1 Samuel 13-14 - Talk 10
‘A King Behaving Badly’ (1 Samuel 13-14)
introduction
When Janette and I lived in Newcastle in the late 1990s we often drove past Wallsend cemetery. This was back in the days of ‘Hey, Hey its Saturday’ and the ‘funny photo’ segment. One day we were driving past and we couldn’t believe our eyes – there was a pizza delivery van in the cemetery. Would’ve made a great funny photo. I somehow pictured in my mind that the order must had been lost some years earlier and only now the pizza was arriving to its rightful owner. That’s a pizza man taking his obligations seriously – far more than Saul was prepared to do.
Today we move into chapters 13 and 14 which tell us how Saul failed as the leader of Israel. Saul fails because he does exactly the opposite of what he should do as a leader of God’s people – he disobeys God. Israel need a king who will pray for them – teach them – not Saul the king but Samuel the judge whom God had appointed. But the people ask for a king.
the challenge of obedience
Saul’s disobedience (10:8; 13:8-14)
Let’s begin Samuel’s words to Saul in chapter 10:8, ‘Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do’. Samuel instructs Saul – he is to wait until he arrives for further direction. Seven days we’re in chapter 13 and Saul and his troops are at Gilgal waiting to fight the Philistines. It’s code RED – Israel are at war and tensions are high. 13:7 continues with the details, ‘Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 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’.
Saul has a real problem. He waits until the seventh day and still no Samuel and the situation is deteriorating. No Samuel in sight - the troops are scattering. Saul reasons with himself and decides that the problem is easily fixed – he decides to offer the burnt offerings and ‘gee-golly’ the next minute Samuel shows up. Saul meets him and greets him and a conversation beings in verse 11, ‘“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 Micmash, 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 acted foolishly,” 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’”.
Its easy to be sympathetic with Saul. He is in a pressure cooker – he reasons that the enemy will soon be upon him and he felt a need to act in Samuel’s absence. Saul’s plays the ‘two-card’ trick as old as Eden itself. He says to Samuel in verse 11, ‘When I saw the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time’. Read that ‘you’ in bold type. ‘This was YOUR fault Samuel, YOU weren’t here in time. My problem with the burnt offering was YOUR fault’. The blame game.
obedience is not easy
Obedience to God often is not easy - it rarely is. But who said it was easy? Saul found himself in a pickle and he had to choose between doing what seemed sensible and necessary or obeying God’s command. Saul was told to wait until Samuel arrived for Samuel is the bearer of God’s word. It’s a tough choice. It’s hard to be faithful and obedient to God in tough times. You can only do that if you really trust him. How hard is it to be obedient to God? Something seems to you to be worth doing – something you think necessary to do – highly desirable – it makes lots of sense - but God commands you not to do it. You’ll only obey God if you really trust him. Obedience and trust are two sides of the same coin – not just trusting God in the easy things, but in the hard choices where obedience to God is not the attractive option.
Andrew Murray says, ‘The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God's holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him. I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established’.
By nature we choose the path of least resistance. Responding to the moment. Our instincts for survival are strong. When our instincts point us away from obedience to God it takes a strong push to change course. You’ll only obey God if you really trust him. Not a blind trust. A trust which Samuel reminded Israel was based on God’s ongoing faithfulness. Peter puts it this way in 1 Pet 1:14-16, ‘As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy”’.
meeting our real needs
the leader we really need (Ps 146:3; Heb 1:8)
Saul is a failed leader because he takes the path of least resistance – trusting in himself rather than in the word of God. We may well ponder whether God’s ideal leader will ever be found. The search for a leader is a frustrating business. As try as they may, our politicians will not make this world a secure place. This is God’s world and any leader who fails to be obedient to God cannot deliver peace and security in God’s world. Psalm 146:3 says, ‘Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save’. The human leaders that we choose – the king that we choose with the abilities that impress and attract us will not bring us peace and justice for this is God’s world.
Well then, what kind of king do we need?
God accommodated Israel’s sinfulness and allowed the people a king and a succession of kings throughout the centuries. Genealogies such as those in Matthew 1 are a record of kings – a record of human sinfulness alongside the grace of God. King after king failed but before this even happens Samuel says in 12:22, ‘For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own’.
And so God raised up a king - a king who is perfectly obedient to the word of God – a servant king who ‘gives and gives and gives’ rather than ‘takes and takes and takes’. Only this king can deliver peace and security for his people. Jesus is the king that God has appointed to rule over his people – a leader so unlike the leaders of other nations. A leader who says, ‘Not my will, but yours be done’. The easy way was avoiding the cross – at that moment with his enemies all around him Jesus chose obedience to his Father rather than follow his human instincts. And the price was paid and the tomb was empty. And God says this about his Son, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the sceptre of your kingdom’ (Heb 1:8)
The leader we really need is Jesus and he is the one that will usher in a world of peace and security. Does this mean then that we ought not care about peace and security in the world now? Righteousness is always our concern. But its permanence is not until the world to come.
the word we really need (13:15; Jn 5:24, 6:68-69, 17:17)
There’s a few words in 1 Sam 13 that we ought not allow to pass us by. Saul has acted foolishly for he has not kept the command of God. Remember at Gilgal in the heat of the situation, Saul needs the word of God and that is why Samuel is on his way. But Saul disobeys the prophet and he is rebuked by Samuel. Then in verse 15 this happens, ‘Then Samuel left Gilgal’. The king no longer has the word of God available to him. To be stripped of the direction of God’s word is to be truly impoverished and open to destruction. It is one thing to be in terrible distress – it is another to be alone in that distress. Saul had isolated himself from what he needed the most – the word of God for his way.
