On the surface, the story of Saul’s life is one of wars against his enemies, mostly victorious. But that’s just the setting for a much more significant drama that unfolds as his life as king progresses, a drama that involves his relationship with the God of Israel. It’s ironic that as the story develops we discover that though Saul is a formidable leader, when the going gets tough he quickly forgets that its his relationship with God that will determine his success or failure. And so it’s significant that at this point in the story as we’re about to embark on the history of Saul as king, the chronicler brings us the farewell speech of Samuel. Only then will he launch into the tale of the exploits and ultimate downfall of Saul.
Samuel is about to move off the stage. He’ll appear from time to time in the next few chapters, not least of course in the naming of David as Saul’s successor, but his time as leader of the nation is at an end. Now the King takes centre stage while the prophets move around the periphery offering warning and commentary to each succeeding king.
So Samuel takes the opportunity while the whole nation is gathered together at Gilgal to confirm Saul as king, to address them with one last major speech. There’s an echo here of the speeches of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy or that of Joshua in Joshua 24. In fact Samuel is the last in that line of leaders raised up by God to lead his people as God’s representative on earth. From now on the people have a king of their own asking.
Samuel begins by establishing his own righteousness before the people. He asks them whether he’s taken advantage of his position to oppress anyone under him; whether he’s ever accepted a bribe or defrauded anyone. The answer of course is no. Samuel has proved to be a leader and judge above reproach. He certainly isn’t the reason they’ve asked for a king.
Having established that he isn’t the reason he begins to remind them of their history. And notice what it is that he talks about. He says "I will declare to you all the saving deeds of the LORD that he performed for you and for your ancestors." And so begins a long recitation of the history of the Exodus and the Judges, a history that resonates with God’s long suffering loving kindness in the face of the Israelites faithlessness. "When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your ancestors cried to the LORD and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your ancestors out of Egypt, and settled them in this place. 9But they forgot the LORD their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of King Jabin of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them. 10Then they cried to the LORD, and said, ’We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served the Baals and the Astartes; but now rescue us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ 11And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samson, and rescued you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety." There are in fact a number of other instances that he leaves out as he reminds them of their history, but the point is made. God has saved them from their enemies time and time again. He’s provided leaders for them whenever they were needed. They have nothing to complain about.
So why are they asking for a king? What was wrong with the status quo? Well, I guess there are 2 answers to that question. First of all the status quo included the fact that whenever the people were safe they turned away from the Lord again. So their security was always a conditional thing. Samuel points out that, each time God has saved them, once they’ve been safe again, they’ve turned away from the Lord and begun to worship other gods. So there’s an inherent risk in relying on God to save them.
But the other answer is that in the end they don’t want God to rule over them. They want to rule themselves. They want a human king, despite all the warnings that Samuel has given them. Despite the fact that all they’re doing is going from one form of government to another and this one inherently inferior to what they’ve had. No, like all human beings since the fall, they long for autonomy, for the right to determine their own futures. That’s why Samuel is so upset by their request. He mourns the fact that by asking for a king they’re in fact turning their backs on the rightful King.
Yet at the same time he knows that God is a faithful God; that he hasn’t turned away from his people. Even with a human king ruling over them, God will continue to be their God. He will continue to watch over them. Isn’t that amazing. We saw it last week as well, didn’t we? Here is the gospel that we proclaim. God’s people rebel against God and yet he continues to treat them as his people, to provide for them, and to call on them to repent and turn away from their rebellion.
So he reminds them of the continuing demand of God for faithful obedience to the covenant. They may have a king, but that king is now in place because of the graciousness of the King of kings. And here is the condition of the covenant that applies to both the people and their king: "If you will fear the LORD and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well." It’s ironic isn’t it? They thought they were achieving self-determination, but in fact nothing has changed. They are still the people of God, subject just the same to his rule.
Now you can imagine Samuel looking out at all these people thinking, "No, nothing’s changed. And no sooner will they return to their homes than they’ll be up on the high places praying to the fertility Gods for a good harvest. So he decides to give them a lesson in agriculture.
He says: "It’s harvest time isn’t it? Well, watch and see who it is who controls the fertility of your fields." Now these people had a fairly superstitious view about the fertility of the land. They thought if they did certain things and made certain offerings to Baal and Astartes the land would bear well. If they had a lean year it was because the gods of the land were upset for some reason. But they were about to discover that the Lord, the living God was the one who really controlled their fortune as farmers.
Samuel prays to the Lord and he sends down a massive thunderstorm which presumably wreaks havoc in the wheat fields and certainly terrifies the people so much that they ask him to pray to the Lord for them so they won’t die.
We’re told the thunderstorm is an expression of God’s anger against them for asking for a king, yet again, as Samuel finishes his speech he reiterates that basic biblical, gospel message: "you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; ... 22For the LORD will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself." God wants us for his people. He won’t condone our rebellion. He will punish those who persist in their rebellion. But his grace and mercy continue to flow to those he’s chosen and nothing puts us beyond God’s power to forgive.
