Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / April 28, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 13: Samuel & Saul

Transcript

April 28, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 13: Samuel & Saul · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome to Crono today.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray and ask God to bless our time.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Father, we do pray for that.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you would give us insight and knowledge and understanding that we didn't have before so that we might love and worship you more.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, we all have problems from time to time, and some of us, sometimes those problems we keep to ourselves and we keep quiet about them.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we feel like we can let other people in on what our problems are surfacing for us.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Today we start out by seeing Hannah's problems.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Hannah's first problem was her marriage.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: She shared her marriage, she shared her husband with another woman, and that certainly produces problems.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Elkinah, a polygamist, was married to Hannah and to Paniah.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Polygamy was part of many pagan cultures during this time, and some of God's people adopted the practice too.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: But there's no indication, there's no scriptural evidence for the fact that polygamy was part of God's plan.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God didn't sanction polygamy.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: As you go through scriptures and you see families that adopt a polygamous lifestyle, you often will see that there are no happy polygamous families.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Often you see rivalry, you see bitterness, you see conflict, and you see dysfunction, which we've already seen several times, especially with Leah and Rachel, with Jacob.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: God's plan was monogamy, one man and one woman to be in a loving relationship with one another.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: And when we deviate from that, there will be problems.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Hannah's second problem was infertility.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: She couldn't have children, but Paniah was able to have children, which also made this an explosive situation.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Twice in 1 Samuel chapter 1, it says, the Lord had closed Hannah's womb.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: The Lord closed her womb.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: For his own purposes, God closed her womb.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: She was infertile.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And in Hannah's day, the stigma of infertility was one of the worst afflictions a Jewish woman could have.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Today, infertility is still one of the worst afflictions a woman can have.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: Hannah's inability to bear children may have been what prompted El Kinah to take Pania as a second wife, but again, we don't have any scriptural evidence to back that up.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: In her anguish, Hannah cried out to God.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 1, 9 through 20.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's not 9 through 20, but it's yeah, around there.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Once when they were they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: And she made a vow, saying, Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: This reference to a razor is significant because this child would be a Nazirite, like Samson.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Samson was a Nazarite.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Samuel was born close to the same time as Samson.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And God told Samson's mother that she could have no wine or fermented drink, that she couldn't eat anything unclean, and that she was never to shave her son's hair because he would be dedicated to the Lord even from the womb.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: This is the Nazarite vow now that Hannah is making.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: That term Nazarite has nothing to do with Nazareth.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: It is a Hebrew word that means to separate or consecrated to God.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: So, and first 1 Samuel 1.20 says, So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: She named him Samuel, saying, Because I asked the Lord for him.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: In the course of time.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: I kind of love that phrase.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's just another way of saying, in God's time or timing.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: God opened her womb at just the right time for a specific purpose.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Hannah is a great example of how to deal with difficult circumstances.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: First, in her distress, she poured out her heart to the Lord.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: She prayed.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: She prayed a lot, I'm sure.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Second, she waited on the Lord to work and she waited and she waited and she waited.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: You probably know what it feels like to wait for something that you're longing for for a long time.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Third, she accepted this child as a sign that God had given her and had heard her.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And what a confirmation.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And fourth, she dedicated Samuel to lifelong service to the Lord.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: She gave him back to God who had given him to her.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: The name Samuel means heard of God or God hears.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Through God's gift to her, Hannah was testifying with his name that God had heard her prayers.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: And since he had blessed her, she would keep her promise and she would bless him with her most precious possession, her son.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Hannah's third problem was that she had to keep her oath to God.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: She had to give up Samuel back to the Lord.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 1, 24 and 28.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, and brought the boy to Eli.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: And she said to him, Pardon me, my Lord, as surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: So now I give him to the Lord, for his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you're like me when you have read that passage, and just think about taking a three-year-old to the temple, to a priest, and leaving him there.