Read 1 Samuel 17:41-54

One of the “assumed truths” of our world today is the belief that we are the lead actors in our story. So we are the champions in the battles we fight against whatever cause. Unfortunately, this attitude can creep into the Church and we assume stories like David and Goliath are about us. Nothing is further from the truth. David and Goliath is about God defeating our real enemies.

In this climactic scene of the confrontation between David and Goliath, we are reminded first of all that the Battle Belongs to God. God is the one who is victorious, and was victorious over sin and death through Jesus Christ. God’s victory is comprehensive and definitive, and one day will be complete.

Young David, who recognised the true spiritual nature of the conflict between Israel and the Philistines, entered onto the arena of battle after rejecting Saul’s armour and weaponry (vv.1-40). Armed with only a sling and five smooth stones, he approached the giant Goliath.

Goliath the Philistine, moved forward to meet his foe (v.41). Five times in verses 41-44, the passage refers to “the Philistine”. Goliath’s menace and imposing status is meant to come through. Goliath played on his physical prowess, like some BC giga-chad.

Goliath looked on the outside. A good thing full length mirrors did not exist, or he would have been delayed. Goliath saw David as “but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance” and sneered (v.42). Goliath jeered at David, saying “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” and cursing him by his false gods (v.43). He suggested David would make good food for the hungry scavengers circling above (v.44).

Pride, striding the earth. A haughty spirit, ready for a fall (Prov. 16:18).

David talked smack back to Goliath. Goliath was striding out in his own strength, with his own weapons, but David came relying on God (v.45). Hardly a fair fight. Goliath was a blasphemer and a rebel. David came in God’s name, his conduct and character, “whom you have defied” (v.45).

Because Goliath defied God, he was guilty of the punishment due for his sin – death (v.46). God would give him into his hand. He would cut off Goliath’s head, interesting considering he had no sword. And the Philistine army would become the scavenger food.

This would happen so that “all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel”, and that Israel itself would know that “the Lord saves not with sword and spear” (v.47). Ultimately, the battle did not belong to strength or skill of arms but “the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand” (v.47).

The actual battle itself is pretty much an anti-climax. Goliath drew near to David at the battle line, David whipped out a stone, flung it with his sling at 200kph into Goliath’s forehead, and the great enemy was dead before hitting the floor (vv.48-9).

Weakness prevailed over strength, because physical strength is no match for God; David won without even a sword in his hand (v.50). He had to borrow Goliath’s to remove his head, and this act caused the Philistines to flee (v.51).

From there, the actual soldiers took over, slaying the fleeing Philistines all the way back home, and then plundered the abandoned Philistine camp (vv.52-3).

David, on the other hand, took the head of Goliath to Jerusalem, then paraded it to its pagan inhabitants (v.54). In other words, if God could knock off the great Goliath, they had better watch out. God had unfinished business with those who opposed his reign and his people.

The emphasis on David’s weakness, and the lack of emphasis on the actual battle, shows the emphasis should go on God, not David. Not us. God gave the victory, the battle belonged to him.

Israel could not save themselves. Israel needed a saviour to fight on their behalf, and defeat God’s foe. That saviour, for Israel, was the anointed king David who dispatched Goliath.

Yet this was just a lesson for them, just as it is for us. It pointed to something greater. Goliath represented opposition to God. The truer and greater enemy is sin and death. Jesus, the anointed king descended from David, is the true victor and Saviour of God’s People. 

Jesus relied on God in faith, just as David did, even as Jesus was nailed to the Cross for our sins. He defeated sin and death in a worldly weak way, by dying meekly on a cross. Yet he was triumphant, because the battle belonged to God.

That victory reminds us that the opposition of the world, in whatever shape it takes, is ultimately nothing compared to God’s power. We do not need to fear the world, for our Champion has already won the battle. All that is left for us, like the Israelite army, is the cleanup.

Trusting in Christ our Saviour, we can fight against sin knowing the battle belongs to God, and seeking to glorify him.

Read 1 Samuel 17:31-40

In a society which increasingly seeks to follow after pagan ways and does not order itself after God’s ways, it is easy to think the answer is political. Capture power and influence, whether in the media or the Beehive, and the nation will be influenced for the better. While this might be true in the sense of moral governance, Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world. We should not seek earthly means to victory.

Ultimately, it is God that delivers, not us. David understood this, and refused King Saul’s armour for that reason. Saul believed it was a physical battle, to be fought in a physical way. David understood that the conflict was a spiritual one playing out on earth, and that it was God who would deliver him. This event prefigured Christ’s victory over sin, not through earthly means but through his own victory on the Cross.

When David visited the Israelite camp and saw Goliath’s challenge, he understood that the issue was defiance against the only living and true God. His zeal for someone to stand up to Goliath for God may not have been appreciated by his brother, but word reached King Saul’s ear (v.31). David was quickly summoned before Saul.

Nobody else in the Israelite camp, including Saul himself, was willing to go up against Goliath. But David was. “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (v.32).

Yet Saul was not convinced David was the right man for the job. Where David saw a spiritual conflict with physical overtones, Saul saw a physical battle. And Goliath was big. So Saul questioned David’s ability, given that Goliath had trained for battle from youth, and David himself was still a youth (v.33).

David’s reply showed his recognition that the fight was spiritual, and that victory would come from God’s hand, not David’s might. David pointed out his background as a shepherd, which required going after a lion or bear which sought to steal his father’s sheep (v.34). If the beast turned on him, then he had to strike down the beast too (v.35).

In other words, just because David had no military experience, it did not mean he was inexperienced at combat. He had fought wild animals, not men, but Goliath had lowered himself to animal status by his words and so “this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God” (v.36).

But ultimately, David’s skill with a weapon against animals was not what would save him. It was God’s protection. “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (v.37). God had delivered him from wild animals. David trusted God would deliver him from Goliath.

To this, secular Saul offered an appropriately pious platitude wishing God’s presence with him (v.37) and accepted David was the man to fight the human-beast.

Yet one further example of David’s faith remained. Saul got out his armour, and dressed David in helmet and mail to protect his body, and sword (vv.38-9). This was Saul’s earthly thinking again. David was confident that God would protect and deliver him; Saul thought David needed all the help he could get.

It is unclear what David thought of wearing Saul’s kit, but it did not fit (v.39). David knew he could not fight in Saul’s armour, so he laid it aside.

David would not fight according to Saul’s earthly ways, but according to the way in which God had prepared him. He took up his shepherd’s weapons, selected five stones for his sling, and stepped forward in faith to fight the Philistine (v.40).

There is a clear contrast here between the secular, worldly way of Saul, and the way of David. Saul sought to mould David into a champion after his ideals, David rested in God’s moulding of him in the fields looking after his sheep.

Years later the Jews impatiently waited for the Messiah, and sought to mould Jesus into that image. They wanted a warrior king, not a suffering servant. They wanted a kingdom on earth, but Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

Jesus understood, because he was God himself, that only God delivers. Not through worldly means, but through the victory over sin and death at the Cross and Christ’s resurrection.

It is in this victory that we, in Christ, are victorious. Not through arms. Not through laws. Not through a ballot box. But through the victory of God’s Son, Jesus, who trusted in God and his plan, not in human strength.

As believers, God will deliver us from our enemies through Christ. We wear the armour God has given us (Eph. 6) to wage war against sin, not worldly armour. We fight spiritual enemies, not physical ones. We trust God will deliver us from trials and tribulations, because God has delivered us from sin and death through Christ.

Read 1 Samuel 17:1-30

David and Goliath is a classic Sunday School story, one which engages kids with its story of a giant killed by a young man. It has become an idiom in our culture of the underdog defeating the giant. It is used as an allegory for how we should slay the giants in our own lives. This use is wrong.

The David and Goliath story is not about us defeating our enemies. It is about God defeating his enemies, looking forward to Jesus defeating sin at the Cross. In the first section of this story, we are introduced to David and Goliath, to the weakness of a king who seeks to act in his own strength, and the faith of a young David who sees the real spiritual battle in play.

In previous chapters, Jonathan’s boldness led to the Philistines’ defeat, and their push back to the coastal plains. But the Philistines were not easily dissuaded, and once again gathered to battle and subdue Israel. Saul and his army were gathered to oppose them, on the territory of Judah (vv.1-3).

A custom in those days was for champions to represent their armies in single combat. It avoided a lot of unnecessary bloodshed, but also reflected a belief that behind duelling armies were duelling deities.

Goliath was the Philistine champion, and he was tall (about 9 foot 6), strong, and nasty (vv.4-7). Goliath taunted the Israelite camp, offering single combat with the defeated champion’s army becoming the other’s slaves (vv.8-10).

Ordinarily, Saul as Israel’s king should have taken up the challenge. Saul himself was tall and strong, which was why Israel had so readily accepted him as king. But here was someone who was taller and stronger. Saul’s strength was no longer enough to carry him. So Saul and all Israel “were dismayed and greatly afraid” (v.11).

In those days, soldiers were provided food and supplies by their families. So David was tasked with bringing food to his three older brothers, who were old enough to be called up to fight (vv.12-15). David himself was not old enough (20; Num. 1:3).

In contrast to Goliath’s strength, David’s lineage and covenantal background are recorded (v.12). David arrives on scene as Goliath has taunted Israel for 40 days, a traditional time of testing (v.16; cf. Matt. 4). David’s dad sent David to the army with food for his brothers, and something for their captain (vv.17-18). He arrived just as the war cry was issued, and went to talk to his brothers just as Goliath strutted out (vv.19-22).

“And David heard him” (v.23). Perhaps for the first time, cursing God. What a shock! And the men of Israel, fleeing and hiding! (v.24) What a sight! Perhaps to justify themselves at David’s presumably shocked and disgusted face, the soldiers point to his size and his defiance of Israel and Saul’s princely prize, since Saul lacked the courage to fight himself (v.25).

David recognised that this was not a mere military conflict, but a true spiritual battle that required a faith-filled response. So he asked who would kill Goliath and take “away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v.26).

How dare Goliath challenge God like this? Something had to be done. “Yes” they responded, someone should do something and claim the prize (v.27).

For Eliab, it was too much. He challenged David’s motives, suggesting a heart thirsty for bloodsport led him to speak (v.28). David pointed out he had only spoken about what should be done, and turned to others to try and convince them of the need to fight (vv.29-30).

There is more to the story, but we should pause here and notice a few things. Firstly, Goliath is clearly set up as a living picture of sin and demonic opposition to God. He represents the evil spiritual forces that oppose God’s People. Not our own doubts or schoolyard bullies.

Secondly, Saul relied on his own strength. He met his match. There is always someone smarter, stronger, or more talented. We cannot rely on our own strength in taking on God’s enemies. Like Saul and Israel, we will eventually cower and fear.

Instead, we must see all of life for the true spiritual battle it is, as David did. Only when we recognise we cannot win in our own strength, and rely on God through Christ and the Holy Spirit active in our lives to provide the victory will we overcome.

Like David, if we trust in God and recognise every assault of sin as a rebellion against God, it empowers us to stand firm and resist temptation, whether internal or external from the world.

As we do so, we must rely on God’s strength ultimately shown in Jesus, David’s greater son who has already conquered sin and death at the Cross. In Christ’s strength, wearing God’s armour, we will prevail against those who oppose God, in the real spiritual battle that rages still today.

Read 1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sometimes it is hard to see in the moment why certain events happen in life. Certain doors open, others seemingly slam shut in our face unexpectedly. While we usually throw the phrase “everything happens for a reason” around, or perhaps acknowledge God’s mysterious and sovereign hand, it is often not until later on that we come to understand the reason why things happen.

David’s call to Saul’s service, immediately in 1 Samuel following David’s anointing to kingship, is one of those situations. Why does the rejected king bring the new king (unknowingly) into his service? What is the reason? These questions help us understand God’s purposes in placing David in His Majesty’s service, and what that tells us about our own relationship to the world.

The first reason to note why David ended up in Saul’s service is found in whom God’s Spirit favourably rested. In verse 13 we read that God’s Spirit rushed upon David when he was anointed king by Samuel.

By contrast, verse 14 reminds us that God’s Spirit had “departed from Saul”. No longer was Saul empowered by God for the kingly office to which he had been appointed. He operated by his own strength. Yet worse still, God was punishing Saul for his unfaithfulness and unbelief by sending “a harmful spirit” to torment him (v.14).

No doubt Saul was not pleasant to be around, just as some people afflicted today are difficult too (sometimes as Westerners I think we rush to assume mental problems when in the case of unbelievers, a spiritual cause might also be valid).

Saul’s advisers recognised that his alienation from God was the cause of his issues (v.15). But instead of calling him to repent and believe in God, they reached for treating the symptoms, by seeking someone to play soothing music, to which Saul agreed (vv.16-17).

God’s providential hand was clearly at play, because one of the young men in Saul’s court suggested David, from a small town out of the way down in Judah, as the right man for the job. The perfect candidate: “skillful in playing, a man of valour, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him” (v.18). While all of these are admirable attributes, the last one is the most important and likely indicates why he also had the others!

Since this resume was outstanding, Saul called David into his service (v.19). The rejected king unknowingly called his replacement to his side, which never would have happened had Saul known. David’s father obeyed Saul, and sent David with provisions and gifts to Saul’s court (v.20).

David’s entry into Saul’s court would have served a number of purposes. First, it took the country boy to the big city, where he was exposed to the ways in which big power, big sin, and big influence is exercised. Second, it would have introduced David to a wider group of power wielders, which would become important when he was older. Thirdly, it exposed David to the nature of Saul’s worldly reign and the torment upon him as judgement for his misrule of Israel. A classic education in “what not to do” which would have left a large imprint on David in later years.

But David’s entry served another purpose. Saul delighted in David, making him his armour bearer, and “asking” Jesse to keep his son because of his favourableness to Saul (vv.21-2). Whenever the torment came upon Saul from the harmful spirit, David’s skillful lyre playing soothed Saul’s mood (v.23). 

Saul, then, was able to focus on ruling Israel, and Israel’s leadership (however sinful and worldly it was) was not thrown into utter confusion. A blessing on God’s People.

In a sense, David was already blessing Israel by his presence in Saul’s court, ensuring the confusion and decay which occurs around an unstable autocrat wasn’t felt to its greatest extent.

