Sean: When we're tempted to sin, we just say, well, I've got
a king and he says, be holy as I am holy. Or when we wanna take revenge. No. I have a king who says, love your enemies. That's hard to do, but it's a very simple concept.
It's your allegiance to a king and obeying what he says. So let's honor and serve and revere our crowned king, the serpent slayer, Jesus Christ, God incarnate.
Caleb: The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church. May the spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Sean: Last time we were introduced to a new character in the narrative, Saul, this asked for king, and we were kind of unsure of what to make of him. He wasn't a bad guy, but he didn't really inspire confidence in us when we had his introduction. Remember he had given up. He's introduced as giving up this mission of going to look for the lost donkeys specifically because he's concerned about what his father might be thinking. If his dad may be getting anxious we should probably just go back.
It's only when his servant kind of took initiative and started to lead him forward that they were able to find Samuel and locate the donkeys, and so we saw some aspects of him that might not be great for a future king, a future leader of Israel. Now of course there's a bigger something going on here because in the midst of this story we saw that God was actually responsible for sending Saul to Samuel in order to be anointed the king, the leader of Israel. Being the anointed one, he's the first one to come into this office of Christ, means anointed one, and we saw the Holy Spirit rush upon him, the personal presence of God come upon him as the anointed one to empower him for the work that God had for him to do, namely leading Israel and defeating the Philistines. But if you remember, this all happened in secret. Even that anointing was done when his servant was sent away, so nobody knows about this.
And of course, when Saul returned home, he also kept it a secret from his uncle. No one knows any of this has happened yet, and that's where today's story comes in. Today we're gonna see these declarations made publicly. Saul officially come into his kingdom. However, before we get into the text, it's important to understand this pattern we see Saul undergo here.
He's already experienced a private anointing, but what's going to follow is a three stage process of attestation, confirmation, and then coronation. This was a common pattern for kings back then to undergo both in Israel and other places in the ancient Near East. The kings would undergo these steps on their ascent to the throne before they were formally declared king, and this is how it worked. The attestation was when the king was named king by an authority figure. He was publicly named king, but then there had to be a confirmation, a time in which the king proved his worth, usually by leading the nation in a victorious battle.
Once he had proven himself there, there was the coronation where the king officially came into power and was seated on his throne and able to rule. This morning then we're going to see Saul work through each of those steps, attestation, confirmation, and coronation. We're also gonna learn a little bit more of his character along the way because remember we're kind of building a character profile for Saul, and then in the midst of all this, we're gonna get a really marvelous and inspiring foreshadowing of Jesus Christ himself. So a lot of good stuff in here today. I'm gonna pray, and
Sean: then we'll pick up in 10:17. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your scripture,
Sean: and I thank you for you blessing us as your people with the ability to unfold scripture and learn from it and be inspired by it, be encouraged by it, to learn truth by it, to see the light in it, and then to walk by that light. I pray all those things would be the case today. Of course, words tends to be empty apart from your spirit, but your spirit can send the words where they need to go and allow the hearts that receive them to see the truth of them, and so, Lord, we pray that your spirit would be empowering the words that are spoken here today and empowering those who hear to be able to understand and live in accordance with them. We pray your blessing and we know you'll give it because you are a good God who loves the teaching of your words. We thank you for that.
In Jesus name we pray, amen. 17. And remember just what we had, we left off last time, everyone was sent back and we're waiting to see what happens now. Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the people of Israel, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of the kingdoms that were oppressing you.
But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses. And you have said to him, set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by tribe and by our thousands. So they're all rallied together. They're about to get a king picked for them, but it's really significant that the story of Saul's ascension to the king begins with a condemnation of the fact that Israel asked for a king like this in the first place.
