Sermon Tone Analysis

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!! 1 Sam.
9:27-10:13
* *
*Introduction:*  Have you ever wished for opportunities for Christian service?
Have you ever heard opportunities announced and thought, “I wish /I/ could do that,” or, “I could /never/ do that!”
Or perhaps you’ve started some work, only to lose hope as the situation began to feel impossible.
I want to share a life-changing principle with you from the life of Saul.
Let’s do some work first of all, and set the context:
 
The people had cried out for a king.
The Lord responds to their request (*8:21-22*).
The scene immediately shifts, and we are introduced to a man named Kish, a wealthy man of the tribe of Benjamin (*9:1*).
• As far as we can tell, his only significant accomplishment was that he had a son . . .
and /quite/ a son! (*9:2*)
 
• One day, Kish sent his son Saul on a mission – recover some lost donkeys.
(*9:3*)
 
• Saul started out in his home town of Gibeah – about three miles north of Jerusalem.
He headed north-northwest into the mountains of Ephraim, passing through several towns with no luck, until he reached Zuph, somewhere northwest of Shiloh.
By then, Saul felt that his father would have begun to worry about him, so he turned toward home in failure.
• On the way, they came to a city.
As they passed the city, it just “happened” that the circuit-riding prophet Samuel was passing through for a sacrificial festival.
• As they passed by the city, Saul’s servant suggested that they visit Samuel, the “seer”.
It’s more than an interesting side-note that Samuel was called the “seer,” the /ro-eh’/.
The Hebrew root is /raw-aw’/, which literally means “to see, to advise, to discern.”
In its noun form, the word referred to a bird of pray, like a vulture, known for its keen sight.
So the servant says, “Let’s go see the old buzzard Samuel.”
• As they enter the town, Samuel greets them.
Now, the day before, God had told Samuel that He would be sending to Samuel the man who was to be anointed king of Israel.
When Samuel laid eyes on Saul, God spoke to Samuel, and said, “Behold the man whom I spake to thee of!”
 
• Samuel sends Saul up to the house to eat with him, telling him not to worry about the donkeys—that they have been found.
He then tells Saul that all of Israel’s desires were on Saul – he was the fulfillment of all their selfish, carnal, worldly desires.
*Today, we might say that Saul was everything they wanted in a king.*
• The feast progresses, with Saul receiving a favored seat, and a favored portion.
Samuel is grooming him to be a figure for respect.
• Now, we come to our text.
It’s the next morning, and Saul and his servant are going home.
Samuel sends the servant on ahead, and we have the climax of the story—Saul is anointed king of Israel.
• Saul’s response was one of disbelief—he was, after all, a pretty insignificant guy from a nowhere town.
He wasn’t even from the right tribe!
He was a Benjamite!
*Gen.
49:10*
 
• But, God has been pretty patient with human frailty throughout these events, and He will continue to be.
He gives Samuel 3 /more/ signs for Saul:
 
            *1.*
On their way home, when they reached Rachel’s tomb, they would meet two men.
These men would give them news from home – about Kish’s missing donkeys, and his worry for his missing son.
/Worldly cares and menial tasks were behind him now/.
*            2.*
At another landmark, they would encounter three men going to Bethel to sacrifice to God.
Out of their sacrificial provisions, they would give Saul two loaves of bread.
/He was worthy of sacred respect, as God’s anointed/.
*3.*
At the garrison of the Philistines, he would encounter a band of prophets, and would be overcome with the Spirit of God and begin prophesying himself.
- Not surprisingly, all three events came to pass.
We’re going to focus on the events surrounding this third sign.
Now we need to slow down a moment and make sure we have a clear picture of what’s going on.
• As he left Samuel, “God gave him a new heart.”
Matthew Henry writes:
 
“A new fire was kindled in his breast, such as he had never before been acquainted with: seeking the asses is quite out of his mind, and he thinks of nothing but fighting the Philistines, redressing the grievances of Israel, making laws, administering justice, and providing for the public safety; these are the things that now fill his head.
He finds himself raised to such a pitch of boldness and bravery as he never thought he should be conscious of.
He has no longer the heart of a husbandman, which is low, and mean, and narrow, and concerned only about his corn and cattle; but the heart of a statesman, a general, a prince.”
• After Saul receives a king’s heart from God, we shouldn’t be surprised at all that, just as Samuel, the seer, /saw/, here came a group of prophets, singing and praising God on harps, tambourines, and flutes.
~* These were not prophets in the same sense that Samuel was.
These were not seers, not /ro-eh’/.
They were /naw-bee’/.
This was a generic term for one who would speak or sing under inspiration.
They weren’t telling the future – they were praising God in song!  That’s why the Bible talks about all of the instruments that were preceding them.
*1 Chron.
25:1*
 
- These were like roving bands of Seminary students who were probably learning under Samuel, and travelling around teaching Israel through lessons and songs.
• When they met the prophets, the Spirit of God came upon Saul.
Literally, the Hebrew reads “rushed upon him.”
As happened in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon Saul for a special service and then, as suddenly, left.
In this case, the service was joining the prophets in preaching, singing and praying to God.
 
• Now, here’s where we get to a couple of very interesting questions that are posed by these confused onlookers.
Let me read to you from /The Bible in Basic English/:
 
“And when they came to Gibeah, a band of prophets came face to face with him; and the spirit of God came on him with power and he took his place among them as a prophet.
11 Now when Saul's old friends saw him among the band of prophets, the people said to one another, What has come to Saul, the son of Kish?
Is even Saul among the prophets?
12 And one of the people of that place said in answer, And who is their father?
So it became a common saying, Is even Saul among the prophets?”
- The first question is raised as it sinks in what Saul is doing.
Here is this carefree, regular Joe – this guy who used to care about nothing beyond the boundaries of his father’s land – /prophesying!/
 
- And the question is raised . . .
“Is Saul among the prophets?”
“Isn’t that Kish’s boy?”
“Isn’t that the neighbor kid?”
“What’s /he/ doing out there?”
“Since when did /he/ talk about such things?”
“Is /Saul/ among the prophets?”
• But then someone else in the crowd responds, “But who is /their /father?”
 
~* We MUST NOT skip over this question – it has so much to say to us today!
*“Who is their father?”*
• What was this guy asking?
 
- “Who are these other guys?
They didn’t come from an elite pedigree.
They didn’t come from some exclusive bloodline.
They didn’t have some prior claim to any exalted position.
Sure, Saul was just the son of Kish, but while we’re on the subject, /who is their father?/”
~* You see, Saul had only one claim to be among the prophets that day, and it wasn’t his bloodline.
- it wasn’t an education
            - it wasn’t a great spiritual pedigree – he wasn’t the
  son of a prophet
            - it wasn’t because he had great knowledge of the law
            - it wasn’t because he had been cloistered among
   priests and scribes as a child.
- /He had a normal, everyday, good-old-boy /
/   upbringing./
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