Long Live the King!

There is a spirit of defiance, frequently found in the young. It’s a spirit that says, “No one can tell me what to do.” That same spirit routinely leads the young into trouble and places them in need of rescue time and again. But if we’re honest, that spirit doesn’t always fade with age.

In our homes, workplaces, churches, we find that same spirit of defiance to leadership is as common in adults as it is in children, it just takes forms that are often less overt. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” “It’s been so long since he’s done my job, he’s forgotten the best ways to do it. My way is better.” “What he doesn't know won’t hurt him.” “What business does she have telling me how to do my job?” I’m sure you’ve heard OTHER PEOPLE say things like this!

This morning, we’re going to read a story that will be familiar to some of you. But this story is likely familiar for the funniest part of the story, and less familiar for what it’s actually about. God’s people get a reluctant king, but it’s their refusal to submit to that king’s authority that actually forms the point of our passage. Let’s look at…

Scripture Reading

1 Samuel 10:17-27 (ESV)

17 Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.” 20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Prayer

Exegesis

Review

It’s important to remember that the story of 1 Samuel takes place sometime around the end of the book of Judges. The religious climate is best summed up by the author of Judges with the last verse: “There was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” As a result of Israel’s idolatry and wickedness, the voice of God is virtually silent in the nation.

So the story of 1 Samuel opens on a small family that is seemingly faithful to the Lord – at least for the most part. This is particularly odd because really no one else was. You have Elkanah, who is husband, and Hannah who is one of the wives. Hannah is barren, but she desperately wants a child – so she prays for one. And she says, if you give me a son, I’ll dedicate him to service to you all the days of his life, and the Lord grants her request and gives her a son.

Hannah prays in chapter two and her prayer is fundamental to the rest of the book of first Samuel because it intends to inform your thinking about everything that happens from here on out. She says in…

1 Samuel 2:6–10 (ESV) — 6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. 9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

In 1 and 2 Samuel, God is building his kingdom from the ashes of Israel’s disobedience. And throughout this book, Israel is going to seek to cast God off, set him aside, subvert his agenda, but as Hannah makes clear, no matter which way they turn or what they attempt to do they only ever end up doing exactly what God has decreed to happen.

Flash forward to chapter 8, and the people of Israel are fed up with the system of Judges that God has given to them. Samuel was alright, they admit, but his sons are worthless. Worshipping God has its moments, but “the last time we dragged the ark of the covenant out onto the battlefield, we got stomped and the ark was captured. We want a king instead. A king will fight our battles. A king will establish an army. A king will be someone we can depend on. Give us someone impressive.”

So, God has answered their prayers. He has appointed Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul is tall. He’s handsome. And he’s rich. Saul looks like everything Israel would ever choose in a king if they could draw him up, and God has appointed him king by anointing him earlier in chapter 10 – as we saw last week. And this morning, his people are introduced to him. But there are two realities that I want us to see this morning in this passage that are a constant throughout the Bible. They help define what it means to be included in the people of God. This passage gives us a glimpse at these two realities. The first is that…

God’s people are dependent on him

Look how this plays out. The people in verse 17 are gathered together at Mizpah, a city that we think is just north of Jerusalem by a few miles. Samuel has gathered them there for the purpose of introducing them to Saul – the new king of Israel. But first, there’s a bit of a history lesson. Look at verse 18. Samuel says:

1 Samuel 10:18–19 (ESV) — 18 …“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

So this is the first way we see that God’s people are dependent on him. Their salvation has always been by his hand. They’ve never rescued themselves from anyone. God tells them through Samuel, “I’m the one that rescued you from Egypt. I’m the one that saved you from their hand, and everyone else’s hand for that matter. And now you’ve rejected me – who saves you from all your calamities.” This pattern of God rehearsing for them all that he has done happens is a pattern before a prophet pronounces the judgment. Typically after God tells them all that he has done, and then he announces what he’s going to do as a response in bringing judgment. This time, though, where the pronouncement of judgment should be is the selection of their king. In other words the king will be punishment enough.

Some of you seasoned veterans will remember such times as when you had to pick your own switch. When you were a rookie at it, you might've thought the thin and pliable switch was the way to go, but then you realized pretty quickly that those acted a little like a bullwhip to really sting the behind. Well, God is basically telling Israel here to pick their switch, and they’ve come back with the king of all switches, and God knows this one is going to sting. It’s punishment enough.

So he gathers them together to cast lots to see who the king is. “Now,” you might be thinking, “didn’t Samuel already anoint the man?” Yes. He anointed Saul in a private ceremony. But remember: the people have rejected Samuel’s sons, whom Samuel appointed as judges. So the casting of lots (like the rolling of the dice) is the way to demonstrate that the one whom Samuel anointed is also the one whom God has chosen.

