Whose King?
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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. When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 10:1-27
Sermon Title: Whose King?
We are picking up where we left off last week—the calling of Israel’s first king, Saul, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Last time we looked at how this came about by the providence of God. Saul does not seem to have been preparing or campaigning for the throne, but rather God chose him and directed him to Samuel. As we begin, we return to a private anointing ceremony.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, earlier this week, James Schaap, a well-published author and retired Dordt professor, wrote a blog comparing Halloween when he was growing up in a small town in rural Wisconsin to how it is today. He describes how it looks like two completely different holidays—the past was for mischief and the present is just all about money and Wal-Mart. It wasn’t that critique that mainly caught my eye, but rather the stories he shared.
“Once upon a time—if I remember the stories—outhouses would be tipped or else moved artfully, so that those who used them would find themselves in an unfriendly morass when they went out to attend what had to be attended to. The myth I remember best is of the cagey homeowner who got ahead of the game and moved his outhouse aside before the bedlam began, so the pranksters suddenly found themselves knee deep in horror. Teachers often caught it, their houses egged or tomato-ed. I remember soaping windows, lots of them—houses and cars. Later, come daylight, toilet paper streamers waved lazily from front-yard trees. The whole madness could get out of control—fires set hither and yon, and all kinds of junk hauled out into the streets, old wagons mysteriously up on unsuspecting roofs. When I was a kid, we’d “can cars,” a cute little prank created by garbage can covers tied to fishing line strung across town streets. Some driver would snag the line and haul banging covers around until he realized he was the one making all the infernal noise.”
This was part of his concluding summary, “Once upon a time October 31 was a naughty Fat Tuesday, a night of lawlessness, pranks, punishments and dirty tricks, a night when the law and the church—once true authority in small towns—went limp.” As I read that, I assumed that back in the day Corsica, Armour, Harrison, Stickney, New Holland probably weren’t too different. I’ve heard enough stories of other shenanigans that used to go on around here, and was reminded that pranks aren’t new at all.
Many of us can reminisce about these things, and usually we can and do laugh about it. Some of us look back fondly on what we might call our “youthful mischief” when no real harm was done. Yet the thought arises, a bit of push back, are these kinds of things among others okay for us as citizens and believers to do? Are they permissible? Are they without sin? It’s not that I don’t want people, including myself, to have fun. It’s not that I never caused or got into trouble as a teenager. But it gets back to Schaap’s final point about authority, this was “a night when the law and the church” which back then held true authority, that authority “went limp.”
What he’s saying is that there was a culture in which this was acceptable. Maybe you’ve seen in the past or still see that existing now. We can have cultures in our families, our towns, our societies which say you are expected to follow a certain set of rules all the time, but we’ll look the other way one night a year or under certain circumstances. Most people would say that authority, laws, order, all of that is good, but some would say the community should determine what and when various things are enforced. Is that a positive thing? Is there a right way and a wrong way when we look at honoring authority?
If you were here a couple weeks ago, we looked at chapter 8 when Israel first requested a king. We focused on what was repeated here in chapter 10 verse 19, how our sin tends to be a rejection of God as king. Having been given a more powerful human authority, we want to build on that and focus in on what the acceptance of authority looks like. So, this message’s title “Whose King” is not a question looking for a person’s name, who is king, but who does a person truly view, who do different parties accept as their leaders and how?
We come to our first point, whose king was Saul? Was he God’s king? Yes, Saul was God’s chosen king. We heard in chapter 9 the prophecy God spoke to Samuel that Saul would come, and Samuel told him in chapter 10 verse 1, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance?” Then came the signs Samuel told Saul about as he headed home. Samuel hasn’t called these people and told them to be where and to do what he tells them, but God has revealed this to him. So, this should further confirm in Saul that God has this for him. God was saying, “Look, it’s not just what happened on this one day in one place—but pay attention going forward.”
God doesn’t stop with prophesies and signs, but he also does a further work in him. Verse 9, “As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart.” Something happened, whether an openness to notice these things or God dwelling differently in him now that he was anointed; in a new and special way, God was with Saul. Then when he joined the prophets, much like we noticed with Samson, “the Spirit of God came upon him in power”—that’s how he could prophesy.
So, signs and changes, but God further chooses Saul by way of lot. Samuel gets all of Israel, at least by representation together, and he goes tribe by tribe, clan by clan, and then family by family, and Saul’s name is chosen. But Saul’s hiding, and it’s not just a servant who noticed him by the bags, but it’s the Lord God himself who says, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” When he’s brought out, then Samuel can declare, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen?” God enabled the whole process, God revealed himself to Saul and he saw this through.
In Israel’s history, authority was set up by God, and the person or persons of authority could be designated by him. God could reveal who exactly he wanted in power, and God could also provide circumstances that would take someone out of power. The judges and kings had power, and often could do what they want, even going the wrong way, but God ultimately was able to put an end to them if he saw fit, and he could always provide something better.
That brings us to our second question in this point, was he his own king? Did he truly believe this about himself? I’ve said before that Christians today assume that if God spoke, we’d trust him, and we’d definitely do what he says. But how often is that proved untrue, especially in the Old Testament? One of the ways Saul fits the political mold, at least, what we’re used to nowadays, is he flip-flopped.
