Security vs. Faith October 21, 2015 Give Us a King 1 Samuel 8 Page 1 For over 200 years, the government has been unable to consistently keep the countryside safe Enemy after enemy has run in and done what ever they wanted Prosperity has been a myth No one is safe from The Nation is tired of folks coming in and Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blooddimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. W.B. YEATS, The Second Coming Inc. Merriam-Webster, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1992), 82. Do we want safety and security? How many locks are on your doors? What kind of security system do you have? How many weapons do you have? What is it we desire of our government? We all want safety and security Who do we consider to be good leaders? Israel has now had a taste of it For the first time since the time of Joshua, under Samuel, they have begun to experience it As a leader, following God, Samuel has called the Nation to 1 Samuel 7:3 4 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone. Samuel prayed for the people and they experienced the protection of the Lord 1 Samuel 7:9 10 Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the LORD; and Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel and the LORD answered him. Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. For the last fifty or so years, it has been good The people now see that security and safety being threatened Prior to Samuel, they had become fully Canaanized They outdid the inhabitants of the land in their Samuel is getting old 1 Samuel 8:1 3 And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in Beersheba. His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.
What do we know about the bulk of the ministry of Samuel as a judge of Israel? We have a huge gap of time missing between 1 Samuel 7:12 and 8:1 Page 2 1 Samuel 7:15 Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. That is what we know Except for an experiment he began as he got older It was natural that he should give his sons the work of assisting him in hearing causes and settling disputes among the people. vs. 2, judges in Beer-sheba : These sons of Samuel are not known otherwise than by this notice of them. Beer-sheba was far to the south, fully forty-five miles from Jerusalem, and on the southern frontier of Judah. Herbert Lockwood Willett, Studies in the First Book of Samuel, Constructive Bible Studies Secondary Series (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1909), 66. J.C. Ryle Remember children are born with a decided bias toward evil, and therefore if you let them choose for themselves, they are certain to choose wrong. The mother cannot tell what her tender infant may grow up to be tall or short, weak or strong, wise or foolish: he may be any of these things or not it is all uncertain. But one thing the mother can say with certainty: he will have a corrupt and sinful heart. Elliot Ritzema, ed., 300 Quotations for Preachers (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012). Eli experienced this and did nothing to discipline his sons Hophni and Phineas As a result: 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD What about Samuel, how? He made his sons judges over Israel, without ascertaining if they were fit for so responsible an office: because his sons, therefore, he made them judges over Israel. The sin lay not in making his sons judges over Israel, if they had been fit; but in selecting them, fit or unfit, because they were his sons, for so responsible a position. John Cumming, Sabbath Morning Readings on the Old Testament: The First and Second Books of Samuel (London: Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co., 1859), 110. Add to that the distance, they were way down south Dad is in the north No one will know Exodus 23:6 You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. Deuteronomy 16:19 You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. What is it about the children of Godly called men that leads the kids to think they can take shortcuts? It points out to how much we need to be praying for the families and children of those who are in service to the Lord Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
But it is between the raise up and the old that we need to. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? We are always one generation away from apostasy and atheism Page 3 James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. The problem with Samuel s sons, they follow the path of their father, instead, they stretched out turning aside to money obtained illegally by seizing bribes to stretch out justice The sense is they stepped out of the way of their father in order to step out of the way of justice Israel s well-being cannot be guaranteed by the sons of their leaders. The best of leaders can have the worst of sons. John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 142. With that background, here comes the pitch from the elders: 1 Samuel 8:4 5 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations. Was this request a surprise to God? Deuteronomy 17:14 20 When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me, you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, You shall never again return that way. He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. God knew Notice the language Moses recorded in Deuteronomy and then compare it to 1 Samuel 8:5 The issue is not sadness on Samuel s part for the rejection of his sons assisting in the administration of the government, it is the desire to be like They are rejecting God working through Judges for the Nation They are rejecting theirs, for putting the Nation over and over again into the place where something had to be done Remember, this is the idea coming from the same group of leaders, the elders of the Nation, that thought it was a good idea to take the Ark into combat
Remember what happened with the sons of Eli? Now we have a similar situation with the sons of Samuel What is the solution? Page 4 Establish a hereditary form of government where we can have that continuing problem for us Once again we see the Nation prepared to accept the ways of the nations around them. This time, for a central government They want a king to judge them they want to the Lord selecting who that should be by making it hereditary They want to be like everyone else and are rejecting also, what God has called them to be Exodus 19:5 6 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. Deuteronomy 26:18 19 The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken. They wanted to do life the folks around them. They did not want to be distinctive and different. As believers, we have to remember what it is that has been done for us If we lose sight of that, then we will also fall into the trap of wanting to look like those around us The problem is, many churches have already fallen into that trap One Example: West Palm Beach per Barna Research, is the 24th most post-christian area in the nation. Miami is 34th. What does that mean? It means 52% of the folks who live around us are post-christian To fall into the 52% group, nine of the following question have to be in the affirmative Do not believe in God Identify as atheist or agnostic Disagree that faith is important in their lives Have not prayed to God (in the last year) Have never made a commitment to Jesus Disagree the Bible is accurate Have not donated money to a church (in the last year) Have not attended a Christian church (in the last year) Agree that Jesus committed sins Do not feel a responsibility to share their faith Have not read the Bible (in the last week) Have not volunteered at church (in the last week) Have not attended Sunday school (in the last week) Have not attended religious small group (in the last week) Do not participate in a house church (in the last year) https://cities.barna.org/america-more-post-christian-than-two-years-ago/
