Join us as we explore the intricate narrative of Israel’s first king, Saul, and the nation’s critical decision to shift from divine guidance to monarchical rule. Uncover the influences and ramifications of this transition as narrated in the Book of Samuel, highlighting themes of human impatience and divine sovereignty. With vivid recounting of battles and political intrigues, see how Saul’s role as a leader was both a triumph and a cautionary tale, echoing challenges faced by leaders throughout history.
00:00:01 Introduction to Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win
00:00:17 Israel’s Shift from Theocracy to Monarchy
00:10:13 Samuel’s Address to Israel and Their King
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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The decision by Israel to change their government from a theocracy to a monarchy was a disastrous decision. It was surely not God’s will for them because they had lived in freedom for so long, and he didn’t intend for them to change that. But freedom includes heavy burdens for a people, and they just got tired. Sadly, I see signs of the same fatigue among our own people today. But in spite of the fact that the decision they made was not God’s will for them, he cannot be accused of giving them an inferior king. The kings in those days had to lead people into battle, and the first king of Israel was well endowed for that. He was head and shoulders taller than any other man. He was handsome and possessed of the necessary charisma to lead. He was humble. That is to say, he was little in his own eyes. And God changed him into another man by filling him with the Spirit. And just so everyone would know that it was God and not Samuel who chose him, they went through an elaborate procedure of choosing the king by lot. It was a custom in those days. They divided people up, and then they cast lots to see who was who. So Samuel called all the people together to the Lord, and he said to the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I brought up Israel out of Egypt. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, the hands of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. And you have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and tribulations. And you have said to him, no, set a king over us. So we’re going to do this. Present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. The lot fell there. When he caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken. And finally Saul, the son of Kish, was taken, and they went looking for him. Couldn’t find him. So they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come hither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he has hid himself among the stuff. So they ran and fetched him from the baggage, and he stood among the people. He was higher than any of them from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people. And all the people shouted and said, God save the king. Okay, folks, here he is. Is there anything inferior about it? Are we not giving this decision of yours the absolute best that we can do? Well, they all saw that it was the best. So Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom. He told them all those things he had previously told them the kingdom would be like. He wrote it in a book. He said, The children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no presents. But Saul didn’t respond. He held his peace. Well, every rosebush has its thorns. And we will in time through Samuel hear more about the sons of Belial. Belial is a Hebrew word meaning worthless. One of the most severe condemnations you could possibly utter. And it doesn’t matter who the head man is. He will always have people he can never please. He will always have an opposition. And it is, I think, a question of power. Well, it was not long before Saul’s leadership and his resolve were tested. Terrorism is not new to the Middle East. And what is going to be threatened here is terrorism of the worst kind. Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Israel at Jabesh Gilead. This is chapter 11, verse 1 of 1 Samuel. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you. In other words, they sued for peace. This was the way most wars were resolved in the ancient world. One big army comes up and encamps against a city, and everybody looks around and says, Let’s see, who’s got the biggest army? Who’s likely to win this battle? And they try to cut a deal. A city surrendered. It was put under tribute unless the terms were too severe, in which case they had to fight. In this case, Nahash the Ammonite answered them and said, Here is the condition that I will make a deal with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for reproach upon all Israel. Well, now, you know, you’re used to the idea of conquering kings coming through and laying a tax on you, taking tribute from you, taking so many lambs out of everybody’s flock. You can sort of deal with that. But the condition is we’re going to thrust out every one of your right eyes. That was different. The elders of Jabesh said to him, well, give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers. Now, it’s funny in a way that the Ammonites allowed this and agreed to this. But, of course, they would have suffered losses if they hadn’t fought to take the city. And maybe they said, well, this is the easier way to do it. And they probably also told themselves, the Israelites aren’t going to come out and fight. So why should we lose any men? So the messengers came from Gibeah to Saul, and they told the tidings in the ears of all the people. When they heard that, they lifted up their voices, and they wept. Saul came after the herd out of the field. He said, What in the world is the matter with these people who are weeping like this and wailing? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jebesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard these tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. He was furious. Now, I don’t know if this exactly matches what you think about the Spirit of God, but what can I tell you? The result of the Spirit of God coming upon Saul and of hearing all this news was he was furious. He took a yoke of oxen, he cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coast of Israel by the hand of the messenger, saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. You think the draft is bad? Well, in this case, he laid out severe threats upon the people, economic threats. Get yourself out here, or I’m going to kill your animals. When he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were 300,000, the men of Judah 30,000. So he had 330,000, a third of a million men. And they said to the messengers that came, You go back and tell the men of Jabesh-Gilead, tomorrow by the time the sun is hot you will have help. So the messengers came and told it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad to hear it. So they told the Ammonites, Well, look, tomorrow we’ll come out to you, and you can do to us all that seems good to you. So it was on the morrow that Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it came to pass that the ones that remained were scattered so that there weren’t two of them left together. It was a disastrous defeat for the Ammonites and a great win for Israel. Well, the people who knew about all the politics that had gone on, They actually said to Samuel, where is that idiot that said, shall Saul reign over us? Bring those men out here that we can put them to death. But Saul said, there shall not a man be put to death this day. For today the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel. He knew who had done it and told him so. So Samuel said to the people, come, let’s go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings, and there Saul and all the men rejoiced greatly. And I suppose we can add here, they all felt fully justified in their desire for a change of government, because after all, in their first big test, they had won big. And it could have continued that way. Problem was, some things began to change. We’ll talk about those changes and the terrible results they had for Israel right after this important message.
