Life and Times of David
INTRODUCTION
Life and Times of David
INTRODUCTION
In the opening chapters of First Samuel we are furnished with an instructive and solemn picture of Israel’s condition. The sacred penman offers the house of Elkanah as a striking illustration of Israel following after the flesh, and Israel following after the Spirit. “He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”
Thus, in the domestic circle of this Ephrathite, we have the early scenes of Sarah and Hagar. Hannah was the barren woman – and she was made to feel it deeply, for “her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.”
In Holy Scripture, the barren woman is the type of nature’s ruined and helpless condition; its inability to do anything for God, having no power to bring forth fruit to Him; only death and barrenness. Such is the condition of every child of Adam, regarding eternal destiny – he can do nothing for God or himself. He is emphatically “without strength”; “a dry tree,” “a heath in the desert.” This is the lesson we learn from the barren woman.
However, the Lord caused His grace to abound over Hannah’s weakness and need, putting a song of praise into her mouth. He enabled her to say, “My horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.” It is the Lord’s special province to make the barren woman rejoice. He alone can say, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.” (Is. 54:1)
Hannah realized this, and soon Israel would, too, “for her Maker is her husband; the Lord of Hosts is His name; and her Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.” The beautiful song of Hannah is the soul’s thankful acknowledgement of God’s actions in reference to Israel. “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.”
While this will be fully exemplified in Israel, it is now exemplified in the person of every one who through grace is raised from a ruined condition to blessedness and peace in Jesus.
The birth of Samuel filled a great blank, not only in the heart of Hannah, but no doubt in the heart of faithful Israelites who sighed for the true interests of the Lord’s house and the purity of the Lord’s offering, both of which were disregarded and trampled on by the unholy sons of Eli. In Hannah’s desire for “a man child,” we have both the heart of a mother and an Israelite. She no doubt observed and mourned over the ruin of everything connected with the temple of the Lord. The dimmed eye of Eli, the vile actings of Hophni and Phinehas, the fading lamp, the desecrated temple, and the despised sacrifice, all conspired to tell Hannah that there was a real need, which could only be supplied by the precious gift of a man-child from the Lord. So, she says to her husband, “I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever.”
“Abide forever.” Nothing short of this could satisfy the longing soul of Hannah. It was not the mere matter of wiping away her own reproach that rendered Samuel so precious in her eyes. No. She longed to see “a faithful priest” standing before the Lord; and by faith her eye saw one who would abide there forever. Precious, elevating faith – that holy principle that can lift the soul above the depressing influence of things seen (the temporal), into the light of eternal things unseen.
In 1 Samuel 3 we have the prediction of the terrible downfall of Eli’s house. “And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; that the Lord called Samuel.”
This was solemnly expressive. Eli’s eyes “dim,” and the Lord’s call to Samuel: in other words, Eli’s house is passing away, and a faithful priest is about to enter the scene. Samuel runs to Eli, but, all Eli can say is, “Lie down again.” He had no message for the child. Hoary and dim, he could spend his time in sleep and darkness, while the sound of the Lord’s voice was so very near – a most solemn warning.
Eli was a priest of the Lord, but he failed to walk watchfully; failed to order his house according to the testimonies of God; failed to restrain his sons; so we see his sad end. “And the Lord said to Samuel Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” (1 Sam. 3:11-13)
“Whatsoever a man soweth,” says the apostle, “that shall he also reap.” How true this is in the history of every child of Adam – how peculiarly true in the history of every child of God. Our reaping is according to our sowing. There is solemn and practical reality in this divine statement – more than many imagine. Sooner or later, we will reap the fruits of indulging in a wrong current of thought, adopting a wrong habit of conversation, pursuing a wrong line of acting.1 May this reflection lead us to more holy watchfulness of our ways; may we be more careful to “sow to the Spirit,” so that, of the Spirit, we may “reap life everlasting.”
In 1 Samuel 4 a humiliating picture is presented of Israel’s condition in connection with the declining house of Eli. “Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.”
Israel was being made to realize the curse of a broken law (see Deut. 28:25). Because of their disobedience, they were weak and powerless, and could not stand before their enemies.
Observe the nature and ground of their confidence, in this their time of need and pressure: “And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.”
What a miserable ground of confidence. Not a word about the Lord Himself. They didn’t think of Him as the source of their strength; they did not make Him their shield and buckler. Instead, they trusted in the Ark, vainly imagining that it could save them. But, when unaccompanied by the presence of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, it could not help them – and He was no longer there, having been grieved away by their unconfessed and unjudged sin. No symbol or ordinance could ever take God’s place.
