I Samuel 1:1 to 19:7

[00:00:00] These two books of Samuel. First and second book of Samuel. I don't want to go over last week's introduction to them, but I must just say this one thing, that, as YOu KNow, in the Hebrew, these two books are, in actual fact, one book. [00:00:25] They were divided into two sections, and in actual fact, with the first and second book of kings, were looked upon as four sections of one work. That is, it's a complete history of the kingdom in four sections. It was only, I believe, in 1570 that it was finally divided into what we have now, so that it became the first and the second book of SamuEl. [00:00:55] You remember that last week, we simply said that we had now reached the third great phase of God's dealings with his people. There are three distinct phases in the Old Testament that so far we have seen. There is going to be a fourth phase, which later on we shall come to. But there are three distinct phases in God's dealings with his people. The first began with Abraham, until Abraham. God dealt with individuals, he dealt with the world and humanity in a general way. But when he took Abraham, it was in a particular way. God sovereignly chose Abraham out of many, and Abraham was the beginning of a new phase in God's economy. And we get that phase which we call, in many ways, the prenatal history of the people of God. Running from Abraham right the way down into Egypt until the time of Joseph. That was one great phase in God's dealings with his people. In that time, he hammered out PriNCIPLE, he hammered out a prenatal history. He got something very precious in those days. Then the next great phase began with the actual birth of a nation, the birth of the people of God. And again, as AlWays, with every new phase in God's economy, we find a man. And as it was in the first, it was AbraHAM, in the second, it was moses. And that phase carries us right through to the present one. It is a phase that lasts from Moses to Samuel. And it is, as you know, the story of the elementary dealings of God with his PeOPle. Now we come to these two books, and we are once again at the beginning of a new phase in God's economy. This phase we call the kingdom. [00:03:16] Now we have found, as we have gone through the books of the Old Testament, so far, we have found that each one has carried us a step forward. Each book has been a distinct and decisive step forward in God's revelation of his thought and purpose to us. Now we come for the first time to an altogether new concept. This ConCept, this idea, this thought has never before been defined or expressed or stated, it is the kingdom. And you and I know how much of the New Testament is taken up with the kingdom. For the first time, then in the Bible, we are moving into the phase of the kingdom of God. We have already found something of God's election in the days of Abraham. We have found something of the house of God, redemption in the house of God in the days of Moses. We found something of the land and its settling in the days of Joshua. Now we have come to Samuel, and as we pointed out to you, it is very expressive and instructive that the name of Samuel should be given to this particular phase of God's dealings. Isn't that a very wonderful thing? Because in actual fact, if you read the two Books of Samuel, you'll find that they deal very little with Samuel. Yet it is Samuel's name that is given to this particular record. That is not necessarily because Samuel wrote it. If he did write it, he could have only written the first 24 chapters at the very most of the first book of Samuel. [00:05:08] We believe it's been given to it because Samuel was the man who gave the kingdom its character. [00:05:18] He was, as you know, one of the great turning points in the history of God's people. He combined in himself all three offices. He was a prophet. He was the first of the great line of prophets. He was a priest and he was a judge. He combined these three great officers of the Old Testament into himself. And he was not only that, but he was also a Levite and a Nazarite in one. He combined everything together in one man. And you know that he was the man who was to influence Israel for generations to come in a multitude of ways, particularly, of course, in his instituting of the schools of the prophets which were to affect the country so deeply educationally and culturally, and also spiritually. So we find that Samuel is a remarkable man, a man who is not given the place that he should be given by the people of God. Samuel is a man often overlooked, whereas in actual fact he is amongst the three great men of the Old Testament. Abraham loses and Samuel. [00:06:36] That, I think, is all we could say about last week, except this. That there are two altogether new things that now come are introduced at this point in the Bible. The first is the monarchy or kingship or the kingdom, and the second is the word of God. By prophecy. [00:07:01] We, of course, have already seen prophets. Moses was a prophet and there have been other prophets. Deborah was a prophetess, and there were others who prophesied before the Lord. But nowhere have we found the prophets of the line of which Samuel was the first, for instance. Later on we begin to find a ministry, a clearly defined prophetic ministry. You take the book of Isaiah. Samuel was the first of a long line of prophets that was to be terminated with John the Baptist. [00:07:41] He was the first of those prophets of the men who brought God's word in a very decimate way to his people. It is instructive to note now in the book of Samuel and kings that many of the more outstanding miracles of the wilderness, of the period, of the Passover and of the wilderness and of the going into the land have now quietly, quietly faded into the background. And now we find that kingship takes the place and also the word of God by God's vessels. [00:08:27] We do not now find, as before angels so much in evidence, nor the more definitely supernatural forms of speaking and visiting the people of God. Instead, now we find that God speaks through men. Carefully chosen, carefully prepared and appointed. God speaks through these men. [00:08:55] So we found that the key to the book of Samuel, the first and second book of Samuel, is simply kingship. That is the key to this book. And we shall find, as we move through it this evening. I think that from whatever angle we look at it, it is kingship and the kingdom, God's king and God's kingdom that is now really in view. [00:09:24] Now, if you will turn with me to the first book of Samuel. [00:09:28] We have a tremendous amount to get through this evening. We have 31 chapters in the first book of Samuel and 24 in the second