You see the narrative does not want you to forget that the people are going to get what they want but it's not what's going
Sean: to be best for them. This is not something that God is behind. He is accommodating them
Sean: but it's not his initial intention for them because they've rejected him as king to go to an earthly king instead. That's where this Exodus story comes in. This reminder of how God brought them out of Egypt. This is a pretty common pattern in the Old Testament where a prophet recounts God's faithfulness as shown in the Exodus story before he recounts a judgment or the faithlessness of Israel. You see this in Amos two, in Hosea 11, in Ezekiel 20, a number of times in Jeremiah, like in Jeremiah 32.
We have one of those examples happening right here. The prophet Samuel is contrasting God's faithfulness in taking Israel out of Egypt and protecting them in all these battles, and he's contrasting that with their faithlessness in rejecting God and asking for a king for themselves. So we have something similar going on here to what happened back in chapter eight verse seven where God said, They have rejected me from being king over them. It's important for us then as the audience to understand that God officially labels their demand for a king as a rejection of him. The reason that's important to remember is because sometimes we can get kind of confused as to what's God's relationship with the kings of Israel.
It's confusing because he condemns them asking for a king, and yet he grants their request. And he's even willing to work through and bless the kings of Israel if they're submitted to him, and you think, well is he for or against it? Many times God works through earthly kings. He works through Saul and David and Solomon and Hezekiah, But here's the thing, don't misunderstand God's help of the kings as God's approval of their demand to replace God as king. Those are different things.
Rather, when God's helping the kings of Israel, this is an example of God's mercy, an example of his kindness, of how he is willing to work with his people even in the midst of the consequences for their sin. It's very hard to completely strike out with God. It seems there's always more grace waiting for you, and there's more grace waiting even for Israel. They've rejected him as king, and yet he's still willing to work with them, work for their good through the very king who they have chosen to replace them. That's what God is like.
When you think you're at the bottom of his grace and there's no more left, you find you even gotten through the skin of the apple. There's always more grace, always more mercy, always more willingness from God to meet us where we are, and we see it here in his willingness to continue working for Israel's good even through the king they've chosen to replace him. So then despite pointing out the failures of Israel Samuel now moves to the part
Sean: of the ceremony where we're going to see them get their king they've asked for. Verse 20.
Sean: Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clan and the clan of Matratis was taken by Lot. And Saul the son of
Sean: Kish was taken by Lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired of the Lord again,
Sean: is there a man still to come? And the Lord said, behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage. Then they ran and took him from there and when he stood among them he was taller than any of the
Sean: people the Lord had chosen or
Sean: any of the people from his shoulders upwards. And Samuel said to
Sean: the people, do you see whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all of the people. And all the people shouted, long live the king.
Sean: Now there's some humor in this introduction, isn't there? This is Saul's first big introduction to the public, to Israel. We as the audience have already had a secret private introduction to Saul. Remember we had kind of the author's view or this kind of bird's eye view of him looking for the donkeys and whatnot. He was introduced to us in chapter nine.
It wasn't totally confidence inspiring, but now we kind of see a second introduction to Saul. We get to experience it now through the eyes of Israel. This is how he's introduced to Israel, his public introduction. And we think, okay, maybe fresh start, maybe we can do
Sean: a little bit better here. Well, how does it look? But with much drama, with much anticipation, the lot falls upon Saul, the son of Kish. They look and they say, well, where is he? Then they have to go back to God and say, Is there another man to come?
And God says, Behold, he's been out slaying a lion. No, he doesn't say that. God says, Behold, he's defeated a giant. No. The text says, Behold, he's hiding among the baggage.
That's
Sean: not a great introduction for a king, right? This is not inspiring confidence in us, and it kind of reinforces what we saw of him in chapter nine. We're not really told why he's hiding in the baggage specifically, but I don't think it needs to be that confusing. We can interpret Saul's actions here by correlating them with his past actions and seeing if kind of a pattern emerges here, and I think we see one. Again, so far we saw that Saul was concerned about others' thoughts or opinions, concerned about his father maybe being concerned about him, and we also saw that Saul was maybe unsure of himself or unsure to dedicate to a task.
