Saul's Final Demise

How do you prefer to finish your race? I was visiting recently with a resident across the street who had complete mental faculty, but limited mobility and body function. Would you prefer to finish with your mind and the body in decline, or with your body, even if the mind is not as sharp as it once was?

I understand that in Endurance Horse events, “To Finish is to win.”

Famous Christian Author, Pastor and Radio personality Erwin Lutzer named his radio broadcast “Running to Win” About 2 years ago he recorded this 3 minute teaching from Hebrews 12 that gives us 3 rules to run a successful race.

A Successful race or “Winning” may look very different for each of us.

Last weekend I know 2 women who each ran in a different half marathon. For those of us who are more sedentary, that is 13.1 miles on foot. I know I can drive 13 miles, I hope I could bike 13 miles, but the idea of a 13 mile run is only a pipe dream for me right now. One of these women was pleased that she had trimmed 1 minute per mile off of her time last year in the same race. The other woman won her age division, this was her first competition after 6 years of surgery, therapy and training and she was upset with herself that her pace was 5 seconds per mile slower than her goal. On my BEST day I might be able to do 1 7-minute mile, but 13 of them is beyond my imagination!

Dr. Lutzer and my marathon running friends may disagree about what is required to finish successfully. But, I think we can agree that Saul finishes in a failure! He doesn’t finish the race of life well.

Transition: Notice with me the tragedy of a life ended distant from God.

The Slip (Chapter 28)

David’s skill is about to put him in a precarious position (vv.1-2)

David had proven his ability to “cover Achish’s six o’clock”

What happens when David is placed between the rock of guarding Achish and the hard place of going to war against the king he has already committed to never harm?

We saw last week in the 2-chapter interlude between the declaration regarding Saul and the termination of the task that God uses the jealousy of other Philistines to prevent David from being caught in the middle..

God is Silent and Saul is Desperate (v.6)

Why is God silent? Saul has already proven that he is NOT committed to obedience.

Saul is doing (realizing it requires deception) what he has been trained is wrong, and What he had previously declared to be wrong.

Frequently “progress” is not “progress”; but REGRESSION

Consulting spirits was to be avoided by the Hebrews because is depended upon powers other than YHWH.

Those who “communicated” with the dead were leaning into false deities. (vv.7-17)

There is a world of difference between communicating with a deceased soul, and communicating with an imitation of that person.

Notice that Saul never sees “Samuel”. Only the woman claims to see him and everything that Saul hears has already been said, so evil spirits could imitate what Samuel may have said.

Some commentators liken these “mediums” to Ventriloquists. They produce various voices that the audience thinks to come from someone/something other than the performer.

3. Remember: the forces of evil are imposters, but they are NEVER equal to the truth or person of God.

a. God is omnipresent, Satan isn’t!

b. Satan must rely upon messengers because as a created being, he can only be one place at a time.

4. The only thing that “Samuel” communicates that has not already been said is the specificity of the number of sons and the exact timing of Saul’s entrance into the realm of the dead. (v.19)

This could have been a “lucky guess” or a statement of probability knowing the warplan of the Philistines to draw the Hebrews out into the plain of Jezreel.

The wording of “tomorrow you will be with me” is just vague enough that it could provide a plausible deniability if it happened otherwise.

Transition: As Saul and his men are eating a meal (vv.20-25), the scene fades and the lights come on in David’s camp in the 2 chapters we studied last week. The lights and camera move back to Saul as we observe…

The Slaughter (31:1-3)

The Philistines engage a “rumble in the valley”

The Israelites preferred hand to hand in the rough places, the plan gave Philistine chariots a strategic advantage.

The Philistines win the battle and accomplish God’s purpose of deposing Saul.

Later David would end the Philistines (as a military force) for good (2 Samuel)

Humanly we see military strength wounding Saul

From God’s perspective, He is using the Philistines to accomplish His purpose as stated in (28:17-18)

Transition: The next verses describe Saul still doing his own thing, from his own perspective without consideration of what God has said.

