Dr. Elaine
Phillips, OT History, Lit. and Theology, Lecture 16
© 2011, Dr. Elaine Phillips and Ted
Hildebrandt
Gracious
God, our heavenly father, as we begin this second quad together it’s with gratitude
that you have kept each one of us over this break. Father, thank you for your
tender hand, your caring hand, and your protective spirit for us. Lord, we do
pray for those who might not be feeling well that you would bring restoration quickly
as we begin classes together. Father, I just earnestly pray for each one that
not only would you keep us well physically but keep us well spiritually. Enfold
us, draw our hearts to your heart. Father, may we know you and love you and may
your word be powerful and burning in our hearts. We ask for your presence as we
study today. Help me to teach with clarity and help us all to be moved by your Spirit
and your word. Help us to be good members of the communities as we love each
other and encourage each other. We ask all these things in Christ’s name with
thanksgiving. Amen.
Well you know it has been a week and a half. I’ve said that three
times already and so we’ve got to review a little bit, right? This is a
question from two weeks ago.
What spiritual cycle characterized the period of the judges? Notice
that nice alliterative thing.
A. Sin, sloth, supplication, surrender. Maybe that’s it.
B. Apathy, attack, arrest, alienation.
C. Apostasy, oppression, repentance, deliverance, repetition.
D. Apostasy, heresy, apathy, enthusiasm, repetition.
Which one is it? C.--splendid there we go. One more review
question.
The incidences at the end of the book of Judges are interspersed with the
saying,
A. There was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in
his own eyes.
B. It is time to build the temple and atone for wickedness.
C. The Ark of the Covenant will be lost forever.
D. The Lord helps those who help themselves.
E. None of the above.
Which one is that? Oh wow, you’re just great, yes it’s A. We’re
moving on since you know Judges so very well. Do you know there is an exam in
here again a week from Judges? I know, you can’t get away from it can you?
We’re going to make our transition to the period of the monarchy
today which means we study the characters of Samuel and Saul. Those are the big
focus but of course there will be a lot of other things going on as we work
through this business of moving with the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh out to
the Philistines and then back again and some other really important issues that
we’ll have talk about. We need to do a little bit in terms of background survey
as usual. So let’s see what we’ve got here in terms of the geopolitical
situation. The problems I’ve just reviewed for you, the apostasy, the
oppression and so forth. The apostasy problem continues, and the oppression
problem continues. It was the Philistines in the period of Samson, it’s going
to be the Philistines as we get going in 1 Samuel and moving on to Saul as
well. So keep that in mind that the problems of the period of the Judges
persist into this time period and as a matter of fact well beyond that.
Neighboring problems, neighboring peoples are really where the
source of the problem is. One of the issues here is that the big super powers
such as Egypt, such as people in Mesopotamia, are not quite so powerful in
Israel at this point and so it’s going to be the neighboring peoples,
Philistines, on the one hand, and we’re going to look at a map in a moment that
has the five Philistine cities on it and I’ll clue you in right now those are
things you’ll want to know on a map. The key here is in terms of our political
situation when you read 1 Samuel 13 and I trust you’ve read it or at least you
will be doing that fairly soon you’ll find out that they control the production
of iron. In fact, it says that the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines
to get have their plowshares and their tools and their mattocks sharpened. They
didn’t have the means of iron production themselves. You know if you want to
think of the contemporary counterpart because, obviously, it’s kind of hard for
us to think of iron for tools because we don’t use it, but if you want to think
of the contemporary counterpart just think; who has nuclear weapons and who
doesn’t? Right? And those who do are the ones who have the upper hand and of
course, now we’re all concerned less Iran get production capabilities for a nuclear
arsenals, you know they are developing them for war as opposed to use for
peaceful purposes. The Israelites if you read 1 Samuel 14 at the end of the
chapter had mattocks and plowshares and so forth, that was fine. Those are the
peaceful purposes if you will for nuclear production right? They didn’t have
swords and spears of iron. In fact, it says only Saul and Jonathan were armed
in that way. That would be the counterpart to having the nuclear arsenal. So if
you want to keep that in mind, and that might be helpful for you. At any rate
keep will that in mind and also keep in mind the second half of this sentence
which says, “they had almost overrun the land multiple times.” I’m going to
show you a map in a moment to show you how that works but kind of keep that in
the back of your head. The Philistines are not sort of out there far away, they
are really making their way right into the heartland of Israel and that becomes
terribly threatening.
Having said that, Saul gets his first combat practice if you will, once
he’s king, not against the Philistines, that’s going to come a little bit later
on, but against the Ammonites. The Ammonites are people off to the East across
the Jordan Valley. Don’t lose sight of our Amalekites. We saw them as we were
exiting Egypt, you’ll remember the Amalekites attacked the Israelites. The
Amalekites are semi-nomadic sorts and so they’re wandering around quite a bit
and they attacked the Israelites as they are coming out of Egypt and that is
the background narrative for what we’re going to see in 1 Samuel 15 in about 45
minutes or so. They are the cause of Saul’s disobedience, Moab and Edom are
also there. By the way I hope you have in your mind a map right now so that as
I’m mentioning these you can kind of locate them mentally in your map.
