At the church where I serve, we spend a significant
amount of our time together on Sundays looking at the message and teachings of
Jesus that are contained in the Bible. The Bible is a collection of letters
that were written by men throughout history that were inspired to God to write
the story of God for all of humanity. And it is in this collection of letters
that have been preserved for us through history that we discover the story of
history.
If I was to summarize the Bible in a single
sentence, that sentence would be this: The Bible is the story of God's creation
and passionate pursuit of the traitor human race. And in a letter that is
recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 1 Samuel,
we see God pursue humanity by sending a man named Samuel to the Jewish people.
Samuel was a judge and a prophet who repeatedly called the Jewish people away
from their selfishness and rebellion and back to God.
Samuel, as he neared the end of his life, called the
Jewish people to live under the leadership of God in relationship with God.
However, instead of embracing God's pursuit by living in relationship with God,
the Jewish people chose once again to rebel against God. Instead of living
under God so as to be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the other
nations, the Jewish people wanted a king so that they could be like all the
other nations.
And at this point in His story, God had every right
to walk away from the Jewish people. But that is not what God did. Instead God
gave them what they wanted. God gave them a king that was to rule over the
Jewish people and represent God to the Jewish people. And for the next few
months, we are going to spend our time together in a sermon series entitled
Kings. During this series, we are going to examine the lives of kings who were
placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people.
And as we look at the lives of these kings, we are
going to discover several timeless truths that have the potential to powerfully
impact how we live our lives today. So, this morning, as we launch into this
series, let's begin by looking at the very first king, who we meet in 1 Samuel
13:1:
Saul
was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty two years
over Israel. Now Saul chose for
himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000
were with Jonathan at Gibeah of
Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. Jonathan smote the garrison of the
Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land,
saying, "Let the Hebrews hear."
All Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the
Philistines, and also that
Israel had become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal.
Samuel brings us into this event from history by
introducing us to the first king of the Jewish people, who was a man named
Saul. Saul became the leader of the Jewish people when he was thirty years old,
in 1050 B.C. and proceeded to lead the Jewish people for forty two years. After
introducing us to King Saul, Samuel provides for us the context for the event
in history that we are going to look at this morning.
After becoming king, Saul dispatched a military unit
of 3,000 men which were strategically placed to lead a revolt against the
Philistines. Now the Philistines were the hated enemy of the Jewish people who
lived in what is now the region of the Gaza strip. You see, the conflict in the
Middle East is a conflict that has been around for over 3,000 years. And in
this time in history, the Philistines were ruling over the Jewish people, who
they had conquered in battle.
However, Jonathon, who was the son of King Saul, led
a military action that was designed to start a revolt against the Philistines
by attacking a Philistine regiment of soldiers that were stationed in Geba,
which is located here on this map. As part of this military attack, Jonathon
assassinated the Philistine governor that had been placed over the Jewish
people there.
When Samuel states that Saul blew the trumpet
throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear", Saul was
basically saying “Let the Jewish people know that the revolt against the
Philistines has begun”. And as part of that message, Saul summoned to Jewish
people to gather at Gilgal to prepare for war against the Philistines.
Now Gilgal was a strategic military and religious
center for the Jewish people. Samuel made Gilgal one of the three places where
he annually held circuit court to judge the Jewish people. During that time,
Samuel would also hold worship services where sacrificial offerings were made
to God. Gilgal was also the place where Samuel had earlier crowned Saul as
king.
And now, as this revolt began, the time for the
Jewish people to appear at Gilgal before Samuel was approaching. However, Saul
summoned the people to Gilgal seven days earlier than the appointed time for
Samuel’s arrival. And as the Jewish people waited for Samuel to arrive, we see
what happens next in verse 5:
Now the Philistines assembled to fight with
Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen,
and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of
Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that
they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars,
and in pits. Also some of the Hebrews
crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
You see, while the Jewish people were waiting for
Samuel, the Philistines were not waiting for the Jewish people. Instead, the
Philistines dispatched a military force that dwarfed the Jewish army so as to
put a quick end to their revolt and rebellion. As the Jewish people found
themselves incredibly outnumbered, they responded with a recognition that they
were in a hard pressed and in a desperate situation.
And in their desperation, some of the Jewish army
responded by hiding in caves for safety, while others fled across the Jordan
River in fear. And those who were not hiding or running in fear were left
trembling in fear before their king. And it is in this context that we see Saul
respond to the situation in verse 8:
Now he waited seven days, according to the
appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel
did not come to Gilgal; and the
people were scattering from him. So Saul said,
"Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he
offered the burnt offering.
As the appointed time for Samuel's arrival grew
closer, the Jewish people with King Saul grew more and more fearful. After all,
they saw the Philistine army preparing their forces for attack, while they were
simply standing around waiting. And day after day, more and more people began
to bail on King Saul in fear of the Philistines. So on the seventh day, when
Samuel did not appear early in the day, many more people began to bail on King
Saul.
And as the people scattered from him, Saul made a
decision. Saul made the decision to no longer wait for Samuel’s arrival to
offer up the scheduled sacrifices of worship to God. Instead, Saul rebelled
against God and offered up the sacrifices to God. Instead of waiting the full
seven days for Samuel to show up at the time that he was to show up, Saul
disobediently offered up a sacrificial offering that was to only be done by
Samuel and the priests that accompanied him.
You see, as the people began to question his
leadership and scatter, Saul focused on doing something out of a fear of man
instead of out of a fear of God. Instead of waiting faithfully and obediently
for God’s timing, Saul decided that doing something that was disobedient was
better than doing nothing.
Now here is a question to consider: How often can we
find ourselves acting just like King Saul? How often can we find ourselves in a
place where we are waiting on God? How often can we find ourselves in a place
where, in our waiting on God, we are faced with the decision as to whether we
are going to listen to the opinions of the people around us or the word of
God?
How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in
our waiting on God, we are tempted to do something out of a fear of failing to
please those around us instead of doing something out of a fear of failing to
please God? How often can we come to the decision that doing something that is
disobedient to God is better than doing nothing?
We see what happens next in King Saul’s life
tomorrow…
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