WAIT ON THE LORD

1 Samuel 12-14

Remember in Judges how one threat after another came to Israel from neighboring tribes or countries? Each time He would raise up a judge to defend and save them. Now soon after their first king was anointed and installed, the Philistines arose as a challenge. The nation waited to see how the leadership of a king would turn out.

Samuel addressed the people to remind them they were God's chosen people. God had been their king (origin of the phrase Kingdom of God?) and would continue to be their ruler. As long as the king obeyed God and was faithful, Israel would prosper. If their king was unfaithful to the Lord, however, the nation would get in trouble. In other words, the same pattern we saw in judges would continue: Israel sinned, God sent judgment in the form of war, Israel repented and called for help, God raised a judge who delivered them.

Remember this was an early example of the struggle between religion and states, which continued until America produced the First Amendment. Even today there is tension over the role of the state and the majority religion. Samuel had his feelings hurt and also his honest understanding of what was best for the country when Israel demanded a king, like the other nations. The Lord allowed it, and Samuel set it up, albeit reluctantly.

Question: America is not Israel, nor are we specifically God's chosen people. How much do the national promises of God the He made to Israel apply to the US?

Note in chapter 12 Samuel recounts the history of God's dealings with Israel. This is a major thing that makes Judeo-Christianity different from other faiths. The founders of our country included men who believed in God, but leaned toward a deist position, that is that God does not intervene in the world. As some have said, He wound it up like a watch and let it play out. On the contrary, the Bible is packed with history. The Lord is the God who acts in His world. This book gives salvation history or holy history. That is the story of Israel's dealkings with God in the context of the world. And in Jesus Christ that same God Himself entered history (see John 1).

Now Saul went out to do battle with the Philistines and won the first skirmish. That was enough to stir up a hornets nest, and the enemy divided its army into three sections and sent them to attack. Remember they had the secret weapon of iron that enabled chariot wheels and stronger weapons than the bronze of Israel. The Philistines had deliberately kept the secret of iron from other peoples.

When the army heard of their enemy coming they began to panic. Saul sent word to Samuel, who told him to keep the army there until he, the priest, came to offer sacrifice. But Sam delayed, for whatever reason, and the troops began deserting. Saul thought he had to do something, so he “forced himself” and took the role of a priest to offer sacrifice.

Samuel showed up almost immediately then and jumped all over Saul for what he had done. He told the king that had he been faithful the Lord would have established his descendants as a dynasty, but no more. God would now seek after a “man of his own heart.”

Perhaps not many hours later Prince Jonathan and his armor bearer were reconnoitering and came on a Philistine outpost. Jon said to his squire, “Let's show ourselves and play it as we can.” They did, and the enemy invited them to come up. When they entered the outpost, the two men ran off about 20 of the Philistines. That triggered the whole army's involvement, and the enemy was routed. Later David and Jonathan became fast friends. Can you see why? David killed Goliath and always had a strong warlike attitude as did Jonathan. As time passed, neither cared which one became king after Saul.