Impact Week Thirteen

Review

Last Sunday, we found what true friendship is through Jonathan. Jonathan is a little known man tucked away in the book of I Samuel. He’s easy to forget if you’re not a fan of the historical accounts found in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. But if you’ll recall from last week, David needed him very much to escape from the snare of King Saul.

To sum it up, David came to Jonathan afraid for his life. In just a moment, we’ll find out why. But Jonathan could hardly believe what he was hearing. After all, King Saul was Jonathan’s father – he had no reason to think or believe that his own father would want David dead. But Jonathan took David at his word and protected him from his father. Were it not for David, Jonathan would have succeeded the throne and become the next king of Israel. But he placed David over his own interests, over himself.

You and I can learn a lot from Jonathan. Examine your friendships. How do you treat your friends? Can you honestly say that you would place them over yourself? Or are they there to serve you? On the other hand, how do your friends treat you? Be careful who you associate yourself with and think about how they affect your heart. Your closest friends are the ones who affect your decisions. It’s been said, “Show me a man’s friends and I’ll show you the man”. In other words, you are who you hang out with.

Background

A few years prior to last week’s reading, there was no king at all. Israel was governed by judges, men and women that God raised up from time to time to bring the people out of the turmoil they got themselves into. When you read through Judges (just before I Samuel), you’ll find people like Gideon and Sampson who brought Israel out of its latest slump. But as soon as one of these judges died, the people of Israel would fall back into sin. As we get into Samuel, the people express their desire for a king to govern the land. Enter Saul, Israel’s very first king.

Saul started out great. He was a humble man, and he didn’t even want to be king - scripture says when the people were trying to instate him, he hid himself from the crowd. The I Samuel account talks about his own battles as well as those of his son’s with the Philistines and his triumphs over them. But Saul disobeyed the command given to him by the prophet Samuel. And from that time on, God was no longer with Saul. It was at that time that Samuel was instructed to anoint another, David, as the next king, rather than allow Saul’s line to rule Israel. As we begin reading, David has already been anointed to be the next king, has defeated Goliath, and has entered into King Saul’s service.

Reading: 1 Samuel 18:1-16

End

The Saul we read about here in this chapter is a very different man from the one we read about in chapter nine. But as mentioned before, Saul disobeyed the command of God given through the prophet Samuel twice, and God’s anointing and more specifically, his Spirit, left Saul. Instead of Saul and his son Jonathan slaying Israel’s enemies, it was now David winning the battles. It was made clear to Saul that David and his lineage would become king after Saul. So when the women started singing about David’s great success, Saul become jealous and paranoid. He not only thought David wanted his throne but that he also wanted Saul dead.

Have you ever thought, “Why is he so much better than I am at (insert activity or job)? I practice and work so much harder than him.” Or, “I am better than him at this.” You may believe that it should be you on varsity team or you playing guitar for the worship team, or whatever the situation is. It may be that you are indeed more talented than William, and that you have practiced and accomplished more. It may be unfair and unjust that he is in that position rather than you. But don’t get offended and jealous.

The funny thing about David is that even though he knew Saul was all that stood between himself and the throne, he never took Saul’s life, nor did he attempt to do so. Yet Saul believed that David would kill him in his sleep. And Saul thought everyone was against him, that they were conspiring against him, not just David.

Make no mistake. Saul was God’s chosen man for the people of Israel. God chose and anointed Saul because He wanted Him to succeed. It’s not that God couldn’t see ahead a few years to know that Saul would disobey Him. God doesn’t exist on a plane of time; time has no hold on Him. But He has given us a free will and with that, He gives us the option to accomplish what He intended us to do, or to reject and disobey that command. Saul chose to disobey God, and it is for that reason that God rejected Saul as king and chose another. Where one man fell, he raised up another.

Yet David honored Saul throughout the rest of his existence. When Saul was tormented, David played music for him. When there was a battle to be fought, David led Saul’s armies for him. Everyone knows that it was David that defeated Goliath. And David never took Saul’s life, nor that of any of his lineage. One of the most heart-warming things about the conflict between Saul and David is found in I Samuel chapter 24. In the end, Saul changed his heart and dropped his offense toward David and willingly gave the throne and his authority to David.