Stay in the City of Refuge
Today’s Passage – 2 Samuel 1 – 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 15 – 16; Proverbs 8; Psalms 36 – 40
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 25
Read the “0408 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.” – (2 Samuel 3:27)
These first few chapters of 2 Samuel make for some exciting reading, as well as for some valuable truth. In the verse above, we see the murder of Abner by Joab. To fully understand what is happening here, there is an underlying principle that we must learn, as well as some additional background information.
First let me give you the principle. The city where this killing took place was Hebron, which was known as a City of Refuge. You can read all about the cities of refuge in Numbers 35:9 – 34, and Joshua 20. Basically, a city of refuge was a place where somebody who was guilty of what we would call manslaughter could flee to for safety. You see, the law in Israel stated that if you killed somebody in wartime, or if you unintentionally killed somebody (not pre-meditated murder) that the family of the dead person could avenge the blood of their relative without any legal action being taken against them. But if the person who committed the “manslaughter” could get inside one of the six cities of refuge, then he would be granted safety and refuge as long as he remained inside of the city, but if he was to leave at any time, he was fair game for the “avengers of blood.”
Now let’s look at the background to this story. Chapter two tells us that Joab and Abishai had a brother named Asahel that was killed by Abner during a previous battle. Naturally, Joab and Abishai had never forgotten what Abner did to their brother, and even though the act was committed during a time of war, they wanted Abner to pay for their brother’s death. The problem was, however, that they had to get him outside the gate of the city. Notice our text tells us that Joab pulls him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly (privately). But why would Abner willingly leave the protection of the city in order to speak with a man that wanted him dead? Because Joab had deceived him into thinking that he meant no harm. As soon as he gets him outside, however, he kills him.
Now let’s make an application. The city of refuge is a picture of the will of God and Joab is a picture of the devil. The devil cannot touch us directly as long as we are inside the walls of the will of God, so what he does is try to lure us out of the city so that he can kill our ministry for the Lord. The moral to the story is: stay inside the city. Don’t stray from God’s perfect will for your life. Don’t let Satan convince you that life will be better outside of the walls of the city. Stay in the Word of God; stay in the prayer closet; stay in church; stay out soul winning; stay separated. Stay in the City!
Posted in Thoughts from 2 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
Encouragement from the Lord
Today’s Reading – 1 Samuel 28 – 31 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers read – Matthew 13 – 14; Proverbs 7; Psalms 31 – 35)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Ephesians 4:32 (Fast)
Read the “0407 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” – (1 Samuel 30:6)
In our passage this morning, we see David and his men returning home to Ziklag where they discover that the city was burned to the ground and their wives and children were gone. At this point they have no idea what these Amelekites had done to their families but I am sure that David and his men suspected that they were either being slaughtered or, at the very least, abused. The men were naturally distraught. At times like these people want to blame somebody, and since David was their leader, he bore the brunt of their wrath. Remember, these were men that loved David and risked much by following him. This was certainly a great test of David’s leadership. But how was David supposed to help his men when he was also distraught due to the loss of his family. It is very hard to encourage and lead people when you yourself are discouraged, and David is perhaps at the lowest point of his life here.
The last sentence in verse 6 tells us what David did to get back up so he could do something to help these people who were relying on him for leadership. “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” It is not easy to turn to the Lord for encouragement when you are down. Honestly, I can speak from experience when I say that sometimes I want to just wallow in the mire of discouragement; have a little pity party, so to speak. But that will not help anybody. David didn’t stay down; he got back up. He received encouragement from the only Source available at the time. Remember, his loyal men wanted to stone him at this time. David went to the Lord and the Lord gave him the answers that he needed, and in a very short time, they had recovered their families, not to mention their possessions. However, none of that would have happened if David would have just stayed down.
This passage is a great encouragement for us today. Personally, I have battled with discouragement. I guess, like David, I needed to get up, go to God, and get back in the battle. And, when I got encouragement from the Lord, then I was be able to give some encouragement to the people around me.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 7 comments.
