1 Samuel 13-15: Added Thoughts
IT SEEMS PROPER TO TAKE A LOOK AT WHY WE WERE ASSIGNED THIS STUDY BY OUR WRITERS AND WHAT IT TEACHES US BOTH NOW AND WHEN WE LATER ENTER 2ND SAMUEL.
THERE ARE FOUR MAJOR BIBLE STUDY THEMES IN THESE TWO BOOKS.
FIRST IS THE COVENANT OF DAVID, AND THE BOOKS ARE ACTUALLY FRAMED FOR US BY TWO REFERENCES TO AN ANOINTED KING.
WE SEE IT IN THE PRAYER OF HANNAH IN 1ST SAMUEL 2:10 AND THEN LATER IN WHAT IS CALLED THE SONG OF DAVID IN 2ND SAMUEL 22:51.
THE SECOND IS A REFERENCE TO THE MESSIAH, THE KING WHO WILL LATER TRIUMPH OVER NATIONS WHO ARE OPPOSED TO GOD.
SECOND, WE SEE WHAT CARRIES THE NAME OF OUR STUDY WHICH IS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AT WORK IN HIS CREATION.
WE WERE GIVEN AN IMMEDIATE VIEW OF THIS MATTER IN THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL IN RESPONSE TO HANAH’S PRAYER AND IN 1ST SAMUEL 9:17 WHERE THE LORD HAS CHOSEN SAUL AND SENDS HIM TO SAMUEL WHEN SAUL ACTUALLY THINKS HE IS LOOKING FOR HIS FATHER’S MISSING DONKEYS.
THIRD, WE ARE GIVEN A VIEW OF THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERING MEN FOR DIVINELY APPOINTED TASKS. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME OVER BOTH SAUL AND DAVID AFTER THEIR ANOINTING AS KING, INCLUDING ALSO VICTORY IN BATTLE AS SEEN IN 1ST SAMUEL 11.
FOURTH, THESE TWO BOOKS DEMONSTRATE BOTH THE PERSONAL AND THE ENTIRE NATION’S EFFECTS OF SIN.
THE SINS OF THE SONS OF ELI RESULTED IN THEIR DEATHS WHICH FURTHER RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF ELI WHEN HE HEARD THE NEWS, EXACTLY AS GOD HAD COMMANDED THAT ALL THREE WOULD DIE ON THE SAME DAY.
THE LACK OF REVERENCE FOR THE ARK OF GOD RESULTED NOT ONLY IN THE DEATH OF MANY PHILISTINES BUT OF FAR MORE ISRAELIS WHO SINFULLY MISUSED THE HOLY ARK.
DAVID WAS FORGIVEN FOR HIS SINS OF ADULTERY AND MURDER AFTER HIS CONFESSION IN 2ND SAMUEL 14, BUT HE STILL SUFFERED THE DEVASTING CONSEQUENCES OF IT WHEN AN INNOCENT LIFE OF HIS NEW SON WAS TAKEN BY GOD AS THE PRICE.
THE PURPOSE OF 1ST SAMUEL IS TO HIGHLIGHT TWO MAJOR EVENTS:
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY IN ISRAEL AND THE RISE OF DAVID TO BE KING AFTER SAUL.
LATER IN 2ND SAMUEL 7, GOD PROMISES DAVID AND HIS HOUSE AN ETERNAL DYNASTY.
1ST SAMUEL CLEARLY NOTES THE PRINCIPLE THAT OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD IS THE NECESSARY CONDITION FOR A KING TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL.
WE ARE TAUGHT THAT SAMUEL IS THE LINK BETWEEN THE JUDGES AND THE KINGS IN ISRAEL. SAMUEL IS THE PROPHET GOD CREATED AND USES TO ANOINT BOTH SAUL AND DAVID.
THE KINGDOM OF SAUL WAS TRANSITIONAL GIVING THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANTED AS WELL AS PREPARING FOR THE CHOICE OF DAVID AS A KING AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART IN 2ND SAMUEL.
GOD HAS CLEARLY NOTED FOR US IN THIS STUDY THAT BELIEVERS MUST EXTEND THEIR FULL FAITH IN THE LORD AS HIS WORK IS DEFINING ALL THAT HAPPENS WHETHER WE WISH IT OR NOT.
