Choosing a King

How many of us are familiar with Munchausen Syndrome? The Cleveland Clinic defines this syndrome as “when someone tries to get attention and sympathy by falsifying, inducing, and/or exaggerating an illness”

While Munchausen involves false symptoms, and can be demonstrated on self or a loved one, a similar syndrome has been labeled White Knight or Hero Syndrome. This condition exists when one feels compelled to resolve conflicts in another. An extreme subset of this is the firefighter who sets real fires so that he/she will be called upon to extinguish the fire. Both of these are considered by the mental health community as forms of narcissism. These are similar, but not identical to what happens in our text today.

In our text God is NOT narcissistic so that He manufactures scenarios. Humanity is so rebellious that wecreate the need for His remedy. We saw last week that the Israelites demanded a King and today we find the type of King they installed.

Transition: Since some time may have passed since you read these chapters, let’s begin by summarizing the story.

The Historical Narrative

A Donkey Hunt (9:1-5)

Just as we are first introduced to Samuel by learning of his father, here we are introduced to Saul by learning of his father and we will later be introduced to David by first learning of Jesse.

The donkeys that belonged to Saul’s father were lost (9:3) so Saul and a servant are sent to look for them.

I believe this is a metaphor for the Israelites who had wandered from their true owner (Yahweh God).

A Divine Appointment (9:6-14)

While young Saul thinks he is on a donkey hunt, the real reason for this adventure is to have him cross paths with Samuel.

We’ll discover later how Saul is introduced to the Prophet that he knew nothing about.

A Dinner of Dignity (9:15-25)

V.15 indicates that this is no accident, but God is ordering events before they happen.

Saul is so accustomed to privilege that he doesn’t seem to react when he is seated at the head of the table and given the choice cut in front of 30 invited guests.

Samuel intentionally honors Saul, but Saul treats it as ordinary.

A date with Destiny (9:26-10:13)

This is a private prophetic meeting between Samuel and Saul. The public reveal starts in v.17 that we will look at next week.

God clearly told Samuel that Saul was the one He had chosen in response to the people’s demand. They wanted a king (melekh), but God appointed a prince/leader (nagid) (9:16) to restrain (9:17) the “donkeys” who had gone astray.

Samuel gives 3 signs that he was speaking for God.

a. 1 might be “interesting”

b. 2 might be “coincidence”

c. 3 is clearly “providence”

Keeping Uncle in the Dark (10:14-16)

· Saul has just experience a clear interaction with the Divine and supernatural, but the only thing he discusses with his uncle is the common livestock report.

Transition: From the flyover, let’s go back and give attention to some of the things we observe on the trail.

Observations from the Plot

A Disaster in the making

1. Good and bad qualities of Saul

Benefits

Tall

Handsome

Deficiencies

lost the donkeys

gave up too early

Wealthy Family

spiritually unaware

a small tribe

No aspirations

Spirituality could be bought

2. A spoiled rich kid who never had to work for anything is unlikely to make a good leader.

Dynasty, not divinity

The people had asked for a king like the nations around them. 2 things about Saul’s kingship that was different than other Ancient Near East people groups.

Kings were considered divine.

Anointing only happened to vice-regents

Robert Bergen writes in the NAC: ““In Egyptian culture it was the custom to anoint vassal kings, i.e., minor kings who owed allegiance to the great king of Egypt; in this light we may see the king of Israel not as a king in his own right but as the vassal of Yahweh, who is envisaged as the true king of Israel.”23 Though Samuel anointed Saul, it was in fact the Lord who was responsible for designating Saul as the leader “over his inheritance” (v. 1). The Lord termed him “leader” (Hb. nāgîd) and not “king” here[i]”

Discovery of God’s Provision (meaning of 3 signs)

David Payne does a wonderful job of explaining the 3 signs in the New Bible Commentary”

2 messengers

The first sign (2) was to assure him that he could put the past behind him; his future role was not that of a farmer.[ii]

2. 3 suppliers

The second sign (3–4) was to assure him that the Israelites would recognize him as king. The loaves of bread were part of the offerings being taken to the shrine at Bethel, so the men would not give them casually to any passing stranger, but only to somebody of very high status.

3. 1 source

The third sign (5–6) would give him assurance that he had the necessary gifts and abilities for the task of leadership.