Let God Take Care of the Problem
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 25 – 27 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers read – Matthew 11 – 12; Proverbs 6; Psalms 26 – 30)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Ephesians 4:32
Read the “0405 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Good Morning
This is God. I will be handling all of your problems today, and I don’t need your help, so have a nice day.
“Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.” – (1 Samuel 25:25-26)
“And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’S anointed, and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.” – (1 Samuel 26:9-10)
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” – (Matthew 5:39)
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” – (Romans 12:19)
Have you ever been wronged by somebody? Have you ever been hurt by somebody? I am sure that we all have experienced pain at one time or another in life that was caused by another person. The tendency when we are being attacked, or maligned, or gossiped about by somebody else is to attack back. It is in our human nature to want to even the score. In our passage this morning, we see two occasions where David had the justification and the opportunity to settle the score with people who had treated him unfairly; yet David chose to let God take care of it, rather than settling the matter himself.
In chapter 25 of our reading today, we see David being treated poorly by a man named Nabal who was a nasty, selfish man without much mental capacity. David had been sharing the same fields with Nabal’s shepherds. David’s men protected the shepherds from any harm that might have come their way as they were feeding Nabal’s sheep. David asked if Nabal could give him some food for his men, and Nabal turned him down, and insulted him as well. David wanted to destroy the man and all that he owned, but Nabal’s wife, Abigail, convinced David not to do it. She reminded David that God was well able to take care of the situation; and God did. A short time later, Nabal died, and God gave David Nabal’s wife.
In chapter 26, we read where David has the opportunity to kill King Saul who had been pursuing David and trying to kill him. When a perfect opportunity comes for one of David’s men to put an end to this constant threat against David’s life, David says that he will not put forth his hand against God’s annointed. David knew that God would take care of the situation. We will read in future chapters about the death of Saul, and the coronation of David as the king of Judah, and then all of Israel.
You see, you do not have to take matters into your own hands. God is well able to watch out for you, and avenge any wrong that has been done to you. You and I just need to be like Jesus – ready to forgive those who have sinned against us. And remember, though you and I may have been sinned against a time or two in our lives, I bet we have also done our share of hurting other people as well. We may not have meant to, but nevertheless we did. And, when we do wrong we want others to gives us some grace, don’t we? So let’s be willing to turn the other cheek ourselves.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Avenge Not Yourselves
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 22 – 24 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 9 – 10; Proverbs 5; Psalms 21 – 25
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Matthew 6:33
Read the “0405 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “I’ve Got Your Back.“
“4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily. 5 And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt. 6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. 7 So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.” (1 Samuel 24:4-7)
In today’s reading, we saw that King Saul is becoming increasingly unstable in his insecurity and obsession with David. In chapter 22, Saul had all the priests of Nob and their families killed because he thought that they had intentionally helped David. In chapter 23, Saul pursues after David in Keilah, a city that David had just delivered from the armies of the Philistines. It was revealed to David by God that even though David had saved the people of Keilah from the Philistines, they were still going to turn him over to King Saul. It is sad to think that people will do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, even betray a good friend.
In chapter 24, Saul and three thousand of his men pursued after David in the wilderness of Engedi. In Engidi David had a perfect opportunity to kill Saul but refused to do so. He spared his life and stated that he would not “stretch forth [his] hand against [Saul].” David is still thinking clearly and he is following the will of God even though he is under tremendous pressure to react in the flesh because of Saul’s insane and unwarranted obsession and jealousy of David. David chooses not to act in vengeance against King Saul and instead turns him over to the Lord. David trusts that God will take care of Saul in his own time. Note – David will have another opportunity to eliminate Saul in chapter 26, but will again refuse to do so.
This willingness to restrain himself from vengeance that David exemplified in the Old Testament was also taught by the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount.