In 1864 Abraham Lincoln said to a group of African-Americans who gave him a Bible, ‘In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it’.
God’s people cannot live without his word. ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path’. John Chrysostom said, ‘When the soul is suffering [...] there is a great need of the Word’. Verse 15 is perhaps the saddest verse in 1 Samuel. Or at least along with 15:35, ‘Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel’.
God’s people treasure his Word. Jesus has a lot to say about his words, ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to live’ (Jn 5:24). Simon Peter asks, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the holy one of God’ (Jn 6:68-69). And as Jesus prays for his followers he says, ‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth’ (Jn 17:17).
The sanctifying word of God. Ignored by Saul – a king behaving badly and leading his people astray. If we ignore the word of God then it is to our peril. God’s people need God’s word not on the bookshelf but on the mantelpiece in our hearts– open and active – piecing the soul and stirring us up to love and good works.
a case in obedience
Jonathan - a man of faith (14:1-14)
Hereafter life in changes for Saul. His rebellion against God – the withdrawal of God’s word permanently changes the contours of Saul’s kingship. Saul maybe king – but he seems to be wavering around in the background in the midst of the action. Saul is king but God uses others to defeat Israel’s enemies which haven’t gone away. Remember the Philistines are poised at Micmash ready to strike and the situation is critical.
The rise of Jonathan. Have a look at 13:23 (its tacked onto the beginning of chapter 14 in my Bible), ‘Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Micmash. One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father’. When they get close to the outpost, Jonathan says in 14:8, ‘“Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands”’. God confirms that he is with Jonathan – the two men go into the outpost and literally wipe it out.
Then the action really starts. Jonathan’s attack produces terror and confusion amongst the Israelites. It’s recorded in verse 15, ‘Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God’. The battle is won. Jonathan is the man of the moment – the narrator makes it clear that Yahweh is the God of the moment, ‘It was a panic sent by God’.
Let’s pause for a minute and have a look at this man Jonathan. The Philistines are assembled to fight Israel at Micmash with ‘three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as sand on the seashore’. The Philistines have more weapons than George Bush. As a result, many of the Israelite soldiers are hiding in fear, on the day of the battle not one Israelite had a sword or spear in his hand. The Philistines had them. Yet in verse 6 we read that ‘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”’.
The Philistine outpost is in pass protected as we are told in verses 4-5, by two cliffs – one cliff named ‘Bozez’ meaning ‘slippery’ and the other cliff ‘Seneh’ meaning ‘thorny’. The geography of the situation is hopelessly against Jonathan. Yet he decided to take on the Philistines in the Lord’s strength, ‘perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf’.
There is not one single thing going for Jonathan except his faith in God. The outpost contains about twenty men, but behind them are thousands more soldiers. The enemy is too numerous to count and they have sophisticated weapons. The placement of the outpost makes access extremely hard. But Jonathan looks not to circumstances but to God. See Jonathan’s faith, ‘Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few’. Jonathan expresses a daring trust in Yahweh despite the circumstances. He doesn’t presume upon God – Jonathan says, ‘perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf’.
We often think that the word ‘perhaps’ is a sign of unfaithfulness – and it can be when God has clearly spoken – when he has already promised to act a certain way. But Jonathan’s ‘perhaps’ is part of his faith. As Dale Ralph Davis says, ‘He both confesses the power of Yahweh, and retains the freedom of Yahweh. Faith does not dictate to God, as if the Lord of hosts is an errand boy’. Faith recognises that God is not bound to act my way in an unknown situation. Jonathan commits his proposal to God knowing that either way God is in control – and God honours his faithfulness.
Jonathan and Saul’s unfaithfulness (14:2-3, 24-48)
So where’s Saul amongst all this action? While Jonathan is moving, Saul is sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron (14:2). And he’s there with six hundred men and Ahijah, a priest in the rejected line of Eli. A rejected king with a rejected priest is not a good combination. What help can such a king and such a priest give? After God sends panic amongst the Philistines Saul says to Ahijah in verse 18, ‘Bring the ark of God’. A totally useless request since God has already gone ahead of them into battle and the victory has been won. Saul’s rule looks less impressive by the moment, especially against the backdrop of Jonathan.
We haven’t time to look closely at the remainder of chapter 14. We do notice, though that Saul’s foolishness is increasing against the backdrop of his son’s faithfulness. So much so that the fighting men rescue Jonathan from the hands of his tyrannical father. It now remains for God’s formal rejection of Saul in chapter 15.
Conclusion
Conclusion. Obedience to the word of God is fundamental to living the Christian life. Not making up the rules on the run as Saul did – but hearing God’s voice and living by his word. As Jesus said, ‘My sheep hear my voice’. We cannot obey God unless we love him and trust him. The one who gave his life so that we can live deserves nothing less than our allegiance and our love for he is our only Saviour and King.