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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