I Chronicles
10
The portion of the Book of Chronicles referring more
particularly to the genealogy of
commences the real history of the people. The history of a nation is
the history of its
head or king; and we commence that history with the history of Saul and David.
They both appear on the scene in the following verses. We
must not forget, in reading
this history, that these two personages are representative characters. They
are
eminently typical. In Saul we must not omit to see the head of the
great world-power,
or
that which is antagonistic to the kingdom of the Son of God. In David,
likewise, we must see ONE GREATER than David, even the true David, THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST! Saul and David are from beginning to end in opposition,
Saul’s history comes first. He is the people’s
choice, the man of the world.
His entire course is enmity against David. Hatred,
opposition, and bitter
persecution are the results of this enmity. The end of the world-power, as
represented in him, is defeat and FAILURE, RUIN AND DEATH!
THUS WILL THIS WORLD’S RULE END ALSO! Nevertheless, all this
opposition and enmity are most needful to David and his few faithful
followers.
It disciplined and trained him for the kingdom for which he
had been anointed of
God. So this world’s misrule and enmity are most needful for the Lord’s
anointed
ones. David and his followers under
Saul were strangers and pilgrims indeed. So
Christ and His people are now (Hebrews 11:8-16). But their time is at hand when
the
weeds of sorrow shall be exchanged for the laurels of victory. I said Saul’s
history comes first. It
is always so. Whether in the history of individuals or
nations, whether in nature or in grace, in everything the
dark background
comes first, and then the lines of the picture of grace can be
seen. The
tenth chapter of this book is man at his best estate. It is the
dark
background. One chapter is enough for it. The eleventh
chapter begins
with the God-man, David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22),
who
is the type in it of a “Greater than
David.” It goes on unfolding chapter
after chapter. It has not ended
yet, for in
the history of David’s Son —
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST – IT IS STILL GOING ON! The
chapters are still UNFOLDING HIM AND WILL THROUGHOUT
ETERNITY (Ephesians
1:10; 2:7) for HE IS
THE EVERLASTING GOD,
THE I AM THAT I AM, (Exodus 3:14) WHICH IS, AND WHICH WAS,
AND WHICH IS TO COME THE
ALMIGHTY! (Revelation
1:8; 4:8)
It is evident that the compiler of the Chronicles intended
its history proper to begin
substantially with the reign of David. Strictly, however, it opens with
the last mournful
chapter of the career of Saul and his sons, or of three out of the
four (ch.9:39) of them.
The mention of Saul had been prepared for by the short
preamble of his pedigree and
family; and, in like manner, the way is paved for the
introduction of the reign and
deeds of David by the brief and affecting narration of the end
of his predecessor on
the
throne. The last chapter of the First Book of Samuel occupies itself with the
same
subject and covers the same ground. Our present chapter compared
with that is
sufficient to convince us that both were drawn from some common
source or sources.
It is not possible to suppose that the writer of Chronicles
merely copied from the Book
of
Samuel. The differences are very slight, but they are such as produce a
different
conviction, and are not consistent with the assumption of being mere
alterations and
additions upon what is read in the other work. The last two verses
of this chapter
form the distinctive feature of it, compared with the parallel of 1 Samuel
31. The
appropriateness of these two verses, as bridging over the history from
Saul to David,
is
evident, and is but another incidental indication of the thorough unity of
purpose of
the
compiler. They may even be viewed as tacitly compensating for the abrupt
introduction, at the commencement of the chapter, of the battle with
the
Philistines, and the slaughter on
1 “Now the
Philistines fought against
from before the Philistines, and fell down
slain in mount Gilboa.”
No abruptness marks this narration in I Samuel 31. On the
contrary, it is there
the
natural conclusion of the wars between the Philistines and Saul. This
engagement
took place (I Samuel 28:4; 29:1, 11) on the plains of Jezreel.
The name Jezreel marks
either the city (Joshua 19:18; I Kings 21:1,11), or the celebrated
valley or plain
called in later times Esdraelon, the Greek form of the word. The
plain in its largest
proportions may be said to have been bounded by the
called the plain of Accho, where it
abuts on that sea) and the
the
north and northeast. While called a “plain”
and “the great plain” in Judges 1:9,
its
name in the Old Testament is “valley.”
It lay like a scalene triangle, with its apex
in
the direction of the
of Accho, and its sides going
from right to left, about fifteen, twelve, and eighteen
miles long respectively. The allusions to it in Old Testament
history are frequent.
Its exceeding richness is now turned into desolation unexceeded.
(Joshua 12:21; Judges 1:27), the city, center of a smaller
valley called by the
same name (ch.7:29; Judges 5:19), was situated within it, in the direction
of
that on which Gideon triumphed (Judges 7:1,8). It is in the lot of Issachar,
flanked
by
the Little Hermon ridge on the northeast, and by Gilboa on the southeast, a
mountain range of ten miles long, about six hundred feet high, and
mentioned only
in
the melancholy connection of this history. The flight of the men of
Saul was from the plain back to their position on
pursued, overtaken, and slain. The modern name of the town Jezreel
is Zerin,
the
depraved aliases of which appear as Gerin
and Zazzin. Jezreel, Shunem,
and
Beth-shean are the three most conspicuous places in
this part of the whole
plain of Esdraelon.
