Just Looking for Donkeys
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There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.”
Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons. And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’ ” So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”
So Saul ate with Samuel that day. And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep. Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.
As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 9:1-3, 15-10:1
Sermon Title: Just Looking for the Donkeys
Last time, in chapter 8, we heard the Israelites’ request that Samuel give them a king. They had been led by judges for some 200 to 300 years, who God rose up, but now they wanted a change. Samuel, displeased by this, brought their request to God. They wanted to be like everyone else, how can they forsake God and him? But God told Samuel to listen to them. Chapter 9 introduces to who the first king would be.
Let’s pause there. We have Kish, the father, Saul, the son. They were Benjamites, they’re farmers, and they stood out a bit. Kish was a man of standing. He was not just any old, struggling or poor farmer; he had done well. His son, Saul, was impressive and tall. Other translations clear it up—we’re talking about his looks. Saul was known for being really, really handsome. If you wanted someone good looking to be the face of something, Saul could be your model.
But at this moment, they were just regular guys—a dad wanting his son to find and bring back his donkeys who got out of the fence. That’s what’s happening in verses 4 through 14. Saul and a servant were gone 2 days, and found nothing. Saul says, “Enough, let’s go home, my dad’s going to worry about us.” The servant says, “Hold on, let’s go to one more town, there’s a prophet there. I can cover the cost of meeting with him. Maybe he’ll tell us where to look.” Saul agreed, and they have come to the city where the prophet, Samuel, is. Let’s pick it up at verse 15.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, last December the Chicago Blackhawks were in a tight spot that typically only comes up in the National Hockey League. In the middle of the season, before an afternoon game in Philadelphia, the starting goalie needed an appendectomy. Teams have back-up goalies, and so the back-up would start, but you normally travel with only one of those. The third-string goalie plays for Chicago’s farm team out of Rockford, Illinois, but that team also had a game scheduled that night in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
There was no way to fly him out in time, and so the Blackhawks were left looking for someone to be on the bench. Salary cap issues made things more difficult. So, the Flyers, their opponent, gave them a list of nearby players. That morning, just hours before the game, a 23 year-old named Eric Semborski, got a phone call with an amateur tryout contract. Semborski played club hockey in college, and he was working at his local rink. Well, he took off from work, went home, got what gear he needed. He drove through traffic to get to the game, arrived in time to participate in warm-ups, and sat on the bench. But if necessary, he would have gone in. Afterwards he shared with reporters that he hoped he wouldn’t have to play, because of how rusty he was; but to put on an NHL jersey and be a pro for a few hours was pretty special.
That’s a fun, feel-good story. Whether it’s in sports or music or other fields, most people like rags-to-riches testimonies—people coming from the bottom, from nothing, and getting a shot, going pro, making it big. Semborski didn’t start or even play in the game. If he had and gotten a win, it would have been crazy. Yet still, when people get opportunities we don’t think they’d ever have, it’s a big deal.
Our introduction to Saul is that kind of a story. Think about what just happened from his perspective. He was a son just out looking for his father’s donkeys. He was ready to give up, but his servant proposed seeing this prophet. They go to him, and not only did they learn the donkeys were safe, but he ended up being anointed as king. There’s more to his story that we’ll look at in the next few weeks, but can you imagine what went through Saul’s mind? As Samuel poured oil over his head, I can imagine him thinking, “Is this really happening? What will I tell my family? Where am I going to live? What am I supposed to do?” As the magnitude of things would sink in, maybe he said, “I just want to go back to tending the farm,” but God had bigger plans for him.
Those plans lead us to see this story is not just the feel-good type, but also a story that shows us the providence of God. That’s our first point, and the overarching theme that we’ll consider throughout the message, the providence of God. Dale Davis sees God’s providence in this passage, and this is how he sums it up: “When I use ‘providence’ here I mean that wonderful, strange, mysterious, unguessable way Yahweh has of ruling his world and sustaining his people, and his doing it, frequently, over, under, around, through, or in spite of the most common stuff of our lives or even the bias of our wills.” Providence is what some people might deem to be chance or coincidence, and yet what’s really going on is God doing something to provide for his plan.
We’ve already considered Saul was just being obedient to his father—he was being a ranch hand. He didn’t have some secret plan to track Samuel down and become king. We also find that despite his “impressiveness,” he was rather humble at this point in his life. Samuel says, verse 20, “‘And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father’s family?’” He’s saying, “You’re the guy everyone’s looking for.” “Saul answered, ‘But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe…and is not my clan the least of all [the Benjamite clans]? Why do you say such a thing to me?’” Saul probably knew Israel wanted a king, maybe his family felt the same way, but he didn’t aspire to be that guy. He didn’t have a political studies degree, he wasn’t pursuing the throne, he wasn’t out campaigning. He just met and followed Samuel that day.
Saul wasn’t behind it, but neither was Samuel. It truly was God. Three verses tell us what’s happening, what is God doing here. We have the initial prophecy, in verse 16, and then the anointing in chapter 10 verse 1. God tells Samuel, “Anoint him,” a Benjamite who will come to you tomorrow, “leader over my people Israel.” When we get to chapter 10 verse 1, Samuel tells Saul while he’s anointing him, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance.” That word and title leader can also be translated “prince.” It’s used elsewhere in the Old Testament with King David and others who held significant political office. Even though we don’t find the word “king” in these verses, it would have been clear to Saul what was happening.