However, Israel vainly imagined that the Ark would do everything for them; and though their joy was great when it appeared before them, it was unfounded joy, because Jehovah was not present. Instead, the Ark was accompanied by the wicked priests Hophni and Phinehas.
“And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.” Though very imposing, their triumph was hollow – as baseless as it was unbecoming. They should have known better than to make such an empty display. In the sight of God, their shout of triumph harmonised badly with their low moral condition. It’s always the same – those who know the least about themselves demonstrate the highest pretensions, and assume the highest position.
The Pharisee in the Gospel looked down with an air of proud indifference on the self-abased publican; imagining himself to be very high up and the publican very low down in the scale. How different were God's thoughts about the two. The broken and contrite heart will always be the dwelling-place of God – He alone knows how to lift up and comfort such a heart. This is His peculiar work – in which He delights.
But worldly men attach importance to high pretensions, putting the self-abased man down low. Thus, in the instructive scene in this chapter, the Philistines attached great importance to the shouting of the men of Israel. They understood and appreciated it, because it was like something they might do. “And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid; for they said, God is come into the camp.”
They naturally supposed that the shout of triumph was based on a reality: they saw not what was beneath the surface; they understood not the meaning of a defiled priesthood, a despised sacrifice, a desecrated temple. Beholding the outward symbol, they feared, imagining that real power accompanied it. How little did they know that their fear and Israel’s triumph were both groundless. “Be strong,” they said, “and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.”
Here was the resource of the Philistines – “quit yourselves like men.” Israel could not do this. If prevented by sin from bringing the resources of God to bear on their circumstances, they were weaker than other men. Israel's only hope was in God. If God was not present, if it was only going to be a conflict between men, an Israelite was no match for a Philistine. The truth of which becomes evident on this occasion. “The Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten.” How could this be? Israel could never be smitten when their shield and buckler was God, but He was not in their midst. So, they were smitten; the glory departed from them; the Ark was taken: they were stripped of their strength. Their shout of triumph was exchanged for the piercing cry of sorrow, and their portion was defeat and shame. The aged Eli, as the representative of the existing system of things, fell with that system, and was buried in its ruins.
1 Samuel 5 and 6 embrace the period during which “Ichabod” was written on the nation of Israel. During this time God ceased to act publicly for Israel, and uncircumcised Philistines carried the Ark of His presence from city to city. This period is full of instruction – the Ark of God among strangers, and Israel set aside; circumstances which cannot fail to interest the mind and fix the attention of the intelligent and thoughtful student of Scripture. “And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.”
Here we are presented with the sad and humiliating result of Israel’s unfaithfulness. With a careless hand and faithless heart, they had kept the Ark of God, now lodged in the temple of Dagon. How badly Israel had failed – giving up that which was most sacred, to be profaned and blasphemed by the uncircumcised.
The house of Dagon was deemed sufficiently sacred for the Ark of Jehovah, which belonged to the holiest of all. The shadow of Dagon was substituted for the wings of the cherubim and the beams of divine glory. These were the thoughts of the lords of the Philistines; but not God’s. Israel, on the one hand, had failed to defend the Ark, because they did not recognize the great truth that its power was connected to the presence of God.
While all this might be true, and the lords of the Philistines might presume to insult the sacred symbol of the divine presence by impiously associating it with Dagon their god; while the Israelites certainly proved faithless, and the Philistines profane, still, the God of Israel must ever be true to Himself, ever true to His own holiness, and Dagon must fall prostrate before the Ark of His presence. “And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: only the stump of Dagon was left to him.” (1 Sam. 5:3-4)
One can hardly conceive anything more depressing and humiliating than the condition of things during this period in Israel’s history. They witnessed the Ark snatched from their midst, proving themselves unfit and unable to occupy the place of being God’s people in view of the nations around them. Considering the grounds of triumph by the enemies of truth, it was enough to say, “The ark is in the house of Dagon.” From one point of view, this was truly terrible, but from another it was ineffably glorious. Yes, Israel had failed, giving up everything sacred and precious. Yes, they had allowed the enemy to lay their honor in the dust, trampling on their glory; but God was above all, beyond all; beneath all.