2 “And the
Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons;
and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua,
the sons of Saul.” Followed hard after. The Hebrew
verb implies all this and
rather more, viz. that they made the pursuit of Saul
and his sons their one
special object. Abinadab; or Ishui
(see ch.8:33; I Samuel 14:49). The
sons of Saul. Omit the article,
which is not present in the Hebrew text. The
fourth son, not withstanding our v. 6, survived (II Samuel
2:8-15).
3 “And the
battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him,” - The
literal translation would be, the shooters, men with the
bow, found him. The
context makes it plain that the meaning is that the arrows
of the pursuers rather
than the pursuers themselves “found”
him, and these made him argue all the rest.
To this our Authorized Version has jumped by the one
word “hit” him. It is
Evident from v. 8 that the Philistines did not find
the body of Saul to recognize it
till next day - “and he was
wounded of the archers.” The radical meaning
of
the verb (lWj) is rather “to twist” (torquere)
or “be twisted,” “writhe”
(torqueri).
And the meaning here is in harmony with it, that Saul trembled
from fear or writhed with the pain already inflicted of the arrows. Hence
the
parallel passage couples with this same verb, the adverb Ëaom].
4 “Then
said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come
and abuse me.”
The main idea of the Hithp. of the verb here used is to satisfy
the thirst of lust
or
cruelty. Saul probably feared not the abuse of mocking only, but that of
torture.
In the corresponding passage, this verb is preceded by the
clause, “and thrust
me
through. His armour-bearer would not. “But his armorbearer
would
not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a
sword, and fell upon it.”
He refused the request or bidding of Saul, no doubt mainly in respect of
the fact
that Saul was still “the anointed.” We have a full description of both the loose
arms and of the armor of the body in the case of the Philistine Goliath (I
Samuel
17:4-7). It is one of the world’s surprising facts that the
making of arms and
armor,
and
the acquiring of skill in the using of them, should, as in fact all history
attests,
date from so early a period (Genesis 31:26; 34:25). As compared with the
history
and
the fragmentary remains of classical antiquity, those of Scripture are
remarkably
scanty on this subject. The sword is the earliest mentioned in Scripture, carried in
a
sheath
(I Samuel 17:51; II Samuel 20:8;
ch.21:27); though the Hebrew word
is
here different from that used in Samuel. It was slung by a girdle (I
Samuel
25:13), rested on hips or thigh (II Samuel
20:8; Judges 3:16; Psalm 45:3), and
was
sometimes “two-edged” (Judges 3:16;
Psalm 149:6; Hebrews 4:12). Then
follows the spear in several
varieties, as in I Samuel 17:7; ch.11:11; 20:5;
II Chronicles 23:9.
Again as a javelin
(Joshua 8:14-25; Job 41:29; I Samuel 17:6,
where in the Authorized Version it is called target, or gorget). Again as a lancet
(I Kings 18:28; ch.12:8,24; II
Chronicles 11:12; Nehemiah 4:13; Ezekiel 39:9).
In addition to these three chief varieties of spear — the
spear proper, the javelin,
and
the lancet — there is mention of two other weapons used at all events as the
dart of a light kind
would be used, in II Chronicles 23:10,
and elsewhere, and in
II Samuel 18:14, respectively. After sword and spear rank the bow and arrow
(Genesis 21:20; I Samuel 31:3; ch.8:40; 12:2; Psalm120:4; Job 6:4) And
lastly, the sling (Judges 20:16; I Samuel 25:29; II Kings 3:25), and a very strong
weapon of the same kind mentioned in II Chronicles 26:15. The
chief articles worn
as
bodily armor were the breastplate (I Samuel 17:5, 38); the
somewhat obscure
habergeon, mentioned only
twice, in no connection then of battle
(Exodus 28:32;
39:23), the original name of which, tacharah,
is found on Egyptian
papyri of the
nineteenth dynasty, — it seems to have been a species of doublet or corselet; the
helmet (I Samuel 17:5; ch. 26:14; Ezekiel 27:10); greaves
(I Samuel 17:6); two
kinds of shield (I Samuel 17:7, 41, compared with I Kings 10:16; II
Chronicles 9:15);
and
lastly the article mentioned in II
Samuel 8:7; ch. 18:7; II Kings 11:10; II
Chronicles
23:9; Song of Solomon 4:4; Jeremiah 51:11; Ezekiel 27:11;
and of which we can say
nothing certainly bearing upon its nature or its use, except that
it was made of gold.
Armor-bearers, then, the first distinct mention of whom we
find in Judges 9:54, may
well have been a necessity for kings and for the great. Joab
had ten (II Samuel 18:15).
The word is not expressed as a compound in Hebrew, but as
“one carrying
(μyl"ke) arms.”