And then finally, the third thing, the final thing we want to note,
Israelite settlements are pretty much in the hill country area. They are not
going to make their way out into the coastal plain a lot. That’s controlled by
the Philistines and other foreign Canaanites settlements still; so they’re primarily
in the hill country.
Got that geopolitical thing in your mind? Pretty much? Alright,
let’s look at a map. These are the five Philistine cities that you want to
know. The blue ones are the ones on the coast, you know fitting with sea and
all that coastal advantages. So you want to know, Gaza right down here,
Ashkelon there, Ashdod there. Ashkelon is only the one that actually right on
the coast itself. Gaza is the tiniest bit inland, and Ashdod, the tinniest bit
inland, basically avoiding some of the worst coastal sands. But here they are
right next to the coast itself. Inland a little bit we have Gath right there
and Ekron right here. Particularly in the narratives were talking about today,
the three Philistine cities that we’re going to zero in on going to be, first
of all Ashdod and then Gath and then Ekron. Notice how close they are? These
two especially to an area that’s going to be a contested area that Shephelah. Finally,
here’s our hill country of Judah itself. So, just to repeat myself, should you
happen to have a map on the next exam, these are some things you’re going to
want to know.
Alright, I said a moment ago that the Philistines had actually
penetrated into the Israelite territory and I tried to outline how that happens
here. Yes, they are color coded. When you read 1 Samuel 13-14 this is where
they are. It says, and we’re going to look at the narratives in a little bit, it
says that the Philistines had an outpost at Michmash. And the Israelites were
encamped at Geba. That’s just about under the A and the M of Benjamin right
there. Do you see how far they’ve come into Israelite territory? This is scary.
The Philistines are supposed to be out here, here are the cities we just pointed
out, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron. And yet they’ve come all the way
up into here. If they have an outpost a Michmash, that’s very threatening. And
it says when you read 1 Samuel 13-14, the Philistines were sending from that
outpost at Michmash, raiding parties up in three different directions. So you
can see why the Israelites are going to be just a little bit troubled by this kind
of thing. That’s invasion number one or penetration number one and you want to
keep that in mind when we have that thing unfolding, you know this is really
threatening to the Israelites.
The second one is our famous David and Goliath story, the one that
we all grew up on if we grew up in Sunday school. That’s going to take place
right about here. In fact, David is from Bethlehem. David’s brothers are out
fighting it’s in the Elah Valley which is right about in here. The Philistines
have made their way in this far. They’re encamped right about here, the Israelites
are encamped here and the battle unfolds in that particular location. What are
the Philistines trying to do? They’re trying to make their way all the way up
into the hill county to get a foothold up here. They don’t do it. David wins
the battle.
Alright and then finally this takes us beyond where you read for
today but just in terms of how the Philistines were making life pretty miserable
for the Israelites. At the end of 1 Samuel, as a matter of fact the place where
Saul loses his life is going to be up here. The Philistines again, not content
with being where they settled themselves, marched all the way up, they’re
encamped up in here. In fact what they have done, if you’re looking very
carefully, and if you’ve got anything in your mind that’s putting this map
together, they have cut Israel in half because you’ve got northern tribes up
here, Naphtali, Asher Zebulun and Issachar. The Philistines control this whole
thing. They’ve got an encampment at Bethshan; they’ve cut the northern tribes
off from the southern tribes, they’re controlling our famous Jezreel Valley,
which is of course a major battle ground. Making sense? If the map isn’t making
sense, say so. I’ll go over it again. Okay let’s carry on.
Samuel is the last of the judges that’s why I’m calling him a
transition figure. He also functions as a priest because he’s in the line of
Levi interestingly enough. So judge, priest, and also a prophet, that is called
a seer, one who sees. I’ll say more about that term when we start dealing with
prophets themselves. When we look at Samuel’s birth which is of course, a
fairly decent place to start. You find out that he’s another one of these
children born from a barren mother, Hannah and Peninnah, two wives of a guy
named Elkanah. And of course, the more loved one is the one who is barren and
yet as she is in the presence of Eli the high priest. He says in response to
her prayer, remember, he thinks she is drunk initially, but when she says I’m
praying earnestly he says, may your prayer be granted, and then of course, she
does have a son. She vows to dedicate him as a Nazarite. Notice what she says
in 1 Samuel 1:11 “‘O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s
misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I
will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever
be used on his head.” Numbers 6 if you need to go back and refresh your memory
on the Nazarite vow, the giving over to the Lord for the Lord to be using him
in a radical way and then also the sign of that is no razor is to be used on
his head. He’s set aside as a Nazarite.