He says, Let's go back, and the servant says, Well, we can find Samuel, and Saul says, Well, how do we do that? The servant says, Well, we've got some money here. Let's go and do it, and Saul kind of goes along with that, but we see kind of maybe an uncertainty there, maybe some kind of an indecision, a hesitancy, and maybe he's overly conscious about what those around him are thinking, and those character traits we saw in chapter nine, they seem to explain pretty well what we're seeing here in chapter 10 because at moment of
Sean: his attestation he hides in the baggage.
Sean: Notice this detail, hiding in baggage, that's like an afterthought. You don't plan to go hide in baggage. You're going up to Saul is in Sam, going up to my coronation here, and when I get there I'm gonna show up, but then I'm gonna go hide in the baggage last minute. No, if don't want to be declared king you don't show up in the first place. What it looks like is happening here is Saul knowing he was going to be declared king goes up there, but then as the clans are getting whittled down and maybe he starts to
Sean: get cold feet and that's when he leaves and goes finds a hiding place, the baggage. That's the best place to do it. What do we see then there? You see more indecision. You see
Sean: more uncertainty maybe in himself or maybe in the kingship, who knows, and probably more concern about others, And that would be kind of a nerve wracking thing, but these are traits which are going to make leadership very difficult for Saul as we'll see in the future.
Sean: However, notwithstanding this embarrassing introduction, the
Sean: people seem to be quite taken with him. Once he stands up, and this seems to be due to his height, his height is mentioned again here. It was mentioned previous. That means the Bible wants us to pay attention to his height. When they see him stand up they yell out, Long live the king.
They're judging him by his outward appearance, and he looks tall. He looks handsome. He looks like a king, but the story though has kind of given us as the audience reason to maybe doubt what's inside, doubt what's in
Sean: the heart even while the outward appearance looks very imposing.
Sean: Samuel then takes this opportunity to remind Israel what God is going to require of this king. Verse 25, then Samuel took the people or told the people the rights and duties of the kingship and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel set all the people away, each one to his home. Saul also went to
Sean: his home in Gibeah and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, how can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present, but he held his peace.
Sean: Now it appears here what Samuel is doing is kind of trying to make the best of this kingship, making this legitimate. Of course he recognizes the people shouldn't have had a king in this way, right? He just said that, but the fact is they do have a king, so what now? Well at least this king should conduct himself in accordance with the laws that God wrote out for the king. That makes sense.
God wrote out these laws in Deuteronomy 17, and so Samuel seems to remind everyone of the rights and duties of the king, what God is gonna require from the king of Israel. So by way of reminder, Deuteronomy 17, God predicts there that in fact one day Israel will want a king,
Sean: and he says, He gives them laws by which this king should abide. Now firstly, God was supposed to choose the king.
Sean: Well, that didn't happen. They didn't do that. They've already messed that up, but at least this king can follow the rest of the laws, and maybe we can make this work out. Examples of what those were, God said, I don't want this king to acquire many horses. The implication there, the king should be reliant upon Yahweh, upon God alone for salvation and not his own forces.
This king was also not to marry many wives such that his heart wouldn't be turned away from the Lord. And most importantly, the king was to write out a copy of the law, and the king would submit himself and submit the people also to this law of God. The reason being this, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment either to the right hand or to the left. You see, if the king studies the law, if the king writes out the law, then both the king and the people are submitted to God, the higher king. This will enable the king to rule as he should, not lording power over his brothers and sisters, but rather stewarding them under God's sovereign rule.
A king whose heart is submitted to the law and who leads the other people in that, that is the heart that God was looking for in his king. You see that in Deuteronomy 17, and so ideally then that's what Saul should be doing. That's what
Sean: the king of Israel should be doing. Samuel then tells these things to
Sean: the people, writes writes them down, and sets them before the Lord, presumably before
Sean: the Ark of the Covenant.
Sean: And yet even in that little detail we see another mishap because the king is supposed to be doing this. It's the king who's supposed to be writing down the law and enforcing it and studying it. So yet again, we see this isn't playing out exactly the way that it should play out. Well, after the ceremony, everyone is dismissed to go home. That seems a little weird and confusing, right?