(The following nine verses from Ephesians 6:10-18 should
put in perspective
our
warfare in the Christian life – dealing with spiritual
wickedness in high places:
10 “Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able
to stand
against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. 13
Wherefore take
unto you the whole
armor of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand
therefore, having
your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above
all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17
And take the
helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is THE WORD OF GOD. 18
Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, and watching
thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication……” -
CY – 2012)
A Great Might-Have-Been: Saul, King of
“So, Saul took a
sword, and fell upon it.” It is useful to
study achievements
for
inspiration, and failures for warning. Here we have a great “might-have-
been,” or one of those cases in which everything conspired to make a noble
future
possible, and yet, through unfortunate misdirection, life ended
darkly, and all better
success of earlier stages was clouded by adversity and failure. It
is not death in battle,
nor
even defeat, which makes us lament him. Nelson died in battle, but in glory as
well.
And defeat is an incident that all armies may experience.
It is that it is A DARK
CLOSE TO A DARKER HISTORY. That beginning brightly, clouds gathered
over his life, and deepened until they closed in night. Consider:
opportunity, it was Saul’s.
Ø
Every personal advantage that could be desired was his. Good
looks above all in
qualities to match; wisdom and courage suitable for a king; —
qualities that gained for him the regard of
of David, and, what is very noteworthy, the affection of
Samuel.
Then his circumstances were
of that sort that most persons would
envy him. He came of one of the wealthiest families in all the south
country. He was so naturally selected for king that there was no
difficulty in securing allegiance of people. A few murmur, as was to
be expected from such as were themselves candidates for the
throne
or backed such as were. But the support of Samuel, and the
success
of first expedition against Ammon,
stilled all murmurs through the land.
None disputed his title to
the throne.
Ø
The same energy which craved
a leader inspired willingness to follow.
Samuel’s influence was
exerted on his behalf. That meant backing of
mightiest in land. Nor was it formal only. Samuel protested against
wish
of
he did not proceed to protest against the particular choice.
So far from
disapproving of Saul, he loved him, and, when he could do no more, he
mourned with the sorrow of a saint and patriot over
Saul’s failure.
Then he
found the grandest service available. There were Abner,
David,
Jonathan, the worthies
following David, all ready to aid; and, above all,
God
ready to help him. Besides room for
him, there was need for him.
opportunity.
Ø
And no thing in character made grand life impossible. He comes
before us with many qualities which engage respect.
o
There is modesty, which accepts
greatness as a charge rather than
eagerly covets it.
o
Generosity, which tolerates with brave wisdom the disaffection of
minority.
o
Courage, that suits his calling and his country’s needs.
o
Kindliness of heart. One must not overlook
this quality; the more so
As he
sins so deeply in the opposite direction.
But he “loved David
greatly” (I Samuel
16:21), suggesting that he was capable of great
affections, and, but for bias, might have
been remembered as like
father of his noble son. Then there was some working of piety in him;
not much, but still
apparently some. He had a sensitive nature,
which
occasionally, in higher moments, admitting play of Spirit of God on it,
made him prophesy in an exalted strain. Though, in other moments,
same sensitiveness lays him open to influences of spirit not
of God.
But there is
susceptibility. Everything thus seems to concur to make
life not only moderate but brilliant success. Power, opportunity,
circumstances, advantages, natural endowment, — all in favor.
And God, always waiting to
make best of us, sought to make the
best of him. And if he had but walked with God, what service
he might have
rendered, and what joy in life have
won! But, alas!
amidst all these supreme advantages and natural
probabilities of
success, there is one
defect of character which mars everything.
There is a wilfulness, which is left unrestrained; a
habit of
choosing his own path and keeping to it; impatience of any restraint
of religion or duty. If Samuel comes not in time, no reverence for
sanctity of priestly office will prevent his assuming its functions.
(I Samuel
15).
If God prescribes utter destruction of Amalek,
he
will carry out precept, excepting where he
thinks it better to
disobey it, saving cattle, oxen (i.e. the best of spoil), and Agag.
David becomes, by service he renders, a possible rival. His
existence, therefore, Saul will not tolerate.
o Self-will, declining:
§
the restraints of
religion, and
§
those of conscience,
early appears in
him. He is never humbly obedient, but picks
and chooses what
part of precept he likes, stopping short of a
whole obedience.
Always feeling at liberty to revise and moderate
the requirements
of God, he thus comes short, through wilfulness,
of God’s
requirements. The self-will that declines to
serve heartily
soon ceases to
serve at all. And after he has wrought great
deliverances and
secured independence of
dark period
ensues, unrelieved by nobler quality — one in which
his path is
downward. The very energy which,
restrained and
ordered, would
have been of vast service, unrestrained, becomes
terror to his
friends. That firmness of nerve-formation which,
consecrated,
would have lain his nature open to God, unconsecrated
lays him open to invasion of evil spirit, to madness and fury. His
action is disapproved by his best friends, by Jonathan, by
nation, by
his own heart.
And wasting powers of nature in following David, he
sinks lower and lower,
till eve of last battle finds him in SHEER
DESPAIR! There is
something terrible in hopelessness with which
he
addresses the ghost of Samuel: “God
is departed from me,
and answereth me no more,… therefore I have called thee,
that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do”
(I Samuel 28:15). Something touching
in way in which, to the end,
he believes in Samuel,
and longs to hear again something from his
lips, and prefers
to hear his doom from him if he has to hear it at all.