book of Samuel. [00:09:41] So I think you will understand if we cannot stay very long with the chapters, if we have just simply to touch them and move through. [00:09:55] I think we have already said last week that you will have noted a rather remarkable method of the author of contrasting people. He contrasts Panina and Hannah, Eli and Samuel, Saul and David, Jonathan and the 400 in the cave of Adelum. All the way through, he's contrasting and comparing people, a person, with a person. This is one of his rather remarkable methods, which is in itself a very interesting study. [00:10:28] The first thing that we note, you will notice that these chapters in this outline here overlap. The first thing that you will note in the first 16 chapters of the first book is what we have called the instrument to bring in God's kingdom. [00:10:52] Here we have the preparation of the instrument that is to be used to introduce not only the king, but the kingdom. [00:11:04] And it is always instructive in the word of God to see the diligent care and forethought and planning of God before ever any real new thought is introduced. [00:11:27] God is always a slow worker, but a sure worker. And it is most interesting to find in these different phases of God's dealings with his people, how he works hiddenly, slowly but surely, to achieve his end. And here we have such an instance. We find. The first thing we find in the first three chapters is the producing of that instrument. Now I want you to note this very carefully, because in many ways the word of God seems to give a real emphasis to Samuel's birth and Samuel's upbringing, more so in some ways than it does to greater characters in the story. [00:12:27] You will note, first of all that it was in evil days. [00:12:32] You have only to read in the second chapter and third chapter of Samuel. You will find the evil days in which God worked to provide Samuel. [00:12:50] Eli's two sons were evil men. They were not just evil in the sense that they were teaching error or that they were compromised men. They were utterly immoral, and they used the house of God as a means to satisfy themselves in every way. It was not merely that when the offerings of God were brought to the house, they took what belonged to God for themselves. It says they took the best before ever the offerers had a chance to offer what was God's to him. The priests took it straight away. But it also says that they committed immorality within the very precincts of the tabernacle. [00:13:40] This was the atmosphere of the days of Samuel. This lad was brought up in such a poisoned and perverted atmosphere. It was not merely that it was a miracle that God provided Samuel. It was a miracle that Samuel was ever kept true to God. When you realize that it was at a very, very early age of three that he was taken into the house of God and reared by Eli in the very presence of these evil men. [00:14:17] Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phineas, were known throughout Israel for their evil ways. They caused the worship of God and the service of God to be spoken of in a very evil way. That is the background. But as always, that background, whilst it is absolutely in keeping with the book of judges, is the theme of God's working to recovery. This is always God's method. God does not work in a detached way. He always works in the midst of the failure. Therefore, we find in the very midst of this failure we find two people, Elkanah and Hannah. Elkana means God acquired, God acquired, and Hannah means favor. [00:15:12] These were to be the father and the mother of Samuel. They evidently had a history with the Lord. If you read the first chapter of Samuel, you'll find there's a history there in Elkanah and Hannah. They spoke about the Lord. They spoke together about the Lord. There was failure in the house. It has been suggested that because Hannah was barren, Elkanah took a second wife. His second wife had many children. And this was the scene of continual strife and misery within the household of Elkana. Penina evidently provoked Hannah as much as she possibly could by inferring and implying all kinds of things. [00:16:00] There is nothing like living in the atmosphere of superiority. [00:16:06] There is nothing like living in the atmosphere of someone who is satisfied and content when you have nothing. [00:16:15] This was the way that per Mina provoked Hannah. There was a history of suffering and a travail in the background. And it came to a head each year when they went up to the tabernacle, to the sacrifice, to the yearly festival. It says here quite clearly that it came to such an impulse that Hannah could not sit down and eat whilst the west were eating at the festival. [00:16:47] Hannah was so bitter, so filled with bitterness of soul, that all she could do was just rush out. And she found her way into the tabernacle. And there she began to pour out the bitterness of her heart, so obviously filled with agony and so trivial was this woman that she was like someone that was drunk. Her lips moved, but no voice was audible. [00:17:20] Do you remember that Samuel thought that she was drunk? [00:17:24] Yet in the midst of this suffering, an attitude was forged. [00:17:31] Now, suffering can either embitter us and make us sour and difficult and awkward people, or it can forge an attitude of devotion to the lord. [00:17:44] And in Hannah's case, instead of making her embittered and rebellious against the Lord, full of questions. Why doesn't the Lord answer me? Why doesn't the Lord provide? Why doesn't he do it? How can he let Panina, that wicked woman, provoke me all the time? [00:18:03] Why does he bless the person who's not devoted to the Lord and leaves me unblest? No. If she had these questions, Hannah got through the lot. [00:18:14] And her attitude was one of utter devotion to the Lord. She said, if the Lord gives me a child, a son, I will give him back to the Lord all the days of his life. [00:18:30] Now, that was no light hearted vow. For if Hannah's one great passion was to have a son, then obviously to give him back into the temple of the Lord and never see him again was not going to satisfy her very much. I'm quite sure that Hannah was not interested in the pain and travail connected with the birth of a son. To see his end to see his back for the rest of his days, never to touch him again, never to see him grow up. Never to have any hand in his education and instruction. I cannot believe that it reveals an attitude. Hannah was a woman of spiritual insight and foresight. It is quite obvious that she saw the evil of the days around her. She recognized the need. And there came a point when in her suffering she got to a place of