The Book of 1Samuel 14:24-45 Righteous Rebellion (9/13/15) When we first started this book we said that 1 & 2 Samuel were really books about leadership. They show us how bad leadership will be a curse while good (godly) leadership will be a blessing. Proverbs 29:2 (NKJV) 2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Israel had been a theocracy ever since God led them into the Promised Land and established them as a nation. A theocracy is a form of government that is directly under the rule and laws of God. After Joshua s death God mediated His rule over His people through leaders known as Judges. These Judges ruled over Israel for between 350 and 400 years. This was the period of time before the monarchy was established. 1
Eventually the people of Israel demanded a king like the gentile nations around them and so the Lord had Samuel, the last judge, anoint Saul the first king and the nation moved from a theocracy to a monarchy. Saul was the kind of king the people wanted. The people put all of the emphasis on outward attributes (Saul was taller and better looking than anyone else in Israel) they were completely enamored by Saul s physicality which in their minds qualified him to be their king. As we have been seeing in our studies in 1Samuel Saul was a disaster as a king. He wasn t a man after God s heart a man that honored and obeyed the Lord in all he did. Instead Saul was a proud man constantly seeking glory and honor for himself this was reflected in the things he did and the decisions he made. That brings us to our text this morning a text we started to look at several weeks ago. Paraphrase 1Samuel 14:1-23 1 Samuel 14:24 (NKJV) 24 And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, "Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies." So none of the people tasted food. This oath that Saul, as king, put his army under was along the lines of an executive order signed by our president today. 2
An executive order is not technically a law (under our constitution only the Legislative Branch can pass laws) but EOs are legally binding orders given by the President in accordance with the Constitution which grants to him a degree of discretionary power. So the oath that Saul put his men under was not a law of God but an executive order that he signed (or in this case spoke) into law. Man s laws and God s laws are sometimes in agreement but more and more lately, in our country, they stand in opposition to each other. And when they do we can and should rebel against them because we must obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29) (Hold on to that thought we ll come back to it in a minute) 1 Samuel 14:25-30 (NKJV) 25 Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground. 26 And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his countenance brightened. 28 Then one of the people said, "Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats food this day.' " And the people were faint. 29 But Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?" Now when I say that sometimes civil disobedience is righteous I m not using Jonathan as an example of it since he wasn t there to hear his father put the army of Israel under this oath therefore Jonathan s was a crime of ignorance (or innocence) not a willful act of defiance against his father s executive order. 3
Let s keep reading and I ll show you what I have in mind 1 Samuel 14:36-45 (NKJV) 36 Now Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them." And they said, "Do whatever seems good to you." Then the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here." 37 So Saul asked counsel of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?" But He did not answer him that day. 38 And Saul said, "Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today. 39 For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But not a man among all the people answered him. 40 Then he said to all Israel, "You be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side." And the people said to Saul, "Do what seems good to you." 41 Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, "Give a perfect lot." So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. 42 And Saul said, "Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me." So Jonathan was taken. 43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." And Jonathan told him, and said, "I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!" 44 And Saul answered, "God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan." 45 But the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die. Now before we go any further I just need to point out that what Jonathan did was not wrong in and of itself. There is nothing in God s law that prohibits a soldier from eating during a military campaign especially since Jonathan only ate a little honey to keep up his strength for the battle. Jonathan didn t break God s law he broke his father s law (man s law). Saul as king had the right to impose his rash and reckless oath upon his men and God acknowledged that by remaining silent when Saul asked if he should pursue the Philistines. Saul knew someone had broken his oath and by casting lots he discovered it was Jonathan. 4
But simply because God acknowledged Saul s authority to make the oath and revealed it was Jonathan that broke it didn t mean that God approved of the oath or wanted Jonathan executed for breaking it. That s why I believe Saul s men acted righteously by rebelling against the taking of Jonathan s life by rescuing him from the consequences of an unjust law that made eating food that day a capital offense. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous letter from the Birmingham jail rightly declared, One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. He went on to explain, An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law [the law of God]. Now that brings me to the application of this message a message I ve entitled Righteous Rebellion. A couple of weeks ago something happened for the first time in American history a woman was put in jail simply for being a Christian and standing up for her faith. The woman s name is Kim Davis. Who is Kim Davis? She is a clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky. Part of Kim s responsibilities as a clerk in Rowan County is to issue marriage licenses and therein lies the problem. You see Kim Davis is a born-again Christian who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because it violates her belief that, under God s law, homosexual marriage is illegal and therefore prohibited. 5
And so she is taking a stand because she must obey God rather than men. Now because of Kim s stand on this issue she has been vilified by the national media she has received death threats and been called all kinds of filthy and hateful names all because she is following her conscience in wanting to obey God s law. Her critics say If those are her convictions than she ought to resign as county clerk (she can t be fired because she s an elected official and did I mention she s a democrat?). We re a nation of laws and she s breaking the law by not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. This has been the cry of progressives and the gay community but the hypocrisy is breathtaking! No progressive or member of the LGBT community vilified Gavin Newsom, as mayor of San Francisco in 2004, when he ordered his subordinates to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in violation of Federal Law. Newsom, rather than being jailed, went on to become California s lieutenant governor and is now running for governor. Radio talk-show host and author Michael Brown said with regard to this, That double standard says a lot about progressives. What it tells us is that tolerance is a oneway street," he said. "It s double-talk. The people calling for tolerance are utterly intolerant. The people talking about being inclusive are totally exclusive. The people talking about diversity mean 'my way or the highway.'" But let me just answer this charge that we re a nation of laws and Kim Davis took an oath to uphold Kentucky state law and federal law when she took office as the county clerk and either she does so or she needs to resign for failing to keep her solemn oath of office. 6