And disobedience
leading to despair, the two soon lead to
DESTRUCTION! Oh what a loss was the absence of David
on that battle-day! Just for want of him, with his heroic following,
fate of battle
adverse. And there is deplorable defeat where there
would have been grandest
victory. All that Saul got by opposing
David was a sadder life, a shorter reign,
a darker fate. And,
instead of his
ranking with great heroes that have wrought
deliverance
in the earth: he stands a majestic, melancholy
might-have-been, and nothing more. A
truncated life; a casting
spoilt in the mouding. THE MERE POSSIBILITY OF A
THING SHOULD AROUSE SOLICITUDE IN OUR
HEARTS!
we have to dwell on.
Ø
Likelihoods are not certainties. Your career may have
every
prospect of being honorable, useful, happy. But probability is not
certainty. Whether probability realized
will depend altogether
and exclusively on the degree of faithfulness you manifest.
Ø
Danger of self-will. “Our wills are ours
to make them Thine,”
says the poet, nobly uttering grand philosophy of life. But reservation
of some thing from God
is one of the commonest temptations. We say,
“We will do much, but not this. We will
sacrifice much, but not this.
We will follow, but will
choose our own time and our own way.”
Especially are we liable to
be deflected from path of duty when
waywardness of will strengthened by
some strong passion —
greed, revenge, dislike. Let us
beware of this selfwill.
It has a look of force
and energy; but it really destroys both. It
changes the may-be into the might-have-been. We cannot be
Christ’s disciples unless
we deny self and follow Him. Self-will
never is allowed in any soul WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
OF THE SADDEST
KIND! Therefore:
Ø
Let us take our Savour as entire
Master. Give Him absolute control.
Withhold nothing. The more
consecrated we are, the more glorified
We shall be. Man keeps back nothing from Christ save
to his
own hurt. You give up nothing but to your profit. Don’t
let our lives
be mere might-have-beens. But keep faithfully to the path of
duty
as shown by Christ, and then, although men of grandest
early
advantages and powers make grievous shipwreck, you, with no
advantages and no special power, will find that “that which
concerneth you God will perfect.” (Psalm 138:8)
5 “And
when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell
likewise
on the sword, and died.” The parallel (I
Samuel 31:5) adds “with him.”
6 “So Saul
died, and his three sons, and all his house” - In place of these
words, the parallel (Ibid. v.:6) has, “And his armor-bearer, and all his men,
that same day
together.” This reading avoids the
ambiguity referred to already
(v. 2). In either passage
the moral is plain, that the end and ruin of Saul’s family as a
whole had arrived, rather than literally that the whole,
including every member, of
that family had perished -
“died together.”
7 “And
when all the men of
words, the parallel (Ibid. v.:7) has, “On the other side of the valley, and.., on the
other side Jordan.” We have here a clear instance of the desire of the
compiler of
Chronicles to compress his narrative, while the fidelity of
the parallel narrative is
testified in the naturalness of its statements, amounting to this,
that, quick as the
intelligence
or report could reach all those Israelites who were at all within the
range of the victorious Philistines, they hastened to vacate their
abodes - “saw that
they fled, and
that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their
cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and
dwelt in them.”
8 “And it
came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to
strip the slain, that they found Saul and his
sons fallen in
The parallel (Ibid. v.:8) says explicitly, “And his three sons.”
9 “And
when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armor,” -
Some comparing this with the parallel (Ibid. v.9), “They cut off his head, and
stripped off his armor,” say “our author” leaves the beheading unmentioned!
It is certainly sufficiently implied. “and sent into the
land of the Philistines round
about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to
the people.” This sentence is
more clearly explained, and brought into rather unexpected and perhaps unwished
accord with the most modern of our ecclesiastical habits, when in the
parallel as above,
we find “to
publish it in the house of their idols “as the form of expression.
10 “And
they put his armor in the house of their gods,” - In
place of this general
designation, the parallel (Ibid. v.10) designates the house more
exactly as “the
house of Ashtaroth” (Genesis
14:5; the Phoenician female deity, as Baal was their
male deity. The Greek form of the name is Astarte - “and fastened his head in the
the wall of
Beth-shah” (which account is corroborated
in (II Samuel 21:12-14),
and
does not say what further was done with the head. It is no doubt
remarkable that one historian puts on record the one fact and the
other the
other; and it is one of the clearer indications that both took
from some
common sources. It is perhaps something to be remarked also that,
while
the
historian in Samuel says nothing further about the head (though
allusion to it is probably included in the “body” and the “bones,”
the further
account of which is given in vs. 12-13, as well as in II Samuel
21:12-14),
the
compiler of Chronicles does revert to mention of “the body of
Saul,”-
v. 12, infra, though without any corresponding
naming of Bethshah.
After all said, the omission in Samuel of the fate of the
head would seem to
be
fully as remarkable as the omission, so far as this verse is concerned, in
Chronicles of the fate of the body. It is reasonable to suppose that the head
and
trunk of the body of Saul were brought together again, or it were likely
some allusion to the contrary would have transpired in the following verses
of
this chapter or in II Samuel 21:12-14. With regard to the act of the
Philistines in
dedicating the armor of Saul, and fixing his head in the
as
though trophies, the custom was both ancient and not uncommon
(Judges 16:21-30; I Samuel 5:1-5; 21:9). The house of Dagon
(Joshua 15:41;
19:27) here spoken of was that at
Though belonging to
throughout their history one of their worst foes. It is the Azotus of Acts 8:40.
