Step by Step through the Old Testament
Carlton L. Arnold, Teacher
Week 26
1 Samuel 15-28 — The Demise of Saul
We are going to continue with 1st Samuel. Last week I gave you an overview of 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles. This is where the theocracy turns into a monarchy. This is where they go from God being their lead to wanting a man, a king, to rule them. We’re in that period of time of getting the first king whose name was Saul. The major personalities we’ll be talking about in 1 Samuel are Samuel, Saul, David, and Jonathan.
This morning, I want you to see and understand the demise of Saul and that God did not cause the demise but Saul, himself. We’re going to read where God said, "Don’t look on the outside of a person but look on the inside." Of course, He was talking about anointing David. David is the next king. David doesn’t look like a king but Saul did.
If you’ve ever studied these six books, you’ll agree that these are the kinds of books fifth and sixth graders just love. This is where David beats Goliath, Jonathan and David become buddies, and David’s running around and hiding in caves from Saul. This is what is happening during this period. It’s interesting that when I talk to adults about reading 1 & 2 Samuel, after a while it’s just one king after another king. Hopefully, you’ll be challenged with some of the good things that the good kings did as we get into 1 & 2 Kings.
There will be a challenge this morning. It’s not controversial…it’s just that no one can decide what to believe about it. It’s a certain passage of scripture where Saul goes to a witch at Endor to seek some guidance. That’s how far Saul had gotten off the beaten track with his relationship to God. He went out and sought a palm reader or mind reader, or spiritualist. We’re going to read and study that. We will talk about some of the different ways you can look at this episode. What I’m going to challenge you with is that that’s not the only scripture where you have something like this. I’m going to present things to you. We’ll talk about it and there may be some conversation or discussion about what you believe.
But really what it comes down to (and this is what I want to challenge you with) is that this is a passage of scripture such that you could read twelve different commentaries and get twelve different opinions about what it means, what it says, and what they believe. This is why I want to belong to a Southern Baptist Church, for example—the autonomy, meaning there’s not something or someone telling me, "This is the way you have to believe." It’s where God, through the Holy Spirit, says to you, "I am going to reveal myself to each one of you, individually, as you are capable." So that when you get to a passage like this, some of you may have a real hard time trying to figure out, "What do I believe about this?" Here’s what I don’t want you to do: I don’t want you to ask me, "Carlton, what do you believe? Whatever you say, I’m going to believe." Don’t do that. It’s the Holy Spirit within you. I’m assuming all of you are Christians and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Therefore, you have the Holy Spirit within you. You may not know how to, you may be a little rusty, or you just haven’t relied on the Holy Spirit to guide you in the truth. That’s part of reading God’s Word.
We’ll talk about the lesson of the witch at Endor, but there is a higher concept I’m trying to convey here: as you, individually and personally, read the Bible during the week, God through His Holy Spirit will reveal the scripture to you. Do you understand me? That’s what I want you to see this morning as we get into it. So it is a challenge. It’s going to be a hard lesson. We’ll get into it and there will be some things where you’ll ask, "But it says this, why isn’t it that?" We’ll talk about it but it comes down to a challenge to your own, personal beliefs. That’s really what I try to do with the whole study of the Old and New Testaments—challenge your concept of God. It’s not that your concept of God is wrong, but maybe you’ve grown up a certain way and now, read God’s Word and see what God’s really like in His Word, not what other people have told you and you’ve framed up in your mind.
1 Samuel 15
Saul was anointed as the first king. He was anointed by Samuel. He’s very tall and looks good. He looks like a great king on the outside. We discover what he’s really like (his character) as he gets into these incidents and conflicts. This is one where the Philistines are coming up against him. He’s waiting on Samuel. Samuel told him to wait seven days. Saul waited. The Philistines were ready to come get him. One of the rituals they had was always a burnt offering before a battle so that they would invoke God and God would be with them. Saul didn’t wait. He was not of the priesthood. He said, "Well, we can’t wait any longer for Samuel. I’m going to do it myself." And he did it. So we pick up where Samuel has come.
