Isa 53: 3 Jesus Was Despised Series

It’s not very often I would hold up King Saul as an example for us, but we see something interesting in 1 Sam 10: 26 & 27. The Bible records that; “Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.” Some men despised Saul but in response, Saul didn’t say anything, he didn’t make the situation worse. He kept his own counsel. That reminds me of the time of Jesus when he was being tried. The religious leaders fired out their accusations at Jesus but he remained silent. Jesus’ silence stunned Pontius Pilate, Matthew wrote; “When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.” Of course, Jesus was silent to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, which we will look at later. Jesus remained silent, Saul remained silent. So how should we react when faced with a situation where people don’t like us? Often silence is the best policy. Their mouths and actions will condemn those who dislike us/ despise us.

However, there are times that we should speak, and this is shown to us by David when he is confronted by Saul’s daughter Michal. When King David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, he danced in front of the Ark, and Michal witnessed David praising God. “As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.” She sneered at David and said; “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David responded, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls, you spoke of, I will be held in honour.” David was honouring the Lord and said he would happily look ridiculous in front of people.

It should be noted that there was a consequence of Michel’s contempt or disdain for David. The Bible records that; “Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.” At a time when there was a real stigma for being barren, Michal remained childless. This would have brought real shame to her. It is also a salutary lesson, we should never despise a person. If we are struggling with a person, we need to bring this struggle to the Lord and seek His will. The Bible says; “vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” Let the Lord deal with those who despise us, we should not react to them.