There was another Dagon temple at
representation was the figure of a man, as to head, hands, and bust, but
for
the
rest that of a fish, which was a symbol of fruitfulness. As
situate on the extreme west of
Beth-shean, a city of
Issachar (Joshua 17:11), from which the Canaanites were not
expelled
(Judges 1:27) — was on the extreme east
near the
called Scythopolis. Considering the
distance these were apart, and their contrary
directions, we may suppose that some suggestion was intended by the
fixing the head in the one place and the body in the other.
12 “And
when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines
had done
to Saul,
13 They arose, all the valiant men, and
took away the body of
Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and
brought them to Jabesh, and buried
their bones under the oak in Jabesh,
and fasted seven days.” This is the
only place where “Jabesh”
is used as an abbreviation for Jabesh-gilead,
of
which it was the chief city.
(Numbers 32:1-5, 25-32, 39-41) and of half Manasseh (ch.27:21). Saul
had
on
a celebrated occasion (I Samuel 11:1-13) befriended the people of
Jabesh-gilead, coming to their rescue against Nahath
the Ammonite, of which
kindness they are now
mindful, show that rarest of virtues, gratitude to a fallen
monarch, and are further on (II Samuel 2:5) commended for it by
David. This verse does not tell us, as the parallel (I
Samuel 31:12)
does, of the first burning of the bodies, and then of the burying of the
calcined bones. The silence is very remarkable. It does name the
kind of
tree, the “oak” or “terebinth.” The word for the tree, however, in both
passages is of doubtful and perhaps only generic signification. The
several
Hebrew words translated in various places as “oak,” all
share a common
root, significant of the idea of strength. Dr. Thomson (‘The Land and the
Book,’ pp. 243, 244) says that the country owns still to an
abundance of
oaks of very fine growth in some eases, and that these are exceedingly
more plentiful and altogether a stronger tree than the “terebinth.”
The
different names, though all connected with one root, referred to are
probably owing to the large variety of oaks. With the statement of
the
burying of the bones under a tree, and the fasting of seven days
on the part
of
these brave and grateful men of Jabesh-gilead, the parallel
account
comes to its end.
13 “So
Saul died for his transgression” - (For this
transgression and the stress
laid upon it
and its predicted consequences, see I
Samuel 15:1-9,11,14;
28:18) –
“which he
committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD,
which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one
that had a familiar spirit,
to enquire of it;” (I Samuel 28:7-24).
There
is exemplified here the possibility of TRUE RELIGION BEING
KNOWN AND YET FORSAKEN. In his early life, Saul had put within
him another heart, and became another man. But there are signs that
he
came under heathen influences. Certainly one of the last acts of his life was
indicative of superstition, when he sought unto the witch of Endor, instead
of looking to Jehovah for counsel and encouragement. He “inquired not of
the Lord.” It was a grievous defection; he, whose religious life commenced
so brightly under the guidance of Samuel, came to grovel before an ignorant
necromancer! A lesson this of human instabilty,
frailty, and fickleness. “Let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall!” (I Corinthians 10:12) Alas!
how often has the bright promise of youth been clouded in mature years,
and the sun which rose in splendor sunk beneath the gloomy clouds! It is
A SOLEMN WARNING WHICH NONE SHOULD DISREGARD!
14 “And
enquired not of the LORD:” - Saul seems to have,
in point of fact,
inquired in some sense (Ibid. ch.14:37; 28:5-6,15). But the
probable meaning is
that he
did not inquire in the first instance (see
Ibid. 15:3-4); and when he did
inquire, he did not await THE
REPLY SOLELY AND EXCLUSIVELY
OF JEHOVAH! - “therefore He slew him,” – (see ch. 2:3)
- “and turned
the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” The compiler,
having heretofore
given so scrupulously whatever of genealogical fact he could, is
now careful to use
it.
And he identifies the future chief hero of his history as him who had already
been instanced (Ibid. v.15), “son of
Jesse.”
We are informed that THE FALL OF SAUL WAS A DIVINE JUDGMENT.
“Saul died for his
transgression which he committed against the Lord.”
We are seldom at liberty authoritatively and confidently to pronounce calamity a
judgment from the Lord. But in the case before us we are expressly warranted in
doing so. Saul had violated the Divine Law. He had directed sacrifice to be
offered without the permission of the prophet. He had spared Agag, and
appropriated the spoil. (I Samuel 15) He had displayed, again and again, a
rebellions and ungodly disposition; had given way to impulses of anger, envy,
jealousy, and fear. He had too often despised
God’s Word, persecuted God’s
servants, trusted in himself, and forgotten that Jehovah had called
him to
be the leader of His people in righteousness. Now at length the long delayed
retribution came upon the guilty monarch. “The Lord slew him.” A warning to
the impenitent, this terrible fate of Saul should summon the sinner to repentance,
and (thank God!) to “repentance unto life.”(Acts 11:18)
The Danger of
Spiritualism (vs. 13-14)
THAT OF GOD.
