Lesson 4: The First King - Saul Part 2
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Lesson 4: The First King – Saul Part 2
The Kings of Israel & Judah
1 Samuel 13-31
Last week we started looking at our first king of Israel under the kingdom united as one. His name was Saul.
We learned that he was definitely the right choice for the job. God would not choose someone that could not accomplish the mission that He had set for him.
We saw that Saul was the right choice because he was humble, he was small in his own eyes.
When someone, i should say, anyone is small in their own eyes and humble, they can be used of God. Don’t look at is as a sign of weakness but as key to understanding what God can do through us. D
Don’t forget: 1 Cor 1:26-29
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his presence.
So as long as Saul kept a holy and humble attitude, God could use Him. As soon as he began to get puffed up in pride, that is when he started to falter and ultimately failed.
So last week looked at His Rise, his week we are looking at:
II. His chastening
II. His chastening
This, of course involves sever things:
A. The loss of the kingdom
A. The loss of the kingdom
There are many things that Saul does here that are no longer a sign of a humble man. No longer is he small in his own eyes.
1. His offering of something that was not his to offer
1. His offering of something that was not his to offer
All of us must be careful, in our desperate moments, not to do things that God forbids. Life is never better when we sin to cover up our sin or get through a loss.
One of the things he does is to intrude into the priest office.
And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
You see, he had been waiting on Samuel to come, he wanted the blessing of God because in that passage the Philistines had amassed a great army to fight against them. He knew enough that he needed God’s blessing but how to get God’s blessing, he still did not understand.
It is often hard for the human mind and carnal nature to understand the things of God.
It is hard for us to understand statements from the Bible like :
He must increase, but I must decrease.
2 Corinthians 12:10 (AV)
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Now hopefully we understand some of these things now, but before we were saved and living for God, we did not understnad them at all. Just like Saul did not.
As a result of his, God said that his kingly line would not continue. Notice 1 Samuel 13:13-14:
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.
Another of his sins was:
2. Ordering the death of his son
2. Ordering the death of his son
In 1 Samuel 14:1-15 God wrought a great victory through Jonathan, we will take a brief look at him later, but I think it is worth two great examples here.
Look at 1 Samuel 14:6-7
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
a) God is able to save by many or few
a) God is able to save by many or few
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
b) Support one another to boldly live for God
b) Support one another to boldly live for God
Notice Jonathan’s armor bearer
And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
Let’s read 1 Samuel 14:24-28
3. His sparing of Agag
3. His sparing of Agag
Now, God is no respecter of persons, and I cannot say what all of God’s intentions were in this next passage but it interesting the tone at which it is communicated, almost that God was offering Saul a second chance:
1 Samu 15:1-3:
Now noticed vv.7-9, now remember v.3
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
a) Partial obedience is still disobedience
a) Partial obedience is still disobedience
Saul was commanded to destroy everything of Amalek, to spare no person, no livestock and certainly not the king.
Likely, Saul, by percentages destroyed 99.9% of the people and 90% of the livestock. But incomplete obedience is still disobedience.
You and I must heed this same truth in our lives because we often tell ourselves “Well, I did most of what God wanted me to do.” I read some of the Bible this year.” “I talked to a couple of people about the Lord.” I gave some money to missions.
b) Saul believed he was obedient
b) Saul believed he was obedient
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
c) His wrong assumption
c) His wrong assumption
His assumption was that he was on the right path. Even in verse 15, he still did not understand he had done anything wrong, so he blamed others.
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
d) He was blinded to the reality of his own sinfulness
d) He was blinded to the reality of his own sinfulness
1 Samuel 15:19-21
B. God rejects him
B. God rejects him
1 Sam 15:10-11
His punishment for his sin, his disobedience, his assumption and blindness to his own sin was his rejection from being king.
Now this was only one step of Saul’s punishment. Losing some things that you have is one thing, later he will lose more. But God not only rejects him lineage, but now he losing the kingdom earlier than he would have otherwise.
1 Samuel 15:22-23
Saul, like mankind, feared people more than he feared God
Still even in this passage, Saul was more worried about saving face than repenting before the Lord.
1 Samuel 15:30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
Samuel would never meet again before his death
C. His Pride
C. His Pride
He was haughty disdainful and contemptuous.
That is what Saul was, that is who he was.
He had left his somewhat humble beginnings and now had become a haughty contemptuous person, and only grew that way until is doom.
There were a lot of mistakes in the life of Saul, there is no doubt of this. But he in his pride an arrogance did that which is unthinkable.
1. An evil spirit
1. An evil spirit
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.
And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
2. His hatred for David
2. His hatred for David
He couldn’t allow anyone to be better than him or thought to be better of him.
And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?
He seeks to kill him six times.
1 Sam 18:11 21, 25; 19:1, 10, 15
And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.
And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.
And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.
And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
3. He sought to kill his son again
3. He sought to kill his son again
Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?
For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.
And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
4. He kills 85 priests in Nob
4. He kills 85 priests in Nob
And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
5. He has a séance with a witch
5. He has a séance with a witch
1 Samuel 28
D. His death in battle
D. His death in battle
1 Samuel 31
I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
A horrible time in Israel no doubt, but in it all, God’s sovereign grace was at work. His faithfulness to His covenant with His people Israel was still good. For he had a man, a young man at that, a teenager actually that was going to fulfill his will.
A.W Pink said: “But man’s extremity is always God’s opportunity. Even at that dark hour, God had ready the instrument of deliverance, a man after His own heart. But who he was, and where he was located, none but Jehovah knew.”
Lesson 4: The First King – Saul Part 2
The Kings of Israel & Judah
1 Samuel 13-31