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1 Samuel 16:12-23 David, a Renaissance Man

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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1 Samuel 16:1-11 God Goes in Another Direction

Saul has irrevocably lost the kingship, God is no longer with him. Samuel is apparently still in mourning over Saul betrayal of God. As he weeps God comes to Samuel and instructs him to anoint another king who will lead according to God’s commands. Despite fear on Samuel’s part and fear on the part of the elders at Bethlehem a sacrifice is arranged and the family of Jesse is invited to partake. God has already informed Samuel that one of Jesse’s boys will be the new king, but will not reveal which one until Samuel is on the scene. As each son passes by Samuel’s pulse quickens with anticipation. Surely the tall, lordly son Eliab is the one to lead Israel. Anyone can see he is a warrior and a leader of men. Yet God reject Eliab as the king of Israel. In fact God rejects all seven of David’s older brothers as king. If David is a youth, somewhere between 13 and 18 and there are seven older brothers in all likelihood they range all the way up into their early thirties. God rejects brother after brother giving the same reason for all, that while man looks at the outward appearance, God sees the heart. How often do we judge on an outward appearance? Even though we have all the adages and proverbs in the world about not judging a book by its cover we still assess a person’s worth and likely usefulness to us by a quick appraisal of their appearance. Let’s not.

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Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 15:10-35 Saul�s Disobedience

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.

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Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 15:1-9 God�s Disturbing Order

Some days I wish I was a liberal pastor who could pick and choose which portions of the Bible I thought were authentic. Today is one of those days. God sends His prophet Samuel to tell the king, Saul to destroy the city state of Amalek. God tells Saul to kill every man, woman, and child. He also instructs a total destruction of all livestock and every item of value in the city. There is no dispute about the authenticity of this passage. It has been a part of the Old Testament from the time of its original writing and Jesus accepted it when He declared all of the Old Testament to be true. So God really did order the genocide of an entire people. The reason he gave Saul was that the nation had attacked Israel when they first arrived in the area some 400 or so years earlier. The only way I can see God doing this is if in the future the Amelekites would destroy Israel to the point that it would be unable to be the nation that received Jesus when He arrived. Only the history of salvation itself could ever make such an act understandable. Yes, the other nations of the time were exterminating one another like this as a matter of course whenever they got the military power. And yes, the Amelekites would have done it to the Jews in a heartbeat if they could have. Nevertheless I find it hard to keep in my mind the fact that the same God who loved the world enough to send His Son to die for it was so ready to exterminate some of those very people.

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Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 14:24-52 When It�s About Me

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.

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Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 14:16-23 The Nose On Your Face

Jonathan stirred the hornet’s nest. His single-handed attack on a garrison, to which he was led by God, starts a widespread panic among the Philistines. Saul hears the tumult, but wants to be sure God is behind the attack. Thus he calls over the priest and the ark of God in order to inquire as to whether it is time to attack. While Saul is hemming and hawing the battle spreads. Finally Saul realizes that the time to act is now so he rallies the people and they attack the main body of Philistines. Unbeknownst to Saul God had already given His blessing to the offensive through the inquiry and actions of Jonathan. Finally seeing their king doing something to fight the oppressors, the Hebrews collaborating with the Philistines join forces with Saul’s rather meager forces and give their enemies a real battle. The Philistines start running away and Israelites who had hidden away in the hill after initially answering Saul’s call for troops come out of hiding and pursue the retreating army. The battle widens and the lines become more clearly drawn between the Jews and the Philistines. Sometimes God has already answered the question of what we should do, but we keep on asking for guidance. I see this most often when it comes to folks trying to figure out God’s will for their lives. They ask God about relationship decisions or career decision or family issues and pray for an answer even as Saul was seeking an answer from the priest with the ark. Just as God had already answered the question of an attack through His blessing of Jonathan’s inquiry, God has often already answered our questions in His word. If only we will bother to read what the Bible says many of the issues we claim God will not show us the way about are already covered, the answer is given and ready for us to understand and obey.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 14:1-15 Let�s Go Off

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.

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Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 13 A Hasty Sacrifice

Israel was not ruled by a priest/king. Previous to the inauguration of the kingship a judge ruled the people and the priests were associated with the tribe of Levi and the tabernacle, the central place of worship for the nation. In no sense was the king considered a priest and the two institutions were separate. In later years the monarchy interfered in the temple and the temple authorities created a revolt, but in this part of Israel’s history refusing to place religious and political leadership of the nation in one individual was unique in the area. Saul, the king, was told to wait seven days at Gilgal until Samuel arrived to perform the sacrifice. Having waited for seven mornings Saul becomes inpatient and performs the offering himself. He worried that the people were deserting rather than face their Philistine oppressors.(not a crazy thought given that the Israelite people had been denied blacksmiths so that the only two swords and spears in the whole army were those of Saul and Jonathan) In his fear Saul disobeyed God, who had everything under control. Even as Saul finishes his fearful religious rite Samuel comes striding up. By losing faith in front of all the people as king Saul has lost his right to a kingly line. God will choose another. May I avoid Saul’s scare and wait on God when He is not moving fast enough to suit me.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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1 Samuel 12:1-25 A People Revealed

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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1 Samuel 11 A King Indeed

Saul is soon confronted by his first big policy decision. A city in Israel is besieged by the Ammonites. The city seeks reconciliation, probably expecting a shakedown for some sort of tribute. Nahash the Ammonite, however, has bigger ideas. He seeks a confrontation with Israel as a nation and presents the city with an unacceptable cost for peace. The elders ask for and are given seven days to send out messengers to see if anyone will rescue them. This move is even more indicative that Nahash is seeking a grander confrontation than the conquest of one city, he wants the new crowned king of Israel defeated so that no one will oppose Ammonite conquest of the region. Saul reacts to the situation with all the courage and poise of a king. He quickly mobilizes the nation, arms the army, and sends word to the besieged at Jabesh-Gilead. They are to delay their attackers, pretending that on the following morning they will surrender. In the night Saul positions the army and in the morning he destroys the attackers. Israel affirms him as king, and in a bout of mercy he pardons those who had opposed his selection as ruler. Right out of the gate Saul seems to not just look but to act like the real deal.

Without Wax,

Dr. Dwight
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