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1 Samuel 15:13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions." |
Read this as if you were just caught in sin. Saul says, "I’ve done a great thing for God." God told him to go wipe out all the Amalekites. [These are the Amalekites God had given 500 to 600 years to get right. They didn’t and here comes God’s judgment.] |
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1 Samuel 15:14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?" |
Everything is supposed to have been wiped out—no plunder was to be taken. |
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1 Samuel 15:15 Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest." |
Does that sound good? "Hey, we saved the best to sacrifice to God!" It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? If you got caught in sin, this is your rationalization going on. |
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1 Samuel 15:16-19 "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied. Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, `Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?" |
Was this alright for Samuel to say? He sounds pretty serious. "Saul, you didn’t do what you were supposed to do." |
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This sounds just like us or like your child when you catch him doing something wrong… |
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1 Samuel 15:20a "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. |
Doesn’t that sound like us? "Yeah, I did, in my own mind and in my own rationalization with the way I define what ‘obey’ means and the way I define what ‘destroy’ means and the way I define…" Do you hear what I’m saying? It’s what "I did," and the way "I define things," not what God said. |
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1 Samuel 15:20b "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. |
Huh? Wait a minute. You destroyed everyone but you brought back the king? What’s going on in Saul’s mind? He does no wrong. Whatever God tells him to do, he’s going to word it and define it and manipulate it. We’ve talked about President Clinton and what he did with, "Well, it depends on the way you define something." This is what’s going on. He is defining the way he thinks God is talking to him. That’s the error, the thing we have to watch for, is how we define what God wants us to do but on our own terms. We say, "Well, God would never really want me to do that so I’ll define it this way." We need to listen to God and see exactly what He says. But that’s pretty blatant, isn’t it? Can everybody see that? How many of you agree that Saul is off-target here? |
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1 Samuel 15:21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." |
He’s repeating himself. |
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1 Samuel 15:22a But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? |
This is good. Turn to Isaiah 1. Isaiah is after many kings have been around—good and bad. The nation has lived through all kinds of good times and bad times. We’ve heard what Saul said, back at the beginning of the kings. Isaiah is saying this after a lot of kings have been in power. |
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Isaiah 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! |
He’s talking about the Jews in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms here. |
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Isaiah 1:11-14 "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. |
Do you see that he’s talking about Church, the New Testament Church? He’s saying, "Your assemblies. What are you doing in your assemblies?" Are you coming to present your burnt offerings and sacrifices? We don’t present burnt offerings and sacrifices. What do we present? Money and our bodies. "Here I am, God. I’m going to work for you. For the next 2-3 hours, I’m going to sit here, be quiet, and listen to people. Here’s my offering." What did God think of that? If your heart isn’t right, what did we just read? It’s detestable to Him. In other words, He’s looking at people right now (in the Worship Service and Sunday School). Is everybody here for the right reason with a right, pure motive and heart? What does God consider it? Detestable. |
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1 Samuel 15:22a But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? |
It’s not the burnt offerings and sacrifices. We can get to that point too in our Christian life. That’s what the Jews got to. The Jews got to the point where it was all about the burnt offerings and sacrifices. In the time of Jesus, it was the burnt offerings and sacrifices—you have to have it, you have to bring it. That was all to make money for the priests. It wasn’t for God. God says, "It’s more obedience. It’s more about your heart than it is what you do." |
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1 Samuel 15:22b To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. |
He calls it like it is. |
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1 Samuel 15:23a For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. |
This is how He looks on it. He (God, through Samuel) just equated rebellion and arrogance (that’s disobedience, not the presenting of burnt offerings and sacrifices) with witchcraft and idolatry. Do you all see that? Can I read it any other way? This is in the Old Testament. |
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1 Samuel 15:23b Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king." |
This is Samuel telling Saul, "You have been rejected as king." |
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1 Samuel 15:24a Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. |
Do you hear this? Up to this point, what happened? Everything was fine—by whose definition? His. Listen. Don’t miss this. |
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When you start feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit on you, do you quench the Holy Spirit by saying, "Wait a minute. Let me rationalize this. Well, this isn’t as bad as murder. I’ve been good for two weeks now…it’s about time." Do you see how when we feel the heat of conviction, we (just like Saul) don’t allow the Holy Spirit to go all the way through to the point where we say, "You’re right, God, I have sinned." What do we do? We try to stop it before it gets there. We try to quench it. Every one of us does it. Every one of us practices this deceitfulness; this trying to twist the definitions and terms around, just so we don’t get to the point to where we have to say to God, "I was wrong. I have sinned, God. You’re right. I was disobedient." We don’t get there.