Hannah’s song, which she sings in joy in chapter 2 once she gives
the boy to the Lord, is a very interesting song. I just want to mention a
couple things about it and then you can go back and look at it yourselves a
little bit more. Notice how she emphasizes reversals in this song, “Those who
were full hire themselves out for food, those who were hungry hunger no more, she
who was barren has borne seven children, she who has many sons, pines away.”
Hannah is talking about all of the things being totally turned upside down if
you will. “The Lord brings death and makes alive.” Keep that in mind as well.
She’s alluding to the fact that God is able to raise the dead! “The Lord brings
death and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and raises up.” Now I won’t
say any more about this. Again I encourage you to go back and read it.
Now what’s really interesting is that most of the themes from this
song get repeated by somebody else later on. Do you happen to know who it is?
It’s in the New Testament. Who might it be? Who sings a song in the book of
Luke? It’s Mary isn’t it? And when you have Mary’s song in Luke, a lot of the
themes from Hannah’s song are coming back again and again and again. This is
just an indication of the fact I would suggest to you that Mary probably knew
her Bible very well. So as she sang this for joy it’s not just her own made up
song, its infused with the words of Scripture, she’s echoing Hannah’s song. And
there is a lot I could say about that but we need to keep moving on.
The question is, “Is there a reason why Samuel was separate from
his family and Samson, as your other Nazarite, was not?” There is nothing in
the Nazarite vow that says that the person has to be brought and left somewhere
at the temple. That’s just apparently Hannah’s own choice which she does when
she says I’ll give him to the Lord all the days of his life. She takes him
there, and of course, as you know, God honors that in a remarkable way and
gives her other children in addition to that. But no, that is not contingent on
the Nazarite vow that’s just seems to be part of what is going on here.
He is in Eli’s care when he’s at the temple and I shouldn’t say
temple, it’s actually Tabernacle although this raises an interesting issue. The
Hebrew word here in chapter 3 is the word for “temple” interestingly enough. So
whatever is at Shiloh its being called the Hebrew word for “temple,” it’s not
the word for “tabernacle.” Why? I don’t know. Maybe it was a more stationery
establishment at that point, I’m not entirely sure. At any rate, as you know,
Samuel’s there, he’s sleeping in the presence of the Ark. I would suggest
probably outside the actual Tabernacle curtains themselves but he’s clearly in
close proximity to it. The Lord calls him and even though he thinks it’s Eli to
start with, Eli says, “no go back and say, Lord here I am, tell me what’s
going on.”
The message to Eli at that point is not a very good one and we’re
going to talk more about that in a moment. But his call is in the Tabernacle. It’s
at Shiloh and as I mentioned earlier he then serves as three significant
offices, prophet, right? 1 Samuel 3:20 “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba
recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.” And it says “the
Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and there he revealed himself to Samuel
through his word.” It’s no accident that Samuel gets called a prophet and a
seer, one who sees, because the Lord is appearing to him. It’s a vision that
he’s having.
We also have at the end of chapter 7, Samuel continued as a judge over
all the days of his life. He always went back to Ramah where his home was and
there he judged Israel and he built an altar there to the Lord. So again these are
three offices that Samuel’s fulfilled. He’s a very major figure.
Now we’re going to move on to Eli and Eli’s sons in a moment. Any
questions on the Samuel’s establishment? We haven’t left Samuel alone but this
is just the start of Samuel’s ministry. Let’s carry on.
Yes? [Student Speaks] Yeah, good question. We have this barren
woman motif that shows up on more than one occasion, Sarah, Rebekah actually
for a while and Rachel certainly since the Rachel/Leah thing and now this. Yes,
I think there is a significance here and that is that it’s eminently clear as
God is giving these children in this case in response to a heartfelt prayer. It’s
God’s purposes that are going to be done so you know nobody can think, “Oh I
just had a kid that’s fine!” so forth and so on. It’s really clear that it’s
God who is affecting this and therefore is going to use this person and in
Samuel’s case, Samuel cooperates if you will, with this Nazarite vow, but
that’s not always the case as we went back to the Samson illustration. But yes,
it’s not just happenstance the barren woman motif is an ongoing one all the way
up into the book of Luke where you have Elizabeth and Zechariah and she’s been
barren for all these years until finally you have the angel of the Lord
appearing to Zechariah at the temple. So, that was a good question.
Ah yes a picture I’m sorry I forgot I was going to show you this.
This gives us a little bit of a sense in terms of the area where Shiloh was and
where the tabernacle would have been located. It is smack dab in the middle of
the hill country and in a moment I’m going to show you a map that’s going to make
it evident why that would be the case and why it would be so good to have the
tabernacle there. Hill country is isolated, rugged, not easily accessible,
great place to put your religious object, your Ark of the Covenant and
Tabernacle because it’s more protected. Now if you’re thinking we’re going to
see what happens to this in a moment and why that’s so significant.