WHILE GOD ALLOWED SAUL TO RULE FOR A TIME, THERE ARE STRONG LESSONS FOR US TO GATHER AS WHY HE FAILED.
HE WAS A CHOICE YOUNG MAN, IN THE PRIME OF HIS LIFE WHEN HE CAME TO THE THRONE.
HE WAS A PHYSICAL SPECIMEN, INDUSTRIOUS, GENEROUS, HONEST AND MODEST AT HIS BEGINNING.
BUT SEVERAL TIMES DURING HIS REIGN, HE DISQUALIFIED HIMSELF FROM THE HIGH OFFICE HE WAS GIVEN.
THE STORY OF SAUL IS ONE OF THE MOST PATHETIC ACCOUNTS OF GOD’S SERVANTS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
HIS STRIKING APPEARANCE IN 1ST SAMUEL 9 BECOMES STRONGLY PRIDEFUL IN 1ST SAMUEL 18.
HIS INITIATIVE IN 1ST SAMUEL 11 BECOMES REBELLION IN 1ST SAMUEL 20.
HIS BRAVERY IN 1ST SAMUEL 13 BECOMES RECKLESS IN 1ST SAMUEL 14.
HIS PATRIOTIC SPIRIT-FILLING IN 1ST SAMUEL 11 BECOMES TERRIBLY DARK IN 1ST SAMUEL 16 WHEN HIS CONTINUAL DISOBEDIENCE CAUSES GOD TO WITHDRAW HIS SPIRIT FROM SAUL AND REPLACE IT WITH A DEMON TO POSSESS SAUL IN 1ST SAMUEL 16.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT SAMUEL CLEARLY COMMANDED SAUL IN 10:8 THAT HE IS TO WAIT ON INSTRUCTIONS FROM GOD’S PROPHET BEFORE MAKING DECISIONS.
LET’S SEE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THESE THREE CHAPTERS, 13-15 THAT BRINGS THESE FACTORS FOR US TO PONDER.
IN CHAPTER 13 ISRAEL WAS AT AN OVERWHELMING MILITARY DISADVANTAGE AS THE PHILISTINES PREPARED FOR WAR WITH 30,000 CHARIOTS AND 6,000 HORSEMEN PLUS MANY THOUSAND FOOT SOLDIERS.
JONATHAN, SAUL’S SON HAD BRAVELY ATTACKED AND KILLED SOME PHILISTINES WHO WERE READY TO COUNTER ATTACK.
SAUL HAD GATHERED 3,000 MEN TAKING 2,000 VALIANT MEN TO HIMSELF AND GAVE 1,000 TO JONATHAN.
FEAR OVERCAME THE ISRAELI ARMY AND THEY HID THEMSELVES.
SAUL THEN DECIDED NOT TO WAIT ON SAMUEL TO ARRIVE AND OFFERED A BURNT OFFERING HIMSELF TO GOD, IN STRONG VIOLATION OF ALL THAT GOD HAD ALWAYS COMMANDED AS ONLY PRIESTS WERE SO ALLOWED.
IN 13:13 SAMUEL ARRIVED AND MOST STRONGLY REBUKED SAUL SAYING HE HAD BEEN FOOLISH AND HAD NOW MARKED THE END OF HIS OWN KINGDOM MEANING IT WOULD NOT ENDURE.
BECAUSE OF SAUL’S DISOBEDIENCE, SAMUEL SAID GOD HAD ALREADY CHOSEN A MAN AFTER HIS OWN HEART TO COMMAND THE PEOPLE BECAUSE OF SAUL’S IMPETUOUS WAYS.
SAUL THEN NUMBERED HIS MEN AND FOUND ONLY 600 LEFT.
SAUL SEEMED TO BE A GREAT SOLDIER BUT A LESSER KING.
IN 13:16-23 WE ARE TOLD THAT ONLY SAUL HIMSELF AND JONATHAN HAD ACTUAL WEAPONS OF WAR WHILE HIS MEN USED FARM IMPLEMENTS MADE SHARP TO FIGHT AGAINST THE PHILISTINES.
IN CHAPTER 14 JONATHAN TOOK HIS ARMOR BEARER AND THE TWO MEN MADE A BADLY PLANNED ATTACK BUT BY SURPRISE AND THE GRACE OF GOD WERE ABLE TO KILL 20 PHILISTINES.