Winfred Neely notes “When Saul met the musical procession of prophets, the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them. Those who witnessed the occasion thought it strange that Saul was among the prophets. This did not mean that Saul became a prophet, but that only at this one time he exercised a prophetic gift. It was surprising but also a persuasive and powerful sign of God’s presence in Saul’s life”[iii]

SIDEnote: This may be an observation to note in modern discussions of women pastors/elders (an issue being discussed by America’s largest protestant denomination). I don’t deny for a moment that God has used and continues to use women in significant ways! But just because God enabled Saul to prophesy in this situation did NOT mean Saul became a prophet. Similarly, Just because God enables a woman with significant speaking ability does NOT mean the Bible prescribes women to be elders in a local church.

Transition: I never want to leave a historical legend in the past. We need it to (and 1 Cor 10:11 says it is for) our instruction.

Applications

Never overplay PROVIDENCE

“If God wanted me to 1,2,3, He would not have done a,b,c.”

There are MANY things that God PERMITS that are not His PERFECTwill, but He uses for His PURPOSE.

God’s perfect will was expressed back in Exodus and Deuteronomy. But God permits Saul to become a bad king, which He will redeem by sending a better king (who has his own faults) so that His people will long for the best King—King Jesus!

My life has been marked by several steps in what turned out to be the right direction. God moved me from A to B so that He could move me into C. Many times I did not see the connection between A and C. God moved me to Oklahoma for a job, but when the job was completed, I moved away with a life partner and a family. God placed me on the maintenance team in Lenexa, which led to my education at MBTS, which led to the FHCC search team learning about me 5 years ago.

4. God didn’t move me into my parents basement, working as a janitor to leave me there. But I had to trust His timing.

5. The life of Joseph is another great example of this as he looked back over the circumstances of his journey from pit to palace. Just because God has you in a situation, doesn’t mean that is the end of the story.

Always seek God’s PURPOSE

Sometimes frustration on a donkey hunt can put you in contact with divine appointments.

The way God moved Saul from home to meeting Samuel was running an errand for his dad. Text

I can’t begin to count the number of staff and patients I was permitted to encourage or pray for when I served as a medical courier and traveled with Ann through her cancer journey.

3. The meeting between Saul and Samuel was NOT coincidence. (see 9:15)

1 Samuel 9:15 ESV:2016

15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel:

Esther 4:14 ESV:2016

14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

4. How were Paul and Silas able to sing in jail in Philippi?

Acts 16:25 ESV:2016

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

5. Whatever circumstance you find yourself, always seek God’s purpose.

Value necessary PARTNERS (1 Sam 9:6)

1. Saul’s servant introduced Saul to a spiritual reality of which he had been unaware.

1 Samuel 9:6 ESV:2016

6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.”

2. We ALL have blind spots and benefit from a brother or sister in the Lord who can point us in a new direction when we are ready to quit and give up.

3. In a moment we will gather around the bread and wine and remember the actual body of Christ, but it is equally true that He has instituted a metaphoric body—the church. Believers of all ages since Pentecost who help one another to remember the historic body and to act as the present body on behalf of the One who helps those who are limited in themselves.

4. As we go through Saul’s biography we will count repeated times when he ignores good advice and listens to bad. We need to surround ourselves with partners in God’s family who are unafraid to speak good counsel.

Conclusion:

God is always at work!

As I think about how God was at work for a glorious purpose even as He was working with a very flawed specimen of a King, I’m reminded how often in Scripture we see God working amidst the failings of His people.

I recall how the mob in Jerusalem cried out “Crucify Him!” because they didn’t realize who He was or what He was doing.

I remember how Peter distanced himself from Jesus as the crucial hour. The shortcomings of Saul elicit thoughts of how Judas was so wrapped up in personal money issues that he betrayed the Christ. As one criminal mocked Jesus, the other admitted his need for a Savior.

We ALL have our shortcomings, but God continued to be at work through His Son to ransom our failures and redeem our mistakes. The fact that God is at work while we come up short is the meaning of the bread and the wine we are about to share.

23 D. F. Payne, I and II Samuel, DSB (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1982), 50. [i] Bergen, Robert D. 1996. 1, 2 Samuel. Vol. 7. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. [ii] Payne, David F. 1994. “1 and 2 Samuel.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 306. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. [iii] Neely, Winfred O. 2014. “1 Samuel.” In The Moody Bible Commentary, edited by Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham, 414. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.