The Suicide (31:4-6)

Saul has disobeyed by entertaining the dead, now he disobeys entering the dead.

Saul is making decisions based upon his appraisal of events, not with respect to the inherent value of human life that has been revered since Genesis 9.

We see Saul’s stubborn self-will all the way until his final breath.

Transition: Just because Saul’s appraisal of the situation was purely human regarding the intentions of the Philistines, he wasn’t wrong.

The Skeletons (31:7-13)

Philistines Desecrate the bodies

They celebrate that Saul is ended. In the mind of the Ancients, this was not only a victory over Saul; it was a victory over the Israelite God--YHWH

Saul’s fear of being abused and tortured by the barbaric Philistines was not misplaced. They wouldn’t allow a small thing like death get in the way of mutilating and desecrating a body.

Some things never change in war. And it is not exclusive to Philistines! The raids of Genghis Khan, the ravaging done by Mussolini, the crusades and Nazi holocaust done in the name of Christendom, the burning of civilian villages in our Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and modern war crimes is testament that there is no limit to the brutality of one human toward another.

3. This practice of parading conquered armies is attested by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 2:14-16.

The Contrast between Victor and Victim was as pronounced as victors wearing cologne and be led by incense, compared to the deceased victims dragged behind horses with the stench of death.

2 Corinthians 2:14–16 ESV:2016

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

I’m sure the mood in the cars of Bulldog footballers going home Friday was very different than the bus ride to Topeka at the same time.

4. Paul says that in Christ we are everything that Saul was not.

Citizens of Jabesh Gilead protect the bodies (31:11-12)

They mourn that Saul is ended

These devout and respectful men put an end to the parades that proclaim their God (YHWH) has been defeated.

Early chapters of 2 Samuel will reveal that YHWH has NOT been defeated as He will bless Israel into it’s largest occupation of land throughout history under King David.

David honors the bodies (2 Sam 21:11-14)

David knows this life is not the end!

Burial options are a very personal choice. Burial or cremation seem to be prominent in our culture. My parents have communicated that their wish is to be in a mausoleum (as Jesus was put in an above ground tomb until His resurrection). Ann and I have communicated to each other that we want our remains to be used for transplant and medical research. (We conclude that if God can reconstitute a body that has decayed, He can remake one that has been distributed). Both my parents’ wishes and our wishes are testaments that this life is not the end!

2. I’ve noticed that in my own lifetime funerals have become memorial services; have become celebrations of life. No matter what you call it or what you emphasize, the rite of Christian burial has always looked, not to the past, but to give hope in the present that there is a future yet to come!

Transition: Are you looking backward or are you looking forward?

Conclusion:

My half-marathon friends both finished their race in a way that most, if not all, of us would call well done.

Dr. Lutzer has told us how to run successfully.

Saul demonstrated how to run poorly and end in disaster.

I want to tell you one more story that could still be your story. Some start well, get sidetracked in life, but return to the path at the end.

My middle name is one that I have disliked for most of my life. Since it refers to royalty, several have commented that it is irrational to dislike the name and only use the initial. However, I have that name because of my Dad’s younger brother. At East High School in the 1960s my uncle was so devoted to Christ, his nickname was “Deacon”. During his college years he was introduced to alcohol and other ungodly behaviors. By the time I learned the significance of my middle name, I did not see my Uncle as someone to be admired. He was a hard-worker who supported his family, but beer and rough living were leaving scars that could never be covered. By the 1980’s I had determined to only use my middle initial. However, after losing his wife, a son, and his health, my uncle became a changed man. He never rose to the reputation he had as a High School student, but he began to live so that his remaining sons knew he was a God-fearing man.

To me, Saul is a picture of decline into destruction. But Uncle Earl is an example of redemption and restoration.

Whether you have or have not been running the race of life successfully up until now, The nature of grace is that forgiveness and restoration are possible so that what you were does not have to define who you will be!

Join me in confessing past mistakes and current failure, while seeking God’s preferred future.

Song of Response #436..... “Whiter Than Snow”

Benediction: 2 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) — But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.