1 Samuel 9-15

1 Samuel 9-10 – Saul Anointed as King

The Israelites wanted a king and God gave them what they wanted.  God chose Saul to be their king.  He was much taller than other men so he would look good when he led an army to war.  Saul’s father, Kish was an important man with wealth and power.  He owned valuable donkeys.  One day the donkeys wandered away so Saul and his servant spent 3 days looking for them.  They went to see the “seer”, which was Samuel in hopes he could help them find the donkeys.  A seer is another name for a prophet.  Prophets could understand what God said and they spoke God’s word to the people. 

This meeting was not a coincidence, but was planned by God.  God told Samuel about Saul and planned for them to meet.  Saul asked Samuel about the donkeys.  Samuel prophesied about the donkeys and told him to stay and hear more from God.  Samuel dealt with Saul as a man who deserves honor.  He had him sit in the most important place and gave him special meat to eat.  Saul stayed at Samuel’s house that night.  God showed Samuel who the people’s king would be and the donkeys. 

Samuel anointed Saul and told him that God anointed him and chose him as leader.  Samuel told Saul 3 things would happen to him on his way home.  This would show him that God had chosen him.  When these things happened, Saul would know Samuel’s words were true and that God was with him.  Then the Spirit of God changed him.  Saul started to prophesy and the people were surprised. 

Samuel called the people together and gave them their king that God had chosen.  Samuel reminded the people that they had refused the Lord as their king.  When they saw Saul they were very happy.  Samuel explained their king wouldn’t be like kings of other nations.  Their king had to lead in the proper way and had rights and duties.  God also had rules for a king.

Are you looking for something right now? 

Whose word will you trust?

Is Jesus your King?

Not everyone was a supporter of Saul, but God puts all government leaders in places of authority for His purposes.  We should respect those in office and pray for them whether we support them and their ideas or not.

Principle:  God puts all government leaders in places of authority for His purposes.

1 Samuel 11-12 – Saul Confirmed as King

The people of the city of Jabesh wanted to surrender and make a treaty with the Ammonites, but the Ammoinites would have nothing to do with that.  They wanted to gouge out the people’s right eye to humiliate the men of the city making them look weak.  It would also make them unable to fight effectively.  Saul required every man to fight, but they were afraid.  When Saul heard this, the Spirit of God came upon Saul and he burned with anger.  So Saul took oxen, cut them into pieces, and scattered the pieces across Israel.  He did this as a warning to those who didn’t follow him.  The people where filled with terror so they followed Saul.  Then Saul and his army went to the Ammonite camp and slaughtered them.

After Saul had rescued the town of Jabesh, the people declared Saul as their king and no one opposed him.  Saul was declared as king on 3 different occasions.  First Samuel anointed him with oil (10:1).  Then God chose Saul from all of Israel (10:17-25). Then the people went to the holy place and everyone knew God gave Saul to them as king. (11:14-15)

Samuel told the people now they have a king just as they wanted.  Samuel was old and gray and had been their leader from his youth.  He had been a good leader.  He was honest and fair and the people could trust him.  Samuel had warned them about having a king.  He led them in the way God wanted and now God chose and anointed Saul as king.  Samuel reminded them of the past that God had given them all they needed.  He rescued them from their enemies.  He had chosen leaders for them who led in battles and had been successful and won their battles.  He reminded them they had stopped worshiping God at times and worshipped idols instead and God letting their enemies defeat them.  When they disobeyed God, they were punished.  If they did it in the future, He would punish them again.  Samuel was stepping aside as their leader, but would continue to serve and pray for them.

Principle: God’s people never outgrow the responsibility to serve Him and His people.

1 Samuel 13-15 – Saul Rejected as King

Israelite soldiers under Saul’s son Jonathan attacked a group of Philistines.  Saul knew this attack would lead to war so he gathered additional soldiers.  Saul was told by Samuel to go to Gilgal and wait 7 days for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices which would seek the Lord’s blessing before they went into battle.  It was important for Saul to wait, because only Samuel was authorized to perform sacrifices.   As Saul saw some of his soldiers deserting, he panicked and became impatient.  Saul was disobedient and didn’t wait.  He performed the sacrifices himself. 