This is a deep source of consolation to every faithful heart. Truly God was there, and showed Himself in wondrous power and glory. If Israel would not act in defense of God’s truth, He must act Himself; and so He did. The lords of the Philistines had vanquished Israel; but the gods of the Philistines must fall prostrate before God’s Ark, which once drove back the waters of Jordan. Here was divine triumph. In the darkness and solitude of the house of Dagon where there was no eye to see, no ear to hear – the God of Israel was acting in defense of those great principles of truth which His Israel had failed to maintain. Dagon fell, and his fall proclaimed the honor of the God of Israel. The darkness of the moment afforded an opportunity for the divine glory of God to shine with brilliancy. The scene was so thoroughly emptied of the creature that the Creator could show Himself in His own proper character. “Man’s extremity was God’s opportunity.” Man’s failure made room for God’s divine faithfulness. The Philistines had proven stronger than Israel; but Jehovah was stronger than Dagon.
All this is filled with instruction and encouragement for us. The people of God are sadly declining from deep devotedness and separation that should characterize them. We should bless the Lord for the full assurance of His faithfulness – “He cannot deny Himself”; “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Therefore, even in darkest times God will maintain His truth and raise up a witness for Himself, even in the house of Dagon. We may depart from God’s principles, but the principles remain the same: their purity, power, and heavenly virtue, are never affected by the fickleness and inconsistency of the faithless, and forever shall it be – truth will triumph.
The effort of the Philistines to keep the Ark of God proved a complete failure. They could not make Dagon and Jehovah dwell together – how blasphemous the attempt.
“What concord hath Christ with Belial?” None. The standard of God can never be lowered to accommodate principles governing worldly men. Attempting to hold Christ with one hand and the world with the other must end in shame and confusion. Too many today want to see how much of the world they can retain without sacrificing the Christian name and privileges. This is a deadly evil, a fearful snare of Satan – a most refined selfishness. It is bad enough for men to walk in the lawlessness and corruption of their own hearts; but connecting evil with the holy name of Christ is the climax of guilt. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel . . . Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” (Jer. 7:3, 8-10)
We read of one of the special characteristics of the last days – men shall have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.”
Such a form suits the worldly heart, seeking to keep the conscience at ease; while the heart enjoys the world in all its attractiveness. What a delusion. How we need the apostolic admonition, “From such turn away.” Satan’s masterpiece is the amalgamation of things apparently Christian with things decidedly unholy, effectually deceiving us with this scheme more than any other, and we need more spiritual perception to detect it. May the Lord grant us this, for He alone knows how badly we need it.
Passing over much that is valuable in chapters 5 and 6; we go to 1 Samuel 7, where we shall dwell a little on Israel's happy restoration in connection with the ministry of “the faithful priest.”
Israel had been allowed to mourn the absence of the Ark, their spirits drooping under the withering influence of idolatry. At length their affections began to go out to the Lord. But in this revival we learn how deeply they had sunk in death. This is always the case.
When Jacob of old was called on to go up to Bethel from amid the defilement of Shechem, he had but little idea of how he and his family had become entangled in the meshes of idolatry. But the call to “go up to Bethel” roused his dormant energies, quickened his conscience, and sharpened his moral perception. So he says to his household, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.” The very idea of Bethel, where God had appeared to him, exerted a reviving influence on the soul of Jacob; he was revived, and enabled to lead others in fresh power.
Thus, Jacob’s seed is in this chapter. “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Here we observe the downward course Israel had been pursuing in connection with the house of Eli. The first step in evil is to place confidence in a form apart from God; apart from those principles which make the form valuable. The next step is to set up an idol. Hence we find Israel saying of the Ark, “That it may save us.” But now the word of the prophet is, “Put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you.”
Isn’t there a solemn admonition in all this for the professing Church? Truly there is. The present is pre-eminently a day of form without power. The spirit of cold and uninfluential formalism is moving on the face of Christendom’s troubled waters, leading to the deathlike calm of false profession – stopped only by “the shout of the archangel and the trump of God.”
However, the attitude assumed by Israel in 1 Samuel 7 forms a perfect contrast to the scene in 1 Samuel 4: “And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord (an expression of their weak, helpless condition) and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord.” (emphasis added)
There is no confidence in a mere symbol or lifeless form; there is no empty pretension or vain assumption, no shout or baseless vaunting; all is deep and solemn reality. The earnest cry, the water poured out, the fast, the confession – all tell of the mighty change in Israel's moral condition.
They now go to the faithful priest, and through him to the Lord Himself. They do not speak of fetching the Ark. No; their word is, “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking-lamb, and offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord; and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.”
