Posts
Today we will see the fall of Saul- in God's eyes. Saul made a set of mistakes- and made three other things he never should have. And it all comes from something we've been learning for a while- you have to let God be as big as He is.
We're in 1 Samuel 13, and as usual, Saul has been letting someone else do the heavy lifting- in this case, his son Jonathon. Jonathon has beat the Philistines in battle, and now they want revenge. Problem is, Saul knows he should be calling on God before battle, so he waits on Samuel to show up "in seven days". But... Samuel didn't quite make it. What happens next is a result of two things that quickly become painfully obvious:- first, Saul has no idea how to be a king, and the people have no idea how to be UNDER a king; second, the things that God tried to show Saul last time- His provision, His patience, and His supernatural power- are about to go out the window. Starting with Patience.
1Sa 13:8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
1Sa 13:9 So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.
Instead of showing the patience he had waiting to assume kingship, he panics and does what only the priest can do. And for that, he gets rebuke #1-
1Sa 13:10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
1Sa 13:11 Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,
1Sa 13:12 I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering."
1Sa 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
1Sa 13:14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."
But the war was already on, and this 'man after His own heart' hadn't been shown yet. Once again, Jonathon is the hero- he starts the rout by defeating a Philistine force between two crags whose names essentially mean he was going to be exposed in the front and backed up against brambles. But Jonathon did what God would have asked- he asked God for a sign. Armed with God's pleasure, he again slaughtered the Philistines, causing them to panic. By the time Saul saw what was going on, God added an earthquake, and the Philistines were so scared, they were fighting each other.
That is just the point that Saul should have glorified God and went on the attack. Instead, he glorified himself:
1Sa 14:24 And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies." So none of the people had tasted food.
I have to wonder if this, too, is a result of his upbringing. I can just hear Kish telling young dummy Saul, "No dinner till your chores are done!" We'll come back to this stupidity. Suffice it for now to say Jonathon, who had not heard it, tasted some honey along the way, and it helped him to his victories that day. The Philistines were routed, but the famished Israelites had no heart to follow them- and Saul no leadership skills to force them- so they took the plunder of the Philistines' livestock and began slaughtering and eating on the spot. This is a big dietary law no-no, and Saul saw his bungle and tried to correct it on the fly:
1Sa 14:33 Then they told Saul, "Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood." And he said, "You have dealt treacherously; roll a great stone to me here."
1Sa 14:34 And Saul said, "Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, 'Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.'" So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there.
1Sa 14:35 And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar that he built to the LORD.
This is the second thing Saul shouldn't have made- an altar. Anywhere else before now, Bible characters made altars to God because He had wowed them in some way; this, though, was a "cover your a-" altar, and was not going to be received by God. And now, he was going to try some more to get God back on his side...but...
1Sa 14:36 Then Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them." And they said, "Do whatever seems good to you." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."
1Sa 14:37 And Saul inquired of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him that day.
Once again, Saul tried to get out ahead of God, and God won't be dragged. Also, observe who the priest du jour is, because it's not Samuel...
1Sa 14:3 ...including Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an ephod...
The son of Eli's reprobate son, who God had already killed. That HAS to fill you with confidence, but I'm sure for Saul, he was the guy who told him what he wanted to hear. But that wasn't the end of his priestly problems! Because even when he had Ahijah doing the job, he wasn't patient enough to let him finish...
1Sa 14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God here." For the ark of God went at that time with the people of Israel.
1Sa 14:19 Now while Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."
And thus entered the attack without consulting God in the first place! And now, when the priest tries again, God won't answer. Nevertheless, Saul quickly figures that his oath being broken was the cause, and set out to find out who did it. By now, Jonathon had heard about the oath...
1Sa 14:28 Then one of the people said, "Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats food this day.'" And the people were faint.
1Sa 14:29 Then Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.
1Sa 14:30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great."
And casting lots soon brings a confession. Saul, between a rock and a hard place- and perhaps already seeing the people responding to Jonathon as they soon would to David, gives the order to kill his own son! But...
1Sa 14:44 And Saul said, "God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan."
1Sa 14:45 Then the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die.
Last time, Saul was given a sign of provision from God, a sign of patience from God, and a sign of power from God. This time, God's return on investment in Saul was the making of a forbidden sacrifice because he forgot the patience, the making of a altar of wrong motivation because he held back God's provision, and an oath to himself that he couldn't even carry out because he neglected the power of God. Next time, Saul will blow his final chance, and we'll see how little of God's bigness was ever with Saul.
No comments:
Post a Comment