Crown – King Saul

I Samuel 8

So much for ‘No Kings Day.’  Israel decided they wanted to be a monarchy, not a theocracy.  They wanted a king, not to be led by God.  They wanted a visible leader.  Fearful of the aggressive nations around them they sought to unify as other nations did under a visible leader.

vv. 1-3     Sad verses.  Samuel is very godly but his sons were not.  We see this a lot in Scripture.  Sometimes the Bible says it’s the father’s fault, but many times it’s just an example of the free will each person possesses.  We can all choose our own path.  Regardless of what we do right or wrong, our children will eventually decide which way they are going to go.  Even God the Father spent time w/ his children, Adam and Eve, but they chose to go their own way.

v. 4-7       Samuel was a judge over Israel, but the people said they didn’t want a judge, but a king.  Samuel wasn’t being rejected, but God.  And when you witness to someone and they want none of it, it’s not YOU they are rejecting...but God.  Don’t take it personally.

v. 8-9       It continues and Samuel explains why they shouldn’t want a king.  But they get what they insist upon.  Never insist with God.  Why?  He may give you what you want!  [and not His best]

Psalms 106:15
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

v. 19-22   Saul is chosen as Israel’s first king.  Then later we’ll see David was Israel’s finest king.  And Solomon was Israel’s fabulous king.

The selection of Saul.

There is disagreement about whether Saul was even saved.  Some believe he was, for he was chosen by God, not by man.  It was miraculous the way God brought Saul to this position.  He used a couple of lost donkeys!  But I’m not fully convinced.

10:9         Was this a conversion experience?  Unsure.

9:21         Tribe of Benjamin?  Is that where the king is to come from?

Genesis 49:10
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Actually Jesse, alive at that time, and the future father of David, would have been the best choice for king, if it was God’s timing for the kingdom.  He was of the tribe of Judah.

Ruth 4:18-22
¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, ¹⁹ And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, ²⁰ And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, ²¹ And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, ²² And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

Why did God overlook Jesse?  Gen. 38 and Deut. 23 show a soap opera like dysfunctional family drama that is the answer to this question.

In short, Pharez, above, was the son of Judah, who had 3 sons.  He wasn’t one of the 3, he was the illegitimate son of Judah and his daughter in law!  The first son, above, married Tamar, he died, and his little brother married her, and he died.  She then should have gone to the next brother, but he didn’t want her [as you could understand, she was bad luck!] so she disguised herself as a prostitute, enticed her father in law Judah, and they had relations and an illegitimate son.

Deuteronomy 23:2
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

When you count the generations of Judah, in Ruth, Jesse is the 9^th generation, just one generation too early.  The tribe of Judah was ceremonially unclean until David’s generation came along.

Amazing the little nuggets you can find in the Word that further prove its accuracy…and also how seriously God takes sin.

Saul is the first king:  He may not have ended well in his kingdom, but he was humble in his early days as king.  But power, wealth, and success turned him over the years.

The rejection of Saul.

God rejected him for several reasons:

        a.     Because he presumed the office of priest.

Samuel was the priest, but Saul decided to offer the sacrifice himself, though he was king, and not priest, and not even from the tribe of Levi.

13:8-14    The separation of church and state is actually a Biblical concept.  Not keeping the church out of the state, but the other way around.

        b.     Because he ordered the death of his own son.

I Sam. 14—Saul orders no one to eat until the Philistines are defeated in a several day battle.  He is flexing his muscles like a jerk, and his own son, who didn’t hear that instruction, finds some honey and eats it.  Incredibly, Saul says he has to be punished by death.  But the people said over OUR dead bodies.

        c.     Because of his incomplete obedience.

I Sam. 15—God used Samuel to instruct Saul to destroy and decimate the Amalekites, down to the last living animal.  But they don’t.  They defeat them, but allow the king to live and a few of the best sheep and oxen.

v. 14        “What meaneth the bleating of the sheep?”  [Silence of the lambs!]

v. 22-23   Obedience is disobedience if it isn’t complete, instant, and in the proper attitude.

Saul said, we kept the sheep to make sacrifices to our Lord!  But does God want a sacrifice that isn’t rooted in obedience and done the right way?  Some try to buy God out.  I’ve known men who were called to preach, but they resisted, and to make themselves feel better, they start giving more money, serving in other areas more fervently, and making personal sacrifices.  God says, the sacrifice I want is the sacrifice of obedience!  So Saul is rejected.

Saul has several fatal flaws:

[what can we learn from this story?]

1. Don’t reject God’s reign. (8:1-21).

We are to be a nation under God, not under man alone.  He will give us what we demand as far as human leadership...and we today are paying for that fact!  Are you happy with the leaders we have?  America as a whole has asked for it to be this way!

Hosea 13:11
I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

2. Don’t emphasize the external. (9:2, 21).

v. 9:2       He was impressive, he was in the prime of his life and no one else was like him. On top of that, Saul was very tall.  But may I point out that nothing in this text mentions his faith, or his character, or his humility, or his love. All the emphasis is on the external. This will prove to be very dangerous. Friends, we need to make sure we don’t just focus on the physical. This is not easy to do because our culture elevates the external.