Here was the source of Israel’s power. The sucking-lamb – God’s gracious providing in tender remembrance of their need – gave a new aspect to their circumstances. On this occasion, it was a turning-point in their history.
It’s worth nothing that the Philistines seem to have been in total ignorance of all that was going on between Jehovah and Israel. Since they heard no shout of triumph, no doubt they imagined that the Israelites were in an impoverished condition. After all, they were not making the earth ring as they did in 1 Samuel 4; but, there was a silent work going on which a Philistine’s eye could not see, or a Philistine’s heart appreciate. What could a Philistine know about the penitential cry, the water poured out, or the sucking-lamb offered up? Absolutely nothing.
This world can only take cognizance of that which lies on the surface – the outward show, the pomp and glare. The assumption of strength and greatness in the flesh are well understood by the world, but they know nothing of the reality of a soul exercised before God – that which Christians most earnestly seek after. An exercised soul is precious in the sight of God; He can dwell with such at all times. Let us not assume to be anything, but simply take our proper place in the sight of God, and He will surely be our spring of power and energy, according to the measure of our need. “And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel.”
These were the happy results of simple dependence on the God of the armies of Israel: reminiscent of the glorious display of Jehovah’s power on the shores of the Red Sea.
“The Lord is a man of war” when His people need Him and their faith can count on Him as their present help in time of need. Whenever Israel truly turned to Jehovah, He was always ready to appear in their behalf; but the glory must be only His. Israel’s shout of empty triumph must be hushed, so the voice of Jehovah can be distinctly heard. It’s a blessing to be silent, letting Jehovah speak. His voice is powerful and brings peace to His people, while striking terror in the hearts of His enemies. “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?”
In 1 Samuel 8, we have an important step toward a king in Israel. “And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel . . . And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.”
A sad picture of man in every age. At the first opportunity, man corrupts himself and those committed to him. Moses and Joshua foresaw Israel’s turning away after their departure (Deut. 31:29; Joshua 23:15-16); and Paul could say to the Ephesian elders: “I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” The same is true here. No sooner had Israel recovered from the effects of the immorality of Eli’s sons than they felt the direful effects of the avarice of Samuel’s sons, and so they are hurried along the path which ended in the rejection of Jehovah and the setting up of Saul.
“When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges.” But this was different from God’s appointment. The faithfulness of Samuel was no guarantee for his sons; just as we find in the boasted theory of apostolic succession. What kind of successors have we seen? How much have they resembled their predecessors? Paul could say, “I have coveted no man’s silver or gold”: can so-called successors say so? Samuel could say, “Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?”
But, Samuel’s sons and successors could not say this. To them “filthy lucre” was the leading cause of action.
In this chapter, Israel makes this evil of Samuel’s sons the main reason for wanting a king. “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” What a fearful declension. Israel satisfied to come down to the level of other nations – all because Samuel was old and his sons covetous. The Lord is shut out. Had they looked up to God, they would have had no reason for seeking to put themselves under the guardianship of a mortal like themselves.
But in this scene, the Lord’s ability to guide and keep them was not considered. They could not see beyond Samuel and his sons: if no help could be found from them, they must at once step down from having Jehovah as their King, making for themselves a human head like the nations around them. Faith and dependence on God are too difficult to be maintained for long by the natural man. In 1 Samuel 7 God had been their King, but now He is shut out and a king is the all engrossing object. We shall soon see the sad result of all this.
1 Samuel 9 to 13 provides us with the character of Saul, together with his anointing and the opening of his rule. We will not dwell on it in this introduction, since we are focusing on the steps leading up to a king in Israel.
Saul was definitely the man after Israel’s heart: he had all that the flesh could desire – “a choice 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.” This was very imposing to those who only noticed outward appearance. But, under the cloak of humility, Saul’s whole course is marked with selfishness and pride, under the cloak of humility. True, the Spirit came on him as one set apart to be an office-bearer among the people of God;2 but he was a self-seeker, using the name of God for his own ends, and the things of God as a pedestal on which to promote his own glory.
The scene at Gilgal is truly characteristic, and develops much of Saul’s action principle. Impatient to wait for God’s time, he “forces himself,” offering a burnt-offering, and hearing these words from the lips of Samuel: “Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God which He commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
As far as Saul is concerned, this is just the sum of the matter. “Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord; thy kingdom shall not continue.” Saul, the man after man’s heart, is set aside, to make room for the man after God’s heart. The children of Israel had abundant opportunity to test the character of the man whom they had chosen to lead them, and fight their battles. The reed on which they had so earnestly desired to lean had broken, and was about to pierce their hand.