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The book of Samuel includes so much valuable history and lays the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible. The entire series of programs on Samuel and the book of Kings is available for a special price this week only. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Everyone was happy with what they had done. Everyone was happy with their king. They were happy with the battle they had fought. But before Samuel let them all go and before he went away, he wanted to be sure there were a couple of things they had clear. And so, beginning in the first verse of chapter 12, he tells all Israel, Look, I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me. I have made a king over you. And now behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray-headed. And behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my childhood to this day. So here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose ass have I taken? Which of you have I defrauded? Who have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind myself therewith, and I will restore it to you? Well, this was a pretty severe challenge he was laying out before all these people. And they said, You haven’t defrauded us. You have never oppressed us. You’ve never taken anything from any man’s hand. And he said, Okay. The Lord is witness on this, and his anointed, that is, the king, is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness. First of all, he establishes that the people had no complaint against him. It is attested and sworn to, as it were. Then he proceeds to establish they had no justifiable complaint against God either. He said to the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron and that brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt. Now, therefore, stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and your fathers. I want you to stand still for a moment. I want to reason with you. I want to be sure you have this straight, that God has dealt fairly with you all the way. When Jacob came into Egypt and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought out your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. When they forgot the Lord their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Moab, and they fought against them. But his people cried to the Lord, and they said, We’ve sinned, we’ve forsaken God, we’ve served Baal and Ashtoreth. Oh, please deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you. So the Lord heard them, and he sent Jeroboam, who’s also known as Gideon, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samson, and he delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwell safe. Now, you all know this, don’t you? You know that whenever you offended in Baal, God turned his back on you, and you had nothing but grief. And then when you turned back to him and prayed and asked for help, he sent men to you who would fight for you and lead you into battle, and you won. When you saw that Nahash, the children of Ammon, came against you, and then you said, Oh, no, we can’t handle this. We want a king to reign over us. When the Lord your God was your king, You did this, right? They all had to stand there, nodding their heads. Now, therefore, behold the king you’ve chosen and whom you have desired. And behold, the Lord has set a king over you. Here’s the deal. If you will fear the Lord and serve him, if you will obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both you and also the king that reigns over you continue following the Lord your God. But let’s get this straight. If you will not obey the voice of the Lord, if you rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers. Therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Isn’t this wheat harvest today? I’m going to call the Lord, and he will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking you a king. So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people feared the Lord, and incidentally they feared Samuel. And they said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God that we die not. For we have added unto all our sins this evil to ask us a king. Finally, at long last, it’s getting clear in their minds what they have done. They have laid down their freedom. They have asked for a king. When God gave them battle after battle after battle under their judges, but when one got too big for them and they thought they couldn’t handle it, they wanted a king. Now they have to understand something else, and that is that having a king doesn’t make it possible for you to go out and do as you please. Just because you have a king doesn’t mean you can serve Baal. It doesn’t mean you can chase Ashtar off into her temples. You can’t go visiting the temple prostitutes and expect that life is going to work for you just because you have a king. Well, Samuel said to the people, don’t be afraid. You’ve done this wickedness, but now don’t turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And don’t turn aside, for then you would go after vain things which cannot profit and can’t deliver, for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it is pleased the Lord to make you his people. But folks, you’ve got to understand, that’s not enough. Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good and the right way. But fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart. For remember how great things he has done for you. But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both you and your king. So, you know, you haven’t really solved the problem. You haven’t really freed yourself from trouble. Because if you do the same things you did before, you’re going to be just as great a trouble as you were without a king. But in spite of everything, in spite of their recalcitrance, God was willing to make this new decision work. It’s interesting to see how God may be seen to have more than one will in As someone once put it, there’s a difference between God’s prescriptive will, that is, God’s will that he writes down and says, this is the way it’s going to be, and his permissive will. God would permit this new thing and would even bless it if, and that is a big if, the people would remain faithful. So Saul reigned for one year. 1 Samuel 13. And when he had reigned two years over Israel, he chose him 3,000 men of Israel, whereof 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and in Mount Bethel, 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent home. What he retained was a core, a hard core of fighting men, and everybody else became reserves. It’s a very sensible approach to things. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Now, presumably Jonathan could have left them alone, but Jonathan apparently was not that kind of fellow. So the Philistines heard about it. When all this was known, Saul blew the trumpet through all the land and said, Let the Hebrews hear. And they heard all Israel say that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel was now had an abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul in Gilgal. So after this provocation, we’re going to have to deal with the subsequent war. So the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel. 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand on the seashore for multitude. He had 30,000 chariots, that’s the equivalent of tanks, 6,000 horse cavalry, and infantry like the sand on the seashore. And here they come. We’ll talk about this battle and the outcome of it after this brief message.