When Samuel arrived and saw what Saul had done, Saul chose to blame others.  Saul failed to follow God and acted on his own in willful disobedience against God’s specific command.  Saul would suffer the consequences.  His kingdom would not endure.  If he had been obedient, God would have established his future kingdom.

Like Saul we don’t always understand all of God’s Word, but we should obey and trust His plans.  We should wait on God and His timing, because He always knows best although we may not see it right away.

When have you surrendered to impatience instead of waiting on the Lord?

When have you trusted God’s timing?

The army had only 600 men left and they were without swords.  Only Saul and his son Jonathan were armed.  Jonathan and his armor-bearer went behind enemy lines while Saul stayed under a tree.  Jonathan showed courage, leadership and faith in God.  He killed 20 men.  God struck the Philistines with panic and the ground shook.  Men scattered.  They began to strike each other.  The Lord rescued His people through Jonathan’s leadership.

Saul made a foolish oath telling the people to not eat before evening causing the men to become weak with hunger as they marched in the woods.  Jonathan didn’t hear the oath and when he found honey he ate it.  After the battle the men were so hungry they slaughtered the enemies’ animals and ate them, which violated God’s law of eating meat with blood till in it.  Saul stopped this sin and built an altar for proper slaughter and sacrifice.

Saul sought guidance from God about whether to attack the Philistines during the night, but no answer came.  Because God didn’t answer, Saul assumed it was because someone had sinned.  Jonathan was revealed as guilty and confessed that he ate honey.  Saul said he must die.  The men insisted that he must not die so Saul relented.

The Amalekites had been Israel’s enemy for 400 years.  God said He intended to completely blot out their name from the earth.  God had withheld His punished on them until now.  He commanded Saul attack and destroy them completely.  Saul gathered his soldiers, attacked and destroyed those near Egypt’s border, but he spared King Agag.  Saul and his men sinned by keeping the good animals for themselves.  This was disobedience to God’s command.

God told Samuel that He was grieved by making Saul king because he didn’t carry out instructions.  Grieved doesn’t mean God had been wrong or changed His mind.  He was just grieving or regretting the people had made bad choices and sinned.  Saul rejected God by not obeying and God rejected Saul as king.

God convicted Saul to confess his sin, but still Saul made excuses and blamed others.  He was concern was not that he sinned, but concerned about his public image.  He only feared how he would look to others.  Samuel told Saul that he had rejected the word of the Lord and now the Lord had rejected him as king over Israel.  Samuel mourned over Saul, but never saw him again.  Saul began his reign well, but success made him put himself before God.  He became self-focused and self-righteous.  Saul continued to rule until he died many years later.  Saul had many problems and was not a good leader.  

When you repent, are you truly sorry or do you take your sin too lightly?

Do you give yourself the benefit of the doubt and say you almost completely obeyed God?

Do you try to blame others for your sin?

Principle:  Obedience to some commands does not justify disobedience to other commands.

When a person disobeys God, they sin.  The Bible calls this rebellion.  There is a warning in 15:23.  Evil magic comes from the devil.  Rebellion is as bad as evil magic.  People who worship idols don’t give honor to God.  They think the idol is better than God.  A proud person thinks that he is the best person.  He gives honor to himself and doesn’t give honor to God or worship Him.  There is good news - God will forgive sin if we repent and turn from it.

No one ever perfectly obeys God.  It may appear we have.  Our righteousness is often “self-righteousness” and our service “self-serving”.  There is only one person whose obedience has been perfect.  That is Jesus Christ.   He is the only one that can claim perfect obedience to the will of God.  It’s this obedience that made it possible of the salvation of unworthy sinners.

Next week we will continue our study in 1 Samuel.  Hope to see you here.

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