No sooner is Saul installed as the king of
Israel, than he begins his descent from power. Saul commits a series of
disastrous errors. First, he fails to wait for Samuel at Gilgal to perform the
sacrifice before his army goes to war against the Philistines. Saul arrogantly
assumes to himself the right to offer a sacrifice to God. Thus, Samuel, who
soon shows up on the scene, says to Saul…
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, but 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. (1 Samuel 13:13-14)
One interesting thing to note about this is that
Samuel is no more of a Levitical priest than Saul. According to the
instructions in the Torah, neither one of them has the right to offer
sacrifices to the Lord; Saul is a Benjaminite and Samuel is an Ephraimite.
Notice also that we read nothing in this section of 1 Samuel about sacrifices
being offered in the tabernacle. However, Samuel is in an unusual position.
Perhaps he has the right to offer sacrifices to the Lord because he was
dedicated to the Lord’s service as an infant. Thus, we have seen Samuel over
the course of this book take on the roles of judge, priest, and prophet. He is
truly a unique character in all of Scripture.
I wonder: how many of us miss the Lord’s fullest
blessings and wonderful plans for our lives because we fail to wait, just like
Saul, and we rashly take to ourselves jobs that the Lord does not intend for
us? Thankfully, though there was to be no second chance for Saul, there is for
us, even this day and this moment if we will turn to the Lord and wait upon him.
We see the second step in Saul’s downward spiral
in 1 Samuel 14. Here we are introduced to his son Jonathan who bravely wins a
battle against the Philistines almost single-handedly. However, when Saul and
Jonathan are parted, Saul commits a rash act and says, “Cursed be anyone who
eats food before it is evening and I have been avenged on my enemies.” We can
already guess the outcome of this before it happens. Jonathan, not knowing of
his father’s curse, eats honey that day. When Saul realizes that things are going
wrong for him and his men, he guesses that perhaps someone has violated his
command to fast. It is then that Saul commits another rash act. He says, “Come
here, all you leaders of the people; and let us find out how this sin has
arisen today. For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, even if it is in my son
Jonathan, he shall surely die!” When it is discovered that Jonathan has indeed
broken the fast, it is only because the people speak up for him that his life
is spared.
The third step in Saul’s downward fall takes
place in 1 Samuel 15. Here Saul breaks a clear command. Samuel tells Saul that
the Lord has decided to wipe out the Amalekites. Thus, Saul is commanded to go
to war against them and not spare any person or animal. Saul fails to do this.
He spares King Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, and all that is
valuable. When Samuel confronts Saul about this, Saul tries to make out that he
has obeyed the Lord. The problem is that he has not obeyed completely. He says
that he has spared the best sheep and cattle for the purpose of a sacrifice to
the Lord. Samuel’s response is classic: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1
Samuel 15:22). Samuel finishes the job for Saul by executing King Agag with the
sword. Then we read that Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his
death. Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul
king over Israel.
However, the Lord urges Samuel not to allow his
grief to continue forever. It is time to move on and anoint another king,
regardless of what Saul may think of this action. Thus, Samuel is led by the
Lord to the household of Jesse in Bethlehem. Samuel knows from the Lord that he
is to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel. Samuel assumes it
is the eldest but the Lord tells him, “Do not look on his appearance or on the
height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see
as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the
heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
I believe part of the goal of the spiritual life is to
learn to see things as the Lord sees them. All the means of grace (Scripture,
prayer, the Church, worship, and sacraments) are means to that end of learning
to see life as God sees it, looking at the heart of things instead of simply seeing the outward appearance.
After working his way through all but one of the
sons of Jesse, Samuel is disappointed that not one of them is the right person
to be anointed as king. “Are all your sons here?” he asks.
Jesse responds, “There remains yet the youngest,
but he is keeping the sheep.”
This is a poignant reminder that God’s person is
often found in the most unlikely place.
When David arrives, Samuel notices that he is
ruddy and handsome with beautiful eyes. The Lord instructs Samuel to rise and
anoint David, for he is the one. Thus, Samuel does as the Lord tells him to do,
and the spirit of the Lord comes mightily on David from that day forward. We
shall soon see that the operation of the spirit in David will be something more
than the operation of the same spirit in Saul, for David will become a man
after God’s own heart.
From this point on, the spirit of the Lord
departs from Saul and an evil spirit torments him. At the recommendation of his
servants, Saul seeks a person to play music for him to soothe his troubled
soul. They find just the right man in David. “And whenever the evil spirit from
God came upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand, and Saul
would be relieved and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him”
(1 Samuel 16:23).
In 1 Samuel 17, we will read a different account
of how Saul and David first met. However, for now, let us consider this theme
of obedience, something quite lacking in Saul’s life. C. S. Lewis has this to
say on the matter….
But when we have said that God commands things only
because they are good, we must add that one of the things intrinsically good is
that rational creatures should freely surrender themselves to their Creator in
obedience. The content of our obedience—the thing we are commanded to do—will
always be something intrinsically good, something we ought to do even if (by an
impossible supposition) God had not commanded it. But in addition to the
content, the mere obeying is also intrinsically good, for, in obeying, a
rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by
which we fell, treads Adam’s dance backward, and returns.[1]
Treading Adam’s dance backward…that is what Jesus
has done perfectly for us. When we receive Christ’s perfect obedience and his
perfect sacrifice as a gift, then he enables us also to tread Adam’s dance
backward.
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