God tells us that it’s a wonderful thing when you can get there because once you get there and confess that you’re wrong, what does He do? He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What do we do if we get stopped? We start carrying around all that guilt with us. This is why we have so many defeated Christians today; why there are not more Christians turning the world upside down—they live a defeated life. They are not free, saying, "God’s forgiven me. I am free to do anything now." They are over here saying, "Well, someone might catch me one of these days. They might catch me in a lie, catch me doing this, or catch me doing that. I have to watch out. I have to remember what I said to this person and that person." We’re bound up. We’re enslaved.
This is what happened to Saul. Saul got all these definitions out but he finally comes to the point where he says, "I have sinned…"
1 Samuel 15:24b
I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.
He’s still throwing off the blame. How is his heart? "I have sinned, God. I have disobeyed you but these people were really, really pushing me pretty hard." Is he there yet? He’s saying it but there is no heart. This is what God saw in Saul. We’ll read how He grieved over making Saul king. He had to make Saul king because that’s what the people wanted but He grieved over it. He said, "That’s not my choice. David is my choice. But the people want a king. This is what a king looks like. I’ll give Saul to them."
But this is the heart of Saul. How far is Saul’s heart from God? A long way. How’s the relationship between God and Saul? It doesn’t exist, does it? But yet Saul does these things—"I’ll present the burnt offering to the Lord before the battle. I’ll do this and I’ll do that and look good. I have sinned, Samuel. You’re right. I have disobeyed and violated God’s command." How does all that sound? It sounds good. Does that sound like us in the church today? In other words, we try to say things and make things right but we don’t get to the point of conviction. Saul’s not there yet, either. He will get there. God is going to judge him. He is going to get there.
<Question: Isn’t this story similar to Moses’ striking the rocks?>
Yes, it is, but Moses had a heart after God. Moses teaches us that we all fail. How do we fail, though? What do we do after we fail? Do we turn from God and reject Him? Or, do we say, "Wait a minute, God. I made a mistake. You forgave me. Let me move on." That’s what Moses did. Even though he didn’t get into the Promised Land, God had forgiven him. Moses had a relationship with God—he yelled at God, screamed at God, got mad at God, got angry with God, and said, "God tell me." What does Saul do? Saul is doing his own thing.
By the way, I don’t think we talked about it in this class but Moses did get into the Promised Land. Does anybody remember that from the New Testament? Mount of Transfiguration? Moses is right there with Elijah and Jesus. Now that’s even better than getting in there with the people! That’s great! So he made it in but it’s in a different form. God had better plans.
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1 Samuel 15:26-27 But Samuel said to him, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!" As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. |
You’re not supposed to do this. This was bad. It’s like putting your hands on an NBA referee or bumping a baseball umpire or something. You just don’t do it. |
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1 Samuel 15:28-29 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors--to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind." |
Saul stays with us the rest of 1st Samuel. Saul remains king even though David will be anointed. For ten years, David does not want to usurp Saul’s kingship. That’s how respectful David is of the king. Even though he gets a chance to kill Saul, he doesn’t do it. Even though Saul tries to kill him, he still will not lose respect for the position of the king. Verse 28 says that the kingdom will be given to David. Verse 29 is referring to God or possibly to Jesus. |
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1 Samuel 15:30-31 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God." So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD. |
This is when Samuel killed Agag. I encourage you to read all this to fill in the blanks. I’m giving you the big picture but if you read it, you’ll see just how bad Saul’s heart was. |
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1 Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king." |
Remember the book of Ruth. That’s how we got to Jesse. If we didn’t have Ruth, we wouldn’t know about Jesse, Obed, Ruth, or Boaz. |
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1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." |
Phew! Is that not the truth today!? I mean, I cannot believe they can take… salsa, and get sex out of it. I don’t know how they do that on TV with commercials. Or cars. What I’m talking about is women. It just seems like commercials today are more about appearance than the product. That’s what I’m saying. [Whoa! I got everyone’s attention all of a sudden!] <Where can I get some of that salsa? Ha ha.> It’s the idea that we look on the outward appearance of someone and make a judgment of whether I like that person, can be with that person, etc., rather than looking on their heart. I will say that I do it; all of us do it. When we saw people in this class for the first time, we said, "Well, I don’t want to sit beside that person. That person doesn’t look very friendly." We do this all the time! God is saying, "Don’t do it! Look on the heart." Take the person and remove the hair, skin, and flesh and just look on the heart. Look on the heart—the needs of the people, not the way they look. This is what God is saying, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." |
