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Articles 2018-2020
Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.
As the prophet Samuel became increasingly elderly, he saw the need for new leadership in Israel. But to make his sons judges over the Lord’s heritage was simply not appropriate. Judges did not arise in the land through any man’s initiative. God raised them up sovereignly by the power of His Holy Spirit at the times of His choosing.
Also, his sons were greedy and sinful men (1Samuel 8:3). Sadly, the elders of Israel instead of calling Samuel to repent sought to go even further in the wrong direction. See what they asked of him.
”Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
What they were after was not so much a totally different system of leadership but a new administration of what they already had. They recognized God’s past work of giving them judges. But what God had established as spontaneous and prophetic, they wanted as static and stable – a consistent continuity in their leadership. When their leader died, they wanted to know where the next one would come from. In seeking this approach, Israel was rejecting God’s ways, His rule over them as king (1Samuel 8:7).
In His mercy, the Lord instructed Samuel to accommodate them and to warn them of what would come from making this request. Their king would take their sons to serve in the army, their daughters to be cooks and perfumers, their finest fields and vineyards for his servants, and a tithe of their produce and flocks. And when they cried out under this burden, the Lord would not listen so as to change their circumstance (1Samuel 8:10 - 18).
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
In wanting their king to fight their battles for them, they sought to substitute him in the place of God. But they were going to discover that having a king would not give them the security they sought. And at the root of it all, was their desire to be more like the nations around them rather than to learn God’s ways. Taking His approach would establish Israel’s uniqueness and give her an intensity of national illumination to the nations around them who were bound up in cultural darkness. On the other hand, going the way of the nations would ultimately cost them everything. And in our own day, until the Church moves from an organizational approach to an integrated body coordinated by Heaven and overseen by humble teams of overseers, we will fail to shine corporately as God intends in this present darkness.
So, to oblige Israel, God gave them Saul the son of Kish.
There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
Seeing their hearts, God gave them one who was pleasing in appearance. It would be easy for them to see Saul as their king because of his physical characteristics. Today we might say that he was telegenic.
To set His plan in motion, God sent Saul to Samuel. In Saul’s mind, he was just looking for some lost donkeys (1Samuel 9:3 - 16). But God was at work behind the scenes coordinating His purpose. And Saul was stunned when the prophet informed him of God’s intent.
Similarly, God’s active work today as He brings together all the necessary ingredients to build His house and to extend His kingdom is greater than our ability to fully understand from our study of sacred scripture, greater than our ability to hear Him, and greater than all our prophetic insights put together. It is true that we must seek to hear His voice more accurately, seek insight concerning His ways from our study of His word, and be open to prophetic words from Heaven. But the work of God is greater than us and our ability to grasp and define. We all still see as in a mirror dimly (1Corinthians 13:12).
In fact, I think all of us will be stunned as future reality breaks in on our predictions, our finely thought out charts, and our artistically drawn timelines. And some of us who are the most adamant may have the toughest time in making the necessary adjustments.
Key to Saul’s initial spiritual success was his humility. When the prophet first spoke to him, he saw himself as the least in Israel (1Samuel 9:21). And Saul understood that the word about him becoming king was for him alone (1Samuel 9:27). No one else was to hear it. Even when asked by his uncle about what Samuel had said to him, Saul did not reveal God’s call on him to be king (1Samuel 10:14 - 16). In other words, he sought to do nothing to promote himself in Israel’s search for a ruler. In fact, when God did then reveal His choice to the whole nation, Saul sought obscurity even to the point of making it difficult for the people to find him (1Samuel 10:22). Then instead of gathering an entourage around him like some might have expected, he just went home. But God did then touch the hearts of some valiant men to go with him (1Samuel 10:26). In all this, Saul was a man small in his own eyes.
To further reveal His choice, God allowed the Ammonites to besiege the town of Jabesh Gilead. When the men of this town asked these invaders if they could send messengers throughout Israel seeking help, it seems that they told them to go ahead. The enemy had so little respect for Israel that they assumed no one would come. Israel must have been known for being scattered and disunited. I think that today, the enemy of our souls thinks he has nothing to fear from God’s people as he sees our scattered condition.
But when Saul heard of these events, something extraordinary happened.
Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.
Here was more than simply a man becoming angry; God was arising on behalf of His people. Saul then cut up a yoke of oxen and sent the pieces throughout Israel with a message.
”Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.” And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent (lit. as one man).
Three hundred and thirty thousand Israelis gathered. Clearly, this was not Saul’s administrative genius; it was the activity of Heaven. (O let the enemy of our souls fear!) The Ammonites were defeated so thoroughly that in their dispersal, no two of them were left together (1Samuel 11:11). God visited upon the enemy the scattering they had seen and celebrated among God’s people.
Then when Saul’s son Jonathan along with one thousand men attacked one of their garrisons, the Philistine response was an overwhelming invasion (1Samuel 13). As a result, great fear came into Israel. People hid in caves and holes in the ground. Some even fled east across the Jordan. Clearly, having a king was not a cure-all for fear and insecurity.
Seeing the enemy’s vast numbers, Saul’s small army of three thousand began to desert. And instead of waiting for Samuel to come and offer the burnt offering, Saul tried to hold the army together by offering it himself. But the problem was more than his impatience in waiting for Samuel. Even though God had revealed himself powerfully to him, it seems that Saul had not responded and developed an intimate relationship with Him. For him to offer an offering as though that would stabilize the kingdom revealed something missing in his walk with the Lord. Why not simply cry out for God to be his refuge and stronghold like David would many times in the years to come? To be clear, a burnt offering could not save him no matter who offered it. Some of Samuel’s last words to him focus on this very issue.
Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
At the root of it, the Kingdom of God has always been a matter of the heart. To know Him is life itself. And only God himself could be Saul’s (and Israel’s) salvation. In trusting in man and also in his own religious work, his reign was simply not on the proper foundation; it could not endure. On the other hand, his son Jonathan seemed to have a living faith, a vital relationship with the Lord. In his mind God could bring military victory through a few as easily as He could through many (1Samuel 14:6). When he and his armor bearer killed about twenty Philistines, God sent a great shaking among the enemy.
And there was trembling and panic in the [Philistine] camp, in the field, and among all the men; the garrison, and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked, and it became a terror from God.
(1Samuel 14:15 Amplified Bible)
The Philistines scattered and Israel won a great victory that day. But it could have been an even greater one if Saul had not foolishly put a curse on anyone who tasted food before he avenged himself on his enemies (1Samuel 14:24). Because the Israelis could not strengthen themselves with food, their military success was limited. Notice how in Saul’s mind the day’s events had become about him and his foes rather than about God and His people.
At the root of Saul’s decline was that he succumbed to pride. He was no longer small in his own eyes.
So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?”
If he had just walked humbly with the Lord, his kingdom would have endured. But Saul ultimately met a tragic end on the battlefield. Note one of the saddest epitaphs in all of scripture – the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel (1Samuel 15:35).
In contrast, may the Lord be blessed with our lives and service.
Donald Rumble – January 2019
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