It seems like there should be this big procession leading him to a palace and a throne with a crown. But remember the ascension to kingship, that introduction that I gave. There's the attestation, the confirmation and the coronation. We've just seen the
Sean: attestation. He's been declared king,
Sean: but he won't fully get to come into his kingship until he confirms himself by a military act of victory, a
Sean: feat of strength. Then he can be crowned and begin his rule. And you
Sean: know it looks like that feat of strength might be necessary because while some valiant men support him, there's some worthless men here who say, How can this guy save us? And they don't bring him any present. Why does the Bible call them worthless? Because they are opposing God's anointed. No, Saul is not perfect, but he is anointed.
He has the presence of God with him. He is now the king who God has set over Israel, and that being the case, he's the one who needs to be followed. So these worthless people are doubting him and opposing him. Well chapter 11, now our scene shifts over to the East past the Jordan to the place of Israel called Jabesh Gilead and there's some trouble brewing over here in the East. Let's see what happens.
Then Nahash the Amorite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a treaty with us and we will serve you. But Nehosh the Amorite said to them, on this condition I'll make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all Israel. The elders of Jabesh said to him, give us seven days respite that we may send a message through all the territory of Israel. Then if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you. When the message came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud.
Here we have the introduction to our villain in the story. That's how stories work. It starts out, the circumstances change, and now there's conflict. Now there's trouble. The villain, Nahash, assaulting those of Israelites to the East of the Jordan.
He besieges them and they realize they can't win, and so they're ready for some diplomacy. They say, You know what? Let's make a treaty. Nahash responds, Sure, sure. I'll make
Sean: a treaty if you gouge out your right eyes.
Sean: And I don't know about you, but for me that's a non starter. I'd say, How about negotiations that involve me keeping my eyes? Let's start with that and move forward. But Nahash is a little more violent than that, and so this is a very bad deal set on the table for them.
Sean: And yet they must be pretty desperate because they actually consider it. They say, Well, let us go through Israel, see if we
Sean: can find a savior, someone who can save
Sean: us, and if not, then we'll take your deal.
Sean: So they're going out through Israel. Man, let's hope there's someone who can save us from this. This is a bad situation. Well, what happens now? Verse five, Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen.
Sean: And Saul said, What is wrong with the people? They are weeping. So they told him the news of the men
Sean: of Jabesh. And the spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words and his anger was greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people and they came out as one man. When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were 300,000 and the men of Judah 30,000.
And they said to the messengers who had come, thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, tomorrow by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation. When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh,
Sean: they were glad. Therefore the
Sean: men of Jabesh said, tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you and you may do to us whatever seems good to you. And the next day Saul put the people in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Amorites until the heat of day. And those who survived were scattered so that no two of them were left together. So they go through Israel looking for someone to save them from the hand of Nahash. The next scene starts with Saul returning from plowing.
Now when Saul hears the news, what happens? The spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. It empowers him. His anger is kindled. He's ready to go and fight against this Nahash king of the Amorites and deliver Israel, as he said he would.
But how can he muster that many people? How can he come up with that counterattack? He's gonna need to crush the Amorites all at one blow, and he's gonna need the support of all of Israel to do this. How's he gonna rally everyone in such a short time? Well, we see him do something very interesting.
He takes this yoke of oxen, cuts them up, and then essentially sends them out with a threat to all of Israel saying, Whoever doesn't support me and Samuel, this is what's gonna happen to his oxen. Interesting, the mention of Samuel. Samuel doesn't show up in this story at all. Saul kind of
Sean: made that part up. It shows that he's not quite, he's a
Sean: little bit uncertain if his own name bears the weight to rally all of Israel, so what's he do? He's co opting Samuel into this because everyone knows Samuel. He's a prophet throughout all the land, and says, Support me and Samuel over here. That seems to be more uncertainty, more second guessing himself, and he adds that in there.