Believers today also serve that same purpose. We are salt and light to the world, enabled by God to be such. We preserve that which would otherwise spiral into decay and destruction. 

This occurs at the “macro” level, where nations that order themselves after Christian principles and are blessed by Christian service are more likely to prosper overall than those that do not. It occurs on the micro level too, because we are salt and light in our workplaces, our homes, our clubs, our friendships.

As we do, we also with attuned eyes and ears see the implications of living life in ways which displease God, and bring his judgement upon people.

We serve in this way because Jesus served in that way before us. Jesus did far more than soothe the torment we face when afflicted by the punishment due for our sins; he took the torment on himself on the Cross, that by repenting of our sins we might enjoy the presence of God’s Spirit.

We may not know why God places us where he does, but like David we can trust and serve On His Majesty’s (God’s) Service.

Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13

How do we pick someone we think will be a good leader? Is it a telegenic personality, or charisma? Good looks or empathy off the charts? Someone who is confident and likes to meet and greet new people? Good public speaker? A successful business career, or success in sporting or academic pursuits? Wealth?

All of these things are the worldly ways in which some people make value assessments about leadership. It is the sort of thinking that led Israel to seek a king like Saul. It is not how God chooses leaders. We look on the outside; God looks on the heart. In this passage God chooses a new king, one who delights him and not the people; not even Samuel’s assumptions about kinghood. Just as Jesus delighted God, not man by outside appearance.

After Samuel rebuked Saul for his sin and said goodbye one last time, he returned to his home and grieved (15:35). Samuel was upset at the turn of events that saw God’s People led by an unfaithful man who did not follow God wholeheartedly. Would Saul lead all God’s People astray?

To Samuel’s weeping came God’s instruction, offering renewed hope. Samuel was to set aside his grieving and fill his horn with oil, to anoint a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite as a new king to replace Saul (v.1). To avoid Saul’s jealous attention, Samuel was to head to Bethlehem with a heifer to sacrifice to God, and invite Jesse and family to the festivities (vv.2-3).

Samuel did as commanded. Bethlehem was not a regular stopping point in Samuel’s regular journeys, so news of his arrival caused concern among the town leadership; what had gone wrong to deserve this attention (v.4)? Thankfully Samuel was just here to sacrifice, and they were invited! (v.5)

Jesse and his sons came along to the sacrifice event, and it came time for God to reveal to Samuel who the next king would be. Samuel looked on Jesse’s oldest, Eliab, and thought “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him” (v.6). A tall and strapping young man, another visual feast for God’s People.

Not so fast, said God, “I have rejected him” (v.7). Even Samuel, God’s prophet, was suckered in by his eyes and worldly ideals. “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (v.7).

So no to Eliab, and no to Abinadab (v.8). No to Shammah as well (v.9). Now Samuel and Jesse were getting down the list a little. Seven of his sons passed before Samuel, but the answer was the same. “The LORD has not chosen these” (v.10).

Were these all Jesse’s sons? (v.11) After all, God had specifically told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons would be anointed king (v.1). Well, there was one, Jesse responded, “but behold, he is keeping the sheep” (v.11). Surely the youngest wasn’t of interest to God, Jesse thought, but Samuel by now knew better. There would be no sacrifice, and no food, until the shepherd boy came.

Sure enough, the youngest appeared, smelling of sheep, looking reddish but with “beautiful eyes and … handsome” (v.12). This was it! This was the one. “The Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he’” (v.12) The runt of the litter, the one that the older sons looked down on, the one Jesse did not bother to invite to the party, was the one God wanted.

And so “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers” (v.13), and the Holy Spirit came upon that young man, whose name we finally learn was David, from that day onwards (v.13).

The world whispers about possible upcoming leaders with anticipation, but David appeared out of nowhere, from nowhere. Yet David’s reign was a key moment in salvation history. Every king after David was compared to him, and the promised Messiah was painted in David’s brush strokes.

David’s anointing shows that the leadership qualities we look to when choosing leaders, whether in politics or business, or even sometimes the Church, are not the qualities God looks for. Everyone’s ideas, even Samuel’s, were wrong. 

What set David apart was what was in his heart. Our text does not say here, but it was not outward appearance. Our choice of leader, especially in the Church where God gives guidance, should follow his leading not ours.

Yet David’s anointing is important for who it looks forward to. His far-off descendant, Jesus, who also was anointed by the Holy Spirit. Who also had no form that men should look favourably upon him (Is. 53:1-3), and was rejected by Israel and its leadership. Who was also born in Bethlehem, the middle of nowhere.

And yet, who bore our griefs and sorrows, pleased God all his days, and reconciled us through his death to God. And who now reigns eternally, raised on high as our king, and as David’s king. Who pleased God in his heart.

Read 1 Samuel 15:24-35

What is true repentance? Is it saying the right words, or is it more? Is it motivated because we realise we have offended God, or because we are worried about the consequences of our sin? Is it enough to say the right words as part of God’s people when our deeds come out in the open, or must we repent with heartfelt conviction of sin?