THIS ATTACK CAUSED MUCH TREMBLING AND GOD ADDED TO THE TREMBLING BY BRINGING AN EARTHQUAKE TO ROUTE THE PHILISTINE SUPERIOR FORCES (14:15).
THE ISRAELI FORCES WHO HAD HIDDEN NOW CAME OUT OF HIDING AND FOUGHT AGAINST THE FLEEING PHILISTINES.
SOME ISRAELIS HAD EARLIER ACTUALLY JOINED THE PHILISTINE FORCES AGAINST THEIR OWN ARMY AND THESE ALSO NOW JOINED AGAINST THE PHILISTINES.
WHEN THE PRIEST WHO HAD APPEALED TO GOD TO HELP HIS PEOPLE SEEMED SUCCESSFUL AS THE PHILISTINES WERE RUNNING AWAY IN THE EARTHQUAKE, SAUL COMMANDED THE PRIEST TO STOP SEEKING THE LORD’S HELP, ANOTHER TERRIBLE DECISION BY SAUL. (14:19)
BUT STILL IN 14:23 WE ARE TOLD THAT THE LORD HAD SAVED ISRAEL THAT DAY.
IN VERSES 14:24-46 SAUL ONCE MORE PROVIDES THE EVIDENCE OF HIS UNFORTUNATE SELF SERVING NATURE.
HE FORBIDS ANY OF HIS VICTORIUS TROOPS TO EAT ANYTHING UNTIL HE HAS ACHIEVED HIS PERSONAL VENGEANCE ON THE PHILISTINES, PLACING A CURSE OVER ANY MAN WHO BREAKS THIS OATH, WITH DEATH TO BE THE RESULT.
JONATHAN HAD NOT HEARD THE OATH AND ATE A SMALL AMOUNT OF HONEY HE FOUND WHICH STRENGTHENED HIM
MOST OF THE REMAINING SOLDIERS WERE HUNGRY AND ACTUALLY BEGAN SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS AND WERE SO FAMISHED THEY ATE THE MEAT WITH THE BLOOD STILL IN IT, A TERRIBLE VIOLATION OF GOD’S LAW.
THE PRIEST WHO WAS PRESENT SOUGHT GOD’S WORD AS SAUL WISHED TO ATTACK AGAIN IN THE NIGHT WHICH WAS COMING.
SAUL WISHED LOTS TO BE CAST TO DETERMINE WHO HAD BROKEN HIS OATH AND THE LOT FELL ON HIS SON JONATHAN WHO ADMITTED TO EATING HONEY.
THEN THE PEOPLE STOOD AGAINST KING SAUL AND SAVED JONATHAN FROM DEATH BY HIS FATHER.
SAUL WOULD HAVE SACRIFICED HIS OWN SON FOR HIS SMALL INFRACTION BUT HIS OWN PEOPLE STEPPED IN, SAVED JONATHAN, AND SAID JONATHAN HAD BEGUN A GREAT DELIVERANCE BY HIS BRAVERY.
CLEARLY SAUL WAS A MUCH BETTER SOLDIER THAN HE WAS A KING.
CHAPTER 14 ENDS WITH SAUL HAVING ESTABLISHED HIS SOVEREIGN RULE OVER ISRAEL AND LISTS ALL THE OTHER NATIONS WHICH WERE AT WAR WITH ISRAEL AND ONCE MORE STATES THAT THE PHILISTINES MADE FIERCE WAR WITH ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF SAUL.
CHAPTER 15 WILL BEGIN THE TENSION COMING TO A HEAD WITH A BREAK BETWEEN SAUL AND SAMUEL AND SAUL’S REJECTION AS KING.
THIS CHAPTER LITERALLY ENDS THE CONTINUED SLIDE OF KING SAUL AWAY FROM THE LORD BY HIS DISOBEDIENCE, EVEN THOUGH HE CLAIMS HE OBEYED SOME COMMANDS.
HE PROVES FOR US THAT PARTIAL OBEDIENCE IS FULL DISOBEDIENCE, A WARNING TO EVERY BELIEVER SINCE SAUL.
IN 15:1-3 SAMUEL SPEAKS:
The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed them on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
SAUL GATHERED AN ARMY OF OVER 200,000 MEN AND SENT WARNINGS TO THE KENITES TO LEAVE THE AREA OF AMALEK BEFORE THE ATTACK BEGINS.