Page 5 Ephesians 1:3 12 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. Romans 12:1 2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. We are to be like the world Pressures we see: Use marketing techniques and tactics like the world to increase numbers Acts 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Run the church like a business and bring in business-experienced people to run it Ensure staff have the appropriate academic credentials And on and on and on 1 Corinthians 1:26 29 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. The elders in Israel were having their eyes on the them rather than on what God wanted them to be 1 Samuel 8:6 9 But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the LORD. The LORD said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them. Not the answer that Samuel was expecting I am sure Once again, God s ways are not our ways and His perspective is much longer than ours. The Nation has been here before, as called out by the Psalmist
Page 6 Psalm 106:13 15 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert. So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them. God agrees, this is not the best for the people, but He tells Samuel to give them what they want. This is a repeat of the pattern we saw in Judges They the pattern that has long been chronic for Israel, forsaking Him and serving other gods. James E. Rosscup, An Exposition on Prayer in the Bible: Igniting the Fuel to Flame Our Communication with God (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2008), 426. It is not the idea of having a king that is displeasing to God. He predicted it and accounted for it in the Law. We looked at that earlier in the instructions in Deuteronomy 17 The problem is, over this prior to bringing it up to Samuel. This is the same kind of reasoning that resulted in the Ark going to a combat zone The elders were forsaking God as the source of their security and safety, they had forgotten the thundering in 1 Samuel 7 Now they wanted a man, a king, to take care of them By the way, God has a plan that will involve His Son coming to this planet as a man and establishing His claim to sovereignty over everyone God has a plan; this is what He had for the nation at this time but He was going to give the people what they wanted. This is not the first time this has happened. This happened over and over in the wilderness Numbers 11:19 20 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we ever leave Egypt? Their vesting of confidence in a human king was just another indication that their trust was not really in the Lord. It has been well-said that their sin was not in desiring a monarchy, but a monarchy in the place of a theocracy. James E. Rosscup, An Exposition on Prayer in the Bible: Igniting the Fuel to Flame Our Communication with God (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2008), 426. Samuel is instructed by the Lord to make sure the people know fully, the ramifications of what it is they want He wants there to be. Just note the number of times the word take is used
Page 7 1 Samuel 8:10 18 So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day. Basically be careful what you ask for By nature royalty is parasitic rather than giving, and kings are never satisfied with the worst. The people would also regret their request because their king would disappoint them. God would not remove the consequences of their choice. Their king could have been a great joy to them instead of a great disappointment if the people had waited for God to initiate the monarchy. Tom Constable, Tom Constable s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), 1 Sa 8:10. It is becoming clear that the Lord s willingness to grant the people their request was an act of judgment on their foolish and faithless request. John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 147. Samuel warns the people of the justice of the king What they will have to look forward to We will see much of this as we study 1&2 Kings as well as 1&2 Chronicles The justice they will have to look forward to is take The final warning from Samuel you will become the 1 Kings 12:4 Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you. This is the Nation, a little more than a hundred years later, complaining about the reign of Solomon The result was civil war and a division of the kingdom which eventually led to the captivity in Babylon 1 Samuel 8:19 22 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the LORD S hearing. The LORD said to Samuel, Listen to their voice and appoint them a king. So Samuel said to the men of Israel, Go every man to his city.
Page 8 Pleasing the Lord wasn t the thing uppermost in their minds; what they wanted was against their enemies. They wanted someone to judge them and fight their battles, someone they could see and follow. They found it too demanding to trust an invisible God and obey His wonderful commandments. In spite of all the Lord had done for Israel from the call of Abraham to the conquest of the Promised Land, they turned their back on Almighty God and chose to have a frail man to rule over them. Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Successful, Be Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor/Cook Communications, 2001), 48. Hosea 13:9 11 It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against Me, against your help. Where now is your king that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges of whom you requested, Give me a king and princes? I gave you a king in My anger and took him away in My wrath. I am always finding myself, when I pray, asking of the Lord, but also asking for His will in the answer I read over and over again that the Lord provides what the people wanted even when it was not the best He had for them I want the best He has, we all do Luke 11:1 13 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples. And He said to them, When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. Then He said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him ; and from inside he answers and says, Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? The old adage remains true: God always gives His best to those who leave the. Always. Jon Courson, Jon Courson s Application Commentary: Volume One: Genesis Job (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 842. Past teachings, study notes and slides of Through the Bible with Pastor Ken Brown are available at: www.calvaryword.com/bible