First of all however, Eli and his sons, I’m going to back up a
little bit, I just landed in chapter 7 and we need to go back. 1 Samuel 2:12, “Eli’s
sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” It goes on to say, when
the people brought sacrifices, what did these priests do? Well they just stuck
a spear into the boiling cauldron and picked out whatever meat they wanted and
they took out the fat portions as well. Of course, if you remember anything
about our study of Leviticus, there were certain offerings that went to the
priests, the sin and guilt offerings, but of the fellowship offering they only
got part. They got the thigh and the breast and what was the fat to do? All the
fat of the offering was to be given to the Lord. Yet here they are abusing the
sacred things and of course, that’s a horrendous desecration of God’s
sacrifices and God will hold them responsible.
What else were they doing? Abuse of the sacrifices, what else was
the major sanctuary abuse that Eli’s sons were doing? [Student speaks] Yeah
they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of the
meeting place. And, by the way, we’ve seen those women before. They showed up
in Exodus and it says they were there somehow being of service, we don’t know
exactly how. But here you have Eli’s sons sleeping with them so it seems to be
sinking to the level of the culture roundabout. Sacred prostitution kinds of
things were going on in that wider cultural context. So both of those things
are viewed as utterly despicable and God will punish them for it as a matter of
fact.
In 1 Samuel 2:27 a prophet who is an unnamed prophet it’s just
called a “man of God” comes to Eli and says, “I’m going to take this away from
you, this priesthood from you and your family because of the kinds of things
that are going on.” It seems like Eli pretty much ignores it. That’s the first
warning to Eli, an unnamed prophet says it. Then Samuel is going to hear it as
well when God calls Samuel in the Tabernacle. Samuel also gets this message and
it’s a very tragic message. Let me read it for you in chapter 3 “See, I am
about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears
of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke
against his family, from beginning to end.” He knew what his sons were doing,
he knew it was contemptible, and he failed to restrain them; a lesson for
future fathers, or for future parents. Eli knew what his sons were doing and he
just let them do it and there were horrifying consequences as a result of that.
Now not all of us serve as high priests but as I said there are some lessons
for parents in this as well.
At any rate we have to move on from that lapse to our ark itself.
The ark, you know, from all the study of the ark that we did in Exodus 25-30
and also 36-40, that this is indeed God’s dwelling place with his people. In
his mercy and in his condescension he’s dwelling in their midst. Separately
from them, yes, but still dwelling. So it’s a symbol of his presence.
Nevertheless what did the Israelites do? What’s the abuse of the Ark? They’re
losing a battle aren’t they? I’m going to show you a map in the moment. They’re
losing a battle to the Philistines and so they’re going to take the Ark with
them thinking that it’s going to serve as sort of a magic box if you will and
do the job that they can’t do. And when they take it out there, the Philistines
interestingly have a greater sense of what’s going on. They’re scared to death
because the Ark has come. They fight like crazy because they know how powerful
it is and God allows that Ark of the Covenant to be captured. Again, we’ll look
at that map in a moment.
They took it out to battle and it was captured by the Philistines. Let’s
look at a map and then talk about the return of the Ark. Here we go. Notice
Shiloh way up here. I showed you the picture now I’ll show you the map. The
hill country was probably one of the most rugged areas. It’s kind of like well
I’m trying to think, those of you from New Hampshire, Vermont, it’s probably
not quite as high as the Presidential range area but you know it’s rugged like
that and you can just think planting the Ark of the Covenant somewhere up on
Mt. Madison for those of you that have climbed Mt. Madison. That would be a
good place for it to be. Not everyone is going to get up there and grab the
thing.
But when the Israelites decide that they want this along with them
for the battle of Ebenezer/Aphek, because Aphek is where the Philistines are
encamped, they are violating the sanctity of the Ark. They are also taking it
into a really vulnerable place. From here there’s no protection out to there.
The Philistines capture it. What happens when they go down to Ashdod? This is
one of the better stories in 1 Samuel. What happens? [Student speaks] Yeah
it’s parked in the temple of Dagon isn’t it? Who’s a kind of a fertility/grain
god and what happened to Dagon? [Student speaks] Yeah he falls over and the
second time he falls over he gets broken to pieces and only his torso is left.
What else happens? Something else happens that makes this group of Philistines
pretty concerned to get rid of the Ark as soon as they possibly can. [Student
speaks] Yeah, they all start getting tumors. Now, one of the suggestions is
that these tumors may have been associated with something like the bubonic
plague.
What do they do when they send the Ark back? First of all it’s
going to go from Ashdod, you know they’re vexed there. It’s going to go into
Gath, notice its heading sort of towards home, to Gath then to Ekron. But what
do they send it with? [Student speaks] Yeah, five gold rats and five tumors to
represent the five Philistine cities. The suggestion is that that combination
together recognizes the real problems. Rats carry bubonic plague. And the
bubonic plague we usually associate with the 1300s and 1400s but it existed
long before that. It seemed to have its origins in the Middle East, some people
think in the Arabian peninsula, so it is not necessarily surprising that this
might be what’s happening to them.
At any rate they send it back. What happens from Ekron? How does
that Ark get back? It’s going, yes, with five gold tumors and five golden rats.
