Sermon Tone Analysis
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Date: 2021-10-31
Audience: Grass Valley Corps
Title: A Little Something Off the Top
Text: 1 Samuel 18:17-27
Proposition: God protects us even as the world schemes against us
Purpose: Trust in God’s favor, not that of humans
Grace and peace
Horror Stories of the Bible
Saul – King – selected by God but continued to ignore God’s instructions.
Finally: 1 Sam 15:10-11a:
10 Then the Lord said to Samuel, 11 “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.”[1]
Samuel went to try to help out.
Saul sees him and says “Hey, I did that thing God told me to!”
Which is crap, because he didn’t.
And when Sam presses him, he admits that he was doing what the people asked him to instead of what God asked him to.
At the end of this story, we are told
35 Samuel never went to meet with Saul again, but he mourned constantly for him.
And the Lord was sorry he had ever made Saul king of Israel.
[2]
Then God sent Samuel to secretly anoint David as the next king, but David’s too young to take over, so he goes back to tending his father’s sheep.
I’m not even sure that Samuel explained to David’s family what he was doing – none of them seem to be aware of the importance of his visit.
But we are told that the Spirit of God was with David and that it was no longer with Saul.
As a shepherd in Bethlehem, David had plenty of time to practice two things.
He practiced his combat skills, learning to hit ridiculously small targets with sling stones from very big distances.
Learned to fight equally with either hand – a regional point of pride and something that would serve him well by giving him an edge in combat in later years.
Also time to practice music- got pretty well known for his harp and singing.
Saul’s depression
David called to castle to soothe Saul’s spirit by playing – seems to work.
David spends more time at palace.
Then the Goliath thing.
Saul’s son Jonathon loved David – pledged his life and friendship to the young man who was now living at the castle full time.
Saul sent David out with raiding teams.
When successful, put him in charge of them.
Which seemed like a good idea, but led to people celebrating like this: 1 Samuel 18:7-9
7 This was their song:
“Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands!”
8 This made Saul very angry.
“What’s this?” he said.
“They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands.
Next they’ll be making him their king!” 9 So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
[3]
Decided to do him in.
First try the next day: Either had or faked a fit.
David played.
Saul tried to pin him to wall with a spear.
Missed.
Twice!
At this point, should remind you what each man knows:
Saul knows Samuel said God had taken the right to rule away and that someone else was now the ruler.
He does NOT know David is that person.
He doesn’t know about the anointing.
He just knows that his son, who should be the heir, treats David as an equal or better.
He knows that his people celebrate David as a greater hero than Saul.
And he knows that he just failed to kill the boy.
David knows that God made Saul King of Israel.
He knows Saul is sick and has fits.
Saul may hate David, but David has no idea.
David loves Saul and attributes every bad thing to his illness.
David wants to bring honor to his king.
David will do anything for Saul.
14 David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him.
15 When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him.
[4]
Saul was afraid of anything to do with God.
God had told him that his reign was over.
Instead of seeking forgiveness or seeking God at all, Saul simply tried to ignore his decree – tried to make the world do what he wanted instead.
Saw David’s devotion to God.
Heard it in his songs.
Decided to use it to get rid of the threat David posed.
17 One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my older daughter, Merab, as your wife.
But first you must prove yourself to be a real warrior by fighting the Lord’s battles.”
For Saul thought, “I’ll send him out against the Philistines and let them kill him rather than doing it myself.”[5]
Marriage was reward for defeating Goliath.
David had proved his worth.
But Saul knew David now.
Knew that he was deeply insecure.
Just a kid from a poor family!
What right did he have to live in the palace?
To be favored by the royal family?
To marry his insignificant family line into their high-status one?
18 “Who am I, and what is my family in Israel that I should be the king’s son-in-law?”
David exclaimed.
“My father’s family is nothing!” 19 So when the time came for Saul to give his daughter Merab in marriage to David, he gave her instead to Adriel, a man from Meholah.
[6]
Saul kind of traps himself by playing into David’s false narrative that he wasn’t good enough.
Tried to use it to encourage David to go pick dangerous fights to become a dead hero.
Ended up convincing David that he wasn’t good enough to even try.
But Saul saw another opportunity:
20 In the meantime, Saul’s daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it.
21 “Here’s another chance to see him killed by the Philistines!”
Saul said to himself.
But to David he said, “Today you have a second chance to become my son-in-law!”[7]
Not “Prove yourself,” but “I want you to do this.”
David would do anything for Saul.
Saul asks his men to talk to David – encourage him to marry the princess.
Because he knows that David will have a problem.
23 When Saul’s men said these things to David, he replied, “How can a poor man from a humble family afford the bride price for the daughter of a king?”[8]
And when the men reported this back to Saul, he knew he had him.
25 He told them, “Tell David that all I want for the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins!
Vengeance on my enemies is all I really want.”
But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight.
[9]
It was the perfect enticement.
David wants to serve the king.
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