Samuel promises to continue to pray for them, that they’ll be faithful to the covenant, but at the same time warns them that they bear the responsibility of fearing God and remaining faithful to him. On that will hang their success or failure as a nation.
And so we move to the history of Saul as King. Saul was 30 when he began his reign and he reigned for 40 years according to some later manuscripts of the Old Testament. We’re not sure if that’s accurate, but in any case it’s a long reign but sadly not a good one. In fact the decline of Saul’s leadership begins fairly early in his life as king.
Having defeated Nahash, Saul raises a standing army led by himself and his son Jonathan. Jonathan leads a rousing victory over the Philistines and Saul sends messengers throughout the land to proclaim this great victory. Well, of course one victory seldom wins a war, and so it is here. The Philistine army comes out in strength to fight Saul. 30,000 chariots, 6000 horsemen and countless foot soldiers. It’s like something out of Lord of the Rings, if you’ve seen the Two towers. This is an overwhelming force. Even if Saul had raised a force like the one he used to defeat Nahash, the power of 30,000 chariots and 6000 horsemen would have been too much for them. And on top of that, the other factor that we’re not told until later in the chapter is the fact that the Philistines have iron weapons and the Israelites don’t. This is one of those interesting historical tidbits that pop up every now and then. The world was moving out of the Bronze Age into the Iron Age and the Philistines were the first in this region to develop the use of iron, primarily for military purposes. So their advantage is quite considerable.
So the Israelites decide that discretion is the better part of valour and off they go to hide in caves and holes and rocks, etc. Others retreat across the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, though is in Gilgal, at the shrine, waiting with his troops for Samuel to come and pray for victory. Samuel has told him he’ll be there in 7 days, but at the end of the 7 days he hasn’t arrived. So what’s Saul going to do.
You can imagine the situation. The soldiers have seen the massive forces of the Philistines and have no interest in facing them in battle. So they begin to desert, in ones and twos. They just slip out during the night so that slowly Saul’s army is decreasing in size. He needs to do something! He needs to give his soldiers some heart. So what does he do? He decides to fill in for Samuel. He says "Bring the burnt offering to me and I’ll offer it." They need to pray to God for success and if Samuel isn’t here someone has to do it. And this is his first major mistake.
So what’s wrong with Saul offering a burnt offering in the absence of Samuel? Well, first of all he’s usurped the role of the priest in offering sacrifices. Second, he’s shown that he doesn’t trust God to look after him. Third he’s using the sacrifice almost like a lucky charm, something that’ll convince his soldiers that they’ll be OK. He hasn’t learnt a thing from what Samuel has told him. He thinks that all that matters is his military victories, when in fact, what really matters is his obedience to God. That’s the whole point of Samuel’s long speech in ch 12 isn’t it? "14If you will fear the LORD and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well." It doesn’t matter how large the Philistine army is. God can handle them. All Saul has to worry about is obeying the Lord. And that of course is what Samuel tells him when he walks in to the smell of roasting meat. "You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you. The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 14but now your kingdom will not continue; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart; and the LORD has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." Here he is at the beginning of his reign and already God has decided to replace him with someone else, someone with the heart of God.
Well, what do you think? Was God too harsh? Should he have given Saul another chance? Or did Saul get what he deserved? And what would you have done if you were Saul? It’s easy, isn’t it, when we get into a tight situation to try anything, to get God to help us. We try to bargain with God, we pray harder, we read our Bible more, we carry round religious items like good luck charms, all in an attempt to bribe God into helping us or at least to convince others that we really are spiritual people and they should be on our side, helping us. Well that’s what Saul does. He offers a sacrifice, both in an attempt to enlist God’s aid and in order to give his army some heart. And it doesn’t work. God isn’t that sort of God. He isn’t a capricious and fickle ruler who can be coerced by bribes or flattery. He’s the Living God who made the heavens and the earth; before whom all others rulers fall down. This is the lesson that Saul has failed to learn to his cost.
What mattered most for Saul was his relationship with God. The military victories would come naturally out of that. God would give him victory over all his enemies if only he’d remain faithful to God. Yet that’s the one thing he seems unable to do. As we’ll see next week, this failure was not the last, nor the worst. But it was enough for God to decide that he needed to give the nation another ruler.
Now can you see how this applies to us? What matters most for us in our personal lives, in our family lives, in our life as a church, is our relationship with God. We’re doing OK as a church. We continue to grow even if slowly; we continue to offer good programs; people are coming to faith, albeit at a slow rate. But all that’s just on the surface. They’re just the battles we engage in day by day. What matters to God is how our relationship with him is. In other words, are we putting him first as a Church? Are we seeking to worship him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength? Is his glory the thing we most want to promote, or is it our success? That was Saul’s mistake. He was more worried about his success than God’s glory. God became for him a means to an end, rather than an end in himself. So this is both warning and a challenge to us. Make sure that God is at the centre of our focus in everything we do. If he is, then he will bring the success he desires for us, in his own time. If not, then no success we might achieve will be worth anything in the long run.
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