There is something else that is important here. What do the Philistine diviners
say? It’s kind of fascinating that these Philistines who are, pagans if you
will, know something about the Israelite religion. They say to send back a guilt
offering and then what do they say about the mode of transport? They put the
Ark on a cart, yeah go ahead [Student speaks]. Yeah, two cows that are going to
draw it back that have calves and their idea which is a very good one is, if
the Ark, led by that pair of cows continues to go toward the Israelites even
though they’ve got calves back there in the barn, this is something that’s come
of the Lord. That is indeed what happens so it makes its way from Ekron,
Philistine territory to Beth-Shemesh where there are Israelites. It’s up a long
valley. The Israelites can probably watch it coming. The text says that the
Philistines watched it going all the way into Israelite territory.
Unfortunately, the Israelites don’t have nearly the same kind of
concern for the sanctity of the Ark that they should have had because a couple
of them peak into it when it’s at Beth-Shemesh and they to get stricken and
finally they’re terrified enough they send it to a place called Kiriath Jearim
back into the hill country again. This is still in the Shephelah area out here.
Back in the hill country where we’re told it stays for twenty years. It will be
David who will bring the Ark actually up into Jerusalem. So the Ark has had a
fairly tumultuous journey but God has preserved it through this time.
Just a quick look we’re actually standing on a high site in Israel
called Azekah which we’re going to look at again in a moment when we talk about
David and Goliath; no I’m sorry that’s on Wednesday. But we’re standing on Azekah
looking out towards Tel Gath which is right here, looking towards the
Philistine plain out there and beyond that is the Mediterranean Sea.
Another quick look standing on Beth Shemesh looking west. Right
around the corner here is Timnah and right around the valley kind of curves
around and right out beyond that is Ekron so they could stand and watch this
thing as it made its way up the historic valley.
Well that’s our transition in terms of the foolish things that the
Israelites do with their most sacred symbol of God’s presence and now to make
matters even worse they’re going to despise God’s kingship over them and ask
for a king themselves in chapter 8.
We’re going to put together chapters eight and twelve. It says,
“When Samuel grew old he appointed his sons as judges. They served at Beersheba.”
But verse 3: “They did not walk in his ways they turned aside after dishonest
gain and they accepted bribes and perverted justice.” Not really a great thing
for judges. Judges particularly are supposed to be implementing the covenant
because one of the strongest things you read in the covenant is don’t pervert
justice, for whatever reason. So Samuel’s sons are indeed dishonest and that’s
one of the reasons the people give for getting a king. However, they also state
something else chapter 8 verse 20: “We want a king because then we’re going to
be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us
and to fight our battles.” So their one reason sounds pretty good. Look you’re
sons they’re going to succeed you but they’re dishonest we don’t want to live
under dishonest rulers--who does? But the other reason is we really would like
to be just like all these other nations which is tempting. We want to have a
whole structure, a whole system that looks like everybody else’s and that seems
to be the real reason they’re asking for a king. The Lord is not happy with
that, Samuel’s not happy with that but God basically says give them what they
want. They’ll know what a king is like and Samuel proceeds to tell them what a
king is going to be like in terms of extracting tribute for them, taking their
children as sons, slaves, soldiers, and so forth and so on.
Samuel does give them a challenge. This is chapter 12 and I’m not
going to read through this whole thing but I’m just going to highlight parts of
it. He goes back through history, which is what leaders are want to do. Joshua
did the same thing, he reviewed some covenant history. Samuel does too. He
reminds the people of what God had done for them, what God did for them and the
deliverance of Exodus, and what God has done for them repeatedly in spite of
their hard hearts and in spite of their apostasy. God repeatedly delivered them
during the period of the judges. Samuel reminds them of that.
Then he says something very interesting. I’m going to start reading
chapter 12 verse 16: “Now then stand still and see this great thing the Lord is
about to do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest now?” When does wheat
harvest take place? Anybody remember in terms of Israel? It’s going to be
between Passover and Feast of Weeks isn’t it? Probably more like the end of
May. Now think of that for a moment and let’s keep going. “Is it not wheat
harvest not? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain.” Well, so?
What’s going to be such a sign wrapped up in thunder and rain? I mean, don’t we
get thunder and rain anytime there are clouds? So God produces a rainstorm,
what’s the big deal about that? It has everything to do with the dry season,
May is the dry season. Generally speaking if it’s a good year it might rain a
little bit in April, but then it stops. Now I got to be honest, full disclosure
and all. When I got to Israel two years ago I was supposed to be teaching, I
drove up to Jerusalem in a downpour on May 12. But everybody was just shocked,
just shocked. They were saying “I can’t believe it it’s a maboul,”
That’s the Hebrew word for flood. So normally it doesn’t do that. This is a
sign so Samuel has indeed called upon the Lord and that it happens. Verse 18:
“Samuel called upon the Lord that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain and
all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.”