Well in case these folks don t know it we have a federal system of government which means we have a national government and independent state governments (set up the same way as above, with individual state constitutions), each having their own separate and independent authority. And in case there was ever a question about constitutional jurisdiction, the 10th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution to protect the authority of the states in other words, any power not written in the U.S. Constitution is up to each individual state. The power to define marriage is not delegated to the federal government anywhere in the U.S. Constitution therefore, according to the 10th Amendment, individual states have the right to define marriage. And the way to do this is to amend their state constitution which is exactly what the state of Kentucky did back in 2004 saying, Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. [All others] shall not be valid or recognized. This is the law in Kentucky Yes but federal law supersedes state law. Yes it does except Congress, the only branch of the federal government that can pass laws, never passed a law that said same-sex marriage was legal. On the contrary Congress had overwhelmingly approved a law that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. And so pure and simple Kim Davis didn t violate federal law by not issuing same-sex marriage licenses because no federal law exists and in the absence of federal law, according to the 10 th Amendment, state law is the final authority. 7
The U.S. Supreme Court has no authority to overturn the constitution of any state. One author weighed in by saying, The Kentucky Legislature has yet to change this law one jot or tittle. Instead, five left-wing extremist lawyers in Washington, D.C., issued an opinion presuming to move the goalposts midgame. Court opinions are not the law of the land. Judges don t make laws only the legislature can do that. Kim Davis is not defying the law; she is upholding it as codified. The Supreme Court s ruling was judicial activism pure and simple One author said on this subject The fact of the matter is that five members of our Supreme Court have gone rogue and become tyrannical, disregarding our constitutional and federal system of government. And we the people believe that their opinion (decision) actually made a new law, legalizing gay marriage. In the words of one history professor at Liberty University: Judges and courts have usurped the function of determining what is law, and by default what is legal and what is illegal. Their word, both spoken and written has become law. Only the God of the Bible can speak law. So once again let me say that Kim Davis didn t break any law by refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses as county clerk in the state of Kentucky none! You might be thinking, Yes but she defied a court order directing her to issue the licenses that is true. She defied an illegal court order, one that was in defiance of the Kentucky state constitution. Our nation has a rich history of respecting the rights of conscientious objectors, and Kim Davis, like tens-of-millions of her brothers and sisters in Christ, is exactly that. 8
Christians over the centuries have exercised a rich legacy of peaceful civil resistance to tyranny over conscience (Daniel, Mordecai, Christ s apostles, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Martin Luther King Jr. etc.). Even Ben Franklin (who wasn t a Christian) invented the motto that mobilized many Christians to fight against the King of England during the Revolutionary War Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God So let me repeat what I said earlier disobeying an unrighteous law (a law that is contrary to God s laws) is a righteous act. But if we rebel against the unjust laws of our land as Christians we must be willing to accept the consequences. Kim Davis has gone on record as saying, This is a heaven or hell issue for me and for every other Christian that believes. This is a fight worth fighting. I ve weighed the cost and I m prepared to go to jail (and she did and may well be put in jail again). Things are changing our country is rapidly declining. One Christian columnist commented as to why, We no longer base our laws on the bedrock of God s law, which has forfeited His blessing and protection on our nation. As a result, our economy is hanging by a thread (with insurmountable national debt), our families are breaking, our churches are ducking for cover with the threat of government overreach, and we are now joined with Iran and other God-hating regimes that are dedicated to wiping freedom off the globe. The words of the prophet, Jeremiah, sting us with an eerie similarity: Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? The Lord said, Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart (Jeremiah 9:13-14a). We have abandoned the God of the Bible, the very God of our founding. Our spiritual foundation has been compromised. 9
George Washington said, It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. When we reject God s law by removing His influence from every vestige of society, how can we rightly govern ourselves? The answer is: We can t, and we re not. The Christian church in America has been talking about persecution coming for many years it s no longer coming it s here! Kim Davis isn t being persecuted for what she did she s being persecuted for what she believes! The day after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage a leading gay activist came out and said, This was never about legalizing gay marriage not really. This is about silencing Christians through whatever means possible and removing Christianity from America. What s at stake is the entire culture war." He said the decision is an "expression of hostility toward people who take their Christianity seriously." And so we need to be ready persecution and now prosecution against Christians who are serious about their faith has come. A Christian columnist warned, Christian business owners, lawyers, private sector employees, parents of school-age children who don t want their children indoctrinated by sexual anarchist propaganda and many others will be held in contempt of court, denied due process and incarcerated indefinitely. The persecution isn t coming. The persecution has arrived. And that s what it means to be a Christ follower. Stand, like Kim, fearlessly, lovingly and boldly for Christ, declaring, as did the apostles when faced with a similar decision, We must obey God rather than any human authority (see Acts 5:29). Indeed, as the Bible s Daniel, a public official, boldly refused to disobey God and commit sin by worshiping a pagan king, so too has Kim Davis honored our Lord by refusing to bow before a pagan court by refusing to call evil good and good evil. They wanted to make an example of her. Instead, they made a martyr of her and awakened a sleeping giant in the process. 10