absolute acquiescence and harmony with the Lord. It did not mean that she did not suffer. It meant that she suffered all the more that she was in the place of harmony with the Lord. [00:19:47] She had a peace. Evidently, that was deeper than the bitterness of her soul. Now, here is the interesting thing. Twice in the record it says, the Lord shut up her room. [00:19:58] It is definitely clearly stated that the Lord took the action. [00:20:05] Why did he treat Hannah in this way? Because the Lord was bringing Hannah into a union with himself. [00:20:15] He was engineering the circumstances, maneuvering everything around to bring Hannah into the place where she had an insight and a knowledge of the Lord. Which Panina, with all her children, could never have. [00:20:34] Panina had her children. She had household duties. She had a husband. I don't suppose she had very much time with all her children to think. [00:20:46] But Hannah was kept barren in order that she might be able to reflect and meditate. And in her very yearning and concern, I think she came to a conclusion that we shall find came out in the end when she gave Samuel back to the Lord. [00:21:08] Out of that attitude, Samuel was born. [00:21:14] When the Lord got the attitude, Samuel was given. [00:21:21] And we find a new phase in God's economy begins. [00:21:27] You'll note something else, too. Samuel was wholly given from his birth. So if we read in verse 27 and in verse 28, I'm going to read to you from a literal version by Edisham. [00:21:45] Because we haven't got the real play on words. When Hannah, and by the way, may I just say this. Hannah was not a simple ignoramus, as many people think she was. They think she was a simple peasant woman. Hannah was a woman of real and obvious intelligence and culture. The way that out of her heart burst. That song is something tremendous. You, of course, all realize that Hannah's song is the basis of Mary's song. Mary took up Hannah's song and enlarged it. [00:22:23] This is what she says. For this boy have I prayed. And the Lord gave me my asking, which I asked of him. And now I on my part, make him the asked one unto the Lord all the days that he lived. He is the asked one of the Lord she was using the word ask in Hebrew. And she played upon it. And her whole thought in verse 27 28 was simply this. I ask the Lord for a son. He has asked me for him. [00:23:03] God has a need. I have a need. We both brought our need together. God's need was met by me, and my need was met by God. She played upon the words. Samuel means heard of the Lord. [00:23:18] So she said, I have given him back to the Lord. I asked him of the Lord. The Lord heard my asking and gave me the asked one of the lord. So I give him back to the Lord as because he has asked. [00:23:35] That really is the circumstances of the birth of Samuel. There was a history there. There was something behind his birth. And there was something in his birth. And furthermore, you will note that his service began with the burnt offering. [00:23:51] Samuel's life of service began with the offering of a bullock, a burnt offering. This was to symbolize Samuel from the very beginning. Samuel would be consumed by the Lord. There was nothing about Samuel's life or being that was to in any way be given to any other. He was holy for the Lord. Samuel's life can be symbolized in the burnt offering. Which his father and mother offered when they dedicated him to the Lord. So we find that Samuel, at the age of three, enters into the service of God a very young age, I might say, to begin in the service of God. But at the age of three, we find him in the house of God. [00:24:41] I then want you to notice how God develops a ministry. [00:24:47] You move on and you will find from chapter three and verse 19 and onwards. [00:24:58] Find aim a development of this instrument. God begins to develop him. It is amazing how Samuel could have maintained such a sensitiveness to the Lord. In an atmosphere of compromise and luxury and comfort. Yet he maintained that sensitivity to the Lord right the way through. He never lost it. [00:25:32] And you will find that in these chapters from chapter three, roughly 319 to chapter eight. You find God developing Samuel. First he develops him by an experience of defeat. [00:25:51] It says clearly that the word of God came by Samuel. It says in chapter three and verse one that the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision or there was no open vision. Then it says in chapter 19, Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. And did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan, even to Bersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. So we find that Samuel studied the word of the Lord. And as he studied the word of the Lord, the Lord came to him. The Lord appeared once again in the tabernacle. And there were the first stirrings of a new beginning with God. [00:26:45] But we, as always, find that the Lord allows things to get right down to the very bottom before a reformation ever begins. And in the next chapters, we find that the ark is captured. You know the story how they went out. The children of Israel went out to battle and were defeated, and so they decided to take the ark out into battle. But when they took the ark out into battle, the Philistines fought and they took the ark. And you know, the awful and sad result of the Arks being taken. Even though Eli was a compromised man, he was told that his two sons were dead, but that wasn't the thing that killed him. When he heard that the Ark of God was captured, he said he fell off the seat and break his neck. And then you know how the story goes on about his daughter in law. She gave birth to her child. She was so heartbroken, not so much over the death of her husband as over the fact that the ark had been captured, that she called the son Ichabod no glory. That's the sad, despairing note of gloom that has settled upon the beginning of Samuel's ministry. The ark, for the first time, has gone into captivity. [00:28:05] Eli is dead through shock, his two sons flame with the Ark. His daughter in law died in childbirth, and the Philistines in. [00:28:27] But. And here is the beginning of Samuel's instruction. [00:28:33] The Philistines put the ark in the temple of Dagon. They put it before Dagon. There is no man there. They just put the Ark of God in the temple of Dagon. And the next morning, they find that Dagon has fallen off his foundation and is flat on his face before the ark. So they pitch him back up again and put him into place, evidently feeling that some mistake had occurred, not connecting it with the ark. But the next morning, they find that Dagon has fallen down, his