Written by: Andrew Walker

1 Samuel 10 v 14-16
Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where have you been?”
Saul said, “We were looking for the donkeys. When we couldn’t find them, we went to talk to Samuel.”
Saul’s uncle asked, “Please tell me. What did Samuel say to you?”
Saul answered, “He told us the donkeys had already been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about his becoming king.

Notes
Have you ever looked at a passage in the Bible and thought ‘What on earth can God say to me through this?’ This is what I thought when I first read this! 

These verses see the end to the story of the lost donkeys which started in chapter 9. Saul had been out looking for them and not found them, but was told by Samuel that they had been found.

It is interesting to see that when Saul is talking to his uncle on his return from his search, he doesn’t tell him all of what Samuel has said to him. He leaves out the bit about him being chosen as King, Just a minor thing to slip your mind I guess!

So what does this say about Saul? Has he got a really bad memory, or is it saying something else? I think it tells us 3 things about Saul.

1 – He was a humble man – He didn’t go round shouting about his new found status, he didn’t let pride go to his head.

2 – He was a wise and cautious man – If he had gone round shouting about his new status he would have been envied and this could well have caused him all sorts of problems.

3 – He was dependant on God – He did not try to do things himself but he leaves it to God to work out his will through Samuel.

So what does all this say to us?

I think it raises for the me the question of whether it is ever right to lie, or not tell the whole truth. After all Saul seems like he had good reason not to say anything here.

Are there any times you can think of when it is best not to tell the whole story?

1 Samuel 10 v 17-22
Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet with the LORD at Mizpah. He said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I led Israel out of Egypt. I saved you from Egypt’s control and from other kingdoms that were troubling you.’ But now you have rejected your God. He saves you from all your troubles and problems, but you said, ‘No! We want a king to rule over us.’ Now come, stand before the LORD in your tribes and family groups.”
When Samuel gathered all the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was picked. Samuel had them pass by in family groups, and Matri’s family was picked. Then he had each man of Matri’s family pass by, and Saul son of Kish was picked. But when they looked for Saul, they could not find him. They asked the LORD, “Has Saul come here yet?”
The LORD said, “Yes. He’s hiding behind the baggage.”

Notes
Have you ever been to a meeting and found it really boring? Well imagine a meeting with the whole country. Here the Israelites are meeting to find out who God has chosen for their king.

Saul has already been chosen by God as king but it has been kept a secret until now. Samuel gives an introductory speech and then the selection begins. This would probably have been done by casting lots. Although we find this strange, back then God would use this method of selection to show the people his will.

After narrowing it down to Saul he was nowhere to be found. The people asked God where he was and God answers them saying he is hiding behind the baggage. Now hiding away seems rather strange behaviour for someone who is supposed to be king.

Have you ever been in a situation where God has asked you to do something but you don’t feel you can? Maybe you don't feel good enough to do what God wants you to do? 

I have been in that position a number of times in the past couple of years. I remember the first assembly I helped lead, I knew God wanted me to be there but I didn't particularly want to be! I had to trust in God and pray that he would get me through it and he did. It was great, As soon I stepped onto the stage and put my trust in him my nerves disappeared. 

It's no good hiding from God, he will always find you. I think the old hymn sums it up so well. 

“Trust and obey!
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.” (John Henry Sammis)

Trust in God and he won't let you down.

1 Samuel 10 v 23-26
So they ran and brought him out. When Saul stood among the people, he was a head taller than anyone else. Then Samuel said to the people, “See the man the LORD has chosen. There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Samuel explained the rights and duties of the king and then wrote them in a book and put it before the LORD. Then he told the people to go to their homes.
Saul also went to his home in Gibeah. God touched the hearts of certain brave men who went along with him. But some troublemakers said, “How can this man save us?” They disapproved of Saul and refused to bring gifts to him. But Saul kept quiet.

Notes
The Israelites had finally got the King they wanted and most of them were happy about this. They saw that God had chosen a leader for them and they shouted "long live the king."

Some of the people however, were not happy. Even though Saul had been appointed by God, they thought they knew better and they said of Saul, "How can this man save us."

When ever we do something there are always people who will be ready to put us down, even if its something we believe God has told us to do. Sometimes it's because we don't look right, or because people don’t think we're clever enough.

It's not always easy to do the things God asks us to do. If God has asked you to do something, then he has asked you for a reason and he will help you do it. Only you can do the job you do, because no one else is you, if you see what I mean.

We are all special to God, no matter who we are, and we all have a place and a job to do within His church.

People may look down on you because you are young and they don't think you have the experience to do things. Well, Samuel was probably only 13 when he was called by God. And in 1Timothy 4:12 it says :

“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

That's quite a responsibility, looking at what we have to do too. It also important to remember that even though God uses us young people, we still need the wisdom of the older people to help us.

1 Samuel 11 v 1-3
About a month later Nahash the Ammonite and his army surrounded the city of Jabesh in Gilead. All the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
But he answered, “I will make a treaty with you only if I’m allowed to poke out the right eye of each of you. Then all Israel will be ashamed!”
The older leaders of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Give us seven days to send messengers through all Israel. If no one comes to help us, we will give ourselves up to you.”

Notes
Nahash was a cruel oppressor who had already laid siege to some neighbouring tribes, Gad and Reuben. Some of the men people from those tribes were now taking refuge in Jabesh.

The people of Jabesh try to make a treaty with Nahash but he isn't having any of it. He said he would only make a treaty with the people of Jabesh if he can gouge out their right eyes.

On the surface this seems like a bit of a strange statement but when you realise what this would mean, it makes a bit more sense. The soldiers of the day would have a shield in their left hand to protect themselves. Their left eye, then, would be behind the shield, so if they had no right eye, they would effectively be blind.