It seems like everything was good when he was with Samuel, and when seeing these signs, when he experienced what God told him he would. But he gets back around his people, his family, his countrymen, and he changes. He won’t tell his uncle all the news. Despite even prophesying, he won’t stand as the leader was chosen. It is kind of funny given his height and impressiveness that he thought even if he was chosen that he might not be found and that they might just find a different guy to be king. But now it’s public, and yet verse 27 tells us, “But Saul kept silent.”
I said last time, maybe Saul thought at some point that he just wanted to go back to tending the farm. If you have a Bible open, look at chapter 11 verse 5, “Just then Saul was returning from the fields behind his oxen.” It appears that’s exactly what he did! He got anointed king, maybe he didn’t have a crown yet, but he went back to working the fields. We can look at things charitably, and appreciate Saul’s humility, but was the farm what he was called to? Or was God desiring him to very clearly take up this role, to be the people’s king, to not be silent but to deliver them? God made it clear that a figure of authority was who he was and what he was to be doing.
One more piece to this, was he Israel’s, and all of Israel’s king? Was his authority recognized? For the majority, the answer is yes! Whether due to his impressiveness or to the lot or to Samuel’s ability to proclaim him as “the Lord’s chosen,” a united people shout, “Long live the king!” Then there’s these special folks, “valiant men whose hearts God had touched.” These are his strongest supporters. Men who should lead him in the right way.
But we do see that not all Israel supported him. There were troublemakers, some despisers, “How can this fellow save us?” We do not know whether their question comes because they didn’t think he was a good candidate, because he wasn’t knowledgeable with politics. We do not know if they doubted his ability to save them—he didn’t have Samson’s strength, he didn’t exhibit incredible diplomatic skills. We don’t know if he’d led men in battle, let alone fought in a war. That’s what a real king does, that’s what all the other nations had. Or maybe these were people not too different from what’s often experienced today, they had a culture of questioning authority.
Specific to Saul and his anointing as king at this point, there was no room for questioning. He was God’s anointed, and this had been revealed in various ways. Whether they knew it or understood it fully should not matter. It was wrong for them to despise him, and to doubt his call.
We do see that Israel went on to have in large part horrible leadership with ungodly men at the helm. Rather than following in the ways of the Lord, they chased after and received exactly what they wanted, to be like the other nations. It led to their downfall, we’ll see that even in the days of Saul as we continue looking at his life. But what about authority now? We don’t live in Israel. Their lineage of kings ended long ago. We live in a country that doesn’t have a king for its top authority. There are Christian traditions that take very seriously their citizenship to be in heaven, and so they do not hold allegiance to any earthly government. There are Christians scattered across the globe, all different countries with various forms of leadership. Is there a call to honor authority and can it be determined that there is one right way to do that honoring?
We’ve turned before to Romans 13, but we look there again, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God...Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
I can’t answer every question I’ve asked this morning in our time right now, but let’s think about our own situation. Who are our authorities and what do they deserve? We are in a town and a state and a nation that values freedom. We live in a society that holds elections for many of our public officials. We expect those elected to represent and lead us. They ought to appoint people who are qualified and who will also lead in accordance with our law, the Constitution. Our government is set up with checks and balances, so one person or group cannot run or legislate or judge everything on their own. Governments are run by humans, so there are failures and problems to be expected. Our government is not perfect, but it seems rather fair in comparison to others.
What do they deserve? I think back to earlier this year when you could watch news coverage day after day, and see another assembly protest, people declaring that Donald Trump was not their president. It’s abundantly clear that there are many people in our nation who disagree with him. That’s acceptable. Disagreements on character and on policy are permissible. Yet to declare someone “not your president” based on one’s personal opinion rather than evidence of corruption and admissions of guilt or a flaw in the results of the approved system of voting—that is wrong. To deny authority simply based on your feelings, according to Scripture, is wrong. Respect and honor are expected and owed to the authorities that govern us while in power.
There are times when and situation where things change. Laws can be different from one time to another, from one place to another. They can change because of public opinion or for a better society. Laws are not always enforced the same way, which understandably brings complaint. But that doesn’t mean we as citizens and believers throw everything out, do what we want, and have anarchy. No, authority has been established by God, and the command repeated in Romans 13 is to submit to that authority.
When we take issue with policies or individuals due to errors and wrongs committed, we are to deal with those in ways that follow the Romans 13 command. If we break laws that our authorities have in place, then we should be expect and be willing to accept the consequences or punishments that come along with that. We might not like the rules, but as citizens in a given society, we accept them. When dealing with people in control, or who are law makers or law enforcers, we ought to expect that if we are breaking laws that are in place, whether it seems grievous to us or not, it is sinful to not at least show the due honor and respect to the authorities.
Going back to Schaap’s article, this is what followed. “October 31…was a night when the law and the church…went limp. With the dawn, once again, righteousness held sway. The place was cleaned up.” It’s easy to say, we’ll deal with things tomorrow. But in our homes between parents and kids, in towns between law officers and citizens, in our nation between officials and constituents, our call as believers is to submit, to seek righteousness all the time, not now and then.
What God brings about through redemption in his Son Jesus is a recognition that there is right and wrong, sin and obedience. Our call is to follow the way of obedience, which is also the way of love. Let us live in such a way already now, that we honor those who God has put in place. Let us seek his will, and what he calls for in our lives. May we trust that the authorities in place are for our good, whether now or in days to come. Amen.