For ordinary life the ordinary senses and faculties of
man suffice. For all work it is a mistake if the tool be too
fine, as well as if
it is too coarse. Finer faculties than we have would be too fine
for the work
of life; would be a source, not of strength, but only of pain
and torment.
That knowledge of the unseen and
future, which we always crave for, would
have been given us had it been good for us. But God has
concluded that, as
regards the unknowable, FAITH
IS BETTER THAN SIGHT and, as
regards the future, HOPE IS BETTER
THAN FOREKNOWLEDGE.
For common life, common sense is requisite and
is sufficient, especially as
WE ALL HAVE
WITHIN REACH AIDS OF GRACE AND
ENLIGHTENMENT
that will make our steps safe, if it do not
altogether satisfy our curiosity. If we pray to God for guidance, He
will
answer that prayer, not in some strange and supernatural way, but
by
calming our over-anxiety, by fortifying our judgment, by
presenting in clear
light the determining considerations which should weigh with us,
by
restraining the temptation that might mislead us, by ordering our
circumstances so that the only open path is the path of wisdom and of
duty.
More than this no one needs, and
the imagination that the knowledge of
the concealed would benefit us is misleading and worrying. Beyond that of
God we need no
supernatural help or light.
essential but still soothing, comforting, and helpful. But the
knowledge of
the concealed is not only not essential — it is useless in any
shape in which
it can come to us. And that for one reason — It is never capable of being
verified. You are at the mercy
of any “tricksy sprite” that likes to play with
your solicitude. If ghosts are free to report themselves, any
one of them
could simulate Samuel, and, instead of the sober oracle you
expect, could
give you something with just that shade of error in it that
would make it
fatally seductive. You cannot apply rule-and-compass argument or
faculty
to the verification of the message. You must “trust them all
or not at all.”
You cannot prove the spirits in
any of the matters on which you seek their
light. I say therefore it is valueless. Such oracles are
unsigned checks,
which you cannot treat as money. Seeking to escape from the
painful
necessity of relying on your own judgment, you (like Roman
Catholics)
have still to rely on your private judgment on the most
momentous
question of the whole, viz. whether they are worthy to be your
guides.
Therefore “pick no locks;” be
content to be in the dark where God has left
you in the dark. It will be safer for you to travel the
unknown road by
God’s moonlight or starlight,
than to have a blazing gleam thrown round
you, WHICH COMES FROM YOU
KNOW NOT WHERE AND
LEADS YOU WHERE YOU
KNOW NOT WHITHER!
SUCH
Ø
There is injury to the body. There are few whose
nervous systems
can stand either real or imaginary communion with the unseen
world.
Converse with fellow men
and women has no exciting element; but
spirits either find or leave the nerves unstrung. Fancy takes reason’s
throne. Man lives in
two worlds, instead of in one bright with the
presence of God and man. There can hardly be enjoyment of the
friendship without solicitude as to the enmity of the spirits; so
that
calmness of nerve and that fine physical health which furthers all
good
growth is generally seriously impaired.
Ø
There is injury to the mind. The proper
self-reliance which dignifies
and develops man is interfered with by this reference of all
things to a
mysterious oracle. The faculties grow strong by being trusted.
Judgment inspired and
brightened by God, the more it is used the more
it grows. Subordinate it to mysterious oracles, and the whole
mental
energy deteriorates and slackens. Above all:
Ø
The soul suffers. We cannot well have
two guides — two oracles.
We can leave God, and be
guided by the dubious light which mediums
may find for us; or we may leave them, and take God’s light
and God’s
darkness as He sees fit to give it; but we cannot very well have
both.
Even the devoutest we imagine will find the simplicity of their
dependence on God somewhat impaired by resorting to other guides;
and their simple acceptance of the Saviour’s
teaching impaired by
their sitting at the feet of those whose suggestions do not
always concur
with His. So the writer speaks of Saul’s act as of a
backsliding, pointing
the despair into which he had sunk. Keep your heart free of
all that
enfeebles it and of all that divides it from the Lord. Poor Saul got
nothing but a deeper despair that drove him to his doom. Take
Isaiah’s
exhortation, therefore, to the spiritualists of his day: “When they shall
say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and
unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people
seek unto their God?”
(Isaiah 8:19).
The Epitaph of Saul, a Beacon-Warning (vs.
13-14)
So far as this work is concerned, Saul is introduced to us, and takes
“for
ever” his
farewell of us, in this one and the same chapter. We know him,
however, well elsewhere. On the background of a bright sky, we are
at
once prepared to say, his figure stands out, and ever will stand out, dark
in
appearance, of somewhat commanding proportions, with the bearing of
no
altogether ordinary man — a striking
figure, indeed, but one that strikes
fear and a chill feeling throughout one, rather than one that
inspires
reverence, emulation, love,
It cannot be said of him or of his career that
they lack incident or dramatic effect. On the contrary, they were born in
these and abound in them. Saul and his career were remarkably
different
from anything which could be called commonplace. And while the world
continues, they must needs stand among the foremost examples for
impressiveness, of grand opportunity and splendid prospects
GRIEVOUSLY MISSED AND DISHONORED! Our chapter is
itself but a summary, the concluding snatch of a strange, eventful, solemn life,
to
the condemning faults of which, in its course, the present text points.
