Part of series on life of Saul
1 Samuel 14-15
Our text today, is chapters 14 and 15 of the first book of Samuel. It is part of the story of the first King of the people of
The prophet Samuel paints us a picture of Saul’s reign. Samuel recounts the critical events in his life, and shows us how it is possible to fall short of God’s perfect best for our lives. The story of Saul mirrors, in many ways, the history of the nation of
You see the fundamental problem was that they found it hard to fully obey the Lord. Obedience is what the Lord requires. This obedience flows from a heart and soul that loves the Lord and wants to serve the Lord; listen what Moses told them in the book of Deuteronomy,
12“And now,
It is a hard heart and stubborn will that opposes what the Lord requires. In His mercy and wisdom, God has given us all freedom to serve Him, to love him or not. If we choose His ways we will be blessed. But if we follow too much the desires of our own hearts we will miss out that blessed best that God has for us. Do we believe this?
These passages talk much about battles and wars. When we read this Old Testament history we should remember the New Testament says our battles are not warring against other people for we have a Gospel of love to proclaim. We understand the Old Testament through the lense of the New Testament. For the clearest revelation of God is given in Christ our Lord and God. Today, our battles are against evil spiritual powers in the heavenly realms[1]. We should view all the Old Testament battles as mainly figurative. We can view them as symbolic of the spiritual battles we are involved with. They teach us to rely of God first and last.
Let’s get down to the text now; the first chapter we shall look at is chapter 14. At this point in history the philistines had been growing in influence and were trying to expand into the
Initially Saul mustered three thousand men; this was a reasonably large army. But this was nothing compared to the Philistines army, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers and soldiers more numerous than the sand on the seashore!
Saul and his troop were quaking in their boots; I don’t think they were going to do the attacking. As they waited confidence ebbed away and Saul’s army started shrinking. Eventually only six hundred were left; a quaking, demoralised six hundred.
So Jonathan, the head strong son of Saul, decides to attack another outpost of the Philistines. He is not put off by the consequences of his previous actions. You see he figured that this conflict between the Philistines and
But Jonathan believes in the God of Israel; he trusts that his God was able to do what humanly speaking was impossible.
Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."[2]
Jonathan believes that the Lord will save His people and he figures that the Lord may chose to use him. He is willing to risk his life; giving it to the Lord. He is not an egotist. He doesn’t believe it is all down to him. He trusts that if God doesn’t use him then the God must still save His people for He is their God. But if God does choose to use him, like Gideon, like Samson, then wow. Jonathan wants to see God’s plans unfold and he wants to be a part of God’s plans as they unfold. Are we like this? Do we want to see God’s plans unfold and be a part of God’s plans as they unfold?
What a contrast we observer between father and son; Jonathan trusting, believing and hoping while Saul was fretting and doubting. Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree; this so small only one person could fit underneath it. He was alone with his thoughts, pensive, brooding over the rebuke that Samuel gave him in the previous chapter. He was worrying about the imminent battle. ‘What should they do? How are they going to get out of this situation alive?’
Saul’s inaction is contrasted by Jonathan’s action. His youthful head had had enough of waiting about; ‘let’s get on with it’ he thought. If his father had lost the plot he was going to act. With his loyal armour bearer he climbs the rocky outcrop, up to the outpost, and takes on and kills twenty men almost single handed.
As a result, panic sets into the Philistine army. Other outpost troops retreat to the main body of the army. At this very moment divine providence supplies an earthquake. God not only strengthen Jonathan in battle but makes the very ground shake and this casts fear into the hearts of the Philistines.
The Lord does use Jonathan, and this is the story of scripture. Even one man, just one faithful man plus God equals great things. Let us all remember this, what ever the situation you face, God can do far more immeasurably than we think or imagine. For our part we must trust Him and be ready and willing act in keeping with God’s purposes and plans.
Hearing sounds like panic and seeing the Philistine outpost troops fading away in all directions; Saul is still hesitant and fearful. He decides to count his forces to see who’s left. Then, after this process in complete, its time for a spot of prayer. Let’s spend some time trying to find out what God thinks. But this is not a quick faithful prayer like Nehemiah, or a deep powerful daylong prayer like Moses. It is a time-wasting exercise. Saul is so uncertain about what he should do that calls up the high priest to perform a special discerning ritual. What is Saul doing? They had been camped there for at least a week? Why didn’t he pray before, why didn’t he discern the Lord’s will earlier?
Anyway during this attempt at discerning the Lord’s will, news comes to Saul. The Philistines are actually in retreat and are fighting each other. Apparently some of Saul’s initial army had deserted and hidden themselves in the surrounding hill country. Some others had changed allegiance and had gone to fight alongside the Philistine army. It is amazing that they did this. Perhaps they had intermarried with Philistines and had some bond with them; perhaps they just wanted to be on the winning side, to live. This shows us that Saul’s
But God had turned the circumstances around and showed these deserters that “if God for you, who can stand against you?” So these deserters re-enlist on the Lord’s side and start fighting the Philistines from within their own ranks.
At this point Saul, the military man, sees that tide had turned, and now is the time to act. So he stops the high priest from performing the discerning ritual. Saul shows that he is not really interested in discerning the Lord’s will after all. They plunge headlong into battle with the Philistine army and drive them out of that region. Therefore, the Lord rescued
Most of the rest of Chapter 14 is a subplot, to the events we had already looked at. It is a parallel theme which Samuel uses to describe the mind of Saul. We find out on the day before the battle Saul binds his army, with an oath, to fast from food. He threatens them with a curse, on pain of death, if they break this oath. Samuel leaves us in no doubt that this was not a wise thing to do.
There is a time and a place for fasting and this was not it. Fasting usual signifies a commitment to God and Saul felt sure that this was kind of thing God would like. He was trying to ensure God’s support in the battle. But to go into battle physically weak is hardly ideal.