“43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)
It was also taught by Paul in his Letter to the Romans:
“19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:19-21)
If you and I are living for God, there will be people who the Devil will raise up to attack us. Not everyone will applaud us for doing the right thing. There may even be carnal believers who will oppose what we are trying to do. Worse yet, there you may have friends that will turn against you like the people of Keilah did to David.
When we are persecuted for righteousness sake, we need to follow the example of David and not attack back. Hopefully, our enemies will turn to the Lord in repentance and faith, but even if they don’t, we can be sure that God will always do what is right regarding our enemies. He will take care of the situation. We just need to leave it in the Lord’s hands.
The Lord said when He was being crucified: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Martin D. Niemöller once told of his incarceration at Dachau. His cell was in plain view of the gallows. Day after day he watched men and women go to their deaths. He could hear their cries, curses, and prayers. He declared that the gallows became his best teacher. Through that horrible experience he was haunted by two questions: “What will happen on the day they lead you there and put you to the test? When they put that rope around your neck, what will be your last words? Will they be, ‘Father, forgive them’ or will they be ‘Criminals! Scum?’ ”
Niemöller said that if Jesus had cried out in vengeance, there would have been no New Testament, no church, and no Christian history.[1]
[1] G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 95–96.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Obsession
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 19 – 21 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 7 – 8; Proverbs 4; Psalms 16 – 20)
“And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.” – (1 Samuel 22:18-19)
Chapter 22 of 1 Samuel is perhaps one of the saddest chapters in the Bible. King Saul commands that all the priests of Nob be slain because he thinks that they are conspiring with David against him. Saul is now totally out of control. He is obsessed with David, and he is allowing his imaginations to completely run wild. Let me back up and review the story. David is on the run from King Saul. He enters Nob, the city where the priests of God lived, looking for bread for himself and his men. David does not tell Ahimelech the priest the truth about why he is there, which was wrong. He tells the priest that he is on a top-secret mission for the king which required haste, and because he and his men left in such a hurry, he did not have time to get food before he left. Ahimelech and the other priests are completely innocent. The priests give David some of the old shewbread from off the altar and they also give him the sword of Goliath which was being stored in the city of Nob. There was an evil man, named Doeg, in the city that day and he observed what had happened and then went to tell Saul.
Saul sends for Ahimelech and the rest of the priests and asks them what had happened. Ahimelech rehearses the matter before Saul exactly as it did happen, but Saul does not believe him. Saul then orders the death of all the priests of God. Saul’s insecurity regarding David has completely usurped his ability to reason logically. His imagination is in total control and his imaginations are being fed by the Wicked One. The Bible says that we are to cast down imaginations:
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” – (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Saul’s insecurity began and took root as jealousy because of David’s successes. God obviously had his hand upon David and Saul knew it. Saul also knew that God no longer had his hand upon him. Saul’s insecurity affected the entire kingdom. Many people died because of it. Notice that Saul’s insecurity caused him to imagine that these priests were his enemies, and they were not. His insecurity also caused him to forget about his real enemies, which were the Philistines and some of the other nations surrounding Israel.
Can you relate to any of this? Have you ever imagined that people were against you without really knowing that they were? Have you ever saw a group of people gathered without you, and imagined that they were talking about you? Have you forgotten that your enemy is Satan, not your friends and family members? Perhaps you are a little insecure yourself. You need to confess that as sin, because it is sin, and ask God to help you deal with it. Remember that God loves you just as much as he loves everyone else, and he has a wonderful plan for your life. Keep your eyes upon him and forget about what He is doing with other people. As Jesus told Peter, “What is that to thee?” Get control of your imaginations before you totally lose it too.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
There is Still a Cause!
There are still some giants that need killing!
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 17 – 18 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 5 – 6; Proverbs 3; Psalms 11 – 15)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 51:11
Read the “0403 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” – (1 Samuel 17:29)
The account of David and Goliath is one of the more familiar passages in the Bible. Even people who know little about the Bible or the Christian faith will often know something about this story. It is the classic story of the underdog. We love to cheer for the underdog; we love to see the guy that nobody thought could possibly be victorious, come up from behind and win the game. However, the truth is that David was not participating in a game. He was literally fighting for His life, the lives of the men in God’s army, and for the sovereignty of Israel as a nation.