head's broken off, and his arms are broken off. And it says, in a rather wry way, only the stump of Dagon was left to him. [00:29:12] They then decided that it was time, perhaps, to move the ark out of the temple of Dagon. They moved the ark out of the temple of Dacon. And each city they brought the ark to, there was a plague. We believe today it was the bubonic plague. In bubonic plague, you get swelling of the groins and with awful boils. And as this plague spread from city to city. Wherever they took the ark, so the plague spread. [00:29:39] They began to connect the two things together. And the Philistines became exceedingly worried. They found they'd got something too hot to hold in their midst. It wasn't that they were dealing with people. They weren't dealing with flesh and blood. They were dealing with the presence of God. The presence of God was symbolized by the Ark. [00:29:58] This was the outward evidence of the presence of God. God was well able to take care of his ark. He needed no man to put forth his hand and steady the ark. The Lord was quite able to make himself so unwanted and unnecessary to the enemies of God. That they would send back the ark into the land. This was all Samuel's instruction. Samuel began to learn one of his greatest lessons. God is able to take care of himself. God's work does not need our help. God's work, God carries on. God undertakes responsibility for his work. If it is his work, if it is according to his mind, God is responsible for it. He doesn't need anyone else to go running after the ark. To bring it back. He can take care of the ark. He can make the ark an embarrassment in the hands of the enemies and in the presence of their gods. This is exactly what he does. And this was instruction to Samuel. Samuel had seen what compromise in the high priest. And evil and sinfulness in the priest's son. Had done for the house of God. He had seen where it had ended. Tragedy, gloom and despair. [00:31:18] Now, in the darkest days of Samuel's memory. He begins to learn his deepest lessons in the sovereignty of God. [00:31:31] Now, it is very interesting that after a while. The Philistines bring all their diviners. Soothsayers and witches together. And ask of them what they should do about the ark. And when they besought to their spirits and so on. Besought the spirits and so on. They got the answer. You must make a trespass offering. And this trespass offering is to be images of the boils. And images of the mice. Now, Dagon was a corn God. And it is thought that the plague that was being spread by rats, mice. This particular plague, or kind of plague. Was being spread by this terrible scourge of rodents in the land. [00:32:16] So they had to make gold images of the mice or rats. And gold images of the boys. This was the trespass offering. Then they also were told, you are to make a new cart. You are to take two cows. Who have just given birth to calves, you are to take them away from their calves. You are to yoke these two together that have never been yoked before, never been harnessed before onto this new cart. And you have to put the arc on it. Then you are to let it go. Now, all of you know, I'm quite sure that to ask such a ridiculous thing is almost to court disaster. Has anyone ever heard of bringing two cows that have never, ever before been harnessed? And who, not only that, have just given birth to cows to take them away and then to put the two together and expect them without any help whatsoever to carry the cart back into the land where they didn't even know, never been before. [00:33:31] The whole thing was to be a miracle. Philistines were told, if these two hitherto unharnessed, unyoked cows can lead back this cart into a land by a way that they've never been before, even though they've taken them away from their own newly born cart, then this is the law. [00:33:55] And the story just simply but grandly says that when the two cows were harnessed, they went on the highway to Israel, lowing as they went. [00:34:09] And when Israel saw the ark of the Lord coming back in that way, then I believe they knew the Lord was with them. You see, the Lord himself can take care of his own work and his own testimony. He doesn't need us to go hurrying and scurrying around, trying to help him, getting in the way. The Lord is well able. This was one of the greatest lessons for Samuel. He was living in days of tragedy, days of breakdown, days of failure. The easiest thing for Samuel would have been to go hurrying there, scurrying all over the place, trying to get the people together, trying to teach them, trying somehow to bring about a reformation. [00:34:52] It would have been superficial, it would have been skin deep. [00:34:56] The first thing Samuel learnt was that God is sovereignly able to take care of his own testimony and of his own work. This was the first lesson he learnt. So the ark came back into Israel without ever a battle having to be fought. It came back of its own accord. And you know, I think something of the story. When it returned in chapter six, some foolish men looked into it and died of the plague. And then at last, they brought it into its right place. [00:35:33] And then we find in chapter seven the beginning of the great reformation that was to last right the way through to the days of Solomon. Samuel calls the whole nation together at Mitpah. And he says to them, if you will only put away your gods, your idols, if you will only repent before the Lord. If you will only confess your condition, your sin to the Lord, then the Lord will once again own you. And will vince you. And it says, all Israel gathered to Mispah. And it says, they confessed their sin before the Lord. They got down on their knees and they wept before the Lord. It says that they were as one man. [00:36:17] And coming before the Lord. They said, this will we do. And then you know how Samuel offers up a sacrifice. And as he does so, as he does so, the Philistines begin to marshal their armies on the plain. Now, this is the interesting point. It was on that very plane by the stone, Ebenezer, which always makes us all smile. I notice by that very stone, on that very plain, that Israel lost the battle and the ark was taken. Now, on that very plain, by that very rock, Israel was to be victorious. God always leads us back to the scene of failure. Where we failed is where we must be victorious. Where we succumbed is where we must overcome. [00:37:12] We can never sort of circumvent things and come back there. We always have to come back to where we failed. So the rock was called Ebenezer. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. It was the beginning of a revelation. Samuel was not so foolish to think that it was the whole thing. He said, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Now we march forward into a new phase altogether. In God's dealings, the Philistines were completely routed. And it said, in all the days of Samuel, they never again bothered them. [00:37:46] Then you will notice, I think, in verse 15 of chapter ten. [00:37:57] You'll notice that Samuel had a circuit. Like the early Methodists. He had a circuit and he used to go from it. [00:38:15] Shiloh was where the tabernacle was. He used to go in a circuit from Gilgal to Bethel. [00:38:30] I can't quite see the other one. Gilgal, Bethel, Bethel. You can look at english yourself. See if you can find the other. I did look. The mizpah. [00:38:48] Those were the three. The circuit that he continually went round. Gilgal, Bethel and Mizpah. And Raymar is in the center. His hometown was in the center of a circle. And continually he went round this circle to Bethel, to Gilgal, to Mizpah. It's very interesting to find out the meanings of those places. You know, what's connected with them. Bethel, house of God and all what that means. That was where he began his circuit. Each year, his annual circuit began with the house of God. From there he went on to Gilgal, which means a wheel. And you know what it is connected with? It is connected with the putting up of the twelve stones of memorial on the banks of Jordan. When the reproach of Egypt, the Lord said, I have wheeled off of you. I have rolled off of you. It was the place where they were circumcised. It speaks of the cross circumcising our heart, our affections, our desires, our wills, our emotions, our minds, our intellects. All coming under the circumcision of God. [00:40:00] That's the cross. The house of God can be nothing. It's rendered futile, useless unless there is a knowledge of the cross which is circumcising all that we are. Naturally, our natural man has got to come under the cross. It's got to come into the execution of God. It's got to come under the restriction and limitation of the Holy Spirit. And that is the only way that the house of God can ever be built. And Mizpah means watchtower and speaks of the need of eternal alertness and watchfulness. If God is going to get value out of being together and of our going on. Breema, in the very heart of it all, where he built an altar, it says, means high. [00:40:49] There he lived. [00:40:52] So you have there just a message in itself. His annual circuit as he moved around these things. [00:41:01] How often we find them. House of God. And all that it means is the center of God's work and of God's purpose. Of all God's activity and of God's desire and satisfaction. [00:41:16] Gilgal the means by which God builds us together and fits us into our place and causes us to function. The circumcision of all that we are naturally cutting of it. All of it. [00:41:31] And the need of watching. Oh, the need to watch. To watch. To pray. [00:41:38] To watch unto prayer. That watchtower and rhema. A heavenliness of character. [00:41:48] That Samuel's ministry and life. And then you find that the kingdom is introduced. Samuel brings in the kingdom. He introduces it. [00:42:02] There is, of course, something very, very wonderful in the development of God's instrument. The way that the Lord slowly but surely develops the character of the nan family through those early days. [00:42:18] And then on into fuller maturity. There is a progressive development of character under the hand of the spirit of God by the word of God. [00:42:30] And then we come to a point which what really broke Samuel's heart. And we find this, I am afraid to say, in many of the great men of God recorded for us in the word his heart. Passion. It is quite obvious if he wrote this certainly was to bring in God's king. And to see the establishment of God's kingdom, of the great men of God, recorded for us in the word his heart's passion. It is quite obvious if he wrote this certainly was to bring in God's king and to see the establishment of God's kingdom. [00:43:18] Yet you see, oh, how cleverly the devil always seeks to somehow nullify God's activity. [00:43:29] And he will always do it by bringing something counterfeit, something so like what God is after, something such an imitation of what God is after. Outwardly it's the thing. Outwardly it's perfect. Outwardly there is absolutely no flaw. [00:43:51] That is the way the devil always seeks to somehow other thwart the Lord ever getting what he's really after by just building a counterfeit in its place, a Substitute. [00:44:07] This is so often, you know, in the christian life. It's as soon as we come to the Lord that the devil starts to try and get us off the ground upon which we came to the Lord. And then you get these multitudes and multitudes of christians that have got a form of godliness. They're born again believers, but they have a form of godliness. It's all self. [00:44:27] Self made humility, self made meekness, self made patience, self made forbearance, self made love. It's all out of self. It's a kind of production of one's own personality and energy. [00:44:43] And then, of course, as you all know, when the hammer of God falls on us, we don't know what's happening. [00:44:49] We are knocked about all over the place and we think, oh, dear, what on earth happened to my christian life? It's gone to pieces. It's all over the place. What does the Lord say? [00:44:58] Smashing up something which is just ourselves, smashing up ourselves that he might bring in what is of God. This is so. I'm afraid in so many companies you get these New Testament setups, New Testament pattern places. They're just the means by which the devil takes hold of zealous, keen out and out people and gets them. Absolutely sound effect, because it's all the production of man according to the word of God. All we look into the word of God, we find it, how it's built, what it says, how it's ordered, and then we put it all together and it becomes the greatest stumbling to God's real thing. [00:45:43] So the devil works, and this is how he does it. He gets a man like Saul, and he puts Saul in the way. [00:45:52] So that is the thing that broke Samuel's heart when the people came and said, make us a king. It was not that it was a shock to Samuel. [00:46:01] His whole life, he knew, was a preparation for the king. Why was Samuel so grieved? Why did it break his heart? [00:46:10] Why did he mourn? [00:46:13] Why? [00:46:14] Because it says, it was the little thing, make us a king that broke his heart. And later on it's developed in the chapter, we want a king like unto the other nations who will go out and come in before us, who will lead us into battle. What the people were