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: How difficult that had to have been for her! And as difficult and heart-wrenching as that obedience was, Hannah's obedience resulted in great blessing.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Great blessing.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: God blessed her and Alkinah with the ability to have more children.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: He blessed Israel with a great spiritual leader, one of the best.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Hannah couldn't have known how powerfully God was going to use her son that she dedicated to the Lord.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: But she was able to be part of that great blessing because she was obedient to God.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: If she had reneged on that and held on to him, Israel would have lost out.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: She would have lost out.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: God would have lost out.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Hannah's problems, her marriage, her infertility, and her difficult obedience brought suffering, suffering to her.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Her suffering was heard and seen by our loving God, and we get to see the great purpose in her suffering.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: We don't always see the purposes in our problems or our sufferings that we endure, but we can learn from Hannah that God can be trusted and that even difficult obedience can be a blessing.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: All the suffering can be a blessing.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, next we see the call of Samuel.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Samuel was a boy when God spoke to him, and the word boy here in these verses that we're going to look at is in the Hebrew means a young teenager.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: So we should think of Samuel as a boy around 12 years of age when this takes place.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 3:1.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: In in those days, the word of the Lord was rare.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: There were not many visions.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, we're still in the era of the judges.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And we know that that was true in the time of the judges.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: He would pick a judge, he would use a judge, and then, but but his speaking to other people was rare.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's what's happening when Samuel is a boy.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 3, 2 through 4 says, One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark was.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord called Samuel.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Samuel answered, Here I am.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: You know this story.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: Three times Samuel hears a voice calling him, assuming that it's Eli, he runs to Eli and he says, Here I am, you called me.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: So Samuel knew and revered the Lord, the Lord God, but he hadn't, God hadn't manifested himself to him yet.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: He hadn't revealed himself at this point.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: He's probably been with Eli for about nine years at this point, and God is about to reveal himself, and it's going to be in a powerful way.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: Finally, Eli realizes what's happening and he instructs he instructs Samuel, go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other time.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: Samuel, Samuel.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Then Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Samuel, see, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family from beginning to end.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about his sons, blaspheme God, and he failed to restrain them.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: The hammer is about to fall.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus, in his pre-incarnate form, is standing beside Samuel speaking to him.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine this experience and how it would have anchored Samuel?
11:56
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 2 tells us that Eli's two sons, Hafni and Phineas, were sleeping with the women who served at the tent of meeting along with other sins that they were committing.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: It's not just that Hafni and Phineas were sleeping and having engaging in sexual relations with these women, but they are also leading the whole nation of Israel astray and leading them into spiritual prostitution by including pagan practices in their worship to the true God.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: This was very grievous to God.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And Eli knew it was going on, and he did nothing to stop it.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: Samuel is understandably afraid to tell Eli what God had said.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: What was it he said to you?
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Eli asked, do not hide it from me.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Then Eli said, He is the Lord.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Eli's response is commendable.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: But what else is he going to say here?
13:07
SPEAKER_00: When God calls you out on something like this, there's no hiding.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: There's no rationalizing it away.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Hoffney and Phineas were not to be trusted with the sacred anymore.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: They hadn't proved themselves faithful, and God had to remove it from their hands.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Earlier, a man had come to Eli with a to deliver a message from God, and this is what the Lord told Eli in 1 Samuel 2, 30 through 31.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: How sad is that?
14:01
SPEAKER_00: The priestly line is becoming corrupt because they failed to represent God appropriately.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: God will remain faithful and he will use Samuel moving forward, and he will no longer tolerate what these men in Eli's line are doing.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: God is patient until he is not.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: And then no amount of justification will work.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: And all of all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Next we see Samuel as the priest of God.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: God used Samuel and he kept him as Israel's leader all the days of his life.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: He was the kind of leader that Israel wanted and needed, but they eventually rejected him.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Why did they reject him?