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1 Samuel 16:11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." |
Samuel asks to see all of Jesse’s sons. In other words, Samuel says, "This is serious business. We’re not going to sit down and eat or do anything until I’ve seen all your sons because God said, ‘Jesse’s son.’" |
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1 Samuel 16:12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." |
Who is it? David. "He’s out tending the sheep. He’s not a king. He’s not anything like a king. Keep him out there." |
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1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah. |
So we have David with the Spirit of the Lord. We’ve already read and I think you’ll recall that when Saul did one of his bad things, the Spirit of the Lord left Saul. So Saul is operating without the Spirit of the Lord and now the Spirit of the Lord is on David. I have to read this. This is good. |
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1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. |
This is one of those verses you have to trip over. What does that say? It says, "God sent an evil spirit." Is that what it says? When you look at scripture and all the Bible (and this is a little one compared to the witch at Endor), you ask, "Well, how can an evil spirit come from the Lord because the only evil spirits come from Satan?" The only way you can make sense out of that is that God allowed, permitted this demon or discontented spirit to come on Saul, if he was demon-possessed. There are some people who say Saul was not demon-possessed during this time but that Saul just had a troubling, trembling aura around him. It’s like at night, when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up but you don’t know why. It’s just something eerie. That’s the way this is interpreted. I can’t find any commentator who says that God sent an evil spirit. God allowed an evil spirit—that matches all the other things that happen with evil spirits. In the book of Job, Satan goes to God to have a conversation. It brings up a lot of questions, but the idea is that Satan and every one of his demons underneath him are subject to God. They cannot do their own thing. God allows evil to be in the world today. We can talk another time about why God allows evil, but He allows it. He permits it. It is His sovereign will, His choice. <Question: Does God allow Satan to do His punishing?> God will remove the protection from someone and allows Satan to get to him, like Job. We’ll get to Job. |
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1 Samuel 16:15-18 Saul's attendants said to him, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better." So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me." One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him." |
Do you know who they’re talking about? David. |
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1 Samuel 16:19-23 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. |
Isn’t that fascinating? Here is David with the Spirit of the Lord and Saul with the evil spirit. God would allow ministry to Saul through David. Do you see that? Saul would be relieved. What I want you to see is that there is something in Saul’s life now—he is a depressed person. He is an "energy-sapper," sucking all the good energy out of people. It could be like your spouse: "How was your day?" "Oh, it was horrible! It was rotten!" How do you feel right then? All the energy just left you. This is Saul. Saul is an "energy-sapper." David is providing positive energy—whatever comfort can come from the Spirit of the Lord to Saul. It’s only when Saul allows David to play the harp for him. What we find is that Saul doesn’t allow this to happen much longer. <Question: Does Saul know that David has been anointed as the next king?> No, but he’s going to find out. It is a strange relationship. You think, "Why doesn’t David take over?" It comes back to: David respects what God has put there. It’s strange but he does. David has a heart after God and says, "This is what God wants right now. This is what God gets." What we’ll see is that, just like everybody, God is allowing Saul to do his own thing and make his own choices even though he gets further and further away from Him. God says, "Saul, turn around. Turn around." He won’t. He keeps getting deeper and deeper in sin and further away from a relationship with God. We’ll see this occur on a graduated scale. |
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I’m not going to get into chapter 17. This is David and Goliath. |
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1 Samuel 17:45-46 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. |
This is a great story to read to your children. It is. Men, women, and parents, if you read this to your children, they will just love it. They will love the story of David and Goliath. If you rely on your Sunday School teacher or the pastor to tell this story, shame on you! You should be doing it with your children. I mean, let them do it too, but you should be doing it. David, of course, relies on God and triumphs over Goliath. |
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1 Samuel 18:1-4 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. |
That was a way of forming a covenant. "Everything that’s mine is yours and yours is mine." |
