1 Samuel 28 – Saul Consults Medium
In the
last study David had chosen to escape Saul by making an alliance with King
Achish. He knew he had to join the
Philistine army, but he didn’t want to fight the Israelites. He was forgetting God and going his own way
by making his own decisions. He would
learn a new lesson about humility.
Samuel
who was a great prophet of the Lord had died.
He had spoke God’s commands to Saul.
The Spirit of the Lord was with Saul when Saul first became king so he
probably removed the spiritists and mediums at that time. In Leviticus
19:31; 20:6, 27 and Deuteronomy 18:11 God says the Israelites must not
consult mediums. They had to kill anyone
who did this.
The
Philistines set up camp at Shunem and were ready to fight the Israelites. Saul
became desperate as to what to do so he inquired of the Lord. God departed from Saul and didn’t answer. God warns us that those who fail to follow
His Word will lose the privilege of hearing or understanding it. God looks at the motives of the heart. Saul's heart was hardened. Saul was afraid and went to a medium to hear
from Samuel as to what to do. Mediums
are people who try to contact dead people.
Samuel spoke to Saul telling him the Lord has turned away from him and
has done what was predicted. He said the
Lord has torn Saul’s kingdom away and has given it to neighbors – to
David. He said the Lord will turn Israel
and Saul and his sons over to the Philistines.
Saul and his sons will die tomorrow.
We can’t
explain this and don’t know how the medium called for Samuel, but the Bible
says that we must not find out about such things, because they are evil.
When
has your fear caused you to turn to someone other than God?
What
were the results?
Principle: God wants us to look to Him for guidance and
trust in Him alone.
1 Samuel 29-30 – David Consults God
Achish
and the Philistines didn’t worship the Lord of the Israelites, but Achish used
the name of the Lord probably trying to convince David that he really trusted
him. He really wanted David to continue
to serve him in the future. He even said
David was a good as an angel from God. David
was still wrapped up in his lies and deceptions. He was playing a deadly game by deceiving
Achish and dishonoring God. He was ready
to fight with Achish, but the army commanders thought since David was a Hebrew
he couldn’t be trusted. They wanted
David sent back to Ziklag. So Achish
sent David and his army back. I am sure
David was relieved he wouldn’t have to fight his own people. David got himself into trouble because he
didn’t trust and rely on God. But God
was kind and saved him from a difficult situation.
When
they reached home, they found the Amalekites had burned it, plundered it and
their families were taken captive. The
men were very sad and cried and then became angry with David. They blamed him and wanted to kill him. David was very sad because he lost his 2
wives, but he didn’t blame the Lord.
Instead he trusted the Lord which made him stronger.
David
lost the protection of Achish. He lost
his family and his men wanted to stone him.
David had lost everything, but he had not lost God. This time he didn’t make his own decisions,
he went to the priest for help. David turned
to God for strength. God restored him
because God is merciful and gave him undeserved grace. He remembered God’s love and promises and how
God delivered him in the past.
David
and his men pursued the Amalekites leaving some of his army behind because they
were too weak to continue. David met an
abandoned Egyptian who guided them to the Amalekites. David and his men found the Amalekites and
attacked them and rescued all their families and all the plunder they had
taken. David returned to the men left
behind. Some of his men were trouble
makers and didn’t want to share the spoils because the others had not
participated in the rescue. David
disagreed saying the Lord had protected them and had handed over the forces
that came against them. They would share
everything with everyone. He made a
statue and ordinance for Israel that all will share alike. David sent some of the spoils to the elders
of Judah and to the other places he had been.
David was
a generous and wise leader. He cared for
all his men even those left behind and showed no favoritism. His generous gifts showed that he was a good
leader.
Where
do you go for guidance?
Principle: God guides his children to return to Him.
1 Samuel 31 – Saul Dies
The
Philistines fought against Israel and many died. Saul and his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and
Malki-Shua also died. Saul was not a
good leader and led his army ran away from the Philistines. Saul was injured and was afraid of what they
would do to him so he asked his armor-bearer to kill him. He said he would not. So Saul killed himself. Then his armor-bearer killed himself.
The
Israelite army had no leader so the men had run away leaving the towns
empty. The Philistines went and lived in
all of their empty towns. The
Philistines took the weapons and armor from the dead soldiers. They cut off Saul’s head and put his armor in
the temple of their idols. This can be
compared to David cutting of Goliath head and putting his sword in the holy
place with the priest of the Lord. David
gave honor to the Lord. Now Saul was
dead and the Philistines gave honor to their gods.
The
Israelites of Jabesh Gilead were loyal to Saul so they rescued his body and the
bodies of his sons and burned them. They
buried the bones under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted for 7 days.
Saul
died just as God said he would and as God predicted. He died in the way he lived his life. He died not like a man of courage. A big lesson here is God’s word is absolutely
reliable and will do as He has promises.
He will deal with sin and rebellion in judgment. He wants us to trust and live in
obedience. God gave Saul time to repent,
but he did not. God gives everyone time
to repent. If you have never trusted in
Jesus for salvation, God is now giving you opportunity to repent.
Have
you repented?
Do you
know where you will spend eternity?
Principle: God’s Word is absolutely reliable and He will
do as He has promises.
Is suicide wrong? (Bob Deffinbaugh’s study on 1 Samuel 31).
Saul
requested assisted suicide, which is wrong.
It’s wrong because he was attempting to minimize the pain and means of
divine judgment. He wanted to die in a
way different from what God had predicted.
He was trying to kill the Lord’s anointed. It would be wrong for his armor-bearer to
take a king’s life. It is wrong for
Christians to commit suicide, assisted or not.
If we are ever in such a place that pain is intense or death is near, we
should look forward to being at home with the Lord. We should not end the life which God
gives. Only God has the authority to
take life away.
There
is a contrast to Saul and Jesus Christ.
Saul’s sin and his desire to die was selfish and self-serving. The Lord’s death was very different. He prayed in the garden that the cup of death
be removed. He died in obedience not
disobedience. He didn’t die to save
Himself from pain; He died to endure the full pain that we deserve as punishment
for our sins. His death was not a tragic
part of His life like a suicide. His
death was not self-serving, but sacrificial.
It was a death He suffered for our sins and for our salvation.
Originally
1 Samuel and 2 Samuel was 1
book. So the book doesn’t end here. In 2
Samuel we will continue with the account of David’s rule as king. See you here next time.
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