In this passage, Saul’s repentance was the former, and was false repentance. Saul’s rejection and the judgement of Agag that followed remind us of the importance of heartfelt confession of sin to God; not to avoid or mitigate the consequences, but because we have offended him. To not do so is to walk the path to apostasy, and face God’s ultimate judgement.

When God sent Saul and Israel to bring judgement on the Amalekites, the expectation was total destruction, not keeping the king and the best of the flocks for the people to enjoy (vv.1-16). As the sheep and cattle bleated behind him, Saul received the announcement of God’s judgement; God had rejected Saul as king because of his sin (v.23).

It was only then that Saul appeared to recognise the seriousness of the sin he had committed, by not following God’s commands. He responded “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the LORD” (vv.24-5).

On its face this appears like an acceptable repentant tone. But the repentance was superficial, directed towards Samuel rather than God, and appeared concerned with maintaining Saul’s standing amongst Israel rather than God’s standing. It only occurred after Samuel strongly and repeatedly accused then rebuked Saul (vv.15-23). Saul blamed his conduct on pleasing the people (“sorry but”). Finally, while the words appear good on their face, Samuel himself (as God’s prophet) refused to accept as reasonable Saul’s repentance (v.26).

As a result, Saul’s repentance was rejected. Samuel refused to accompany Saul, because Saul had rejected God’s words and so God had rejected Saul (v.26). Where Saul had been meant to fear God (12:14), he feared the people (v.24). Instead of obeying God (12:14), Saul obeyed the people’s voice (v.24). He was a man-pleaser, not a God-pleaser.

Desperately, Saul clung to Saul’s robe as Samuel turned to leave (v.27). But it tore, which Samuel told Saul was symbolic of the tearing of the relationship between Saul and God (v.28). Someone else would receive the kingdom, and God would not regret this act (vv.28-9).

In a worldly way, Saul again addressed Samuel asking him to accompany him “before the elders of my people and before Israel” to avoid the terrible loss of face that publicly losing the appearance of God’s favour would bring (v.30). Perhaps recognising the risk of a power vacuum, Samuel agreed to this request (v.31).

What then followed was a demonstration of Samuel’s faith and obedience compared to Saul’s, as he brought judgement on Agag. While Agag thought he was home scot-free, Samuel reminded Agag of his ancestor’s guilt and also his own, then hacked him to pieces; a portent of the destruction that awaits all God’s enemies (vv.32-4).

After this Samuel and Saul went their ways, and despite living within walking distance of each other, never saw each other again (v.35). Despite the words and acts, Samuel grieved over Saul’s sin. So too, did God.

In truth, it is likely that Saul, though a member of the covenant family, never truly believed in God. He did the right things and said the right words, sometimes anyway, but not when it counted. When it counted, Saul followed the world and sought to please men, not God. He never truly repented of his sin.

This passage shows us that true repentance for sin is not based on words or formulae, but sorrow and a move of the heart. It does not excuse itself by blaming others, and the focus is on the offence caused to God, not the harm that the judgement will have on us.

Words alone are not enough to save us, or the right genes. We must have a vibrant relationship with God, confessing our sins to God and recognising the harm they cause God, not the cost or harm so much to us.

Unlike Saul, we must not harden our hearts and reject God’s Word. We are privileged to have tasted the heavenly gifts, and seen God’s power displayed through his saving acts and in the Church today (Heb 6:4-6). To reject God’s Word is to reject God, to be apostate. Superficially repentant, but still in sin and under God’s judgement.

Today is the day to truly repent. Today is the day to seek to please God, not people. Today is the day to know that if we truly do so, God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Read 1 Samuel 15:1-23

There seems a popular idea today, if people acknowledge God’s existence, that God will weigh our good and bad deeds on a scale and let us in the pearly gates if the good outweighs the bad. Perhaps from vague memories of studying Ancient Egypt in Social Studies.

Unfortunately for this popular idea, it is wrong. God desires obedience, not sacrifice. He wants us to obey him, not our own desires. That truth, however unpalatable, fell on the Amalekites and on Saul in our passage. The consequences for disobedience are judgement, either on ourselves or on someone righteous in our place.

After rendering the judgement from history, the first book of Samuel picks up in chapter 15 with the story of Saul once again. This time, however, Saul will start to become a minor character. The reason is for his disobedience of God’s commands.

God spoke to Saul through Samuel and commanded him to devote the Amalekites to destruction; everything and everyone wiped out completely (vv.1-3). This was due to their mistreatment of God’s People (and thus, God) when Israel left Egypt, which was indicative of their sinful culture. Like all individuals and cultures which disobey God, judgement is the inevitable end.

