul wisely decided to wait for further instructions from God through God’s prophet, Samuel. 

Saul’s chance to prove his worth as king would not be long in coming.  Dark storm clouds were gathering just over Israel’s horizon at a small town called Jabesh Gilead in the form of Israel’s bitter enemy, Nahash the Amorite.  Adelaide Anne Proctor in her work, Legends and Lyrics, Second Series, wrote this: 

Blessed are those who die for God,
And earn the Martyr’s crown of light–
Yet he who lives for God may be
A greater Conqueror in His sight. 

Saul was about to be given the opportunity to live for God and here, early in his career, he rises to the opportunity. 

1.  The bad news, verses 1—4

According to the Septuagint, this occurred about a month after the convocation at Mizpeh where Saul was anointed chosen to be king.   So for one month Saul went back to the life he knew so well. 

During this time, Israel’s enemy was on the move.  The Amorites were a group of Semitic people, prominent in the book of Judges, and were for the most part Bedouins who lived on the fringes of the desert, from where they continually raided border towns and cities.  In Judges 11:13 we read this—

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

It seems as though Nahash and his people laid claim to the land Jabesh Gilead was sitting on.  Nahash overwhelmed the townsfolk who were utterly defenseless and willing to surrender to the superior might of the Amorites.  Nahash had no problem making willing subjects out of the people, as long as he could gouge out their right eyes.  This would be considered a disgrace upon all Israel; a sign that the whole nation could not help one small town.

What a secondary but tremendous lesson here for Christians.  We cannot make peace and compromise with our enemy, the Devil.  He always extracts a hefty toll when we try to bargain with him.  Of course, he is ready, willing, and able to bargain with us.  Remember what happened to Samson when he compromised his integrity and honor for worldly passions?

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.  (Judges 16:21)

What a picture of what sin does to Christians:  it first blinds you to the seriousness of it, then it binds you; traps you in an endless cycle of sin, drawing you further and further in, and finally it grinds you, leaving you empty and cold.  The good people of Jabesh Gilead were willing to become subservient to the Amorites in exchange for their lives.

2.  The divine opportunity, verses 5, 6

Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.   When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.

Here is an effect the Holy Spirit has on a person that we don’t consider very often:  the Spirit came up Saul and he “burned with anger.”  Did you know that a believer can motivated by the Holy Spirit to “burn with anger” as much as be moved to compassion?  There may be one Spirit, but He manifests Himself in many different ways.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.  (1 Corinthians 12:4—6)

Why was Saul so angry?  Doubtless his anger was roused by the reproach brought upon the nation of Israel by the arrogant Nahash.  Does sin cause us to become angry?  There is a righteous anger, you know.  Christ expressed it.  So did Paul.  When was the last time sin against God caused you to become angry?  When was the last time your own sinfulness caused you to become angry?  

God took this deplorable situation and used it to motivate young Saul to action.  The Spirit of God filled Saul with a holy anger and empowered him as a righteous and powerful military leader.  This anointing from God lasted, apparently, until Samuel anointed David to replace Saul as king.

3.  The challenge, verse 7

He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.”

Saul’s inspired reaction was to send out a general call to war throughout the tribes of Israel.  This call was graphically illustrated by chopping up his own oxen and displaying them.  This gory spectacle was like a loud trumpet blast in the ears of a drowsy nation.  We are told—

Then the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they turned out as one man.

The “terror of the Lord” does not refer to some kind of divine punishment.  In fact, Saul’s appeal to fight was so powerful and so energetic and so enthusiastic, that the people of the nation, down to the last man, discerned that the power of God was now at work in Saul and it inspired them with a kind of holy fear and compelled them to follow Saul.  300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 from Judah rallied behind Saul and mobilized at Bezek, just across the Jordan from beleaguered Jabesh Gilead.

When a person is moved by the Holy Spirit, signs will follow.  Remember; the action of the Holy Spirit is contagious.   When a person yields himself to the Holy Spirit, others will do so.  When we are enthused about God and God’s work, it will motivate other believers.  When we are excited about our faith that excitement will touch other people; it will produce that same excitement in believers and curiosity in unbelievers.   Acts 4:13—

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Fearlessness and courage are two things that will characterize a believer who is completely dedicated and devoted to Christ.

