Even
though Saul was not God’s choice of king over His people, He will use Saul to
work out His plan of salvation even through man’s failure. God’s love is
everlasting, but He cannot bless sin and rebellion. Even so, out of His love
and mercy for His people, God anointed Saul, gave him the power of the Holy
Spirit and a changed heart. Samuel, God’s faithful prophet, priest and king, will
speak God’s Word to Saul. It will be up to Saul to continue in his anointing
and change of heart by obeying God and His Word through His faithful prophet.
The people will soon see that Saul does not have the heart of God. He is weak
in the flesh. David, God’s choice for King over His people, was praised for
being a “man after God’s own heart.” God will show His people the error of
their ways and the subsequent consequences.
After being
anointed by Samuel and being shown the regulations of kingship, Saul went to
his home in Gibeah. Israel’s king was to be distinctly different from the kings
of other nations. They were to be led by the Lord. Saul went to his home
because there was no palace for a king at that time since Israel had never had
an earthly king before. God was their King!
Natural vs Spiritual
For
those of you who have not read my teachings before, God uses me to show that He
used the “natural” to paint a picture of the “spiritual” – both of Jesus and of
Satan. Nanash, the leader of the Ammonites, is a type and shadow of the devil.
His name means “serpent.” God revealed
that the serpent of old is the devil in Revelation
20:2. When studying scripture, we must follow scripture from the beginning
to the end to get the fullness of Truth.
Saul’s First Battle – Samuel 11
Soon Nanash
the Ammonite besieged Jabesh Gilead. Nanash means “serpent.” Nanash is controlled by the spiritual serpent – the
devil – who is the enemy of God’s people. Nanash shows how Satan works to weaken
and discourage God’s people. Jabesh means “dry or dried up” – no life.
Nanash
intimidates and puts fear in God’s people by threatening to “gouge out the right eye of every one of
the men” of Israel to bring disgrace on all Israel and exalt himself. In
biblical times, warriors would hold their shield with their left hand and fight
with their right hand. If the right eye is taken out, the soldiers would be virtually
blind and weakened. Satan too wants to humiliate and blind us to the truth so
Jesus’ soldiers will be weakened against him and his demonic army.
The elders of Jabesh Gilead asked
Nanash to give them seven days to see if they can find someone to save them. The elders were horrified at Nanash's threat, but they had no faith in themselves or in God to defeat their enemy. If they can't find a savior, they will have to surrender to Nanash. Satan can attack us, but he can’t do anything to us unless we lack faith in God and surrender our
will to the devil. If the devil can’t blind us wholly, he will partially blind us to
get his way. Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the devil will twist
scripture and even leave some words out to deceive and get us to do his will instead of the will of God.
Unfortunately, the flesh is weak and often God’s people do surrender their will
to the devil. A lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s Word will make it
easier for a believer to be deceived. The Pharisees in the New Testament are an
example of this. Jesus often called them a brood of vipers (serpents) and blind leaders of the blind because they were not
accepting His words as truth.
Seeking a Savior – 1
Samuel 11:3
Messengers of
God’s people went throughout the land seeking a savior. When they came to
Saul’s hometown and reported that Nanash had threatened to blind them, the
people all wept aloud. They were full of fear and defeat. Our spiritual
adversary – the devil – works in this way. He wants to fill us with fear and
hopelessness instead of being full of faith and hope in God. When Saul saw
God’s people weeping, he asked them why. When Saul heard the reason, “the Spirit of God came upon him in power,
and he burned with anger.” 1 Samuel 11:6 The Spirit of God came upon Saul to equip and empower him for the battle ahead. Righteous indignation rose up
within Saul. Saul took a pair of oxen,
cut them into 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.” Then the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they
turned out as one man. 1 Samuel 11:7 Saul
ruled through fear instead of faith in God. The fear of Saul’s threat united
God’s army of Israelites as one man. David, on the other hand, accepted, taught
and trained the misfits who came to him in the cave of Adullam. These became
David’s mighty men who fought many a battle to victory with David.
Victory and Deliverance
When the
messengers returned to Jabesh Gilead, they told the men of Jabesh that by noon
the next day they will be delivered from the Ammonites and their evil leader. God
had fired Saul up. He would lead God’s people into victory. The men of Jabesh
fooled the Ammonites into believing that God’s people would surrender to them
the next day, and they can do whatever seems good to them. This made the Ammonites overly confident. Then Saul separated
his men into three divisions. During the
last watch of the night, they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and
slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered,
so that no two of them were left together. 1 Samuel 11:11 Those who were
scattered were rendered ineffective. God works in unity, so His people are to
work in unity. We must be united in the understanding and knowledge of His Word
and Will. Otherwise, we are weakened. There is a lot of varying truth being spoken
from Jesus’ Church. It is the Pure Truth that unites. Jesus spoke only pure
Truth because He is Truth. He wants us to seek pure Truth. This cannot happen
by just hearing the Word at Church on Sunday. We must meditate on the Word
daily and seek the Truth.
Saul Confirmed as King
by God’s People
Saul led God’s
people to victory. It was after this battle that the Israelites publicly
confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the Lord. Prior to this, Samuel had
anointed Saul as king privately. After the battle, the Israelites offered a peace
offering to the Lord and celebrated. They thought they had a victorious king.
Eventually, Saul will reveal his true nature and downfall.
(Next
week: Samuel’s Farewell Speech)
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