So Samuel is attesting to the folly of their asking for a king and
yet here’s what’s interesting. It’s a foolish thing to do, he’s told them
that, but notice what he goes on to say. And this by the way would be a great
sermon outline at some point. Starting at verse 21 “You have done all this
evil, Samuel says, yet you don’t turn away from the Lord serve him with all of
your heart.” They’re not beyond recall. It’s a foolish thing they’re asking for
but they’re not beyond recall and Samuel knows that.” Don’t turn away after
useless idols they can do you no good for they cannot rescue you, they’re
useless. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people.
The Lord is pleased to make you his own.” You’re way out on the leash he’s
saying, but God has still got you on that leash.
Here’s Samuel’s last thing here. “As for me far be it from me that
I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you”--tremendous lesson.
Most of us might be inclined to just say let them suffer, they heard and they
knew what was right. Samuel says, “Far be it from me that I should sin against
the Lord by failing to pray for you.” It’s a call to prayer.
Well, that leads us to our king. He’s indeed a tragic king. Those
of you who like to do reading outside of the Old Testament have heard me
mention Elie Wiesel. Some of you have read Night probably by Elie Wiesel,
anything else? Night, Dawn, and Day he’s got a trilogy
actually. Well he’s also written a lot of other very interesting books and one
of them is entitled Five Biblical Portraits. In Five Biblical
Portraits he takes five characters from the Hebrew Bible and not only
explores the Bible material on it, but also all the Rabbinic stuff that is
developed around these characters. And as a good psychologist he kind of weaves
it all together and Saul is one of the people he does. He does Jeremiah and
Jonah and a couple others as well, but Saul is just remarkable and what he does
with Saul--the tragic King, why is he tragic? What is the tragedy of Saul’s
kingship? Yes, even though God has clearly chosen him and we’re going to watch
how that works in a moment. Saul very intentionally turns away and gives up all
God’s blessings probably for his own self-aggrandizement as we’ll see.
Well, that brings us to another question. Why did God choose Saul?
I mean, don’t we know from Genesis 49 that it’s going to be the tribe of Judah
that’s going to have the king coming from it? Why did God choose Saul? Why was
he what the people wanted do you think? Did he look like a king, in what way?
Well he was certainly taller. It says he was a head taller than everybody else.
So he’s going to have the stature in order to do this. So he’d look like a king
that’s true. I’m not sure by the way that we could necessarily say that he’s
what all the people wanted. The reason I say that is because when he’s chosen
as king by lot as we’re going to see in chapter ten there’s a bunch of folks
that are sort of mad at this. They’re grumbling, they’re distressed until he
wins his first battle against the Ammonites. But you’re right; he’s got the
kingly stature--probably good-looking. In other words all those superficial
qualities that people might want.
Anything else? What tribe is he from? Benjamin. Which is a small
tribe isn’t it? Although actually this whole idea of I’m from the least tribe
and the smallest clan and all that is something that Gideon said too back in
the book of Judges. It might be just a self-deprecating thing because Gideon is
from Manasseh which is a big tribe. But at any rate he does say that he is from
the tribe of Benjamin and you’re on to something, what about the tribe of
Benjamin? I know we went through this way too fast and it was a week and a half
ago but what happened at the end of the book of Judges? Benjamin was small and
why are they are feeling that way? In other words, what was that incident,
actually multiple incidents all wound together in an ugly miracle at the end of
the book of Judges. They may mean that Benjamin as a tribe needs a little bit
of elevation. That whole business about the Levite’s concubine and what
happened to her was in the tribe of Benjamin. Gibea of Benjamin, nasty, nasty
events take place and so then what happens? The tribe of Benjamin just about
gets wiped out doesn’t it with warfare and then what happens? Well they have to
find wives for them. The tribe of Benjamin is really in the dregs at this point.
And so in some ways having their first king from Benjamin may well be, I’m not
putting motives in God’s mind, but I’m just trying to think of this true a
little bit may well be God’s gracious merciful reinstatement of the tribe of
Benjamin. The first king comes from that tribe that had been so, so denigrated
not just denigrated but had done all these horrible things.
Just as interestingly enough Korah remember Korah in Numbers 16?
And that terrible disobedience and the men of Korah get wiped out? Samuel is in
the line of Korah and the line of Korah continues as people who sing in the
tabernacle. So you know you get the idea that God is in the business of taking
people who are even in their own minds perhaps too abased to go on and raising
them back up again. I would suggest that’s what’s happening with the tribe of
Benjamin and Saul becoming the first king. Likewise to pick up on what Matt
said, this is what the people want. They want someone who can fight and Saul is
big and he has a commanding presence and he fights for them and he wins a major
battle right away against the Ammonites so that’s part of the issue as well.
We do have very interesting story in chapter 9. First of all,
Saul’s out looking for donkeys. Did you ever see a little bit of an irony in
that? He’s out looking for lost donkeys and he finds the kingship instead. What
an interesting thing. In the meantime the donkeys do get found, but notice that
there are two confirmations of God’s choice of him as king. First of all do you
remember Saul and his servant are going to Samuel because they want to find the
lost donkeys. In the meantime God has appeared to Samuel and said there’s going
to be a man who will show up tomorrow and I want you to anoint him as king.