Saul dutifully assembled a strong military force and attacked the Amalekites. The Kenites, who at that point were living in the area, were given permission to leave since they had been good to Israel. Then, Israel attacked Amalek (vv.4-7).

But all was not well. Saul captured their king and brought judgement on the Amalekites, but spared their king and the best of the flocks (vv.8-9). Only what they disliked was destroyed. This was disobedience to God, idolatry, and it was unbelief in God’s ability to see them act!

Of course, God did see them. God told Samuel “I regret that I have made Saul king” (v.11) as a result, not because God changes his mind or exerts no control over events, but because when we act in sinful ways we experience God’s grief over sin. This verse reminds us that God is eternally grieved by sin and lack of obedience. It should lead us to anger and sorrow, as it did Samuel (v.11).

While Saul was strolling back to Israel feeling great about himself, Samuel went out the next morning to meet and confront him (v.12). To Saul’s claim that he had obeyed God, Samuel asked “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” (vv.13-14)

Saul responded that the best of the animals were kept for God, and the rest destroyed (v.15). This motive was questionable, since the Israelites offering these thank offerings would get to share in eating the food.

Samuel then addressed Saul based on God’s words to him the previous night, pointing out that ultimately God had put him in his position, and yet Saul had not listened to God (vv.16-19). Saul again claimed obedience, having only brought the king home alive along with some animals to sacrifice to God (vv.20-21).

So Samuel spoke to Saul a third time, asking rhetorically if God has “as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?” (v.22). For God, “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (v.22).

As far as God is concerned, rebellion against his commands is as evil as witchcraft, and arrogantly presuming to modify God’s commands is idolatry, since it places yourself in the position of God. For these reasons, God rejected Saul as king (v.23).

There were two peoples facing judgement in this passage, Saul and the Amalekites. Both were idolaters and disobeyed God’s commands. While the idea of wiping out an entire people jars us today, and encourages some unbelievers to reject God in self-righteous indignation, we should not do the same. Everyone is guilty and has fallen short of God’s glory. All deserve judgement.

Though Christ’s arrival announced the year of God’s favour, it also announced “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18-19). Some nations who disobey God experience God’s judgement now as a foretaste of the great judgement to come. Likewise, churches which remake God’s laws to suit them are liable to find the same judgement falling upon themselves. We must take sin and obedience seriously, and not rewrite God’s words to suit our preferences.

While we expect judgement for God’s enemies, let us not do so with pride. Instead, let us remember we too are people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6) whose righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Thankfully, we find that in Jesus who lived perfectly obediently and took the judgement of God on himself for us. We are not better, just forgiven.

Instead, God’s holiness, his coming judgement, and our forgiveness in Christ should encourage us to snatch others from the fire, through proclaiming the Gospel, and living obediently according to God’s Will. Because it is better to obey than to sacrifice.

Read 1 Samuel 14:47-52

There is a saying thrown about loosely today that somebody should adopt the latest “societal movement” invented in the last five minutes because you do not want to end up on “the wrong side of history.” The idea is that history, usually written by the people with biases sympathetic to those social changes, will cast a negative verdict on you for standing in its way.

1 Samuel 14 ends with an interesting verdict on Saul’s reign. Despite Saul’s blatant folly and his lack of faithfulness to God and God’s commands, the text issues a positive verdict from history. Yet there is only one verdict which truly matters; God’s. This passage reminds us not to be too focused on the present day’s historical verdict, because the ultimate verdict of history will be issued by God.

1 Samuel 13 and 14 paint Saul in a less than flattering light. Saul was impatient to wait on God and his appointed messenger, Samuel, and so showed his lack of faithfulness to God and the covenant between God and his people by unlawfully sacrificing an animal. Saul was more concerned with the deserting army than with obedience to God. Saul ended up losing God’s favour, and losing his family line’s claim to Israel’s throne.

Then in chapter 14, Saul’s son Jonathan effectively shows up Saul by modelling the trust and dependence on God that comes from a living faith. Through Jonathan, God defeated the Philistines and caused a great victory. But Saul’s foolish vows and acts did his best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and led to his authority being undermined among the people.

By the standards of God, Saul was a failure. He failed to lead the people toward God. He failed to show trust and reliance on God. He failed to obey and listen to God.

And yet, verses 47 to 52 offer a different assessment of Saul. Saul is described as fighting enemies on all sides, and “Wherever he turned he routed them” (v.47). Where the previous verses talked of Saul as a fool, who sat on his hands waiting for a sign rather than trusting God and going forth, here the passage states “he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them” (v.48).

This is a very different verdict to the previous verses. Surprisingly so, even. This is the verdict of history, which looks back with rose-tinted glasses and sees Saul as the king when Israel finally began throwing off many of the enemies who had caused them trouble for hundreds of years. A good military man.

Nor was Saul’s homelife a wreck, according to history. Saul had three sons, Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua; and two daughters, Merab and Michal (v.49). He had a wife, “Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz” (v.50). His uncle, Abner, commanded his army (vv.50-51). Saul did not leave a trail of broken marriages and abandoned children. By history’s measure, he was a good family man.