Man’s king; what was he? Place him in an emergency, and how does he carry himself? Bustling self-importance marks his actions. No dignity, no holy confidence in God, no acting on the broad principles of truth. Though appearing to act for God and His people, he is actually focused on self – Saul was man’s king.
1 Samuel 14 is a beautiful chapter, furnishing a striking contrast between the efficacy of Israel’s expedient, and that of the old principle of simple faith in God. Saul sits beneath a pomegranate tree, displaying empty pomp without real power; while Jonathan, acting in the spirit of faith, is made the happy instrument of Israel’s salvation. Israel, in unbelief, had asked for a king to fight their battles, and no doubt they imagined that a king would keep any enemy from standing before them: but was it so? One word in 1 Samuel 13 gives the reply: “All the people followed him trembling.” What a change. How different from the mighty host who, of old, had followed Joshua into the strongholds of Canaan. They now had their longed-for king before them; but, God was not there, and so they trembled.
Without the sense of God’s presence, man can have the fairest and most imposing ordinance, and still be weak. But with the presence of God’s power, nothing can resist him. Moses did wonders with a simple rod; but now with the man after their own heart in full view, Israel could do nothing but tremble before the enemy. “All the people followed him trembling.” How truly humiliating. “Nay; but we will have a king over us . . . that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles.” Truly “it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes.” Jonathan proved this to be true, by going up against the Philistines in the power of that word, “There is no restraint with the Lord to save by many or by few.” It was “the Lord” who filled his soul, and having God, “many or few” made no difference. Faith does not rely on circumstances, but on God.
Also note the change on Israel the moment their faith begins to act. Their trembling was transferred to the Philistines; “And there was a trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth quaked; so it was a very great trembling.”
Israel’s star was now decidedly in the ascendant, simply because Israel was acting on the principle of faith. Jonathan did not look to his father Saul for deliverance, but to Jehovah. He knew that God was a man of war, and on Him he leaned for Israel’s deliverance in the day of trouble. Blessed dependence. None like it.
Human ordinances perish – human resources vanish away; but “they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” “It was a very great trembling,” for God was putting His terror into their hearts, while filling Israel with joy and triumph. Jonathan’s faith was in God, establishing those who had previously fled from the field of conflict into the mountains. So it always is; one can never walk in the power of faith without giving impetus to others. On the other hand, one coward heart is sufficient to deter a many. Unbelief always drives one from the field of service or conflict, while faith leads one into it.
But what about Saul in all this? How did he co-operate with the man of faith? He was incapable of any such acting. He sat under the pomegranate tree, unable to inspire courage in the hearts of those who had chosen him to be their captain; and his failure to move – his rashness and folly – hindered the precious results of faith. But we must hasten on to the close of this introduction.
1 Samuel 15 presents us with the final testing and setting aside of man’s king. “Go, smite Amalek.” This is the test that demonstrated the moral condition of Saul’s heart. Had he been right before God, he would have executed God’s judgment on Amalek. But, instead, it proved that Saul had too much in common with Amalek to carry out God’s will. What had Amalek done? “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.” In a word, Amalek represents the first great obstacle to the progress of the redeemed from Egypt to Canaan.
Now, Saul had been showing himself as a decided obstacle in the way of the man of faith – his entire course one of hostility to the principles of God. How, then, could he destroy Amalek? He couldn’t. “He spared Agag.” Saul and Agag suited each other all too well. Saul did not have the power to execute God’s judgment on this great enemy of His people. Also note the ignorance and self-complacency of this unhappy man. “And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” Performed the commandment of the Lord? While Agag, king of the Amalekites, was still alive? Here is a marvelous example of what lengths of vain delusion will one will go when not walking uprightly before God.
“What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?” – solemn, heart-searching inquiry regarding the plausible matter of “sacrifice unto the Lord.” Miserable resource for disobedient hearts. As if the Lord would accept a sacrifice from one walking in positive rebellion against His commandment. How many since Saul’s day have sought to cover a disobedient spirit with the plausible mantle of “sacrifice unto the Lord”? Samuel’s answer to Saul is of universal application, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”
The Lord seeks not offerings, but obedience: the faithful heart and acquiescent spirit will glorify Him more than the cattle on a thousand hills.
