Here, before the term is even coined, David is a Renaissance man.  He can do it all, fight, play music, sing, lead men, be good looking, have great valor.  First Samuel anoints David as king over Israel at the sacrifice in Bethlehem.  When that happens David is sunburned and a youth with pretty eyes.  At some later undisclosed point in time David is recruited to play the harp for Saul to ease his oppression.  The Spirit of Lord had led Saul when he was obeying God.  God’s Spirit has now left Saul, permanently.   In its place an evil spirit has taken up residence and it torments Saul.  We are not given much insight into the nature of that torment except that it terrorized Saul, which seems to indicate some sort of excessive fear.  When David plays the harp for Saul, his heart is eased and the feelings of terror fade.  We are given no indication as to why this works.  It could be that the wholesome effect of this man of God on the atmosphere around Saul when he plays draws Saul nearer to God and thus further out of the evil spirit’s reach, but we don’t really know.  We just know it helped.  So God finds a way to get David introduced at the court and gives Saul an opportunity to raise up this destined young man to a place of responsibility.  In effect Saul is made able to plausibly develop a friendship with David and name him as heir in a stable transition of power.  Of course Saul takes this possibility and lays it on the trash heap with every other good plan to follow God he has ever seen and runs the exact opposite direction.  What opportunity is God giving you to graciously obey His will rather than opposing Him and eventually losing painfully to Him?

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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As disturbing as God’s order is Saul still follows all the parts we find horrible.  He kills all the people except the king.  He kills all the animals that are less than perfect, but keeps most of them.  In other words Saul’s humanity did not well up against God’s command to commit genocide, his greed for a ransom and for the flocks of Amalek overcame God’s command.  When Samuel confronts Saul he blames the people, saying that they forced him to preserve the animal, but that he was planning on sacrificing them to God.  This leads to Samuel uttering one of the most profound thoughts in our relationship with God.  “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as much as in obedience?”  Given that God appointed a new king right after this I think His position on the matter is rather clear.  So very often we nurture our disobedience to God and try to sacrifice what He has not asked for to make up somehow for our rebellion.  Problem is that a sacrifice is to be what God wants to receive not what we want to give and it is no substitute for obedience.  Rather let us obey and when there is a need for sacrifice we will be ready because of our habit of obeying God.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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Saul begins to think like a king in this battle.  He makes the fight personal.  Instead of talking about winning a victory for the nation or for God, Saul demands that he be avenged upon his enemies.  Instead of leading out the troops and rallying them with a speech about fighting for nation and way of life and so on, Saul places them all under orders to fast form food and water all day until he is avenged upon the Philistines.  The Saul of the chapter before, who made peace with those who had spoken against him becoming king would not have dared to impose such a burden on the people.  Now he is thinking of himself as the king, the embodiment of the nation, and believing that an insult to the nation is a personal insult to himself and that all the Israelites are his to command as he wishes.  Even Jonathan, his heir, thinks his father is putting on airs.  Jonathan speaks clearly against the foolishness of his father in ordering such a fast.  It weakened the army so that more of the enemy got away from the pursuit.  Jonathan did not know of the ban on eating and drinking until he had violated it by taking a mouthful of wild honey along the road.  Later that day his breaking of the oath is discovered and though Saul wants to put him to death for it, the people save Jonathan.  Between the exhaustion of the troops and the distraction of the oathbreaking the Philistines are able to preserve most of their force and escape the hands of Israel.  How often do we get too big for our britches (US euphemism for getting prideful beyond reason) and think we can order others around?  How often do we think we know what God wants without bothering to ask Him?  Let us go back to God’s word for the wisdom He gives and be careful not to put our own opinions into His mouth.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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I remember watching MASH as a kid and one of Hawkeye’s lines, when thwarted in some action was “I don’t care whether we go off half cocked or all cocked but lets just go off.”  Inaction in the face of problems is so often the preference of bureaucracy whether executive, military, or governmental.  Jonathan, son of Saul, is having none of this cowering and waiting for the right moment to strike the Philistines.  He and his armor bearer walk by an outpost and take a chance.  They pray and ask God for a sign.  If the soldiers at the garrison tell them to wait at the bottom of the hill , they will wait and fight what comes.  If they call them up to the garrison for a fight then they will know that God has given the Philistines into their hands and join battle at the top of the hill.  The men of the garrison hail them up and Jonathan alongside his armor bearer go through the soldiers like a hot knife through butter.  The even triggers a panic, indicating that the overlord Philistines were not quite as secure in their conquest as one might think.  The Philistines fear the emergence of some new champion or some evidence of God fighting for the Israelites as he did under Johsua’s leadership years ago.  When you are tempted to judge God for the warfare in this passage remember that we need no prodding to engage in war, human beings manage that just fine on their own.  Here God works to control the outcome of a particular battle.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight  
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Israel had given many reasons for their kingly desires.  They wanted someone to go out ahead of their armies, Samuel’s sons were corrupt, even a desire for stability in leadership.  Samuel, however, knows the truth.  Despite generations of God raising up men and a woman to lead the nation to victory in times of trouble, Israel was tired of waiting on God’s timing and thought they could make their own.  The immanent crisis that moved the nation to calling for a king was the rise of Nahash the Ammonite.  He is the villain of the previous chapter, but here it is revealed that his obvious designs upon Israel were the proximate cause for the call to a king.  God was not raising up a judge quickly enough and Samuel was obviously to old to lead the battle, so the people decided to supplant God.  The couched it in pious terms, asking God to appoint for them a king rather than appointing one themselves.  They came to God’s judge, Samuel to do the appointing, but it was still an attempt to wrest control of their national destiny from God.  A judge leads through the current crisis then sits back and handles internal disputes.  A king retains his title, keeps working for the nation to expand it, and provides for a clear succession upon the death of the current king.  A succession is which they would know who the next king was to be regardless of whether they continued to follow God as a nation.  How much of our own desires from God are attempts to wrest control of our lives out of His hands and put it into ours?

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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