While verses 45 and 46 would suggest that Saul was fatally undermined by his threat to kill Jonathan for unknowingly violating a vow, the verdict of history said otherwise. “There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself” (v.52).

There were plenty of fights against the Philistines, and Saul built a military force of valiant men to follow him. He was an expert recruiter. He built the administrative core needed to transition Israel to a kingship-led state. He was a good institutional man.

But where was God in all of this? Where was the evidence of his piety or of his service of God? Where is the evidence of his faithful worship of God? None of this is mentioned. It stands absent in the verdict of history.

The truth is, Saul was on the wrong side of God. He may have done things which from a worldly and historical perspective were successful, but from the eternal perspective were they really of value?

The truth is, they were not. Not for Saul, and not for us either. As Jesus said, “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (v.36). We may be on “the right side of history” for a time, as Saul was, but if it is not accompanied by a saving relationship with God, we are on the wrong side of God, and that is for eternity.

History can only look on the outside, it cannot judge the secrets of the heart of men. Only God can do that. Ultimately, it is what is on the inside that counts, not the outside.

Saul was a good institutional man, a good family man, and a good military man. He accomplished much which is worthy of respect. But he failed in the most important thing. He failed to trust and obey God.

Better to be on the right side of God, than the right side of history.

Read 1 Samuel 14:24-46

One of the Shakespearean plays I studied at school was King Lear, which is a tragedy of a king who divided his kingdom between two of his daughters, and then loses everything because of their mistreatment of him. Ironically, his fool is wise while the king is a fool. King Lear ends up dying, grieved and stripped of everything.

This play came to mind because this passage focuses on foolish King Saul and his foolish actions, this time in making foolish vows. Ironically, his son who will be denied the kingship because of Saul’s past acts is a better example of a king than Saul is. In the end Saul’s foolish acts and pseudo-religious cloaking of his actions place him off-side with God, and his credibility with his people undermined. This reminds us that repentance for sin is more important than outward religious practice.

In the previous verses we saw how God saved Israel through the faith of Saul’s son, Jonathan, who trusted God to use him if God wished. While verse 23 ended on a high note, verse 24 begins with a low note – God’s people were hard pressed. In a pseudo-religious attempt to improve things, Saul placed a curse on any troops who ate before dinner (v.24). He made it worse.

Sure enough, Saul’s hungry troops came across a forest brimming with honey, and had to struggle their way through (vv.25-6) which eventually led to physical and military exhaustion (v.31).

Unlike the soldiers of Saul who heard his foolish oath, Jonathan enjoyed the refreshment that fresh honey brings (vv.27-8). When the soldiers near him advised Jonathan of Saul’s oath, Jonathan wisely noted how Saul’s actions had “troubled the land” because it made things harder for the troops to fight on an empty stomach and reduced the defeat the Philistines suffered (vv.29-30). Saul asked more than God required.

Because of Saul’s foolishness, the troops were famished. As a result, they fell on the spoils of their victory, and killed the cattle and sheep for food which they ate without draining the blood (v.32). This was a violation of the Law, which banned consuming blood since it represented the life of a being (Lev. 17:10-14).

Sensing a chance to display religious piety, Saul sprang into action, scolding the Israelites and demanding they kill them properly (vv.33-4). Then he made an altar with (presumably) the rock which he provided them to use (v.35).

Thinking things were now sweet with God, Saul questionably suggested attacking the Philistines by night to gain more plunder (v.36). As if exhaustion and plunder had led to good results so far. After a half-hearted response, a priest suggested checking with God (v.36). But God refused to speak to Saul, showing the religious spectacle was just pomp and ceremony (v.37).

The scene was set for another foolish oath. Saul presumed the problem was sinners in the camp, so vowed to kill them, even if it was his son Jonathan (vv.38-9). The people were speechless. For some reason, he separated himself and Jonathan from the rest of Israel, only to find the lots fell on them, not Israel (vv.40-41). Then it fell on Jonathan, hero of the hour! (v.42). Jonathan straightforwardly acknowledged his acts, and Saul threatened to kill him right then (vv.43-4).

Ultimately the lots were one of God’s ways of communicating, but this does not mean that God wanted Jonathan killed. After all, Jonathan in this chapter is the ideal Saul fails to live up to. Rather, we should perhaps see this as God’s judgement on Saul for his outward religious show. Really, he was to blame. But the lots fell on the wise and faithful son. It showed Saul as the wrongdoer because of his rash vow, now poised to kill his faithful son.

But the people intervened, sparing Jonathan, and wrecking Saul’s credibility completely (v.45). Everyone went home. The Philistines did too, instead of being utterly destroyed, because of a foolish king (v.46).