1 Samuel 16:7  [re: David]
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Here’s a good question. Do you worry more about how you look or more about how you really are? Deal with your fatal flaws before they deal with you.

3. Don’t indulge impatience. (10:8; 13:7-12).

When Saul sacrifices without the priest Samuel he is being impatient and takings things into his own hands. Do you ever do that? Do you ever get impatient? Ever want to do things your way instead of God’s way?

Isaiah 30:18
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

4. Don’t use unwise words. (14:24-28).

A slippery slope awaits the one who speaks without thinking and praying.  This is why Saul said he would kill his own son...to keep his unwise word he had given.  And, because the troops were denied food, they were not able to accomplish all they could have, and they eventually end up sinning by breaking God’s command by eating meat with blood in it, they were so famished.  Saul’s unwise words were the cause of all of this.
Proverbs 12:18
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

5. Don’t be puffed up with pride. (15:12).

Saul was a complicated person but at the root, he was a man filled with pride. He started out humble but now he wants everyone to give him homage. 1 Samuel 15:12 says that Saul set up a “monument in his own honor.” We need to make sure that our lives are not filled with pride.  Is this one of your spiritual soft spots? If so, deal with this fatal flaw before you fall.

6. Don’t make obedience optional. (15:1-15).

I heard about a young boy who wanted to buy his mom a birthday present. He went to the store and asked the clerk to show him the cookie jars. Very carefully and methodically he went to each jar, carefully lifting the lid and putting it back on. He went through all of them and his face fell as he got to the last jar. He looked at the clerk and asked, “Aren’t there any cookie jars with lids that don’t make any noise?”

In what is perhaps his biggest blunder, Saul gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he disobeys the very clear command to attack and annihilate the Amalekites and to take no plunder.  He makes excuses, blames others, and is very defensive, but God always holds us accountable for our actions, and there’s no way to make a deal w/ God on the side.  All the sacrifice in the world is worthless to our Lord next to the sacrifice of obedience.

Hosea 6:6
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Donald Gray Barnhouse once told a story of a young son of a missionary couple in Zaire. One day the little boy was out playing in his front yard, and suddenly his father appeared and very sternly said, “Phillip, obey me immediately. Drop to your stomach.” The little boy obeyed. Then the father said, “Now, start crawling toward me.” And the little boy began to crawl, not understanding what was going on. And then the father said, “Now, jump up and run to me as fast as you can.” With tears in his eyes, the little boy ran toward his father, and his father scooped him, hugged him and kissed him. He then slowly turned around and pointed to the deadly snake that was hanging from a branch directly above where the boy had been playing.

What if his son had only partially obeyed? What if he had waited? Immediate obedience literally saved his life; and it can save ours as well. God wants what is best for our lives and the only way for us to experience that is through obedience. Saul never dealt with his disobedience early on and now he’s reaping the result of his rebellion. Deal with your fatal flaws before they deal with you.

7. Don’t choose relief over repentance. (16:23).

After Saul disobeys he starts to disintegrate in every way. We begin to see violent mood swings, erratic behavior, homicidal anger and perpetual paranoia. In the middle of his madness he finds that when David plays his harp, the music soothes his soul.

While the music seemed to help him, he still chose this over outright obedience and repentance. Saul is not looking for healing. He is not looking for repentance. He is not looking to set things right. He doesn’t want to do the hard work of examining his soul. He just wants to feel better. He just wants relief. He finds a form of entertainment that masks his pain and helps him make it through. But he does not change. He is distracted and relieved, but not transformed.

Friends, we need to guard against this as well. Sometimes people choose the relief that comes from an illicit relationship, or the excitement of entertainment, or the delight of distraction at the expense of what is really needed. Do you find yourself shifting into couch-potato mode, watching endless online videos, or an insane work schedule, alcohol or drugs, or even a time-consuming hobby? Have you been covering up your pain or trying to soothe your sinfulness when what you really need is to repent and allow God to renovate your life? Don’t trade short-term relief for long-term change. Instead of filling your life with mind-numbing activities, follow the path of confession and repentance. This is the only way to get to the root of your restlessness and to truly find relief for your soul. Deal with your fatal flaws before they deal with you.

8. Don’t dabble with darkness. (28:1-25).

Back in 1 Samuel 15:22 we read that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and now Saul has totally slid down a bad path when he dabbles with dark forces. Samuel is now dead and Saul persists in his rebellion, this time asking for the help of a medium. It’s as if he goes to everyone and tries everything but God. This practice has been outlawed by Saul himself in 1 Samuel 28:3 and yet now he’s breaking his own rule. Actually, this was a law established by God himself in Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

The spirit world is very real and very dangerous. Our culture seems captivated by occultic practices.  Don’t even crack open a doorway to the darkness.  Stay far away from all appearance of evil.

Next time we’ll look at the reign of David.

[Partial outline/info. by Brian Bill]