Better Than Sacrifice
1 Samuel 13-15; Remsen Bible Fellowship;
Introduction
We often think about the Bible as a book of dos and don’ts, a collection of rules for moral living, and perhaps somewhere to look for examples on how to live. What I tried to argue in my sermons for the last two plus years, first in our bible study and now as a church, is that what we actually have in the Bible is one comprehensive story, from beginning to end, with one main theme: God bringing glory to himself in the salvation of sinners through his Son. The story begins in eternity past, moves immediately into the creation of a beautiful paradise, and falls shortly thereafter into tragedy as the creatures made most like God -human beings- rebel against him. And the rest of the book unfolds his plan of choosing a people to be his people in this world, not because of what they’ve done, but simply because of his kind Mercy and Grace. This story, which winds its way through centuries and millennia, finds its culmination in the entrance of the eternal Son, God himself, into this world, taking on flesh, and becoming a man, our Lord Jesus Christ. In his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus becomes, as it were, the focal point of history, he is the one of whom Moses and the prophets spoke, both explicitly in terms of predictive prophecies, but also in forms, patterns, and types that find their full expression in him. The rest of the Bible is the story of God continuing to create a people for himself, but unlike the Old Testament people of Israel, we have the added advantage of God dwelling with us personally in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And one day the story will come to completion as Christ returns, the old earth-and the old heaven!-will be washed away and replaced by a renewed, restored, New Heavens and New Earth. This is the big story.
Having said all of that, the fact remains that God is doing a lot with this book. And part of what he wants us to know, as his people formed around Jesus, held together by his written word and by his Holy Spirit, is how we ought to live this earthly life. How can we be a people who live holy lives pleasing to our Lord? This is where examples in Scripture are extremely helpful. Not as a way to be right with God-you’ll never be that good. But if you come to him acknowledging that your only standing with him is on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross, then we can look at examples, both positive and negative, and see what there is to learn. What sort of life pleases the Father?
I would submit to you that in chapters 13-15 of 1 Samuel, the writer sets king Saul before us as a supremely negative example. Of course, he wants us to understand the history of Israel. And we are going to see some key shifts, beginning with God rejecting Saul’s line, and the rejecting Saul himself, all of which sets the table for David from whom, some thousand years later, would come the eternal King of Kings. The historical developments are important. But we also have a tragic story of someone who could have seen his reign prosper, and instead becomes, at best, a very mixed character. At times a villain.
Summary
Because we are looking at such an extensive section of Scripture, I want to begin by summarizing the basic components of the text, the flow of the narrative.
Chapter 13 begins with an introduction to Saul’s position. We aren’t totally sure how long he had reigned when this all takes place, as the various Hebrew manuscripts and Greek translations are in conflict. He is obviously old enough by this point that his son Jonathan is capable of commanding troops, though, because Saul is at Michmash with one group of 2,000 soldiers, while Jonathan is at Gibeah, the homestown, with 1,000 (13:2). The next thing we know, Jonathan is taking his thousand men and attacking the Philistines at Geba, winning a great victory. Saul then spreads the news of this victory, hoping to muster troops to himself (13:4).
But there is trouble brewing. The Philistines don’t appreciate the upstarts and send an enormous army (like the sand on the seashore, 13:5) up to face and squash these rebellious Hebrews. This sends many of the people running for cover, hiding in rocks and tombs, anywhere they won’t be associated with victorious Jonathan and Saul.
At the end of seven days (v8), Saul is waiting for Samuel the prophet to arrive. As he sits waiting, he is watching his army disintegrate. And so he decides to take matters into his own hands. He will make the sacrifices himself, again apparently hoping to bring the people back to rally around him. But this is the wrong move. Samuel comes as soon as the sacrifices are finished and asks (13:11), what have you done? When Saul tries to defend himself, Samuel pronounces judgement: You have done foolishly...but now your kingdom shall not continue...because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you (13:13b, 14a, 14c). This charge of foolishness may seem rude to us, but as Joyce Baldwin points out in her commentary, “You have done foolishly is a stronger condemnation than we might suppose, for in Scripture the fool is morally and spiritually blameworthy, not merely lacking in intellect.”
Samuel then departs Saul, leaving him without guidance from the Lord. And with the Philistines still looming. The end of chapter 13 emphasizes just how scary this is, because the Philistines not only have a numerical advantage, they have a technological advantage. The people of Israel, outside of Saul and Jonathan, don’t even have swords. They’re in deep trouble.
