1 Samuel 13:1-15
Have you given any thought to the task God has assigned to Saul, where does a nation that has never had a king send the new king, the very first king-to-king school? That is thought provoking, did God set Saul up to fail, and was his model the nations that were trying to destroy Israel?
Do you recall God’s promise to the exiles in Jeremiah 29:10, that when the seventy years in Babylon are complete, God is going to restore them, and verse eleven is compelling. “For I know the plans I have for you –this is the LORD’S declaration – plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God never calls us to an empty life, He had a plan for Saul, and He has a plan for you.
In answer to the question above, God gave Samuel the duty of making sure the new King understood it was God who was running the show, but He would use Saul in the role of King as long as he honored God and kept the Commandments of God. And he began right, but we never know what one will do when the battle lines form, and your people are hiding in caves and leaving the country not to be part of the fight.
Now you do understand King Saul is new to this king and battle stuff and the Philistines are good at it? Saul retreats, giving the Philistines the high ground and almost cutting the country in half. Even old Sergeant Rice knows you do not want to give away the high ground and Saul has been instructed to wait on Samuel, and when Samuel does not come in the seven days allowed, Saul takes the matter into his own hands. In fear, King Saul crosses a line that God had set and does the role only Samuel was called to do, and it brought God’s anger upon him.
We find Samuel asking this question in verse 10-15, “Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. So Saul went out to greet him, and Samuel asked, “What have you done?”
Saul answered, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me and you didn’t come within the appointed days, and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, I thought: The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor. So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”
Samuel said to Saul, “You have been foolish. You have not kept the command which the Lord your God gave you. It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel, but now your reign will not endure. The Lord has found a man loyal to Him, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people because you have not done what the Lord commanded.”
Disobedience comes as a consequence, and yet it seems that the Church has left that out of its doctrine. But what is accurate with Saul is still true, rebellion brings curses, and obedience brings blessing.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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