This passage shows us clearly the folly of outward religious acts when your heart is not repentant. While Saul’s every act seemed pious, it put unbiblical burdens on God’s people, tempted them into sin, and made his faithful son an unintentional oathbreaker.

What God wants from us is not outward acts, but inward repentance that leads to faithful following and deeds.

Note also in this chapter that Jonathan looks more like kingly material than his father. Yet he would never inherit because of Saul’s folly and God’s judgement on his house. While this offends our modern self-actualising instincts, Jonathan does not seem worried like we are. 

Perhaps we should focus less on our own self-advancement and more on serving God with our gifts, even if we never reach the lofty earthly heights the world says we should aim for.

True wisdom is not found in religious playacting, but in fearing God, repenting of our sins, and moving forward in faith and the forgiveness that comes to us through Christ’s atoning death on the Cross.

Read 1 Samuel 14:1-23

The Bible likes to offer contrasts as a way of teaching us about following God. Jesus told the parable of the wise and foolish men and their building locations. The Disciples are contrasted in the Gospels with their Spirit-filled boldness in Acts. The wise man and the fool are frequently contrasted in the Proverbs.

1 Samuel 14 shows us a contrast, this time between father and son. Saul foolishly offered sacrifices that were not his to offer, and lost his kingdom. Saul, abandoned by Samuel, associated with priests abandoned by God. Jonathan’s son meanwhile stepped out in faith to strike a blow against the Philistines. His example reminds us that God is able to accomplish the impossible.

When Saul offered the sacrifice which only a priest should offer, he lost God’s favour. The end of chapter 13 left Saul and Jonathan largely alone, surrounded, with only a small number of troops. Meanwhile, the Philistine horde were tightening their grip on the uppity Israelites who had dared to attack them. Of their army, only Saul and his son Jonathan had proper military equipment.

Not surprisingly, Saul cut a sad and foolish figure. By contrast, Jonathan was energetic. Taking his armour bearer into his confidence, he suggested attacking the Philistine garrison. Perhaps sensing Saul’s inaction and hesitance, the author tells us he did not inform his father (v.1). Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

Jonathan is ready to strike a blow against the enemy. Saul is sitting in a cave (or under a tree, the Hebrew is unclear), moping about and wondering what to do (v.2). Besides his six hundred soldiers, he had gathered to himself Ahijah, who was the nephew of Ichabod (the glory has departed), son of Phinehas, son of Eli (v.3). A rejected king, hanging around with rejected priests.

Finally, a little topography. Saul’s camp and the Philistine camp were on hills separated by a ravine, on crags named Bozez (slippery) and Seneh (thorny; vv.4-5). Not exactly the best choice of attack route. Most sane people would not bother.

But out of the impossible, God achieves wonders. Jonathan faithfully expressed to his armour bearer “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (v.6). There is faith! God can do wonders, he may do wonders through us, but he can’t work wonders unless we are there for him to use.

His faithful armour bearer beside (v.7), Jonathan showed himself to the Philistines and took their taunting as an invitation to attack, trusting that if God was on their side he would put the right words in the Philistine mouths (vv.8-12).

Sure enough, Jonathan and companion climbed the impassable route and attacked the Philistines before they knew what had hit (v.13). All of a sudden there were twenty dead, and the rest of the garrison in a panic sent by God (vv.14-15).

Meanwhile back at Saul’s HQ, the rout was noticed (v.16). After counting heads, they realised Jonathan and his armour bearer were gone (v.17). Yet there was no action, only foolish inaction. Saul calls for the Ark of the Covenant to come, so some ritual could be performed to reveal the way (v.18). When no answer came, Saul put a stop to the rituals (v.19). Apparently he could not see God “speaking” clearly on the hill across.

Eventually as the madness grew madder, Saul and his six hundred took up arms and belatedly joined the fight, as the Philistines joined Midianites in slaughtering each other (v.20). Suddenly, Israelites who were “loyal subjects” of the Philistines and those that hid themselves away found courage to fight (vv.21-2).

Thus on that day, using a faithful instrument named Jonathan and his armour bearer, “the LORD saved Israel that day” (v.23). A man who stepped out in faith thinking that perhaps God would save through him, rather than sitting around like his foolish father.

Jonathan’s example demonstrates to us that we do not need to have all the answers before we step out in faith. Perhaps like me you like to plan and prepare, and that is good sometimes, but not when it paralyses and brings inaction. Jonathan recognised that God could save by many or by few, because God is God. 

We can step out in faith for the sake of the gospel too, and perhaps God may use us to bring salvation and advance his Kingdom here on earth. Even if it is just us against the world! It’s not a fair fight, for we are on God’s side.

We should not sit around moping, wondering what to do because the world has opposed us. Instead, like Jonathan, the hour calls for bold commitment to God; in witness, in ministry, in mission, in mercy, and in our fight against sin in our lives, for the sake of God’s glory. “It may be that the LORD will work for us”.