It’s a private ceremony chapter 10 verse 1--chapter 9 is the donkey chapter 10
verse 1. Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed
him and he said “Has the not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance.”
Then he gives him three signs, three signs that he’s indeed going
to be king. He’s going to meet some people, one of the most interesting ones is
and I’ve made a note of it up here, starting at verse 5: “As you approach town
you’ll meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high places. They
will be prophesying.” Verse 6: “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in
power.” It’s a Hebrew word that just means to completely clothe and overwhelm.
“You will prophesy with them and you will be changed into a different person.”—“you
will be changed into a different person.” Keep that verse in mind. The Spirit
of the Lord will come upon you in power, you’re going to prophesy, you’ll be
changed into a different person. And then lo and behold that does indeed happen
Verse 9: “as Saul turned to leave Samuel God changed Saul’s heart.”
Now reading between the lines here you kind of get the sense that
Saul was not a kingly type of person. Yes, he’s big, yes, he look impressive
but what happens when they do the public confirmation and they find out by law
that this is supposed to be the king? Where’s Saul? Is he clamoring to be king?
He’s hiding in the baggage. He’s hiding! Even though Samuel has already
anointed him, there’ve been three signs to demonstrate that he’s God’s choice,
he’s been prophesying, which is fairly remarkable for him. In fact, it causes
people to say, “Oh my goodness, is Saul really among the prophets?” They knew
him well enough to know that he’s not that kind of person. God changes his
heart and as long as the spirit of the Lord is on Saul, Saul will do these
magnificent things. But this is a special empowerment. I wouldn’t say it’s the
indwelling Spirit in there and my reasons for saying that I’ll make clear, Lord
willing, on Wednesday. This is God’s special empowerment by his Spirit to
accomplish these things that God wants accomplished and it took really a
dramatic change in Saul. He becomes someone that he just didn’t seem to be
before.
At any rate, he does have some initial success. Chapter 11 talks
about his fight against the Ammonites. There’s and interesting motif in this
chapter that’s very similar to something we saw with the Levite and his
concubine. Do you remember that gory message that the Levite sent around? He chopped
the concubine up into 12 pieces and sent it to all the tribes, did you notice
Saul does the same thing? Verse 7 this is after the Ammonites are striking he
took a pair of oxen, cut them in pieces and sent the pieces by messengers
throughout Israel proclaiming this is what will be done to the oxen of anyone
who does not follow Saul and Samuel. Very interesting system for conveying
messages. It was effective, people showed up.
Well now we’re going to take a little break and look at another
picture and there’s a reason for looking at this that will become evident once
we move into the story of Jonathan and his armor bearer. Little geography, what
do you see here? Well you see a little village right here that happens to be
the modern day of Michmash, which preserves the name Michmash, which if you
read the text you know is one of the very major places where the Philistines
had their outpost, right up in the hill country. It also talks about a pass at
Michmash. In fact let me read it for you, “A detachment of Philistines had gone
out to the pass at Michmash.” That’s chapter 13 verse 23 and then it goes on to
the rest of the story. Here’s the pass do you see you’ve got a fairly steep
valley, that’s coming up all the way up from down there around the Jordan
valley. This is kind of hard to climb into and come back out of, may not look
like it, but believe me it is not something you go down and come back up
easily. However, at a very critical point between Michmash here and Geba that’s
over there, is this little bit of land that goes across. It becomes a major route
for people to travel along. The Philistines want to control of that for all the
obvious reasons because that’s how you get from this side of that deep valley
to this side of that deep valley. Here it becomes deep again. Here’s our pass
at Michmash. This is not the only place in Scripture that it shows up by the
way; Isaiah chapter 10 is a major example. This is where the Jonathan and his
armor bearer story shows up because they are going to climb up some steep
cliffs you can just see a little bit of the edge of it right there and over
take an encampment an outpost of the Philistine army at that point. And
following that the Israelites have a dramatic battle.
Now I’ve just given you a little bit of geographical background to
the story. Go back and read the story. We’re going to look at it in the couple
minutes we’ve got left in a slightly different context because we see the
Jonathan story, which is a remarkable demonstration of faith and trust in God,
it’s remarkable. Read it if you haven’t read it. That’s in a bigger context of
Saul and Saul’s character flaws and the fact that after that event with
Jonathan, Jonathan almost loses his life because of a rash vow that Saul has
made. At any rate, Saul ends up being impatient. We’ll look at the story in a moment.
He ends up being rash. And of course, he’s classically disobedient and I would
add on to that, although I haven’t listed it up here, he’s suffering from a
pretty severe case of something that all of us suffer form and that is pride--self-exaltation.
There will be a couple of points where Saul is quite intent on making sure the
people see him as a major figure. He’s going to build a monument to himself.