4.  A mighty victory, verses 8—11 

Being led by the Spirit of God, Saul had no problem with followers.  We may well imagine how the citizens of Jabesh Gilead felt when they received this message— 

‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.’  (verse 9)

 That they were “elated” (NIV) was an understatement!  They would live, and they would live with both their eyes.   The timely arrival of Saul and his loyal forces serves as an excellent illustration of God’s mercy.  The besieged citizens were literally on the brink of destruction, about to become a life-long slaves to the Amorites and a reproach and an embarrassment to Israel.  Saul the Spirit led and Spirit empowered leader was able repel the enemy and deliver the people of Jabesh Gilead. 

There is literally nothing that a person filled with the Holy Spirit cannot do for the Kingdom of God.  There are many people today who are like the pitiful citizens of Jebesh Gilead:  threatened and taunted by the Devil, on the verge of being absorbed into the world around them.  People like that, who have been overtaken by sin are watching their witness for Christ slip away and their rescue is up to us; Spirit-filled warriors of Christ.   The words of Jude sound a clarion call to all of us— 

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.  (Jude 22—24) 

Victory over the enemy comes when we begin see the enemy for who he is and we begin to hate him with everything inside us.  Too often we treat sin as mistakes or errors in judgment; we take sin and the Devil for too lightly.  We are, according to the inspired Word of God, to hate even clothing tinged with sin.  

5.  Mercy or weakness, verses 12—13 

The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring these men to us and we will put them to death.”

But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel.”

Saul’s complete and astonishing victory cemented the allegiance of the people.  In fact, in their new zealousness for the man who acted so kingly in battle, the people of Israel wished to execute the “sons of worthlessness” who had objected to Saul’s elevation to the throne just a short time earlier.  But Saul, proclaimed an amnesty, sparing them.  

Most Bible scholars point to Saul’s statesmanlike quality in demonstrating mercy toward the troublemakers.  But are we really witnessing mercy?  Or are we witnessing something else?   Is Saul being a good leader and king by allowing these men to live? 

In 1513 Machiavelli wrote a 100 page book on statecraft and the wielding of power called The Prince.  Here is his opinion: 

It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope. 

Jesus Christ, in the Parable of the Ten Minas found in Luke 19:11—27, teaches us how a godly king shows mercy and leadership at the end of the story— 

“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.” 

So was Saul showing magnanimous mercy to those who deserved it?  Or was he once again showing weakness, not strength?  Was there something in Saul that kept him from achieving greatness as Israel’s first king? 

Machiavelli was right, as far as he went.  Human beings are not basically good; they are sinful and they are corrupt and in their hearts, evil.  Saul was Israel’s first king.  It was a position he neither considered nor coveted; it was literally thrust upon him in a moment.  He was God’s man and the people’s choice.  But he was a poor choice for he was a mirror reflection of the people who chose him.  Saul would prove to be much like the people he just saved in Jabesh Gilead:  a fearful, double-minded compromiser who cared more for his own comforts than for the God he claimed to represent. 

6.  Reaffirmation, verses 14, 15 

Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there reaffirm the kingship.”  So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration. 

This was the public confirmation of the private call of God.  Gilgal was famous for being a place of suffering and humiliation.  Joshua 5:2— 

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” 

The reason God wanted Joshua to do this was because it had been left undone for a generation— 

All the people that came out (of Egypt) had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not.  (verse 5) 

This situation had to be set right so that the people could continue to be obedient in their new land.  It was here, in this place of historical significance, that all of Israel affirmed the choice of Saul as king.  

Unfortunately, the celebration that followed would give way to disobedience and disappointment.  The true state of Saul’s heart would work itself out in his actions.   The  prophet Jeremiah wrote these telling words concerning the true state of the human heart–

The heart is deceitful above all things
       and beyond cure.
       Who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)

And Jesus warned–

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.  (Luke 6:45)

No wonder David prayed–

Hide your face from my sins
       and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
       and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence 
       or take your Holy Spirit from me.  (Psalm 51:9-11)

(c)  2009 WitzEnd 
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