Also, we see slightly different images with each eye helping us with our aim. If the archer’s right eyes were removed then their aim would be terrible.

Nahash was however, willing to give the people of Jabesh 7 days in which to try and get help before they gave themselves up as he was fairly sure that they wouldn't succeed in finding help. It is entirely possible he had not heard that Saul had just been made king.

We see from the passage that losing an eye could have fairly major consequences, as it would alter the way the soldiers saw things.

We need to be aware that there are different ways in which people see things. We may be of one opinion but others may see things differently. It's sometimes good to stop, look and imagine seeing things through the eyes of someone else.

Today, try and look at some things differently, both physically and from other people’s perspectives.

1 Samuel 11 v 4-7
When the messengers came to Gibeah where Saul lived and told the people the news, they cried loudly. Saul was coming home from plowing the fields with his oxen when he heard the people crying. He asked, “What’s wrong with the people that they are crying?” Then they told Saul what the messengers from Jabesh had said. When Saul heard their words, God’s Spirit rushed upon him with power, and he became very angry. So he took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. Then he gave the pieces of the oxen to messengers and ordered them to carry them through all the land of Israel.
The messengers said, “This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” So the people became very afraid of the LORD. They all came together as if they were one person. 

Notes 
The people of Gibeah were close friends with the people of Jabesh because of things that had happened in the past and so there was concern for these people.

In this passage we see something of Saul’s humility. He is king and yet he is working in the fields with the oxen. We also see something of his passion for the safety and honour of Israel. He is filled with God's Spirit and he became very angry at what was happening in Gilbeah.

Finally we see something of his authority and the power he commanded at this time. He knew how to command oxen in the field but he also knew how to command the military men of the nation of Israel. The people of Israel feared God and so responded to the call for help that Saul had sent out.

As the people of God now, we need to come together as one, just like the people of Israel came from their different tribes to be united in one cause.

I remember a non-Christian saying to me "The church is shooting itself in the foot. How can I agree with a group of people that can't agree with themselves?"

Now I'm not suggesting we all have to be the same ‘we were born originals, let us not die copies.’ We all have a right to worship God in whatever way we wish. What I am saying is that we need to be united in our quest to see people come to Christ. We need to set our differences aside, agree to disagree.

I believe that if we stand together as Christians, united in the hope of seeing more people come to faith then we will do a lot better than just doing our own thing and working independently. 

1 Samuel 11 v 8-10
Saul gathered the people together at Bezek. There were three hundred thousand men from Israel and thirty thousand men from Judah.
They said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the people at Jabesh Gilead this: ‘Before the day warms up tomorrow, you will be saved.’ ” So the messengers went and reported this to the people at Jabesh, and they were very happy. The people said to Nahash the Ammonite, “Tomorrow we will come out to meet you. Then you can do anything you want to us.”

Notes 
Saul has now gathered his army from all tribes of the land and it is, by today’s standards, a very big army, 330 000 men in all. This is quite impressive considering he has had less than a week to gather this army and he would not have had any of today’s means of communication.

Here we see Saul being confident of victory. Because he believes this is a just cause, he believes that God will give his army the victory over Nahash.

The people in Jabesh were very happy at the news and deliver what could be a very ambiguous statement to Nahash. The Hebrew word that they used literally means "Come out". It can be used in the sense of "surrender" or "give ourselves up" but it can also mean "come out to do battle".

As we go through life we all face battles to varying degrees. I face a battle every morning - whether to get out of bed or not!

More seriously, we face battles against all sort of things like illness, people putting us down, stress etc. Some of these are more important than others but it is good to remember that God is interested in whatever we do and whatever we are going through, whether that is needing strength to get out of bed in the morning or facing a serious illness.

We can be confident, just like Saul, that God is with us through it and that He wants the best for us. He won't necessarily give us the victory all the time, and that can be hard, but he will be with us. 

To quote a song by Pam Thum:

Jesus never said it was an easy road to travel, 
He only said that you would never be alone.

1 Samuel 11 v 11-15
The next morning Saul divided his soldiers into three groups. At dawn they entered the Ammonite camp and defeated them before the heat of the day. The Ammonites who escaped were scattered; no two of them were still together.
Then the people said to Samuel, “Who didn’t want Saul as king? Bring them here and we will kill them!”
But Saul said, “No! No one will be put to death today. Today the LORD has saved Israel!”
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal. There we will again promise to obey the king.” So all the people went to Gilgal, and there, before the LORD, the people made Saul king. They offered fellowship offerings to the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites had a great celebration.

Notes 
Well it’s the end of the week and the last study from me so time to celebrate. 

At the end of today’s passage we see a celebration too for we see that God has led Saul and his soldiers into victory. It seems that they caught the enemy off guard as Saul’s army managed to defeat them so quickly and so completely.

Then we see the soldiers wanting to kill those who had gone against Saul's appointment to be king. The soldiers saw it as an insult to Saul and an insult to God because it had now been proved to them that Saul was God's chosen king for them, as they had believed all along. But Saul refused to let them carry this out because he believed that God had given the army the victory over their enemy.

Then we see a rededication of the troops to serve Saul in his kingship. And following that they gave thanks to God for the victory he had given them and had a bit of a party to celebrate.

It is good to celebrate and thank God for all he has done for us. It is also good to come to God and rededicate ourselves to him, thanking him for all he has done and asking him to help us stay close to him in the future.

Why not take a minute now to think about all that has happened this week and thank God for all the good things he has done, even if its only simple stuff like giving us life and food and friends.

God Bless.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes