Unit 2: Out of Slavery to Nationhood
Key Verse:
1 Samuel 10:19a NLT
19a But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’
Beloved, Trust God. He is always near…
What you need to know
1 Samuel 7:12 NLT
12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah.[a] He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”
I don’t know. There, I said it. I don’t know. From the beginning of the Book of Judges up to this point in the Book of 1 Samuel, there are several appearances of the Lord that I cannot explain. What I can tell you is that He fought on Israel’s behalf against the Philistines immediately prior to Samuel placing the Ebenezer stone as a monument to the victory that the Lord had given them. He acted on their behalf to bring a fierce storm, replete with lightning and thunder to frighten and confuse the Philistines, Subsequently, they were easily routed by the Israelites. The Lord will make another appearance in today’s lesson, leaving us to continue to wonder how the Theophany that is the pre-incarnate Christ is made manifest…
1 Samuel 7:15-17 NLT
15 Samuel continued as Israel’s judge for the rest of his life. 16 Each year he traveled around, setting up his court first at Bethel, then at Gilgal, and then at Mizpah. He judged the people of Israel at each of these places. 17 Then he would return to his home at Ramah, and he would hear cases there, too. And Samuel built an altar to the Lord at Ramah.
So, as we close in on the final years of Samuel, the final judge of Israel, we find that most of the promised land has now come under the control of a loose confederation of the Israeli tribes, with Samuel going from place to place holding court at God’s direction. But the people of Israel want more (as if you can have any more than God).
The Lesson
Samuel 8:1-3 NLT
1 As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. 2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. 3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
The people of Israel anticipated that they would soon need new leadership. Samuel was getting older. Additionally, his sons Joel and Abijah could not be trusted. The people of Israel did not want a repeat of what had occurred with the sons of Eli, who were killed by the Philistines because of their sins before God.
1 Samuel 8:4-5 NLT
4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
And so, the people requested a king to rule over them. Focus. A king is not a judge. The judges were inspired by the Spirit of God as the need arose. A king, not so much. But this loose confederation of tribes called Israel could look to other nations and see…empires. To the west, there was Egypt. To the east, there was Sumeria, the home of the Amorites. Both Empires were several millennia in age. Both were governed by leaders who considered themselves to be ‘sons of the gods’. Israel desired the longevity of those empires. They desired a king to bring cohesiveness to their fledgling confederation of tribes. They wanted to be … a nation.
1 Samuel 8:6-7 NLT
6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
What the Israelites failed to recognize was that they already had a King. The Lord was their King. Samuel had only obeyed the voice of the Lord in the performance of his duties as Israel’s judge. God is King. God is our Lord. God is our Judge. We must always be cognizant of the fact that we have no King, save Jesus.
1 Samuel 8:17-18 NLT
17 Later Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the Lord at Mizpah. 18 And he said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has declared: I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you.
At Lord’s behest, Samuel called the people of Israel together at Mizpah. Mizpah was the place where Laban and Jacob had parted ways with the words, “May the Lord keep watch between me and thee…” In Israel’s eyes, this was literally the place where the Lord kept watch over His people. It is here, at Mizpah, where the Lord speaks through Samuel. The Lord reminds them that it was He who had delivered them from the hands of their oppressors in times past. How could an elected king have done any more for them than God?
1 Samuel 8:19 NLT
19 But though I have rescued you from your misery and distress, you have rejected your God today and have said, ‘No, we want a king instead!’ Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by tribes and clans.”
The Lord left off speaking by revealing to the congregation what He had revealed to Samuel: that they had rejected Him. He then commanded them to ordered them to present themselves before Him by tribe and by clan. He would choose, for them, a king.
1 Samuel 8:20-21a NLT
20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 21a Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally, Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them.
And the future king would be chosen from the tribe of Benjamin, the least of the twelve. In the tribe of Benjamin, the lot would fall to the clan of Matri, whose name is only mentioned this one time in Scripture. Then finally, from the clan of Matri, Saul, the son of Kish was chosen. Israel would have themselves a king.
1 Samuel 8:21b-22 NLT
21a But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! 22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”
And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”
Every now and then, a bit of levity, a bit of humor will enter into the Scriptural narrative. The exchange above is an example of such. Saul is chosen as king. This is a hallelujah moment, but for the fact that the new king is hiding. Hiding. That has to bring a smile, or maybe a smirk to your face. All of this fanfare about a king, and when one is selected, he hides. Surely, the Lord is sending a not-so-subliminal message to His children; “Is this really what you wanted?”
1 Samuel 8:23-24 NLT
23 So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!”
And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
And so as to continue in this satirical moment in this narrative, it turns out that Saul is a mountain of a man, fully head and shoulders above every other man surrounding him in stature. Saul ‘looked like’ a king. Suddenly, everyone jumps on the bandwagon, and the Lord… is forgotten. It’s just a moment in time, but it is a transitional moment. It is a moment where the children of God settled. They settled for less than God’s best for them: the Lord God, Himself.
1 Samuel 8:25 NLT
25 Then Samuel told the people what the rights and duties of a king were. He wrote them down on a scroll and placed it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent the people home again.
1 Samuel 8:10-18 NLT
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army,[a] some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle[b] and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
Samuel then reiterated to the children of Israel, soon to be a nation, the responsibilities and duties of a king, as well as the warnings he had posited before about what they would be subjected to if a king were to forget his place as a servant of the Lord. Not only did Samuel tell them, but he also wrote it down and had them sign the parchment, documenting that they were entering into a new covenant with God, a covenant whereby their advocate, their champion would be a mere man. Yet, in the end, God would prevail, in that, He revealed Himself to us as…a mere man in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Even in seeming confusion, God’s purpose works in our favor.
Romans 8:28 NLT
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[m] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
__________________________
1 Samuel 8:26 NLT
26 When Saul returned to his home at Gibeah, a group of men whose hearts God had touched went with him.
And then, as further evidence that God affirmed the people’s choice, God moved on the hearts of a contingent of men who would serve as Saul’s armor-bearers. Their dedication would be evidence of God’s presence amongst His people and with Saul. They would testify that Saul was God’s anointed. Much later on, David, Israel’s second chosen king would testify to that very same fact. Whatever else we may believe about the fault of Saul’s character, Saul was chosen and affirmed by God.
Selah,
wb
1 Samuel 24:5-8 NLT
5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord himself has chosen him.” 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul.
After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.
1 Samuel 26:8-11 NLT
8 “God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!” Abishai whispered to David. “Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t need to strike twice!”
9 “No!” David said. “Don’t kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s anointed one? 10 Surely the Lord will strike Saul down someday, or he will die of old age or in battle. 11 The Lord forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed! But take his spear and that jug of water beside his head, and then let’s get out of here!”
2 Samuel 1:13-16 NLT
13 Then David said to the young man who had brought the news, “Where are you from?”
And he replied, “I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land.”
14 “Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord’s anointed one?” David asked.
15 Then David said to one of his men, “Kill him!” So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. 16 “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for you, yourself confessed that you killed the Lord’s anointed one.”
No comments:
Post a Comment