Sovereignty And Sweat: How God Blesses Our Faithful Labor - 1 Samuel 10-11 Series

1 Samuel 10:1-8 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, saying, "Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance? 2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, 'The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, "What shall I do about my son?"' 3 "Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them. 5 "After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 7 Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 "Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. 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."

Review

We are getting ready to do a study of the life of David, which begins half way through the book of 1 Samuel, so we are doing a survey of the first half of the book so we will be able to understand the context. In chapter seven we see the theocracy in Israel at its best. They had no king but God, and they were never better off. But not long after that they started to drift from God, and by chapter nine they had rejected God as their king. They wanted a king like the nations had – someone who could deliver them from their enemies without them having to worry about faithfulness to God. So they committed the terrible sin of rejecting God and asking for a replacement king.

The rise of Saul (hope)

Saul Anointed as King

Transformation of Saul

Chapters 9-12 describe the rise of Saul to the throne, and those chapters are full of hope. God, in His great mercy, gives Israel a second chance. He judged them by giving them the kind of man they wanted, but then He has mercy on them. He does not leave Saul the way he was. God sends Saul to Samuel via providence and Samuel lets him know that he is about to undergo a massive internal change.

10:6 The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.

Anointing

Then Samuel anointed Saul as king, and for the first time in Scripture we are introduced to the concept of “messiah” (“messiah” means “God’s anointed”). This is a very big deal.

1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, saying, "Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?

One thing you will notice is that godly men show very high honor to God’s anointed. Saul was an insignificant nobody prior to this, but the moment he becomes God’s anointed, Samuel (the greatest man in the world at that time, and one of the greatest men who has ever lived) gives him a kiss of homage. Later we will see David showing him great honor even while Saul is trying to kill him. So the very first thing we learn about “messiah” – God’s anointed, is that if you love God you will deeply honor him. And the principle behind that applies to anyone God has placed in authority.

True conversion

We only have to read a couple verses to see the fulfillment of Samuel’s prophesy about Saul becoming a different person.

9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.

I read a lot of arguments this week for why this could not have been a true conversion. They say that all it means is that Saul’s attitude about being king was changed. He was persuaded to be willing to take the job.

I really do not think that is what the text is saying. - First, because it does not say that. If it were merely a case of Saul being persuaded to take the job there would be no need to use such extreme language (changed into a different person; changed Saul’s heart). He could have just said Saul was persuaded to serve as king. Secondly, I do not think Saul was persuaded to serve as king. When the time came later for the king to be selected, and Saul was chosen, he was hiding.