This tells us a great deal about Saul’s understanding of God. He somehow believed that distressing and threatening his own faithful men was a necessary way of ensuring God’s help. Never believe that you can move God to love us more than He already does. God is always true to his nature and his nature is to love us. But Saul does not get this. Saul burdened his men with unreasonable demands and this kind of behaviour may have explained the desertions in his army.
Now Jonathan, did not hear the about the fast. Samuel paints this vivid picture. The army enters some woods and they come across a fallen honey comb on the ground. You can imagine the honey oozing out of the comb. At the sight of it, the men’s tongues are hanging out of their mouths. Then Jonathan just reaches down and immediately starts to eat that lovely honey. This is not today’s world when you could pop down to the local supermarket and buy some tomorrow. You could live for a lifetime without tasting anything this sweet.
When he is told of his father’s foolish command he shows no sign of guilt. As far as he was concerned he thinks that sending the army into battle without food is crazy. We cannot question Jonathan’s dependence on God. It just this, Jonathan believed that God works through His people and that God expects them to play their full part in He will. For him religion was not something that you do on a Sunday (or a Saturday!); it could not be separated from actions of everyday life. It was not about rites and rituals; it was about living and acting in line with what you know of God’s purposes and plans.
Samuel leaves us in no doubt that it is Jonathan rather than Saul who has the better understanding of what the Lord requires; and by implication it is Jonathan who has a better understanding of God Himself.
I will skip over the rest of the detail of this chapter, which you can read for yourselves. I want to move onto the next chapter, chapter 15. We move many years, perhaps decades, later in the life of Saul and
At this time, God spoke through the prophet Samuel saying that
I confess I find this command a very difficult thing to reconcile with the God I know. However, when we face passages of scripture such as these, we must be willing let them challenge our incomplete understanding of God. With our modern eyes, it seems hard to understand. War with mortal enemies is difficult to grasp for many of us because we have only known peace within our shores.
So who where the Amalekites? Well, they were a nomadic people who had attacked
“5For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil”[4]
No-one will escape God’s judgement. You see this world, and this life is not all there is; it is a prelude, the first chapter of a book, an opportunity to choose good, to choose faith in Jesus, to choose life eternal with God.
This is the picture scripture paints for us. God has given us all free will. To some degree we are able to choose between right and wrong, between good and evil. God is completely good; nevertheless the freedom that God has given humanity allows evil people to flourish, but only for a season. God provides many opportunities for repentance and choosing good. But there comes a time when God must judge and restrict evil people for the sake of weak and vulnerable. He cannot permit evil to engulf the whole world; as this would thwart his plans and purposes for humanity. For God wants a people to be His own family, out of each tribe and out of every nation. A people chosen by God and choosing God, dedicated to doing good, a holy nation called out of darkness into His glorious light. That peace, and faith and love may grow and have a presence everywhere and for ever, Amen.
Scripture talks about how God uses one wicked nation to judge another wicked nation. In fact this is the history of Mankind. One civilisation grows, normally by conquest, only to be supplanted at some ordained time by another civilisation. In this way, and many centuries later, God used the evil Assyrian empire to judge
Please do not conclude that the victor is always in the right. No, scripture doesn’t say that. Evil is a destructive force and God cannot permit it to grow unbounded. At pre-ordained times God prunes back evil nations, and He even permits one evil nation to cut back another evil nation; so both are reduced as a result.
At this time, God wanted to use
Then God spoke to Samuel: "I'm sorry I ever made Saul king. He's turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him."[5]
Saul could see that it made sense to defeat the growing Amalekite threat at his southern border. It was pragmatic and expedient; for it was politically wise to protect his kingdom. However, to destroy their property, well that didn’t make any sense and he had never done that before. He placed his own judgement above what he had clearly been told was God’s will. In his heart he had become self-reliant and arrogant. In his heart of heart he was following his own plans not God’s plans.
When Samuel came to meet him, Saul tries to persuade him that everything is alright. It’s strange he actual believed he could dupe God. When Samuel notices the large amount of sheep present Saul tries to spin Samuel the story that he captures these to sacrifice to God. Samuel is not buying this and so Saul tries to blame his soldiers. Samuel now is left with no choice but to pronounce God’s judgement on Saul, and this is what he says
“Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God's command, he says No to your kingship.” [6]
Saul responds with false contrition and repentance, but Samuel does not accept it.
27As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the
Samuel loved Saul as a father, and his heart was broken by him. Samuel left Saul; he would never go to see him again.
These difficult chapters of Samuel tell us much of the seriousness of God’s ways. Following Him, is not a game, or a hobby that we play at while we have nothing better to do. It must entail an entire way of life. Our duty is to love God with all our heart and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves and this duty is a weighty and serious one. But it must always come from a free-will offering to the Lord, a freely given heart response from the depths of our being. And remember that it is God who seeing our hearts is able to work in us and with us to this glorious end. So we must never think that we work alone for God, we work always with God.
We must never think that “looking religious” or “sounding religious” is what we need to do. This is the trap that Saul fell into. He thought that saying the “right things” and appearing to do the “right ritual” was sufficient. But in his heart of hearts he didn't want to go God’s way. I pray that we don’t fall into this trap. Obedience is the best measure of faithfulness. Sticking heart and soul to God’s commands of Love is the greatest sign of this obedience. In doing this we must be moved to action. Like Jonathan we must be willing to get out there and live the life to which we have been called. Our only hope of discovering God’s best plan for our lives is to faithfully trust Him and live with that due sense of responsibility, as people who know what the meaning and purpose of life is not as those who don’t. Paul puts is like this;
“Live a life of responsive obedience; … be energetic, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.” [7]
Amen
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