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Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Now let’s see if we’ve got the picture. Saul has a standing army of 3,000 men. The Philistines are gathering themselves together with 30,000 chariots. They have 10 times as many chariots, horse chariots, as Israel has standing army. Israel’s got 3,000 fighters and the National Guard. And that’s it. But then they also had 6,000 cavalry, and then they had infantry like the sand on the seashore. This was not good. And when the men of Israel saw that they were in a bind, that the people were distressed, they took off. They hid themselves in caves and thickets and rocks and high places and pits. Some of them even fled across Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him. trembling. Still had his soldiers, still had his retinue, but they were scared to death. He waited seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, and Samuel didn’t get there. And the people were continuing to flake away and leave him. And Saul said, bring here a burnt offering to me and some peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. This was a big mistake. Now, what’s going on here, and you’ll find Samuel’s displeasure with what he did coming shortly, but I want to explain it so you’ll understand why this is a big deal. It seems to have been God’s intent to keep a clear line of separation between the king and the priesthood. It’s only when we come down to Jesus Christ at his return that that he will return as a king and high priest. He will be a priest-king. Through this period of time, this is God’s version of the division of powers. We have our three parts of power, three divisions of power in our government, between the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive. Well, in ancient Israel, there was a division of power between the king and the priesthood, and Saul stepped across that line. It came to pass that as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. And Saul went out to meet him to salute him. And Samuel immediately says, what have you done? And Saul said, well, I saw the people were leaving me and that you didn’t come within the days appointed. And the Philistines were gathering together at Michmash. And we find here one of the fundamental character weaknesses of this man. And that is, he’s always making excuses, and he tends to point the finger in other directions. And it’ll get worse. He said, I said the Philistines are going to come down to Gilgal, and I haven’t made supplication to the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt offering. Didn’t really want to do it, but you weren’t here, so I forced myself. Well, Samuel said to Saul, you’ve done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which he commanded you. For up to now, the Lord would have established your kingdom upon Israel forever. You would have been the dynasty that went on and on. But now, your dynasty will not continue. The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people. Because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you. You just wouldn’t follow instructions. He’s like a lot of us who have the motto, when all else fails, do as you’re told. Well, Samuel arose, he got away from Gilgal, and Saul numbered the people that were present with him. He had left about 600 men. And Saul and Jonathan, his son, and the people who were with him stayed there. The Philistines encamped opposite them. And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company went one way, another a third way. They spread out. They tell us that the spoilers were raiding parties on punitive expeditions into Israel. What they wanted, they took. Now, the account goes on to tell us there was no smith found through all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. So they didn’t allow forges to be built or smithies to be there. They couldn’t work iron. All the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share and his coulter and his axe and his mattock. They didn’t have a file for the mattocks and for the coulters and the forks, for their utensils, agricultural utensils, and that’s all they had. So it came to pass in the day of battle, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. Now think about this. The Philistines have got chariots, they’ve got armored cavalry, they’ve got soldiers in their jillions, they’ve got all kinds of swords and spears. Nobody even has a sword or a spear. They’re going to have pitchforks and mattocks, axes, and that’s their weaponry at this time. Saul and Jonathan, his son, had swords. And that was it. So the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash. Now, there could not have been a worse situation for Israel. They were outnumbered. They were outmaneuvered. They were outgunned, as it were. Now, considering this and considering what ensued, I can only conclude that Jonathan Saul’s son was some kind of man. Because it came to pass on a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man that bare his armor, tell you what let’s do. Let’s go over to the Philistines’ garrison on the other side. Now, he didn’t bother telling his father this. Like all sons, he knew his father would say, no, he said, I’m going to do it anyway. So Saul waited in the uppermost parts of Gibeah under a palm granite tree, and the people were with him about 600 men. Ahiah, the son of Ahitab, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest, and Shiloh, they were all there. The people didn’t even know that Jonathan was gone. Now, there was an area, a narrow area, where there were passages where Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison. Sharp rock on one side, a sharp rock on the other side. And the impression I get from this is that we’re going to have a very narrow place where Jonathan cannot be approached from the sides or the back. A perfect situation for one man to fight. The author carefully describes the topography, which was no doubt familiar to generations of Israelites who heard this story over and over again. So Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Tell you what, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised Philistines. It may be the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Doesn’t matter numbers, if God’s with us. And his armor-bearer said to him, Do what’s in your heart. Go ahead. I am with you according to your heart. And Jonathan’s armor-bearer was no slouch either when it came to a fight. Well, I can’t tell you how it came out.
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We’re out of time. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560 White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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