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Because they wanted a king like all the other nations around them to rule over them.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Sadly, this is what precipitated the people asking for a king.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served Abersheba, but his sons did not follow in his ways.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: Joel and Abijah disqualified themselves from leadership in Israel by disobeying the law.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: The people of Israel may not have pressed for a king at this time if Samuel's sons had been following God the way God wanted them to follow him.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Both Eli and Samuel had sons that went astray.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Eli's reprimanded for his son's behavior, but Samuel is not, at least, not anything that's recorded in Scripture.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why one was and one wasn't, but the outcome was the same.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Their children did not walk in the way of their fathers, and they did not take up where their fathers had left off.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: How sad.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: The older I get, the more I realize how important parental influence is.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: But I've also learned that living a godly life is no guarantee that your children are going to follow in those steps.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: I think being a godly parent gives your children a greater advantage.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: And many times the respect of a parent might be what draws a child back into the faith and back closer to God.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: But there's no guarantee because God has given man a free will to choose.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Just as there are no perfect people for God to work with, there are no perfect parents.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: None.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: None.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: I had tremendous mom fails as a young mom.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: And the ways I failed my children and as a parent are my greatest regrets.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: After God delivered me from self and did a radical work in my heart and my mind, I was finally able to parent my children in a better way and be a better example for them.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: We all make mistakes, we all have problems.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: But our God is in the business of redeeming those failures and redeeming those mistakes and transforming them.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: He said, This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: He will take your sons and he will make them serve with his chariots and horses.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: They will run in front of his chariots, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons and war equ and war of war and equipment for his chariots.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: He will make your daughters be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord will not answer you in that day.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Not going to listen to you.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: But the people refused to listen to Samuel.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: No, they said, We want a king over us, then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: When Samuel heard all the people, what all the people said, he repeated it before the Lord, who clearly had been listening in, and the Lord answered and said, Listen to them and give them a king.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: They wanted what everyone else had.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: And you thought that just started with your teenager.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: It did not.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: They no longer self-identified with Yahweh, they now identified with the nations around them.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Exactly what God didn't want to happen.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: That's why they were commanded to exterminate the people in the land during the conquest.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: This was what he didn't want to have happen.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: The more Samuel tried to bring them closer to God and his rule over them, the more discontent they became.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: They wanted what they wanted.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: And finally, a broken-hearted Samuel and a broken-hearted God gave them what they wanted.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: All of what God had said would happen happens, is the reality with the kings.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: All of the warnings will become the life experience of a whole nation.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And in time they do cry out and they do complain.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: This marks the end of the era of the judges, and it begins the era of the kings.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: And now enters Mr.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Tall, Dark, and handsome, King Saul.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Kish had a son named Saul.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: He was handsome, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Saul's name means asked of God.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Asked of God.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: The people asked, and God delivered.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Be careful what you ask for.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: He came and from a distinguished family.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: His father was had property and influence, and Saul himself was physically impressive.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: He stood head and shoulders above everybody else.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: But Saul is a very tragic example of someone who started out fairly, who started out well but finished poorly.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Here's how that went.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: And how do we know that?
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Because of 1 Samuel 10, 9 and 10, he was given the Holy Spirit.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: Powerfully came upon him.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Second, uh Samuel 10, 26 and 27, he had godly companions and he was discreet.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: But some scoundrels said, How can this fellow save us?
22:16
SPEAKER_00: They despised him and brought him no gifts, but Samuel kept silent.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And then third, he was generous and wise.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: The people then said to Samuel, Who was it that asked, Shall Saul reign over us?
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: But Saul said, No one will be put to death today, for this is the day the Lord has rescued Israel.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: You and I both know people who have started out well in ministry but finished poorly.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, there's lots of examples of that.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: They are remembered not for the good that they did, but for the bad.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And what a tragedy.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: What an incredible tragedy.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: And Saul is included in that tragedy.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Even though Saul started out well, he soon becomes impatient and proud.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Chuck Swindal cites three things that happened in Saul's life that halted his ascent to his success.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: First, Saul took his circumstances seriously, but he did not take God seriously.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: He took his circumstances.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Samuel told, Samuel told Saul, and go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: It seems so clear and so straightforward, right?
