A Brand New King

INTRO

As we get started, I want to bring a little bit of understanding. First Samuel moves along so fast. By chapter 8, Samuel was old. What we have in Scripture are the highlights.

TEACHING

1 Samuel 11:1: Nahash the Ammonite came against Israel. Who were the Ammonites? They descended from Lot’s youngest daughter and an incestuous situation.

They came specifically against Jabesh-gilead and the tribe of Gad. Why would they come against Jabesh-gilead? If you go back to Judges 20—21, you’ll see that the people of Jabesh-gilead were greatly diminished in numbers because they had not joined in the battle against Benjamin. This is important to understand, because the first thing we see in this chapter was that the men of Gad said, “Make a covenant with us.” Why? They didn’t have an army.

1 Samuel 11:2: The Ammonites wanted to cut out everyone’s right eye before they would make a covenant. Why the right eye? A lot of scholars believe it was because the right eye was used to sight an arrow. The Ammonites wanted to do this to humiliate Israel.

1 Samuel 11:3: The leaders asked to wait for seven days, allowing time to see if Israel would defend them.

1 Samuel 11:4–5: Messengers went to Saul. In these verses, you start to see the idea of brotherhood. When the people heard about Gad’s situation, they mourned. Saul was in the field when the message was first relayed. When he returned, he asked “Why is everyone weeping?” Then, Saul was told the story from the men of Jabesh-gilead.

1 Samuel 11:6–7: The spirit of God came upon Saul powerfully and “his anger burned furiously” (v. 6). Saul killed two oxen and cut them to pieces. He then sent men to carry them to each of the tribes along with a threat. The threat was if they did not come to march with Saul and Samuel to defend the brothers of Jabesh-gilead, their oxen would be slaughtered in the same way.

1 Samuel 11:8–11: 330,000 men promised to come and fight. The brotherhood was established! Saul developed a plan that worked, and Israel destroyed the Ammonites.

1 Samuel 11:12–13: This victory elevated Saul as king. Samuel saw the opportunity and stepped in to bring unity to the tribes again. God claimed victory by using Saul’s spirit of godly anger and indignation. Suddenly, Saul was being lifted up. Saul was the one who said, “God did this.” God used Samuel as a bridge from a corrupt priesthood to Saul as king but it was never God’s intention for Israel to have a king.

1 Samuel 11:14: The people came together in unity at Gilgal. We talk about unity in the church, but will we battle together? Will we come together for the cause? Will we hold one another up? Will we say, “I don’t want to rejoice in sin taking over your life. I want to come and be a rescue agent in your life?” God can build a community around the broken. It is easy to get caught up in what is going on in our own lives while those around us are struggling and get decimated in the battle. The Spirit of God can raise up a rescuer. All of us need to rally to Jabesh-gilead; we all have a cause. I believe there is something here to understand. Even though Samuel was disappointed, he released the people over to God.

1 Samuel 12:1–12: In chapter 12, Samuel reviewed his own performance. He had been very careful in his demeanor toward Israel. Why do you think he was asking these questions? He wanted to point out that he fulfilled the calling of what God asked him to do. Sadly, when the people received what they wanted, they seemed to forget about God.

1 Samuel 12:13–21: Samuel stated the problem. The Israelites had a king, but they had wanted a king of their choosing, not God’s.

1 Samuel 12:22: This choice of Israel for a king was not without displeasure from God. Samuel called them to one truth, the Lord would not abandon His people.

1 Samuel 12:23–25: Samuel promised he would not go against the Lord by ceasing to pray for the Israelites. He was still dedicated to teaching them the good and right way. He instructed the Israelites to fear the Lord and worship Him with all their hearts. They were also to remember the great things God had done. Samuel warned the Israelites; they and their king would be swept away if they continued to do evil.

CLOSING

In the Old Testament, God judged the sinful behaviors of His people with death and destruction. Through this, we can understand how bad sin truly is and how the death of sin in our lives is essential (Romans 7:12–13). The Israelites knew God meant business. Sin will cause us to be an Eli that can't hear, or a King Saul who later couldn't hear and veered off track. We have to be careful to not deviate from God’s plan by becoming caught up with things of the flesh. Let’s walk righteously before God.