saying was this, we are not interested in God, who we can't see. We want someone who will be our leader, who we can see, who will deliver us, upon whom we can depend, who will give us security and protection. [00:46:52] God's king will never be that. [00:46:55] God's king himself will be a man so utterly dependent upon the Lord that when anything ever happened, he falls on his knees. [00:47:06] But the people didn't want that kind of pit. They wanted a king who, when anything would happen, would race himself up and say, come all of it without to battle, to have one of these people that would get on his knees and say, now, lord, what should we do? We have no strength. We have no might. We don't know what to do. Wasn't the kind of king the people wanted. They wanted someone like Achish, king of the Philistines, or someone like Gagai, king of the Amalekites. Someone who was tough and strong and hard and could lead the people and be a figurehead from whom they could pivot. [00:47:45] This is the thing that broke Samuel's heart. And this was why the Lord said to Samuel, Samuel, and this is a great lesson for us all. [00:47:56] Give the people what they want. [00:47:59] Now, this is one of the great principles of God's giving. [00:48:04] If we ask long enough, we always get what we want. [00:48:09] If the Lord refuses something to us, he can always know that we're in the way of God. [00:48:17] When God gives us everything we ask, it's a sign that something's got to be cured. [00:48:23] The people asked the king, and the Lord said to Samuel, Samuel listens them, makes them a king. [00:48:30] And so we find that Samuel has got to become part of something, essentially captivity. [00:48:39] And that is why I've taken on this portion to the 6th chapter where, of course, David is introduced. [00:48:49] Well, that's the instrument, at any rate, a very wonderful instrument indeed. Much from him. We can learn a tremendous amount in the whole attitude of Samuel, the way that he reacted. When a man's whole life is bound up to the bringing in of something. And when at the very last point, it's thwarted and blasted. And then in the end, in the grace of God, to have to put up with it all and see it all collapse and the tragedy of it. And then in the very end, to just see a young man come forward who is the anointed of God that's needed in the history. No wonder the Lord had to deal with Samuel. Do you understand now why the Lord had to show Samuel that he was able to take care of his testimony and work? [00:49:42] If Samuel hadn't learnt that lesson early in his life, he would never have been able to have persevered to the end. [00:49:52] But he learned his lesson. And that is one of the most wonderful things about Samuel. And then the next great section in this book is from chapter eight right through to chapter one of two, Samuel. And it's the comparison of two of these two men, Saul and David. We've called it principle of kingship, as seen first negatively and Saul, and then positively in David. Now, if you take the word together, I want you just to look at Saul, see some of the things about Saul. First of all, we do Saul a great injustice if we think that he was just an evil man. There were some very good qualities about Saul. I might point out that Saul in some ways was better than David. [00:50:46] Now let us look at some of those qualities. First. Take chapter nine and verse two. [00:50:55] It says he had a son whose name was Saul, a young man and a goodly. And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward, he was higher than any of the people outwardly. Then he was an outstanding man. He was enormous man. He was a very tall man. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. [00:51:15] That was one very good quality about him. Then if we look at verse four, we find that he was also an industrious type of man. When his father said that the asses were lost, he didn't just go around the Richmond locality. He evidently went as far up to Birmingham and over down to Salisbury looking for his father's asses. Quite a large area was covered in his concern for his father's asses. That's another very good quality, I might say, in these days when people are so careless. And then in verse 21, we find that he was a very humble man. And I might say that David, by the way, was not necessarily at the beginning a very humble man. When Ilyam said to David, I know the pride and the naughtiness of thy heart, he may have been speaking from experience. [00:52:17] For when they anointed David David didn't flinch. David never fled and hid himself in the baggage. David never tried to get out of the way. David just stood there. Another thing about David was that when he went down to see Goliath, he had not the slightest concern and thought that he would not be able to take on Goliath. We know that it was faced. But there is a possibility that with David there was not quite the same humility so called as we find in Samuel. You find here in 21, Saul answered and said, am I not I a benjamite? Smallest the tribes of Israel, my family the least of all the families, the tribe of Benjamin. Wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner? [00:53:06] And then in chapter ten and in verse 16, we find this. Saul said unto his uncle, he told us plainly that the asses were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom whereof Samuel spake, he told him not. [00:53:23] And then again we shall find in verse 21. [00:53:30] But when at the last part of that verse, but when they sought him, he could not be found. This was when they wanted to anoint him king. And in verse 22, therefore, they asked of the Lord further, is there yet a man to come hither? And the Lord answered, behold, he has hid himself among the baggage. [00:53:54] Those are some very good qualities about him. And then in chapter eleven and verse 13, it says, and Saul said, there shall not a man be put to death this day? For the day the Lord brought deliverance in Israel. That was over some men who refused to acknowledge him as king. And when a great victory was won, the people said, those men that spoke evil of you, we were put to death. [00:54:25] But Saul pleaded with them for their safety and forgiveness, and he obtained it for them. That is a very good quality. [00:54:37] Then you see, you will find that Paul also, Saul had many very good qualities about him, but you will find that he was also very much in touch with the things of God. If you look at one Samuel ten and verse one, we find Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it upon his head and kissed him. [00:55:06] He was anointed. [00:55:08] That speaks to us of being in touch with the Holy Spirit. Then we read