THE KENITES WERE RELATIVES OF JETHRO AND HAD BEEN KIND TO ISRAEL FROM THE TIME ISRAEL ARRIVED.
WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THIS COMMAND FROM GOD WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS COMMAND WAS GIVEN.
IN DEUTERNOMY 25:17-19, MOSES HAD TOLD HIS PEOPLE THAT THEY WERE “…to blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
SAUL PROCEEDED TO CARRY OUT THE COMMAND BUT IN SPITE OF CLEAR WORDS FROM SAMUEL WHO SPOKE THE LORD’S WORDS, SAUL SPARED THE KING OF AMALEK, AGAG, AND SOME OF THE BEST LIVESTOCK.
SAMUEL ACTUALLY RECEIVED WORD OF THIS DISOBEDIENCE FROM GOD AS REPORTED IN VERSES 15:10-11:
“It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king…”
SAMUEL WENT TO SAUL WHO WAS IN THE PROCESS OF SETTING UP A MONUMENT TO HIMSELF.
SAMUEL PROVIDED HIS FAMOUS WORDS TO SAUL WHICH WAS IT IS BETTER TO OBEY THAN TO SACRIFICE AFTER SAUL USED THE EXCUSE THAT THE LIVESTOCK WAS SPARED TO BE USED AS AN OFFERING TO GOD AND IT IS NOTED THAT SAUL SAID THE OFFERING WAS TO BE TO THE LORD YOUR GOD (MEANING SAMUEL’S GOD, NOT ISRAEL’S GOD).
SAMUEL SAID THAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HE HAS ALSO REJECTED YOU FROM BEING KING.
SAMUEL THEN COMPLETED THE COMMAND OF GOD BY USING A SWORD HIMSELF TO KILL THE CAPTURED KING AGAG.
SAUL ATTEMPTED TO SHOW REMORSE BUT IT WAS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.
GOD TOLD SAMUEL TO FILL HIS OIL HORN AND GO TO JESSE THE BETHLEHEMITE FOR I HAVE PROVIDED MYSELF A KING FROM AMONG HIS SONS.
HERE WILL BEGIN THE RISE OF DAVID.
WITH GOD’S PERFECT FORESIGHT HE KNEW THAT IF AGAG WERE ALLOWED TO LIVE THOSE WHO CAME FROM HIM WOULD CONTINUE TO PLAGUE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE.
WE SEE LATER IN ESTHER THAT A MAN NAMED HAMAN INTENDED TO DESTROY ALL THE JEWS AND HE WAS AN AGAGITE SO SOME MEN HAD ALREADY COME FROM THIS KING AND ESTHER RISKED HER OWN LIFE TO OPPOSE HIM.
WE MUST NOT OVERLOOK THE FACT WHEN CONSIDERING THE COMMAND OF GOD FOR DESTRUCTION THAT ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF AMALEK WERE PAGAN BELIEVERS IN IDOLS AND WOULD NEVER SEEK OR WORSHIP YAHWEH.
THEY WERE THE WALKING DEAD, SUBJECT TO BOTH MORTAL DEATH AND THE SECOND DEATH IN THE FINAL DAYS.
GOD HAD PROMISED ABRAHAM IN GENESIS 15:16 THAT THE PEOPLE COMING FROM ABRAHAM MUST SERVE 400 YEARS OF BONDAGE AND THEN GOD WOULD GIVE THEM THE PROMISED LAND OF CANAAN.
HE TOLD ABRAHAM THE REASON FOR THE DELAY WAS THAT:
“…THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE IS NOT YET COMPLETE…”
GOD CHOSE TO LET THE SIN OF THOSE PEOPLE RIPEN, REACH ITS FULL MATURITY, AND THEN BRING JUDGMENT UPON THEM.
THE TIME FOR HIS JUDGMENT HAD ARRIVED AND HE INTENDED HIS WILL TO BE COMPLETED BY HIS OWN CHOSEN PEOPLE AS THEY DROVE OUT AND UTTERLY DESTROYED THOSE THE LORD WISH TO NO LONGER EXIST IN THE LAND HE HAD RESERVED FOR HIS OWN.
NEXT STUDY STOP WILL TEACH US THE USE OF DARK PROVIDENCE BY THE LORD TO EXERCISE HIS WILL.