Ep. 77. 1 Samuel 15-16 | David Anointed King
EPISODE 77
DAVID ANOINTED KING: 1 SAMUEL 15-16
Notice immediately the difference between this battle and the one highlighted for us in chapter 13. In the previous lesson, Saul took three thousand people with him to war, but here, in chapter fifteen, he has over two hundred thousand men with him. This helps us see the difference between the beginning of his kingdom and what he's like as his kingdom became established.
God's command to Saul is clear and not dissimilar to the command God gave Joshua several centuries earlier, "Devote to destruction all they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
This has to be one of the verses people find most offensive in the Bible. Everyone gets caught up on the "child and infant" portion of the destruction. I find it interesting that a verse like this can unsettle someone, but we accept the flood of Genesis 6 without issue or even the death of the firstborn in Egypt. We subconsciously know that children and infants were destroyed in the flood, and we know that the firstborns were killed in Egypt. What we are required to remember is that God is just and does not destroy the righteous along with the wicked. God ALWAYS does what is right. In the flood, for example, we are told that only eight people were righteous. That was Noah and his family. The rest were wicked and destroyed. All of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked, and all therefore destroyed. John the Baptist put faith in Christ from his mother's womb. David trusted God from his mother's breast. Timothy knew the Scriptures since infancy. These are all true things. But it is also true that the wicked go astray from the womb and speak lies from birth. Christian, keep it in the forefront of your mind, "God is just and does not treat the righteous and the wicked the same." If he destroys, he is right to do so, and if he spares, he is right to do so. I don't expect that such a short paragraph on this matter has settled this issue for you, but I am always available to discuss it.
Again, the command is clear, "put everything to death." However, "Saul and the people spared Agag [the king], and the best of the sheep and the oxen, the fattened calves, the lambs, and all that was good. But all that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction." This concept of "devoted to destruction" occurs several times in the Bible, and it is usually attached to the idea that the devoted thing is devoted to the Lord. This tells us that Saul devoted the worthless things to God and kept the best of the livestock for himself and his men. That didn't go well for Achan back in Joshua 7, and it won't go well for Saul. What is really insane about Saul is his ability to convince himself that he truly obeyed God. When confronted by Samuel, Saul insists, "I have performed the commandment of the LORD." When pressed further about it, Saul answers, "We spared the best to sacrifice to the LORD your God." Don't miss "YOUR" God. Saul doesn't say, "We saved the best to sacrifice to the Lord OUR God." Saul's heart is obvious in this matter. He has no interest in honoring God. He already knows he has forfeited the kingdom, and his heart is far from God. Saul repeats himself again, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD." I wish this was an unusual situation, but people are always trying to do what they want and still insist they are obeying God.
Finally, Samuel tells Saul, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption as the iniquity of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."
Let's take a moment to consider that God delights more in obedience than he does offerings. We see a similar idea in Hosea 6, where we are told he desires mercy and not sacrifice. It is identical again to what we see in Isaiah 1, where God rejects the offerings of the rebellious people and tells them he desires their righteousness. Offerings made to God without a heart for God have no value. God rejected Saul as king, so it was time to appoint another king.
In chapter sixteen, we meet the young man, David. He doesn't look like a king the same way Saul did. God reminds Samuel, "Don't look on his appearance for the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." Saul had fit the outward look of a king; David would have the heart that longed after God. Saul was the king the people wanted. David was the king God wanted. Saul was the first and weaker example; David would be the second and the picture of the coming Messiah with his kingdom.
At this point, the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul and was replaced by a harmful spirit from the LORD. The Spirit of God at this time rushed upon David. We have already talked about the idea of the harmful spirit, so I won't revisit that here, but I would like you to pay attention to the fact the Spirit of God came upon people and departed people as was necessary for God's work in their lives. This is certainly why David will pray in the fifty-first Psalm, "Don't take your Spirit from me." David had seen that happen in his predecessor.
ADDITIONAL READING: Psalm 51:11; Numbers 23:19; Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7; Joshua 7; Luke 1:15; Psalm 22:9; 2 Timothy 3:15