verse ten. [00:55:16] And when they came hither to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him. And the spirit of God came mightily upon Saul. And he prophesied among them. So he prophesied. That is also a very real connection with the things of God. Then in verse 26, it says, saul also went to his house, to Gabe, and they went with him the host whose hearts God had touched. Evidently there was a relationship with others who felt the same about the things of God. And then chapter eleven and verse six, the spirit of God came mightily upon Saul when he heard those words and his anger was kindled greatly. That was when he wrought the first great victory against the philistines. And then in verse 15 of that same chapter, there they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. And then in chapter 14 and verse 33, we find that Saul had a knowledge of the commandments of God contained in the book of Leviticus. And Saul then they told Saul, saying, behold the people sin against the Lord in that they eat with the blood. And he said, ye have dealt treacherously roll a great stone upon me this day. He found that after the battle, people were actually eating flesh with blood, which was, as you know, ruled out by the law of God. And he was very concerned about it. Verse 35, Saul built an altar unto the Lord. The same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord. And then in verse 47 and 48, we find all his great victories recorded against the enemies of God. [00:57:16] And then in chapter 15 and verse 31, even when he finally and very terribly sinned against the Lord and was cut off from the kingdom, he worshipped the Lord. Now all this added up means simply that there was a lot that was exceedingly good about Saul. I think probably today he would have been. [00:57:39] If he was here, he would have been put in the front for testimony. He would have been leading teams. He would have probably been in the forefront of work for God because of his qualities. There was everything so much that was good about him. And it was not only good, but there evidently was outwardly at any rate, a very real concern and exercise over the things of God. [00:58:05] But we find that is just where things end. [00:58:11] For Saul is a picture of the natural man, not of an evil, iniquitous, natural man, but just simply of the natural man. All his good points, all his zeal, all his energy, all his natural understanding of the things of God, all that is wonderfully synthesized in Saul here, he is just the natural man. He has devoted all his good qualities to the Lord. He has devoted all his talents to the Lord. He is just completely in wholeheartedly, seemingly in the service of God. But it is the net remain. And that is why we find the two great instances of disobedience with Saul in chapter 13 and in chapter 15. In chapter 13, you know the story. Samuel said to Saul, wait seven days and I will come and offer up the sacrifice. Now, this was just before they went out to do battle. And it says expressly that Samuel did not come at the appointed time. And Saul waited and he waited and he waited. And we must give him his credit, he waited a long time. [00:59:28] But when he began to see the people grow tired of waiting and they began to disperse. And many of the men began to go back to their Homes saying, oh, we can't wait here any longer. We'll have to go. And so he began to see all the army getting into disorder and discontent. He couldn't wait any longer. And he said, if I don't do something now, the people will all be dispersed. So he took things into his own hands and he offered up the sacrifice. And as always, Samuel appeared the moment he had finished offering up the sacrifice. And you remember what Samuel said? [01:00:05] He said that you have dealt presumptuously. [01:00:08] The Lord has taken away the kingdom. [01:00:13] And then you find in chapter 15 that the word of the Lord came through Samuel to Saul to go out and destroy the Amalekites. And when he went out to destroy the amalekites, it says that he was told to destroy them utterly because of their sins. But we are told the Lord tells Samuel that he did not do it. And when he comes back, he finds that Samuel says, what is this bleating sheep in my ear? [01:00:44] And then we remember the Lord clearly and tells Saul that the kingdom has been taken away from him and given to another. You see, the natural man has not got the capacity for going on in the things of God. The natural man has got, as it were, much that can keep him at point, but he has not got the capacity. [01:01:17] When it really comes to real crises, he collapses. [01:01:22] There is a veto upon the natural man in the things of God. And you cannot find it more clearly than in the case of Saul. There was so much about him that was good. There was so much about him that was noble. There was so much about him that was commendable. There was much about him that was really what we would call zealous over the things of God. But, you see, he couldn't get through. There was a veto on it all. He collapsed. And you will find very interesting in many other ways, the way that it is illustrated, for instance, on the corporate side, how different it is from David. David's army was literally pressed together to him. They were down and out. They were, many of them, brigand. They were men in debt and they were discontented and they were forged together. But it's very different. When you read the record of SauL. For it tells us that he chose these people. He went here and he went there and he selected this one. He selected that one and others. It says, God touched their hearts and they went with him. But, you know, you need a good deal more than to have your heart touched. It doesn't last very long. Some people have their hearts touched, making, oh, I feel this is it. This is it. The Lord's here. I'm with it. And out they come with you for a little while, until the storm hits them and some of the disillusionment starts to break on them and disappointment. And they suddenly find out that it was not what they should be or not what they ought to be or not what they could be. And then they begin. All the trouble begins. But you see, David's side, it was all very, very different. [01:03:17] David's side. The men were pressed out. They had to go, they had to stay together. They were forced to keep together. [01:03:24] There's such an amazing difference between the two. [01:03:28] So we want to note something about Saul and that is this, the ease with which he comes to the throne. [01:03:37] Although it expressly says that he did not want it, in many ways he came very easily to it. [01:03:45] We don't find any long drawn out conflict