He’s going to make sure in chapter 15 that Samuel comes back with him so the
people don’t think ill of him. We’re sometimes busy doing those things too.
Building monuments to ourselves, maybe not of stone, but we do this and we’re
certainly way too often concerned about what people think about us and perhaps
more important is what the Lord thinks about us. Those were Saul’s problems,
clearly Saul’s problems.
At any rate, the first one it says he’s offering sacrifices at
Gilgal. Samuel had said wait seven days, in fact he went all the way back to
chapter 10 and says once you get to Gilgal, it’s going to be a little ways down
the pike, but he says once you get to Gilgal wait seven days. However, the
Philistines at this point in time are massing their forces. At Geba and Michmash,
remember the map. This is the first place where they are right in the heartland
of Israel. Geba and Michmash are in the heartland of Israel. Where’s Gilgal? This
gives us a little more sense of what’s going on here. It’s down in the Jordan
valley. The Philistines are so threatening up in the hill country, Geba, Michmash,
that whole area around there they’re controlling this plateau area in the central
Benjamin plateau. The Israelites have gone back down to the Jordan valley,
that’s how bad things are and then they’re waiting for Samuel to come.
Samuel doesn’t come, so what does Saul do? Well, he waits until the
last minute, but you can understand why he would get a little nervous for all
the reasons I’ve just said and he goes ahead, unfortunately and offers
sacrifices. Samuel immediately shows up at that point and he says you’ve not
kept the command of the Lord, if you had he would have established your
kingdom, verse 14 I’m in chapter 13: “Now your kingdom will not endure the Lord
has sought out a man after his own heart.” And of course, we know that to be
David. The Lord has sought him out and he’s appointed him as leader of the
people because you have not kept the Lord’s command. Just as there were too
confirmations of Saul’s becoming king, so there are going to be two
confirmations of Saul’s losing the kingship? This is the first one, but Saul
will do something else.
In the meantime, however, we do have the incident that I had just
alluded to with Jonathan. Jonathan doesn’t know it, but Saul has bound the
entire army under an oath not to eat anything and of course, after this
marvelous victory that Jonathan and his armor bearer and then the Israelites
joining them have, Jonathan, not knowing the oath eats some honey. When God no
longer answers Saul as Saul is seeking God’s advice on this, Saul knows that
something’s gone awry. They determine that indeed it’s Saul’s family and it
turns out to be Jonathan. Saul is ready to kill Jonathan because of this vow,
and fortunately the men of the army intercede.
Our last one where we really want to spend the last couple of
minutes that we have here, this is where we have the second confirmation that
Saul is going to lose the kingship. And we need to actually take just a little
bit of time two whole minutes here. In chapter 15 of 1 Samuel, verse 2, “This
is what the Lord almighty says, I will punish the Amalekites for what they did
to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Go attack them,
totally destroy everything that belongs to them, don’t spare them, put
everything and everyone to death.” Why did God command that? In other words,
what’s our reason? What did Deuteronomy 25 tell us? I know that’s an unfair
question. When the battle was going on between the Amalekites and the
Israelites as they had just come out of Egypt, remember they were a ragtag
bunch of people they don’t have armed force necessarily arranged yet, it says
in Deuteronomy 25 that they, the Amalekites, waylaid and picked off the people
in the rear who were weak and vulnerable. And that was heinous in God’s sight.
So therefore Exodus 17 it says, “You are to wipe them out of existence, may
their memory be erased” and at this point in time Saul’s the one who has been
called to actually do that and affect that.
Saul disobeys interestingly enough. Verse 12 says, “early in the
morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul and he was told Saul has gone to
Carmel and there he set up a monument in his own honor”--the thing I was just
telling you about. Saul then says when Samuel confronts him verse 20, “I did
obey the Lord, I went on the mission he assigned me, I completely destroyed the
Amalekites. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder; the best was
devoted to the Lord in order to sacrifice them.” Now you know that’s a bit of a
cover-up because probably they were going to keep them for themselves. But now
that he’s been caught he says, “Oh but I was going to sacrifice them.” Of
course, in that context Samuel says the following: “The Lord really delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience, to obey is better than
sacrifice, to heed is better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of
divination; arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. You’ve rejected the word of
the Lord, he’s rejected you as king”--and that’s our second confirmation. Saul
has lost the kingship. Now it’s because of outright rebellious disobedience.
God takes it away from him.
Samuel says I’m not going back with you. Saul says “Oh please I
want the people to think well of me” so Samuel does. But then he calls Agag
into his presence and it says he cut Agag up in pieces. The NIV is far too soft
it says “put Agag to death” the Hebrew word is “cut him in pieces.” Took care
of the king Agag. Now we’re going to see the name Agag again, but it’s a ways
down the pike, a couple of months as a matter of fact.
We need to stop with that; I think that’s the end of our Saul
material. We’ll see the demise of Saul next time and the rise of David. In the
meantime have a splendid day.
Transcribed by Maggie Brooks and Sarah Boyd
Rough edited by Ted Hildebrandt