How important to have this great principle pressed on the conscience, when so many are cloaking all sorts of disobedience with the word, sacrifice. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” It is far better to be in subjection to God than to load God’s altar with costly sacrifices. When the will is in subjection, everything else takes its due place; but for the one who is in rebellion against God, talking about sacrificing is simply deadly delusion. God looks not at the amount of the sacrifice, but at the spirit from which it springs.
We pray that all of us will seek to know the blessedness of a will entirely subject to God. In it will be found the blessed rest that Jesus promised to all who were heavy laden. God wanted Saul to destroy Amalek, but Saul’s heart desired to do something that to him seemed good and desirable. Saul was ready to carry out the will of God in reference to all that was “vile and refuse,” but he thought he should make some exceptions, as if the line of distinction between that which was “refuse” and that which was “good” was up to his judgment, instead of the unerring judgment of Him who looked at Amalek from a true point of view, seeing in Agag one who, with all his delicacy, would resist Israel as strongly as ever. This was God’s ground of controversy with Amalek, which Saul did not understand or appreciate.
The close of this chapter plainly shows us the current in which Saul’s thoughts and desires were flowing. He had just heard the solemn appeal of Samuel, and the denunciations of God against him, ending with these solemn words, “The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.” These stunning words had just fallen on his ear; yet he was so full of self that he could say, “Honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel.”
This was Saul. “The people,” he said, “spared what should have been destroyed” – it was their fault, but “honour me.” What vanity. A heart steeped in iniquity seeking honor from his fellow-sinners. Rejected of God as an office-bearer, he clings to the thought of human honor. It seems that, provided he could maintain his place in the estimation of his people, he cared little about what God thought of him. But he was rejected by God – his kingdom torn from him. It also did not impress him much that Samuel turned again, and stood by, while Saul went through the form of worshipping the Lord, in order that he might not forfeit his place and influence among the people. “Then said Samuel, Bring hither to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites; and Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless, among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.”
Agag’s delicacy could not deceive one who was taught of God. How remarkable to find him hewing Agag in pieces at Gilgal. Gilgal was the place where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from Israel; and, in tracing their history, we find it associated with power over evil. Here Amalekite came to his end by the hand of righteous Samuel.
This is most instructive. When, by the power of death and resurrection, the soul realizes its full deliverance, it is in the best position of obtaining victory over evil. Had Saul known anything of the spirit and principle of Gilgal, he would not have spared Agag. He was ready enough to go forward to “renew the kingdom,” but he could not crush or set aside all that savored the flesh. But Samuel, acting in the energy of the Spirit of God, dealt with Agag according to the principles of truth; for it is written, “The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” The king of Israel should have known this.
Footnotes:
1
The statement in the text does not interfere with the eternal stability of divine grace and the perfect acceptance of the true believer in all the acceptableness of Christ before God. This is a great foundation truth. Christ is the believer’s life, and Christ is his righteousness – the ground of his peace with God. He may lose the enjoyment of it, but God has established the thing itself on an indestructible basis. Before it can be touched, the fact of Christ’s resurrection must be called in question, because clearly He could not be where He is if the true believer’s peace were not perfectly settled. In order to have perfect peace; we must know perfect justification; and in order to know perfect justification, we must know, by faith in God’s Word, that Christ has made a perfect atonement. This is the divine order – perfect atonement as the ground of our perfect justification; and perfect justification as the ground of our perfect peace. God has joined those three together, and let not man's unbelieving heart put them asunder. Therefore, the statement in the text will not be misunderstood or misapplied. The principle contained therein can be illustrated in this way: If your child does wrong, he may injure himself and grieve and displease you; but he is your child. The apostolic statement is as broad as possible – “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” He does not say whether it is a converted or an unconverted man, and therefore the passage should have its full application. It could not possibly touch the question of pure and absolute grace.
2
We need to accurately distinguish between the Holy Spirit coming on people and the Holy Spirit dwelling and acting in them. The statement in 1 Samuel 10:6 may present difficulty to some minds. “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.” This is not the Spirit producing the new birth, but merely fitting Saul to be an office-bearer. If it was regeneration, it would be the Spirit coming on, and acting in, a man. Saul the office-bearer and Saul the man are quite different, and this distinction must be maintained in reference to many of the characters both in the Old and New Testament Scriptures. An all important difference is to be observed between the operations of the Spirit previous and subsequent to Christ’s resurrection.