And we,
following a similar plan, will pass beneath our eye, in brief summary,
the
prominent facts, the moral
qualities, and the opportunities of Saul; the troubled
current on which they are hurried along, the dark abyss in which
at last
they are lost. Let us notice:
HIS COUNTRY AND THE FULL GLARE OF DAY. What we have to
notice, especially about this, is that undoubtedly it was the
doing of an
upper power, of a special providence, of no purpose nor seeking
of the
man who was thus elevated, nor even of the contrivance of
others. It was
something outside of the individual life and outside the
national life. No
calculation of coincidence could count upon it nor account for it. In
the
presence of it, the man who disbelieves
special and particular providences, because they make too large a
demand
on his fund of belief, prefers parsimoniously to spare
expenditure in one
direction, in order to lavish unscrupulous, disproportionate outlay
in
another. What he can believe, this he drains to the dregs in one of its
resources, because he will not draw a
fair measure of it from another.
Of him it may well be said that
the heart that refuses a healthy faith is that
which grows the most abundant crop of credulity. The
people — only known as yet for a kingdom, inasmuch as He Himself
was its
King — has reached one of its
great crises. Moses foresaw it, and, strange
to say, foreshadowed and sketched the legislation adapted to
it. The special
ministers, consisting of individual and local judges, have had their
day. The
majority of the nation dawns consciously upon it. The nation
compares its
composite, federal, fraternal constitution with the unity and
cohesion of
other nations, foes around; and, blessed though it is in
comparison of them,
yet deliberately estimates the balance as unfavorable to
itself. Nay,
Samuel himself, at this time by
a moral force and growth the one judge and
prophet of nearly the whole people, seems raised up at the moment
to
suggest that that embodiment of authority in one person — “a king that
might judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” –
(I Samuel 8:20) - was quite
within the range of possibility in the midst of
themselves. In fact, the national voice, in a remarkable way and with
a
remarkable unanimity, had pronounced for this. But no man, no name
even,
was before them for king.
They express no wish, ask no choice, solicit no
help nor advice from Samuel on this particular point, but seem
to leave it
entirely with him (Ibid. 8:22), and he leaves it entirely with God.
Saul, however,
a young man whose only known distinction at present is of
tallness and bodily
“goodliness’’
(Ibid. 9:2), by a little chain of circumstances as uncertain from
one to another as they were trivial in themselves, finds
himself in the presence
of Samuel, the seer of the tribes. The supreme Seer of the
nation, God
Himself, has already instructed
Samuel; and the issue is that Saul, “of
the
smallest of the tribes of
of the tribe of Benjamin” (Ibid. v.21), is called to be king over all
God’s people. This was “the Lord’s doing, and marvellous
was it in
the eyes” (Psalm 118:23) of
Saul, at all events, as we are expressly told.
old Church, also of the old yet ever new Spirit. How stirred
the heart, the
thoughts, the amazement of Saul at the new future which had been so
suddenly presented before him! We may well understand that he could
not,
did not, take it in all at once. But his heart was to know a
greater stirring,
a deeper moving. “God gave him
another heart” before ever he got back
to his earthly father’s house again. “The Spirit of God came upon him”
(I Samuel 10:9-10, 24, 26). The. great facts of conversion for
the old day,
for the old Church, and for all time are intrinsically the
same, and are two —
God’s gift of another heart and of His Spirit therewith. And what
transporting experience that must have been for him, when “all the signs”
which had been given him by Samuel “came to pass;” and when “he
prophesied” among the company of prophets that met him; and when,
at
his formal anointing, “all the people,
shouted, God save the king”
and when, at the close of that solemn day, he went to Gibeah, and
“there went with him a band
of men, whose hearts God had touched,”
also! Could there have been a more
striking, a fuller, a richer beginning of a
new religious life, and one
shaped to highest ends? Who could ever lose the
memory, the impressions, the
force of hallowed resolutions belonging to
such a time?