Sean: But it works out. The dread of
Sean: the Lord falls upon Israel. They show up as one man. That's good thing. We want that.
Sean: However, even while the
Sean: spirit is on Saul, and he's rallying Israel against the Amorites, there's a discordant note playing in the background of the scene. And you know how this happens with movies. A character's walking up the stairs or opening a door, doing something pretty normal, but the musical score tells you this is a problem, and it can make it scary or tense. The music shows you as the audience how to interpret the actions happening on screen. Biblical narrative works the same way.
Of course, not with music, but it does it with repeated events and repeated themes. You'll see something went bad way back here, and you keep reading through the Bible, and then something similar happens in the story you're reading. That's like that bad music playing. You see this a lot in scripture when the characters are going to Egypt. If you're going down to Egypt, there's a problem close at hand.
Abraham and his wife taken by Pharaoh. Same thing happened to Isaac later on. Of course, Joseph going to Egypt is a problem. Even little Jesus, two years old, is going to Egypt because Herod's killing all the babies in Jerusalem. You see, when you hear Egypt, when you see Egypt pop up on the page of your Bible, you hear the music take a dark turn.
Some foreboding is happening there. That is what the narrative is doing for us here in this cutting up and distribution of the oxen. Though it's not necessarily a bad action in and of itself, there's no moral ramifications here for Saul. This story is echoing the darkest story of the darkest part of the darkest book in the bible. Judges comes just a little bit before Samuel.
In Judges, something very similar is performed to rally all of Israel as one man to fight. Not gonna go into detail with it here. It's quite graphic, but it happens in Judges 19. Again, we see a similar action taken to unite Israel, and that's echoing in the pages right here. So in the midst of Saul's victory, something where naturally we're kind of on a high here, we're excited, we notice this eerie echo of a terrible past event in Judges, and we kind of hear that music take a dark turn and think, Something's not quite right here.
Something's off. Maybe it's the kingship. Maybe it's Saul.
Sean: We're not sure, but this is a negative echo for us in scriptures. And yet when we look at the story as a whole, zoom out
Sean: a bit, we have in this story a stunning depiction of Christ, a remarkable foreshadowing of Jesus. I'm gonna let you in on a little detail in this story that I've kept a secret until now. You know our villain Nehash? This is the Hebrew word for serpent. Exactly.
It's not a name that's kind of tangentially connected to the word serpent in a roundabout way. It is serpent.
Sean: It's Niphal khet shim. Nachash, serpent. Same word used in Genesis three. The serpent was the most cunning beast of
Sean: the field that the Lord God had made. The serpent who deceives Adam and Eve, it's nachash there and it's nachash here. It's the exact same word. This Amorite king's name is Serpent. He's a Serpent King and he's coming out against God's people to enslave them.
What do they do? They look for a Savior, someone to bring them salvation. It says so in the text. They go to look to see if there is someone to save us. And then what's Saul's response?
Tomorrow by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation. This too is significant because the word salvation to save, Yesha, it's the same part of Jesus' name, Yeshua. Right? God is salvation. So put all this together here.
The people need a savior from the serpent. Who's it gonna be? It's the Christ, the anointed one of Israel. The Christ of Israel is going to slay the serpent and give the people salvation. That's exactly what's happening here.
Now I don't want this terminology to make you uncomfortable. Last week after the sermon Reverence mentioned to me, I don't like it that you're calling human beings Messiah or Christ because that is only for Jesus, and that attitude is absolutely right. We need to guard and revere the complete divinity of Jesus and the complete uniqueness of Jesus, so that's absolutely right. We also need to kind of follow the details of the text here and realize that Christ is an office just like prophet is an office or priest is an office. Many different people can fulfill these offices, and of course only Jesus himself fully fulfills them all simultaneously.
But that being the case, many times in the scripture we have foreshadowings of Christ by various people who fill these various offices. You have Melchizedek, the priest, and you have David, Solomon, even Adam being a covenant head of humanity. All these people foreshadow Christ. We see that happening a lot in scripture, and I think right now, right here, we have a marvelous one because here we have Saul just attested to and anointed as the Christ of Israel, and he confirms that calling by defeating the serpent, and he's then coronated and crowned as king. Look at how this parallels Jesus' own cosmic rise to kingship as we see in the scriptures.
Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism and there receives his attestation from God. God says, This is my son. Listen to him. But it's not all over right there. It's not
Sean: done right there. He's not
Sean: yet crowned with glory and honor. Instead he lives his entire life empowered by the spirit, which culminates in his death and resurrection, and which he demonstrates
Sean: victory over Satan, the serpent. This is where
Sean: we get that idea of Jesus crushing the serpent's head. Hebrews two fourteen puts it this way, Through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. This is very much like that act of confirmation where the king, the rising king, decisively defeats his opponent before being crowned. Again, Colossians two fifteen, Disarming the rulers and the authorities, he made a public disgrace out of them triumphing over them in the cross. Then what does the Bible say was the result of Jesus' victory over Satan?
He humbled himself by obedience to death even on a cross, and therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name that's above all names. Jesus was coronated King of the universe, crowned with glory and honor, and seated on the throne at the right hand of God the Father. Just listen to how these verses attest to that. Hebrews two:nine, But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. Ephesians one twenty, God raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named.
He put all things under his feet. Hebrews one:three, After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And then Jesus' own words, Revelation three twenty one, Jesus says, I also conquered and sat down at my father on his throne. With my father on his throne. So in a very real way, Jesus underwent this same ascension to the throne that we're seeing here.
Jesus Christ, our King, was anointed by God, and then he ransomed us from the serpent, defeating him by raising from the dead. And then he was vindicated in his kingship, proven victorious, and took his rightful seat on the throne of the universe. The thing that's amazing about this is you read about it in the old days, and it's like, well, that's pretty cool, but this actually happened and affects us right now where we're right in the midst of this story. Like the valiant men followed Saul, we can follow Jesus who is our king, who's really there right now. I mean there's a contemporary reality to this.
It's not a story out of the past. Jesus is at this moment seated on the throne of the universe because of what he accomplished on the cross, and he is our king. We see a shadow of him in this story, but we serve the real thing. What a privilege and an honor to actually have a king and such a king who saves us not from losing our right eye, but who saves our very souls from dying in hell. And how amazing that we actually were born at this time.
We live in these last days where we don't serve an earthly king, but a heavenly one. Not a shadow of Christ, but Jesus Christ himself. Let us not be like the worthless men in the story who opposed God's anointed one. Saying, how Jesus save me? How can he save me from my sin?
Sean: How can he actually help me with my fear or my anger, my depression? Let us not doubt the Christ, God's anointed one, and place ourself in opposition to his saving work and our life. Rather,
Sean: let us remember, keeping the forefront of our minds like the valiant men, we have a king when we're frustrated. I have a
Sean: king who says, Be angry and do not sin. Just obey that.
Sean: When we're fearful, I have a King who says, Fear not, I am with you. When we're tempted to sin, we
Caleb: just say, Well, I've got
Sean: a King, and he says, Be holy as I am holy. Or when we wanna take revenge, No, I have a king who says, Love your enemies. It's hard to do, but it's a very simple concept. It's your allegiance to a king and obeying what he says. So let's honor and serve and revere our crowned king, the serpent slayer, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the real thing.
It's amazing, and it affects each and every one of us here today this very moment and throughout the rest of our lives.
Sean: And so then we have here in chapter 11 this great foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the serpent slayer. Now let's see how the people respond to what Saul has just done. 12. Then the people said to Samuel, who is
Sean: it that said, shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put them to death. But Saul said, Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel. Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, and there renew the kingdom. So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord and Gilgal.
There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord and there Saul and all the
Sean: men of Israel rejoiced greatly. So what happens here? Well, those
Sean: worthless men come back up again, and now everyone wants to turn on them and kill them, but Saul says, No, have mercy on them. Today the Lord has given us a great victory. This is all good. We're getting good indications, at least from this text. Israel has victory.
Saul is showing mercy. Saul is giving glory to God. These are both things that a king of the nations wouldn't do. We think, Wow, maybe this is gonna work out. Maybe this will work out after all.
And then we have this renewing of the kingdom that Samuel leads us in. What is that? Most important detail there, the renewing of the kingdom involves this peace offering. Now this is detailed in chapter 12. In fact, all of chapter 12 is what happens here during this renewing of the kingdom.
But what appears to be going on here is that Samuel and Israel are attempting to renew the kingdom under the headship of God. This is like a reconciliation, and they really need this because right now Israel's in kind of an awkward relationship with God. We're not quite sure what to make of
Sean: it as the audience. They've rejected him and chosen a king, but they still want his blessing and his help. He's given them his help, and he's selected Saul and given Saul victory over the Amorites, so that's all good, and we think,
Sean: where does Israel stand with God right now in this story? At the beginning of the story, God says, You've rejected me, but here at the end, he's given them victory. Saul gives glory to God, and they're making a peace offering, and it's that peace offering that kind of helps us understand what's going on here. The peace offering was something that represents a peaceful union between not man and man, but man and God. That's what it was used for.
It includes a gigantic meal and a sacrifice to God. It's like you're sitting down and having a meal with God, again showing peace between the two. You see this happen at Sinai when Israel covenanted with God, or when Israel makes a tabernacle in Numbers seven, they do a peace offering, offering a meal with God. When David brings the ark back to Jerusalem later, you'll get this peace offering given. So then we get the idea that Israel is attempting to renew the kingdom by rededicating itself to God.
They know they shouldn't have rejected him for a human king, but now they have a human king and they're thinking, let's see if we can still make this work. Now maybe everything will be all right
Sean: after all. And at least as
Sean: far as today's story goes, it looks like it's working. We can at least be kind of tentatively hopeful here. Nehosh is defeated. Israel is giving glory to God, and they're all celebrating,
Sean: and Saul becomes king. But of course we know the whole story, and sadly, that's not gonna work for them because an earthly Christ cannot give salvation, cannot ultimately save us from sin, and
Sean: an earthly king cannot ultimately rule God's people. That's why I want to end by again reminding us of the joyful reality that we now live in. We are in a part of God's story for history where we serve Jesus the King, Jesus Christ crowned with many crowns, Lord of Lords, worthy King of
Sean: the universe because he was slain, and by his blood he ransomed people from every nation, tribe, tongue. We serve a perfect King, the King of Kings, who's delivered us from slavery to sin, and we can live out of
Sean: that encouragement, that joy, that strength, that certainty, that confidence knowing that
Sean: we are subjects of, servants of, not an earthly king, but of the king of all the earth. So let's go out with that in mind. We have an allegiance.
Sean: We have a leader. We have a king. He's in charge of everything, and he tells us what to do, and we ought to do it. I pray for us. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are our king.
We thank you that you have risen to the throne and been seated on the throne at the right hand of God on high, that all of your enemies have been put under your feet, that you have reconciled us to God the Father, that we are in relationship with you. We don't need a peace offering. We're at peace with you because of what, Jesus you've done. Thank you for that. Let us not be like the worthless men in this story opposing the Christ, asking, doubting, oh, how can he save us?
Lord, you've saved us from hell, and you save us every day from sin. Let us walk in that. Let us walk in righteousness. Live in such a way to where we are faithful servants of the king, doing what you say, considering our lives from your perspective, from what you would say for us, and empower us to do that by the Holy Spirit. He's the one who makes it possible, who allows us to walk in your law.
Sean: Thank you for the gift of the Spirit. So empower each of us to obey the king through the power of the holy spirit. We pray it in Jesus name, amen.
Caleb: Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio. To see more of the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10AM or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org.