Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture: 1 Samuel 9:1-3, 15-10:1

Sermon Title: Just Looking for the Donkeys

           Last time, in chapter 8, we heard the Israelites’ request that Samuel give them a king.

They had been led by judges for some 200 to 300 years, who God rose up, but now they wanted a change.

Samuel, displeased by this, brought their request to God.

They wanted to be like everyone else, how can they forsake God and him?

But God told Samuel to listen to them.

Chapter 9 introduces to who the first king would be.

Let’s pause there.

We have Kish, the father, Saul, the son.

They were Benjamites, they’re farmers, and they stood out a bit.

Kish was a man of standing.

He was not just any old, struggling or poor farmer; he had done well.

His son, Saul, was impressive and tall.

Other translations clear it up—we’re talking about his looks.

Saul was known for being really, really handsome.

If you wanted someone good looking to be the face of something, Saul could be your model.

But at this moment, they were just regular guys—a dad wanting his son to find and bring back his donkeys who got out of the fence.

That’s what’s happening in verses 4 through 14.

Saul and a servant were gone 2 days, and found nothing.

Saul says, “Enough, let’s go home, my dad’s going to worry about us.”

The servant says, “Hold on, let’s go to one more town, there’s a prophet there.

I can cover the cost of meeting with him.

Maybe he’ll tell us where to look.”

Saul agreed, and they have come to the city where the prophet, Samuel, is.

Let’s pick it up at verse 15. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, last December the Chicago Blackhawks were in a tight spot that typically only comes up in the National Hockey League.

In the middle of the season, before an afternoon game in Philadelphia, the starting goalie needed an appendectomy.

Teams have back-up goalies, and so the back-up would start, but you normally travel with only one of those.

The third-string goalie plays for Chicago’s farm team out of Rockford, Illinois, but that team also had a game scheduled that night in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

There was no way to fly him out in time, and so the Blackhawks were left looking for someone to be on the bench.

Salary cap issues made things more difficult.

So, the Flyers, their opponent, gave them a list of nearby players.

That morning, just hours before the game, a 23 year-old named Eric Semborski, got a phone call with an amateur tryout contract.

Semborski played club hockey in college, and he was working at his local rink.

Well, he took off from work, went home, got what gear he needed.

He drove through traffic to get to the game, arrived in time to participate in warm-ups, and sat on the bench.

But if necessary, he would have gone in.

Afterwards he shared with reporters that he hoped he wouldn’t have to play, because of how rusty he was; but to put on an NHL jersey and be a pro for a few hours was pretty special.

That’s a fun, feel-good story.

Whether it’s in sports or music or other fields, most people like rags-to-riches testimonies—people coming from the bottom, from nothing, and getting a shot, going pro, making it big.

Semborski didn’t start or even play in the game.

If he had and gotten a win, it would have been crazy.

Yet still, when people get opportunities we don’t think they’d ever have, it’s a big deal.

Our introduction to Saul is that kind of a story.

Think about what just happened from his perspective.

He was a son just out looking for his father’s donkeys.

He was ready to give up, but his servant proposed seeing this prophet.

They go to him, and not only did they learn the donkeys were safe, but he ended up being anointed as king.

There’s more to his story that we’ll look at in the next few weeks, but can you imagine what went through Saul’s mind?

As Samuel poured oil over his head, I can imagine him thinking, “Is this really happening?

What will I tell my family?

Where am I going to live?

What am I supposed to do?”

As the magnitude of things would sink in, maybe he said, “I just want to go back to tending the farm,” but God had bigger plans for him.

Those plans lead us to see this story is not just the feel-good type, but also a story that shows us the providence of God.

That’s our first point, and the overarching theme that we’ll consider throughout the message, the providence of God.

Dale Davis sees God’s providence in this passage, and this is how he sums it up: “When I use ‘providence’ here I mean that wonderful, strange, mysterious, unguessable way Yahweh has of ruling his world and sustaining his people, and his doing it, frequently, over, under, around, through, or in spite of the most common stuff of our lives or even the bias of our wills.”

Providence is what some people might deem to be chance or coincidence, and yet what’s really going on is God doing something to provide for his plan.

We’ve already considered Saul was just being obedient to his father—he was being a ranch hand.

He didn’t have some secret plan to track Samuel down and become king.

We also find that despite his “impressiveness,” he was rather humble at this point in his life.

Samuel says, verse 20, “‘And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father’s family?’”

He’s saying, “You’re the guy everyone’s looking for.”

“Saul answered, ‘But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe…and is not my clan the least of all [the Benjamite clans]?

Why do you say such a thing to me?’” Saul probably knew Israel wanted a king, maybe his family felt the same way, but he didn’t aspire to be that guy.

He didn’t have a political studies degree, he wasn’t pursuing the throne, he wasn’t out campaigning.

He just met and followed Samuel that day.

Saul wasn’t behind it, but neither was Samuel.

It truly was God.

Three verses tell us what’s happening, what is God doing here.

We have the initial prophecy, in verse 16, and then the anointing in chapter 10 verse 1.  God tells Samuel, “Anoint him,” a Benjamite who will come to you tomorrow, “leader over my people Israel.”

When we get to chapter 10 verse 1, Samuel tells Saul while he’s anointing him, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance.”

That word and title leader can also be translated “prince.”

It’s used elsewhere in the Old Testament with King David and others who held significant political office.

Even though we don’t find the word “king” in these verses, it would have been clear to Saul what was happening.

God doesn’t just give the title, but he proclaimed what Saul was going to do.

Look at the rest of verse 16, “He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines.”

Just as Samson was called to specifically do, and the judges were assigned deliverance, in general, God is continuing that for King Saul to do.

He will be a deliverer.

We also have verse 17, “He will govern my people.”

This word “govern” in Hebrew is not often used regarding a judge or king.

It’s typically translated with a sense of stopping something.

That’s why the ESV translates it, “He it is who shall restrain my people.”

Think back to what Deuteronomy 17 called kings to do, the Israelites at this point needed some restraint.

They didn’t just need a governor or a judge, but someone who would hold them back from foreign enemies and gods, and hold them to the way of the Lord.

God wasn’t leaving Samuel to sort through the mess on his own.

He wasn’t leaving Israel to elect or appoint whoever they wanted.

But God provided Saul for them according to his will.

Many of us know that things did not go well under him, Saul was sinful, Saul became prideful, which turned him to his way rather than the Lord’s.

We see Israel as a nation again in this king—at first, being willing to take up the task God has set before them, but eventually falling way.

Yet God remained, and he remained who Israel and who anyone really needs.

God’s providence for the church and through individuals doesn’t stop in the pages of Scripture.

He has given us Martin Luther, another very imperfect person, and the whole Protestant Reformation, out of which our traditions are born, to help the church.

Luther has kind of a rags-to-riches story, at least by his account.

He was born in 1483 in Germany to a self-described peasant family.

But his father did own a mine, and he had enough money to go to school.

Martin Luther was being educated and trained to be a lawyer.

This didn’t sit well with him though.

In 1505, at the age of 21, he was journeying back to school, and lightning struck near him, and he made vow.