Because of the familiarity of most people to this story, I will not take the time to review it. If you by chance are not familiar with the account, make sure you read the passage. It is one of those passages that reads very easy. You will not have any trouble at all understanding what the Bible is saying. I would like to point out a few things about David, however:
1 David was a man of great faith. David’s faith overshadowed his fear. Any man in his right mind would be afraid of a guy as big and as powerful as Goliath, yet David could not see how this man could possibly conquer God. David knew that He was fighting the Lord’s battle, and He knew that God was well able to take down Goliath. Goliath may have been big compared to David but he was less than nothing when compared with David’s God.
Take a moment to consider what Goliath’s you are facing in your life today. What are the challenges, obstacles, or trials that are standing between you and the will of God for your life? They may seem insurmountable but if they are standing in between you and God’s cause, you must believe that God is able to overcome them.
2 David was a man of great fondness for God. David didn’t like what this big, ugly Philistine was saying about God and God’s people. It made him mad. I believe in this case we could say that David’s anger was really righteous indignation. Though we certainly should never allow our anger and passion to cause us to sin, we should still get riled up about some things, and our anger should cause us to take action. For instance, when you hear someone blaspheming your God, you should say something about it. People ought to know where you stand.
3 David was a man who made many foes. I am not referring to the Philistines, either. David’s brother, Eliab, became angry with him, and later King Saul became very jealous of him and even sought to kill him on a number of occasions. You would think doing right would make you everybody’s hero. However, many will become your enemy the minute God puts you in the spotlight. I am sure Satan didn’t take his eyes off of David after this either.
4 David had a very good friend. When you decide to live for God, you may be marked as an enemy by some and even dismissed as a fanatic by others, but there will be some – maybe only a few – who will want to be your friend. Saul’s son, Jonathon, fell in love with David because of the stand that David took that day.
David took a great risk, humanly speaking, when he entered into the ring with Goliath, but God forever changed the life of David as a result of his great faith. God is looking for more risk takers today: men and women who are willing to stick their neck out to live by faith for God. There was only one young man that was willing to risk his life in a fight against a 9-foot giant that day in Judah, and there will certainly not be many today who will demonstrate that kind of faith. But by God’s grace, I want to be a man of faith like David was. I hope you do too.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
Do I Hear Sheep?
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 15 – 16 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 3 – 4; Proverbs 2; Psalms 6 – 10)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 40:31
Read the “0402 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” – (1 Samuel 15:14 )
“And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams.” – (1 Samuel 15:22)
The story in 1 Samuel 15 goes like this: God wanted Saul and the people of Israel to go and utterly destroy the Amelekites and all that belonged to them from off the face of the earth. It is not often that God gave a commandment like this but it is important to know that when He did, He had a good reason. We may not completely understand why God would want something like this to happen but we know that God is God, and He knows what is best. Saul obeyed much of what God commanded him to do. On a human level, we might be able to identify with Saul. He did almost all of what God commanded him to do. We might think that should at least get him a partial reward. He wiped out all the Amelekites, except the king, Agag. Saul also spared the sheep because he justified that the sheep could be used for a sacrifice. However, God was not pleased with Saul’s partial obedience and He was not interested in Saul’s sacrifices. God wanted total obedience, which He says is “better than sacrifice.”
If we look carefully at the text, we can figure out why Saul did not completely obey God. Consider these verses from the passage:
“And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?” – (1 Samuel 15:17)
“And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” – (1 Samuel 15:24)
“Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.” – (1 Samuel 15:30)
It is apparent from these verses that Saul had a problem with pride. I guess we can all relate to that, can’t we? He was more concerned about pleasing the people and being elevated in their sight, than he was about obeying and pleasing the Lord. How many times have we compromised our obedience in order to appease the people around us?