So they cast lots and it lands on the tribe of Benjamin. Then the clan of Matrites. Eventually Kish’s son, Saul. So great, we have our king. And he’s right here…wait…anybody seen Saul? Now, this little episode where Saul is missing is hilarious. They look up, having identified Saul, but Saul has disappeared. They even ask, “Is there another son of Kish somewhere we don’t know about?” “No,” the Lord says, “He’s hidden himself among the baggage.” The baggage is most likely all the military gear, in case they have to defend or attack there at Mizpah. The Philistines and the Ammonites are breathing down their neck, so they’ve brought all the military equipment with them.

This has apparently provided Saul with significant cover to hide out. Maybe this will all go away. But it’s likely also one last illustration of Israel’s abundant need for God. First, they actually need help to find a king to lead them. But second, God is going to have to strengthen the hand of this king. He’s supposed to lead them into battle, but instead of strapping on the armor, he’s hiding behind it.

There is no doubt here a not-so-subtle message to all Israel that would ever hear this story in the future: God’s people will always have to depend on the Lord for everything. You can appoint your kings and your leaders, you can have your chariots and your horses, but God is the one that fights for his people. There’s no running from it.

Nevertheless, they have their King. Samuel makes sure to get one last dig in there: “See! Just like you wanted. He’s tall. He’s handsome. He’s rich. Sure you had to pull him out from under the table, but here’s your guy!” And the people shout, “Long live the king!” As we’ll see in a minute, some found this whole episode a bit disturbing.

So the first reality that we’re seeing in this passage is that God’s people are always dependent on him. But the second reality is that…

God’s people must submit to his will

Admittedly, this one may be a bit jarring when you stop to think about what’s going on in the last part of this passage. So the kingship has been established. That means that for the rest of (eternity really), but certainly as long as they are a nation, Israel will be serving a king. So the kingship has been established, and King Saul has been appointed as the first in the position.

So it says in…

1 Samuel 10:25 (ESV) — 25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.

What all he said to them, and what all he wrote in the book we don’t know. However, it’s not as though God hasn’t already told us what the responsibilities of the king are. I read this passage a couple of weeks ago, but it bears repeating here. This whole section of 1 Samuel is tied directly to…

Deuteronomy 17:14–20 (ESV) — 14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Don’t miss this. The people of Israel has said, “We want a king like all other nations.” But if you read the responsibilities laid out for a king in Deuteronomy, a king was certainly a possibility for them, but this stretches the definition of “like all other nations.” God’s people were never going to have a king that was exactly like all the other nations.

This king was required to be the foremost biblical scholar in the land. He was going to be led by God directly. He wasn’t going to be a military commander, because he wasn’t going to acquire horses and chariots for himself, nor depend on the military might of other nations. He wasn’t going to acquire many wives for himself. He wasn’t going to become the rich politician. He will have his own copy of the law that he knows backwards and forwards. He’ll be humble. He won’t break God’s law.

If you walk down the line of Israel’s kings that are coming, every one of them will break this until you get to one person – but we’ll talk about him in a minute. What we see now is that even though they’re setting a king over themselves, it’s not as though they can get away from having to submit to God. He’s the one determining the rules for that king. The first way we see that God’s people have to submit to his will is that The king will be held accountable to God’s rules for the kingship.

But there’s a second, perhaps more important aspect to this for us to consider. Look at…

1 Samuel 10:26–27 (ESV) — 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

There is a division in the nation between the people that support Saul and the people that are already beginning to question his leadership. First there is a group of men who followed Saul back home to Gibeah who went with Saul. Perhaps they were future military leaders, secret service, body guards, and various other kinds of support. They followed him home, and no doubt supported his kingship. These are probably some of the same ones we see at the end of 24 saying, “Long live the king!” The author calls them, “men of valor.”

But then there’s a second group of people, and this group asks the question in verse 27: “How can this man save us?” But these people are really chastised by the author – he calls them “worthless fellows.” The word is sometimes used to say, “sons of worthlessness,” even sometimes “sons of the devil.” The point is that the author doesn’t mince words when he’s describing these people. They’re worthless, and we’re meant to understand that their worthlessness is revealed by their question, “How can this man save us?”

There are two problems with their question. First, it reveals their lack of spiritual awareness as to what the king really is supposed to do. Look up at verses 18 and 19:

1 Samuel 10:18–19 (ESV) …’I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses…

Who is it who saves Israel? It always has been and always will be the God of Israel who alone saves. The Psalmists will continue to point this out. The prophets in the future will do the same. There should be no confusion about this fact, but their question belies their ignorance of these fundamental spiritual realities for God’s people. They will always be dependent on God, and they will always be in submission to him for salvation.

But second, their question reveals a lack of submission to God’s will. Perhaps you might misread this whole section of 1 Samuel and think that the people have upset God’s plan that was otherwise going off without a hitch. Now the people have rejected God and demanded a king, and now God is up in heaven just perplexed telling the angels in the board room meeting, “It’s back to the drawing board guys. Out stock is down with our investors. They’re unloading all our stock and they’re wanting me out as CEO.”