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Can't you just hear the conversation between these two?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Samuel says, Now listen carefully, Saul.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go to Gilgal and I want you to wait for seven days.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Got it?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Seven days.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: Saul responds, Got it.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Samuel says, Once you have waited seven days, I will come and offer a sacrifice and instruct you on what God wants you to do.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I wait until you come.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Samuel says, How long do you wait?
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Saul says, Seven days.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: However, Saul becomes impatient and fearful, and he took it upon himself to offer sacrifices, which was unauthorized worship, because Saul was a king, not a priest.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 13, 11 through 14, What have you done?
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Saul Saul replied, When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I will have not sought the Lord's favor.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: You have done a foolish thing, Samuel said.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: But now your kingdom will not endure.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's command.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Partial obedience is still full disobedience.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Saul was driven by fear and worry, and he took things into his own hands, and just like we have seen before, that never goes well.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: The second thing is Saul took himself seriously, but he did not take God seriously.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 14 demonstrates how Saul, how Saul's erosion continued.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Jonathan, Saul's son, was the one responsible for the great victory over the Philistines.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: In the heat and the confusion of battle, Saul made a very foolish oath.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: He said, Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: This was such a foolish thing for him to do.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Knowing nothing about the oath, Jonathan eats some honey, and Saul in his arrogance refused to renounce his vow, even when his own son was found to be the one who violated the command.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 14.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: So Jonathan told him, I tasted a little honey on the end of my staff, and now I must die.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: Saul said, May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: But the men said to Saul, Should Jonathan die?
27:00
SPEAKER_00: He who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel, never.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: For he did this today with God's help.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Saul lets his growing ego get in the way of his devotion, even to his son and to his God.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: He took himself seriously, but he did not take God seriously.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: And third, Saul took the people seriously, but he did not take God seriously.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 15 shows us the true colors of Saul's character.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15.
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SPEAKER_00: Samuel said to Saul, I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: So listen now to the message from the Lord.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord Almighty says.
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SPEAKER_00: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel, so when they waylaid so when they waylaid them as they came up out of Egypt.
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SPEAKER_00: Now go, attack the Amalekites, and totally destroy all that belongs to them.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Do not spare them, put them to death, men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Saul did attack the Amalekites, but he spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the fat calves and the lambs, everything that was good.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: Early in the morning Samuel got up and he went to meet Saul.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: But he was told, Saul Saul has gone to Carmel.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: There he has set up a monument in his own honor, and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: When Samuel reached him, Saul said, The Lord bless you, I have carried out the Lord's instructions.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: But Samuel said, What then is the bleeding of sheep in my ears?
29:23
SPEAKER_00: What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Saul answered, The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Enough, Samuel says to Saul, let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Tell me, Saul replied.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel?
29:53
SPEAKER_00: The Lord anointed you king over Israel, and sent you on a mission, saying, Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites, wage war against them until you have wiped them out.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Why did you not obey the Lord?
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?
30:12
SPEAKER_00: But I did obey the Lord, Sail Saul said.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: I went on the mission the Lord assigned me.
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SPEAKER_00: I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: But Samuel replied, Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?
30:40
SPEAKER_00: To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed better than the fat of rams.