But in chapter 14 we receive a new burst of hope. Because the son of Saul, Jonathan the brave we might call him, hatches a plan with his armour bearer. Let’s initiate a two man attack, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few (14:6). They go, and the Lord gives them a pretty impressive defeat, as the two of them kill 20 Philistine soldiers in one small area. This victory, though, is just the beginning. We are told that this small defeat sends the whole Philistine garrison and their raiding parties into a panicked uproar (14:15), which descends into them raising swords against each other (14:20), and the people of Israel are able to push them clear beyond Beth-aven, with such success that even those who had deserted to the Philistines (14:21) or who had been hiding in the rocks and caves (14:22), come out and join Saul. Things are looking wonderful. So the LORD saved Israel that day, the narrator tells us (14:23).
But then things start to look sour again. What could, perhaps, have been a victory in which they drove the Philistines not just just to Beth-aven, but all the way to the sea, nearly becoming a day of national mourning. Saul makes a vow in 14:24, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” The ESV heading rightly, if understatedly, refers to this as “Saul’s rash vow.” He has a small army, miraculously chasing a huge enemy, a victory totally at God’s hand with the human agent of initiation being not Saul, but Jonathan (note the parallel with ch 13). And Saul turns the attention to himself (“my enemies”). Don’t you dare satisfy your hunger for food until I have my hunger for revenge satisfied. This is dumb on it’s own merits, starving your army. But then his own son, our human hero of the story, Jonathan, falls afoul of this vow. He hasn’t heard his father, but he has felt the weariness of fighting all day, and so when he comes across some honey (14:27), he dips the end of his staff in and eats it. This has the result of terrifying the men around him, who had heard Saul, and then of angering Jonathan, who has experienced a great deal of rejuvenation from the honey and is angry at the army being deprived of that same gift (14:29-30).
This might have passed unnoticed, but when Saul finally goes to the Lord for further direction (at the suggestion of the priest, 14:36), God doesn’t give him an answer. Saul realizes that this is because there has been some sin in the camp, but as we read of the process where they cast lots to determine who is at fault, ultimately landing on Jonathan, it apparently never strikes Saul that the issue could have been that he made a foolish oath to start with. Does he weep here and regret his error? No, Jonathan has offended the king, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.” (14:44)
Thankfully for the young hero, the people intervene. They stop Saul from executing his son, v45, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked the great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die. This little exchange, I think, shows how loose Saul’s grip on the reigns of Israel still was at that point. Because later, when the even more popular David falls afoul of Saul’s pride, no mob is able to stop Saul from seeking David’s life. How did Saul become more established and powerful over Israel? By conquering the enemies all around, which is what the end of ch 14 tells us he did.
As we come into chapter 15, we find God, through Samuel the prophet, sending Saul on a particular seek-and-destroy mission: the people of Amalek. 15:2 recalls the opposition Amalek gave the people as they came out of Egypt (Exodus 17:8ff), attacking the Israelites unprovoked and bring upon themselves God’s curse (Exodus 17:14). In the meantime the Amalekites had continued to fight against Israel as recorded in Numbers 14, Judges 3, and Judges 6. Now God sends Saul on a mission: wipe them out, completely obliterate them. Men, women, children, livestock, all of it. Every last thing: persons, animals, and possessions. This might sound extreme to us. But have you ever considered that that sort of bloody fate, death followed by torment, is precisely what each of us deserve? There is no exception. It is the patience and forbearance of God which allows any of us to continue breathing moment by moment. And it is only by the grace of God given in Christ through which we can ultimately escape this fate. As for the Amalekites, their time had run out.
Except it hadn’t. Though Saul receives this command, and does indeed work a great victory over the people of Amalek, he does not destroy them all. The best of the livestock are saved. And the king, Agag, is also spared. The next morning, Samuel comes down to Saul, having heard from God that night what Samuel had done. And Saul thinks he’s done well. He’s more than a little crestfallen to hear the rebuke which Samuel gives.
“Saul seems to have waited into the seventh day but not the whole day—at least that is what 13:10a suggests. But that is not of primary importance. Saul was to wait for Samuel’s arrival (“until I come to you”), so that he would receive the prophet’s instructions about the conduct of the battle (“I shall make known to you what you must do”). God’s prophet would give him God’s guidance for the Philistine war. Samuel was the bearer of Yahweh’s word, and Saul’s task was to wait for it. Instead he proceeded without it. For Saul sacrificial ritual was essential (v. 12b) but prophetic direction dispensable. Saul’s was an act of insubordination, a failure to submit to Yahweh’s word through his prophet. By his action Saul confessed that certain emergencies rendered Yahweh’s word unnecessary. When the chips were down kingship could function on its own.”
“Are our ‘explanations’ as to why we did not do God’s will ever adequate?”