So it was Saul’s pride that caused him to disobey. But what causes you (or me) to disobey? Is it pride like Saul? Is it covetousness? Is it laziness? We all have something in our lives that puts the pressure on us to not do what God commands us to do, or to do something that we know would displease the Lord. God wants a total surrender. He wants complete obedience and He will not accept our excuses for disobedience.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
Sweeter Than Honey
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 12 – 14 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Mathew 1 – 2; Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Proverbs 27:15
Read the “0401 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.” – (1 Samuel 14:29)
In 1 Samuel 14 we see a great victory for Israel against their enemies, the Philistines. It all started when Saul’s son, Jonathan, and his armour bearer decide that they are going to trust God to bring a great victory. This is a somewhat similar situation to the account of David fighting Goliath in that they were both miraculous victories and they both involved the same enemy. Here, the massive army of the Philistines is encamped near the much smaller army of Israel. Saul, Israel’s king, is not really taking any action, so Jonathon decides to do something. Him and his armourbearer go up to where the Philistines are and God goes with them and gives them a great victory. This starts a chain reaction where the Philistines run for their lives and even fight each other. Saul is watching this from a great distance and is not sure what is happening, but soon realizes that the enemy is leaving. Finally, he decides to get involved. The rest of the people of Israel, along with Saul, join the chase and attempt to kill all of the Philistines before they completely escape out of Israel. Saul then does something really dumb. He tells all of his people that they are not to permitted to eat anything until the battle is completely over, and anybody who violates this command will be put to death. The people don’t eat, but Jonathan does. He come upon a little honey in the woods as he is chasing the Philistine army and he eats it. Jonathan did not know about Saul’s order. However the Bible says that his “eyes were enlightened.” By the way, if the rest of Israel were allowed to have a little of that honey, they would have had a lot more energy to continue in the battle. In fact, they are so famished that when it does come time to eat, they don’t even cook their meat; they eat it raw, which was against the Law of God.
There is a wonderful picture here regarding the honey. Honey is a picture of the Word of God. Notice other verses that compare honey to the Word:
“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” – (Psalm 19:9-10)
“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” – (Psalm 119:103)
Notice also this reference from Psalm 19 about the Bible “enlightening the eyes.”
“The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:8)
As Christians, we are supposed to be in a battle, and we need to have our eyes enlightened and our spiritually batteries recharges often as we fight. We need to take time to open the Bible and allow God’s Word to “enlighten our eyes,” giving us the wisdom and the strength that we need to face the difficult situations that will come our way. Have you eaten your honey today? Don’t let the Sauls of this world keep you from tasting the sweet Word of God.
By the way, have you noticed that Saul has a rather insecure and obsessive personality? Why would he come up with such a rule anyway. He wants total control over the people. He didn’t want their eyes to be enlightened. Religion can be like that today. It frowns upon people tasting of the heavenly honey for themselves, because they want to completely control the spiritual nutrition the people receive.
On Second Thought …
I wrote the above post a few years back but edited it for today. I had another thought from 1 Samuel 12 that I had not noticed before:
“13 Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you. 14 If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: 15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.” (1 Samuel 12:13-15)
Notice that Samuel stated that if the people continued to obey the Lord and serve Him, then the king would also continue following the Lord. We often blame the rulers for the spiritual condition of the land, but perhaps the leadership is really just a reflection of the spiritual condition of the people.