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SPEAKER_00: For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: I have I violated the Lord's command and your instructions.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: I was afraid of the men, and so I gave in to them.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: Saul was commanded to completely destroy, utterly destroy these heathen people along with their livestock.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: They were to be devoted to God, and we've seen that before, that term.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: It's a Hebrew term that is harem, and it means the irrevocable giving over of persons or things to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, these are the people who had giant blood in them, demonic blood in them, because of the sons of God sleeping with the women.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: These are the ones that God had told them to completely destroy for his purposes.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Saul took his army into battle against them, but in an action completely contrary to Samuel's direct orders, he spares Agag.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: And then he admits that it was the fear of the people that he had given into them.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: This is probably a fear of not having the approval of the people.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: And so what we see here is that Saul is more concerned with the approval of people than he is with the approval of God.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: And that is a very serious place to be.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: His loyalty to God's commands had given away to rationalization and people pleasing.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Samuel realized that Saul was not a leader, but a tool and a slave of the people.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: When we look at David the next time that we get together, we continue to see how Saul just continues on that downward spiral.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Placing circumstances above yourself and others' opinions, above God's opinion, is a recipe for disaster every time.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: James 4.10 in the New Testament gives a better recipe.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: It says, humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Humility would have gone a long way for this wayward leader, Saul.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: But Saul's crowning insolence was the consultation that he had with the witch of Indore.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: After the death of Samuel, Saul goes in disguise to the witch of Indore and he asks her to bring Samuel up.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Then the woman asked, Whom shall I bring up for you?
33:48
SPEAKER_00: Bring up Samuel, he said.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, Why have you deceived me?
33:55
SPEAKER_00: You are Saul.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: The king said to her, Don't be afraid, what do you see?
34:00
SPEAKER_00: The woman said, I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: What does he look like?
34:06
SPEAKER_00: He asked.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: An old man wearing a robe is coming up, she said.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?
34:20
SPEAKER_00: I am in great distress, Saul said.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams, so I have called on you to tell me what to do.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: Samuel said, Why do you consult me now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy?
34:42
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has done what he predicted through me.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors, to David, because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has done this to you today.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel's words.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: These are really troubling verses that we have here.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: And they they bring up many, many questions.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: And we can't totally know all of the answers, but Dr.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Constable in SonicLight.com has some things that can help us.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: He says, mediums are people who communicate with the dead, and spiritists are those who communicate with evil spirits.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: The terms always go together in the Old Testament, indicating the close relationship that exists between these activities.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: The Mosaic law prescribed death for mediums and spiritists because God promised to give his people all the information he wanted them to have about the future from prophets.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: Mediums and spiritists do not have access to the dead, but communicate with evil spirits posing as people who have died.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: That is why these spirits are called lying spirits.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: God gave Saul no guidance in response to his prayers.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Since Saul had refused to listen to God, God was now refusing to listen to him.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: If you ignore his word and his voice and his guidance, he stops speaking and he stops guiding.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: That's true for Saul, and it's true for us as well.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Public, Saul was against these diviners.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Samuel 28:3, it says, Saul had expelled the mediums and the spiritus from the land, but privately he now sought one out, which is why he is disguised, because he's ordered the death of all of them.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: This is absolute hypocrisy on his part.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: This seems to have been a divine revelation to Saul and actually the last one that God gave him.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: This passage does not say that the witch brought Samuel up from the dead, but that but God revealed Samuel to Saul.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Saul's appearance was not the result of the woman's power, but the result of God's power and for his purpose in pronouncing final judgment on Saul.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: How sad.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: Saul started out so well, but he ends so poorly.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: And next week we'll see even more of his his reactions with Daniel and his dealings with him.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Not Daniel, David.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: I am so grateful that we have these examples of godly men and women, women like Hannah, godly men like Samuel.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also grateful that we see damaged men and women in Scripture.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: The choice to be one or the other is ours.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: God gave us the free choice to serve him, to do good, to do to do evil.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: But a resounding truth in the midst of the good and the bad is our faithful God.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Our goodness or lack thereof does not change him.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't change him.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: Praise his name.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: He is the same.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: And we can trust him.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray and thank him for that.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we do thank you that we can trust you.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you desire us to follow you.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: And when we don't, things do not go well.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: We have so many examples of that, Lord, in our world.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: In Christianity, and and God, we this is another one that we need to take and heed the warning.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: Doing life our own way is only going to bring sorrow and pain.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Doing life with you is going to bring blessing and bring honor to you.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that's what we want to do.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for these examples in Scripture that you give us.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: We praise you and we thank you for them.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: We will see you next time.