THE POSITION OF SAUL AND THE
COMBINED TO PROFFER TO SAUL. Outer opportunity is not
everything, and indeed it is not anything where inner fitness and
intrinsic
gift and the spirit of a mission may not be present. But
otherwise, outer
opportunity is matter of great advantage. As the plant must
flower and the
tree must fruit, in order to develop to the highest advantage,
so thought
and purpose, feeling and love, and all life of man, crave the
help of some
outer opportunity. They find expression thereby, and, in
finding expression,
unfailingly develop power and quality. God, no doubt, measures
opportunity justly, wisely, kindly to us all. And where any child of
his may
find or fancy he finds himself cramped and stinted in such
respect, there
may be overpoweringly good reasons for it, of a kind difficult
for us to
trace with any dogmatic assurance at present; and there may be
found
overwhelmingly ample compensation for it later on in life, or when the
span
of the present life is passed. Yet can there be little doubt
that, so far as the
present life taken by itself is concerned, many a beautiful soul
pines away
for want of outer opportunity of action and of exhibition? many a mighty
courage dwarfs its growth? many a great
heart enfolds its rich powers and
qualities, instead of unfolding them? An old Roman exile poet, who
exchanged sunny
wrote it, said, “What am I to do alone? How can I utilize
enforced
idleness? How speed the day unhallowed by work? When disappointment
is my only pay, when to dance in the dark is my mocking
destiny, when to
write a poem that can find no reader is my fate, — then I learn
how much
the speaker depends on the hearer, and the fostering of virtue
depends on
the awarding of praise, and how immense the stimulus of
glory’s
opportunity.” This old heathen seized and put into most effective
poetry
some of life’s most affecting facts. Now, to the unbroken
length of Saul’s
public life, an uninterrupted series of inspiring opportunity was
undeniably
proffered, both of God and man. Zeal that knew no bounds, enthusiasm
that threatened to consume intelligent devotion that should
disdain and
fling even to an infinite distance all the petty interferences
of the brood of
envy and jealousy and suspicion’s spawn, — these were
the legitimate
expectations of a whole world, from the grand sphere of opportunity in
the
midst of which Saul presided. Some of them he realized, and be
began well,
and did “awhile run well.”
QUALITIES OF CHARACTER. For instance, before his call, we find him
the faithful, trusted, considerate son (I Samuel 9:5). The
very tone of
his recorded conversation with his servant (Ibid. vs.6-10)
impresses
us favorably, as affable, respectful, and open to suggestion
and to reply.
The master, especially if a
young man, who knows how to unite such
qualities as these in his treatment of his servants, may well beget the
prepossessions of the very best judges — for the virtue is rare. Then at
the
time of his private call and the first communications made to
him by
Samuel, he does not disappoint
us for modesty, retiringness, unostentatious
reticence and guardedness of the tongue. No boastful word was on his
lip,
no eager ambition grasped at what lay before him; the
opposite of even
family vain-glory seems to have characterized him (Ibid. v.21;
10:16).
At the time of his public call
and Divine election from among the
tribes, he would fain hide from the honor, and decline the
exalted
responsibility about to be laid upon him (Ibid.10:21-24). And he
crowned the day with an instance of self-mastery; temperateness,
forbearance (Ibid. v.27, compared with ch.11:12-13). The
promptness of righteous indignation and zeal of resolution were very
conspicuous in the dashing engagement by which he delivered those of
Jabesh-gilead in the hour of the Ammonites’ power (Ibid. 11:4-11),
and they were witnessed to by the aid and effectual blessing
of the
“Spirit of God.” The events of that day also were crowned with renewed
consecration, with sacrifices of thanksgiving, and with a sacred and
general
joy on the part of “Saul
and all the men of
POINT ALL WENT
AMISS! The strange reversal of all that Saul had
formerly seemed began with the unwarrantable impatience and
unpardonable
presumption which found him anticipating Samuel and sacrificing to the
Lord
in Gilgal. This was, no doubt, the self-willed presumption on which his
whole career was now wrecked. It was succeeded by fault
after fault of
wayward “rebellion,” and of wilful “stubbornness” (Ibid. ch.15:23), of
alleged “fear of the people” and craving to be “honoured” before them
(Ibid. vs.24, 30), till the
ominous knell is heard, and his standing is reversed,
“by the Spirit of the Lord” when “the Spirit of
the Lord DEPARTED
FROM HIM (Ibid. ch.16:14). The sequel is too well known. Jealousy of
his successor, fierce fits of passion and fits of brief repentance,
outbursts of
short-lived affection and visitations of remorse, unattended by any
single
symptom of real reformation, argued the torn, distracted,
disordered spirit
within. He is brave in war; he is cowardly in the massacre of the
priests; he
is high in spirit and high-handed; he is morbidly sensitive
to disgrace. He
seals the Spirit’s departure and final forsaking of him when,
with
a formal, faithless, professional inquiry of the Lord, he really makes
his inquiry of the witch of Endor, AND FILLS UP THE MEASURE
OF HIS
INIQUITIES! It is hard to say
whether the manner
of his death
(on the
field of flight rather than of battle) expressed most aptly his better or
worse quality, but anyway it was not altogether deficient in
self-devotion or
spirit, such as the circumstances would allow. Yet what a
commentary the
barest facts now utter forth! He who had often conquered the
Philistines and
other hostile nations, with little of material help, fell before them, because
he had GUILTILY
FORFEITED THE DIVINE HELP! He
had presumed on himself — it brings him to make an end of
himself! As
REPENTANCE HAD
BEEN THE STRANGER OF HIS COMPANY
so now DESPAIR
IS THE BOSOM FRIEND HE HUGS! And trace
as best we may the course he ran, his character, and the end
of a life which
had opened in providence so abundant and so encouraging, the
skilled pen
of Scripture guides our last thought, and reveals the just
conclusion of the
whole matter: “Saul died for his transgressions which he
committed
against the Lord, even against the Word of the Lord, which he kept
not, and also for asking… of… a familiar spirit, to inquire thereof,
and he inquired not of the Lord” — this low-lying epitaph, a beacon
of warning set up aloft to all
time.
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