Isn’t that what Solomon stated win 2 Chronicles:
“14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
Humble Beginnings
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 8 – 11 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 16 – 19, Revelation 20 – 22; Proverbs 31)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Proverbs 3:5 & 6
Read the “0331 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.” – (1 Samuel 10:24)
“And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?” (1 Samuel 15:17)
The life of Saul has always fascinated me. Saul started out so well. If I were reading the Bible for the very first time, and just read up to chapter 11, I would see no indication at all that Saul would eventually turn bad. So far all that we have read about Saul is good. In chapter 8, we see him serving his father by searching the countryside for some lost asses. In chapter 9, he is met by Samuel the prophet and is told that “all the desire of Israel” was on him. Upon hearing this statement, Saul humbly states that he and is family were from the least of the tribes of Israel, basically stating that he was not even worthy of consideration. When it comes time for Samuel to announce to the people that Saul would be king, Saul is hiding. I don’t see even a hint of pride in this young man so far. Even when he is opposed by some ungodly men, he holds his peace, and then later when he was annointed king, some of his supporters remembered the opposition and tried to have them executed, but Saul refuses. He seems to be making all of the right moves thus far. He is humble, yet he demonstrates strong leadership when his people were threatened by the Ammonites in chapter 11. He rallies all of the people of Israel to come to the battle, and they destroy the invading army from Ammon. Saul starts out great.
I almost want to stop reading here while everything is “still good in the hood”. What happens to Saul? Does he stay on the right path or does he go off course somewhere? Well, we will read all about it in the next few days, but let me give you a little hint here. As we have already seen, Saul starts out very humble, but he will eventually become full of pride; and pride will bring about his destruction. Pride is a huge problem for most of us. Consider the following verses:
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” – (Proverbs 16:18)
“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” – (Proverbs 13:10)
“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,” – (Proverbs 6:16-17)
“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” – (Proverbs 29:23)
The Bible has a lot to say about pride. As we read these next few chapters, watch out for pride developing in the heart of Saul; but more importantly watch out for the development of pride in your own life.
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” – (1 Peter 5:5)
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Get It Out!
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 4 – 7 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 13 – 15; Proverbs 30; Psalms 146 – 150)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121
Read the “0330 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.” – (1 Samuel 5:11)
“And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.” – (1 Samuel 6:21)
In our reading today we see the ark of God being taken from the Israelites by the Philistines; and then we see the voluntary return of the ark back to the people of Israel. Nobody seemed to want the ark. The story begins in chapter where the Israelite are losing in battle to the Philistines. The elders of Israel come up with the idea of getting the ark and bringing it to the battles because “it” would help them. Notice carefully the use of the word “it”. They were trusting in God to help them, they were trusting in a “good luck charm”. The Philistines seemed to have a better understanding of what the ark represented. They knew that the ark represented a powerful God, and though they did not know Him, they feared Him, and God gave them the victory and the ark. The moral to that part of the story is that God is not your good luck charm.
Once the ark was brought into the land of the Philistines, however, they began to experience some major problems. They put the ark of God in the Temple of Dagon. God does not like to share His glory with anyone so He knocked over Dagon, and chopped off his head and hands. To make matters much worse the people of city of Ashdod are all plagued with “emerods”. Now I don’t want to be graphic on this site, so I won’t go into deep explanation as to what emerods are, but I will tell you this: they can be helped with a little “Preparation H”. However, since the people of Ashdod didn’t have Preparation H at the time, or a CVS to buy it from, they opted to just get rid of the ark.
The ark then travels to two more cities of the Philistines where the same thing happens, so the Philistines wisely decide to send the ark back to Israel, along with some golden mice and emerods. Now that the ark is back in Israel, into the city of Bethshemesh, the people of Israel are very happy. Their happiness subsides, however, when they decide to take a little peek inside the ark. Not smart. About 50,000 of them died that day. They knew better. So the people that were left of Bethshemesh decided also to get rid of the ark, and they sent it to Kirjathjearim, where it remained for many years until David comes to get it.
We see here what happens when people dabble with the things of God, but do not actually know God. God gave clear instructions to the people of Israel as to the ark of the covenant. They should have known better. God will be worshipped on His terms or He won’t be worshipped at all. These people didn’t want God around them because they refused to submit to His Lordship. People are the same way today. They will not submit to God, so they would rather just not have Him around. And Christians who ought to know about God are so Bible ignorant that they have no clue what He expect from their lives. We need to get back into the Word of God in order to find out what God wants, and then we need to submit ourselves to His will.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.