But pay careful attention to what Samuel says to the people in verse 24:

1 Samuel 10:24 (ESV) — 24 …“Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen?”…

Who chose the king? God chose the king. Not only that, but God chose a king who, by all accounts, doesn’t actually want to be king. He questions Samuel before he’s anointed. He hides among the baggage when it comes time to introduce him to Israel. Every indication we have is that Saul, though big and tall, has no desire to be king over Israel. But God has chosen him. So the question the men ask is no mere question. It’s actually questioning what God has done in giving the people this leader.

Can this man save us? “Well, no, you fool. No ordinary man can save you. Only God saves you. Didn’t you pay attention in Bible school? But this is no ordinary man. This is a man that God has chosen for a specific task. God has appointed your leader, and you are to submit to him and to his authority. To refuse to submit to his authority is actually to refuse to submit to God’s authority.” Instead they refused. They refused to honor him – they despised him, and they brought him no present, but he held his peace.

In this passage, God has made clear that wanting the kind of king Israel wants is a blatant rejection of God (the one who brought them out of slavery). But after God installs Saul as king, this passage calls the ones who reject Saul, "worthless fellows.” They are refusing to submit to God’s authority over his people, and that is the fundamental problem. In the NT, God installs a permanent king on the throne, and submission to Jesus is mandated for all God's people. Do you see the through-line? God’s placing a king over his people is a call to submit to that king. The willingness of God’s people to submit to the king defines who are his people and who are not his people.

Application

We have done a great disservice to Christians by not carefully unpacking how fundamental submission is to Christianity. We’re about to get really uncomfortable now. The word, “submission,” has become a curse word in our culture, and it’s actually been a curse word in every culture throughout time. No one likes to be told to submit, and yet, the Bible unashamedly tells us to submit.

Wives are told to submit to your husbands in the same way as the church submits to Christ, and to demonstrate that your hope is in God (Eph. 5:22; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:5)

Church members are told to submit to and obey your leaders – the elders of the church, as they have charge over your souls and will give an account to Christ (Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:5)

Church members are told to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:21)

Christians should be subject to every fellow worker and laborer for the gospel (1 Cor. 16:16)

Children are called to obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord (Eph. 6:1; Col. 3:20)

Bondservants their masters, or in today’s vernacular employees, your bosses with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord (Col. 3:22)

All of us should be subject to the governing authorities and every human institution, because they have been put there by God (Rom. 13:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13)

And of course there are numerous commands to obey and submit to God’s commands in the New Testament (!), and these demonstrate that you love God (1 Jn. 5:2).

It’s easy to see the commands in scripture to obey, submit, or be subject to other people, but that’s not good enough. You also need to connect that to the reason why. Each of these commands is rooted in your submission to Christ as the sovereign authority over all. I promise you, every time the command for submission gets brought up, most people in here are going to be thinking about all of the exceptions. What about this and what about that? Let me just say, if someone commands you to worship something other than Christ or disobey what Christ has explicitly commanded – you do not submit to that. There’s your exception. And that’s a real exception. There are all kinds of places that are telling you to deny the reality of male and female, acknowledge that marriage can be redefined by the government, and all sorts of other things that we will NEVER submit to. That’s when government and authorities have overstepped their station by putting their swivel chair above Christ’s throne. So there are real exceptions.

But are you ready for the rule?

Romans 13:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

You can add to “governing authorities,” all that the rest of the New Testament tells you to obey and submit to. Christian, your understanding of what Christ has accomplished, and your desire to submit to him is tested by your obedience to those who are in authority over you. If you really do believe Christ is sovereign over all, then everyone from your boss to the President or King, is appointed by Christ the true sovereign ruler to exercise authority.

But we have to be honest: this cuts against our very nature as Americans. We’re quite used to being free-thinking, independent, freedom loving, pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, submit to no one kinds of people. Our mantra is the land of freedom and opportunity. But understand that the call to follow Christ, is a call, first and foremost, to submission. You’re to submit to God who is King – not in some distant sense where he doesn’t know the everyday affairs of his people – but who is sovereign over every molecule of creation.

**To the unbelieving: bowing your hearts to the sovereign Christ – “whose hearts God had touched”**

So something happens to you when you truly begin to submit to Christ as king over all: no one else poses any threat to you. There are numerous people who call themselves Christians, who go to work hating their bosses and find numerous ways to subvert their authority because, “they don’t understand how to do this like I do.” But if Christ has appointed them over you, subverting their authority is subverting his authority.

Throughout the entirety of the scriptures, two things will always be true of God’s people: God’s people will be the ones who are dependent on him, and who submit to his will. That’s not just something we should be saying in such a way that it loses all meaning. It’s something we’re actually called to demonstrate in our daily attitude over the big and small things in life. Is your confidence in the sovereign authority of Christ lead you to a humble posture before all who are in authority over you? Are you a person of valor, whose heart God has touched? Or are you a worthless fellow, who picks out all the flaws and uses them as an excuse to refuse to submit to authority? Your ability to follow earthly leadership, demonstrates the faith you say you have in the one, true king.

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