King Saul
Notes
Transcript
1 Samuel 9-31 Covers the life of King Saul.
1 Samuel 8 is the set-up for Saul’s life, with Israel asking for a man to be made their king.
This is a rejection of God who is their king.
There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.
Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.
Saul:
Tall and handsome!
Looking for donkeys, and when they get to Zuph, the district Samuel was from, his servant suggests asking Samuel. Saul didn’t even know Samuel.
What does this tell us about Saul, considering Samuel is the prophet of God, the one who has been leading Israel for between 40-50 years, serving at the tabernacle, and travelling a circuit to offer sacrifices and lead the people.
Saul:
Tall and handsome!
Not a follower of God
For Saul to not know Samuel would mean he did not go to the tabernacle, or care to hear from God.
This is evident from the fact that when he met Samuel, he didn’t know who he was.
Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”
But God had revealed to Samuel the day before that he would meet a young man from Benjamin, and that he was to anoint that young man as the king of Israel.
Saul spends the day with Samuel, and the next morning...
Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?
Samuel also gives Saul signs.
Near Rachel’s Tomb, 2 men
Great tree of Tabor, 3 men
Gibeah, procession of prophets, Spirit of God
God will change you
Go to Gilgal, I will come
Samuel also gives Saul signs.
Near Rachel’s Tomb, 2 men, ‘Donkeys have been found, father is worried about you’
Great tree of Tabor, 3 men going to worship God, 1-3 young goats, 1-3 loaves of bread, 1-skin of wine. They will greet you and offer 2 loaves of bread
Gibeah, procession of prophets, Spirit of God will come on you and you will prophesy
God will change you, do what you find to do, God is with you
Go to Gilgal, I will come, but you must wait 7 days until I come to you and tell you what to do.
First 3 happen, just like Samuel prophesied through the Lord.
What does this show us about God?
God reaches out and reveals himself
Saul:
Tall and handsome!
Not a follower of God
Experienced God working in his life
Samuel calls Israel to Mizpah.
Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah
and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
Saul revealed as king
Saul revealed as king
They draw lots, and it comes down to Saul, but they cannot find him. God says, he is hiding among the supplies. They get him and he is a head taller than anyone else. Everyone is impressed.
Samuel reminds the people of the duties of kingship with are found in Deuteronomy 17.14-20.
Everyone goes home.
Saul Defeats the Ammonites
Saul Defeats the Ammonites
1 Samuel 11, Nahash the Ammonite besieged Jabesh Gilead. The elders of the city send for help.
Saul hears, and the Spirit of God comes on him. He summons Israel to battle, and they come.
Saul defeats the Ammonites. This fulfills the 4th thing Samuel told Saul.
Do what you find to do, the Lord is with you!
God was with Saul and gave them a great victory over the Ammonites.
Samuel encourages everyone to go to Gilgal by the Jordan, a place where Israel renewed the covenant with the Lord when they first crossed the Jordan so many years before.
Now, they are going there again, to…
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”
So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
Why do this? Didn’t Samuel already anoint Saul as God directed? Didn’t the people. well most of them, say, he’s good!
They are going to make Saul king in the presence of the Lord. God is the Great King of Kings. Saul is the under king. They are going there to renew the kingdom as it should be in God’s presence.
While they are there, Samuel reminds them...
Samuel reminds them all to follow the Lord
Samuel reminds them all to follow the Lord
Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt.
Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.
“After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
“But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.
They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’
Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.
“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.
Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you.
If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good!
But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.
“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!
Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”
Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.
The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.
For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
Now we come to the fifth thing Samuel prophesied to Saul.
5. Go to Gilgal, I will come, but you must wait 7 days until I come to you and tell you what to do.
Saul at Gilgal
Saul at Gilgal
1 Samuel 13. Saul’s son Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and then Saul called for Israel to assemble at Gilgal to fight the Philistines.
The Philistines come with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and soldiers like the sand on the seashore.
Israel starts hiding, and even running away all the way across to the other side of the Jordan.
Saul gets impatient.
So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.
Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.
“What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash,
I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Saul:
Tall and handsome!
Not a follower of God
Experienced God working in his life
Impatient, blames others
What does this show us about God?
Reaches out and reveals himself
Sees the heart
Expects Faith and Obedience
1 Samuel 14 victory through Jonathan, Saul’s son who is trusting the Lord
Saul doesn’t wait to hear from the Lord, goes into battle, and ...
Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
It’s all about him, Saul.
This command led to Saul almost killing Jonathan, and the men being so famished that they broke God’s command and ate meat with blood still in it.-25
1 Samuel 15 Samuel comes to Saul again.
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.
Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”
Saul gets the army and attacks and defeats them.
But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:
“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.
And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’
Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”
“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.
The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.
Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”
But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”
As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.
Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”
Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”
So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Saul:
Tall and handsome!
Not a follower of God
Experienced God working in his life
Impatient, blames others
Pride, wants to look good
What does this show us about God?
Reaches out and reveals himself
Sees the heart
Expects Faith and Obedience
Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.
Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