over whether Saul should ever get to the throne or not. We find that he steps onto it very swiftly and easily and with great facility. It all happens very suddenly. That is not so with David. [01:04:03] David is a story, a long and worn out story of the most terrible conflict to keep him from ever getting to the grave. [01:04:17] From the very beginning. And you must see that at the very beginning. It is interesting to note with David that as a shepherd boy, God worked out a spiritual history. If it is true that some of the psalms that we have came from his earliest experiences, the shepherd lad, then that boy had a real experience of God, and he had a real experience of God's deliverances. That is the most remarkable thing. You don't often meet bears and lions. [01:04:57] Yet as a lad, David met bears and lions and such light in the keeping of his father's sheep. And he learnt some of the elementary principles of kingship. [01:05:13] For instance, he learnt that when you're given a flock to look after, you don't run. When you see the lion coming, you take the lion by the beard, but you strangle. [01:05:28] This is the way David learnt some of his earliest lessons in kingship. And that is why the Lord said, I took thee from following after the sheep. [01:05:38] Our Lord never allowed people to forget that it was the following after the sheep that had a connection with kingship in David's life. [01:05:47] You know, we make a great mistake if we think that when Goliath appeared on the scene, suddenly the spirit of God came on David, just like that. And he just was able to go out and meet the lion. Crises always find out what we are. [01:06:04] If we have been indulgent, if we've been just letting things go on easily, if we've been taking things comfortably, a crisis will find us out suddenly. In the crisis, we shall think or we shall shine. [01:06:24] Had anything behind him? He was the only one that got something behind him which qualified him to meet that. [01:06:32] The way that he spoke, the way that he went out, the way that Saul drooped his armor all over him and said, now then, come on, you can't go out without armor on you. But evidently David was quite small, although he was well formed. Evidently he was not a tall fellow like Saul. And Saul's armor must have just literally drooped off of him. [01:07:00] David said to Saul, I've not proved it. Just you allow me to have the things that I prove. That is a principle of kingship. That is one of the principles of kingship. [01:07:13] Kingship means you are not afraid of saying where you stand and what measure you'll pretend to. [01:07:22] Paul could say, I am what I am by the grace of God. [01:07:28] There's such a lot of this stupid kind of idea amongst the people of God that you mustn't let on. [01:07:36] You mustn't say, I don't know, or, I haven't experienced that. And above all, you must not say, I've not seen always. You must have seen always. [01:07:52] You must know. [01:07:56] That is one of the things that never comes to the throne. [01:08:01] You will find that the greatest saints and the people who've gone on the father to people who say, I've not seen, that is something the Lord has not yet shown. I don't quite understand. [01:08:14] Great saints can learn from a child. [01:08:19] So you see, it's one of the principles of kingship. David loved it. There was no good him going out in armour that he'd never proved and never worn, didn't know anything about. [01:08:30] All he wanted was his shepherd garments. [01:08:34] All he wanted was his five stones. And he selected himself and his sling. Those were things he knew all about. Those were things he proved. Those belonged to himself into his own history. And with that, he could go out in the name of God. [01:08:50] If David had trusted the Lord and gone out in Saul's armor, there would have been a tragedy. [01:08:56] David could only go out in what was his own history and experience. And in that he could trust the Lord and levels victory. That must always be the way we come to the throne. [01:09:07] Each step must be real. Each step must be genuine. Each step must be true inward history. [01:09:16] That was how David came to the throne. And then you find that he is in Saul's household. [01:09:25] And there you will find that it says that Saul watched him day and night to see if he could kill him. [01:09:35] It is not very easy to live under the same roof with someone who watches you like that. Listens to your words, watches your actions, watches your gestures, watches the facial expression, just watches every single movement. [01:09:56] And three times this little word is done in that chapter. And David behaved himself wisely before. [01:10:09] There again is a principle of kinship, circumspection. [01:10:18] How to walk circumspectly. [01:10:21] How to abstain from all appearance of evil. [01:10:25] How to be able to live in an atmosphere poisoned by hate and criticism and malice and jealousy. How to live in it and to be able, in the end, to walk through it without giving any ground at all. That is another principle of kingship. What did Saul know about these principles? He knew nothing. [01:10:54] He came to the throne overnight. [01:10:58] David's was to be a long, worn out history of learning in a very hard school. What were those things which could qualify him for the threat? We're going to leave it there tonight. We would like to have got through a lot more, but that's as far as we can get. And so we'll leave it together for this week and see how the Lord leads us. May the Lord teach us some things. Here we are in a day, the king. Surely the kingdom of God in his more outward way. And the king has got to be brought back. [01:11:39] And you know, we have a much to learn from Hannah and much to learn from Samuel in the way that the king is brought back. There is so much today, individually and corporately, which is like Saul. [01:11:56] Outwardly it's thigh. Outwardly it's head and shoulders above the rest. [01:12:03] Outwardly, it's got good qualities, many good qualities. [01:12:07] Outwardly, it, as it were, can carry things. [01:12:12] But when put to the test, it's disobedient to the heavenly vision. [01:12:19] It cannot go through to the end. [01:12:22] When it's put to the acid test, murderous jealousy is discovered and exposed and any kind of readiness to take advantage to get there by the quickest shortcut. [01:12:44] All that is all. And today we have it. [01:12:49] Now, that's not God's way, and it's not God's. [01:12:55] God has to work in a hidden, inward way to bring his people through a long, a worn out school of real discipline and suffering and education that he might bring them in the end, into.