God doesn’t just give the title, but he proclaimed what Saul was going to do. Look at the rest of verse 16, “He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines.” Just as Samson was called to specifically do, and the judges were assigned deliverance, in general, God is continuing that for King Saul to do. He will be a deliverer. We also have verse 17, “He will govern my people.” This word “govern” in Hebrew is not often used regarding a judge or king. It’s typically translated with a sense of stopping something. That’s why the ESV translates it, “He it is who shall restrain my people.” Think back to what Deuteronomy 17 called kings to do, the Israelites at this point needed some restraint. They didn’t just need a governor or a judge, but someone who would hold them back from foreign enemies and gods, and hold them to the way of the Lord.
God wasn’t leaving Samuel to sort through the mess on his own. He wasn’t leaving Israel to elect or appoint whoever they wanted. But God provided Saul for them according to his will. Many of us know that things did not go well under him, Saul was sinful, Saul became prideful, which turned him to his way rather than the Lord’s. We see Israel as a nation again in this king—at first, being willing to take up the task God has set before them, but eventually falling way. Yet God remained, and he remained who Israel and who anyone really needs.
God’s providence for the church and through individuals doesn’t stop in the pages of Scripture. He has given us Martin Luther, another very imperfect person, and the whole Protestant Reformation, out of which our traditions are born, to help the church. Luther has kind of a rags-to-riches story, at least by his account. He was born in 1483 in Germany to a self-described peasant family. But his father did own a mine, and he had enough money to go to school. Martin Luther was being educated and trained to be a lawyer.
This didn’t sit well with him though. In 1505, at the age of 21, he was journeying back to school, and lightning struck near him, and he made vow. If Saint Anne would permit him to live through this storm, he would become a monk. So, he did, he took up the monastic life, he put aside law studies much to his parents’ dismay, and he studied Scripture and theology. Luther was deeply troubled by his own sins, as insignificant as others viewed them. He had a fearful faith—if God demanded him to live out his faith in works, how could he possibly overcome his wrongs.
As time went on, he compared his studies to the teachings of the Catholic church. He realized the Catholic church, the one dominant tradition that covered most of Europe, and the tradition which he was training for ministry in, the church had gone astray. So, the event that we remember on October 31, 1517, the nailing of the 95 theses, 95 doctrinal issues on the door of the church, kind of a community bulletin board, was his response. How does the church and her leaders reconcile these things? What change is necessary?
The next 4 years of his life and beyond would be a struggle. As these matters were dealt with, Luther was considered more and more offensive to the pope and to God. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, at the age of 37, Luther after much prayer and turmoil proclaimed he would not recant, he would not go back on his belief. What he had put before the church is what he believed Scripture to say. How can the church, how can any tradition overlook these matters? The Catholic church excommunicated him, and would put a death warrant on him—anyone could kill Luther and get away with it.
Yet his teachings grew more and more popular. Luther’s stand provided and coincided with other Reformers taking similar stands in their study of God’s word. While Luther was deeply troubled in various ways until his death, it was in this period from 1521 to 1546 that he had a family, he wrote a catechism, a teaching for church and home, he translated the Bible into German, he welcomed students into his home, he helped new congregations, and he wrote and wrote.
His desire and that of other Reformers was to reform the Catholic church, but it became clear through trials and declarations that it would not happen. So Reformed churches with various traditions began to populate Europe and have gone out from there. Luther is said to have been rather outspoken, which was part of his trouble, as well as what are viewed today as hateful declarations made about Jews. These are blemishes on his legacy, he was certainly not perfect, but nevertheless it’s hard to think about where we might be today without him.
God provided the church with Martin Luther, with John Calvin, with Ulrich Zwingli, with others. Men, and women too, who read God’s word, and studied God’s word, and who saw the importance for everyone to be able to read it, not just the elite who understood Latin. Out of this movement, we get the five solas, or the five alones. This is what they mean. God gave his word to all of us—we base our understanding for life and salvation and God on his revelation. God provided us with a renewed understanding of what his righteousness is about, that Jesus’ grace, won on the cross, is truly what saves us to heaven and eternal life. Salvation is not dependent on money or post-mortem prayers or the sacraments or good works—but the grace of God! We do have a part in salvation, faith, to believe, and then live for the glory of God. Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, the glory of God alone. These are what the church stands on.
God uses regular people in some extraordinary ways. God provides for his church in ways that bring us back to what he wills. Sometimes sin and rebellion and laziness and tradition rule the day for hundreds of years. We get comfortable in doing things the way they have always been done. But then God shows up to remind us of who he is. Studying the Reformation does bring focus to names that we know and love, especially if you’re into theology. But it’s much more to be about returning to God, what he has and is and is yet to do. Much like in the days of Saul, God would do something through these kings. He would give them who they thought they wanted, the kings would fall, but through their lineage, he would bring about the perfect King, out of Jesse’s stump, a son of David—King Jesus, who also had a rags-to-riches story.
We’ll close here, brothers and sisters, what has God provided us? And how do we continue to receive what he has given? A king who lived over 3,000 years ago, a guy who was just looking for the donkeys, what was God making a way for? A king who suffered on a cross almost 2,000 years ago, who never had a kingdom or a nation on this earth, has he offered you something and have you received him and his gift? A time 500 years ago giving each and every one of us an opportunity to focus more on this word than on the words of any man—what has God accomplished throughout history and today to shape your faith in ways that we don’t often think about? The providence of our God for his church is amazing and eternal, do not lose it. Amen.
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