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1 Samuel 18:5 Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well. |
So these are good times, aren’t they? It’s really great. David never went back to his father. He’s growing up in the shadow of Saul or Saul’s kingdom. Jonathan’s a friend of his. Everything’s great. |
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1 Samuel 18:6-7 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." |
Uh Oh. Here’s a problem. This is the wrong thing to say. |
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1 Samuel 18:8-9 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. |
Does everybody hear that? What did Saul just do? Do you see what jealousy did to him? It just got him on the wrong road. As a matter of fact, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem I hope to read this morning, "The Road to Endor". Saul doesn’t know it but he is on the road to Endor with his jealousy. This speaks volumes for us. If we get a little "jealous bone" in our body, it gets bigger and bigger and leads to a "root of bitterness." A root of bitterness really takes root. It’s hard to get out of a person. I saw it with my mother and her sister. The last eight years of their lives, they wouldn’t speak to each other. I don’t know today what happened but my mother died of cancer at 51. So from 43 to 51, she would not speak to her sister who lived right there in the same town. They avoided each other. They wouldn’t talk to each other for whatever reason. It was a root of bitterness. Somehow or another, something happened and they went down this road. Don’t let that happen. |
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If you have a root of bitterness this morning, this afternoon, go to God all the way to the conviction part. Ask God for forgiveness and get rid of it. This is Saul. He’s headed that way. Some of the things he does and justifies, we look at it and ask, "How could he let it get that far?" One step at a time, he did. |
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1 Samuel 18:10-11 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice. |
This is the guy (David) who’s been relieving him (Saul). What do you think of Saul’s brain right now? It’s frying. Do you see the distress and turmoil he’s getting into? This is what happens to us today. It’s February 2nd, and how many of you are already tied up in the world and discombobulated? That’s what Saul was doing. This is where God says to us as Christians that He gives us rest—the rest that the world can’t see. He gives us rest from these things. Saul had no rest so he thought he’d pin David to the wall. |
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1 Samuel 18:12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. |
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1 Samuel 18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns. |
So Israel loves David. What do they think of Saul? They don’t hate him yet, but he’s just there. He’s just the king. |
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1 Samuel 22:1 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. |
This is Saul chasing David. We skipped a lot, but Saul doesn’t like David so he tries to hunt David down. Who’s the real king? David. Who’s the supposed king? Saul. Do you get the picture? This goes on for about ten years. |
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1 Samuel 22:2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him. |
There were some people around there who were in debt, distressed, or discontented. It was a kind of rag-tag army for David. But he was the true king. God had anointed him. |
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1 Samuel 22:6-8 Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him. Saul said to them, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today." |
The "son of Jesse" is David. Doesn’t it sound like Saul is whining? "None of you do that. Nobody thinks of me." Where is Saul in his brain? Do you see what’s happening to Saul? Do you see the demise of Saul and the root of bitterness? It’s like he becomes like Howard Hughes—insulated. "No one tells me anything. Everyone is against me." What do we call that? Paranoia. "The world is against me. I’ll throw a pity party." This is what happens with a root of bitterness. When you get away from God, you don’t have His protection. Things come against you and you start thinking things and doing things that normally, under Christian, Holy Spirit-led, God-invoked power, you wouldn’t do, but you’re away from God. Your relationship is away from God. It’s expected for you to act and be this way. Your mind is all messed up. You don’t know what’s going on. Satan is having a field day. He’s having a party with you, as a Christian. That’s what he’s doing with Saul. I love this—"No one tells me when my son… No one loves me. No one cares about me. It’s just terrible." It’s a root of bitterness. |
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We have to skip a lot again. Saul gets to the point where he actually kills the priests. There is an episode where he goes in and kills the priests of God. That’s how bad it is. It’s getting worse and worse. The Philistines are coming against Saul again. |
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1 Samuel 28:5-6 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. |
Here’s Saul, inquiring of the Lord. "Urim" was something like dice: Urim and Thurim. It was something they used to make decisions that God was involved in. |
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1 Samuel 28:7a Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her." |
What does Saul say? "Well, if God won’t answer me, where will I go? If I can’t go to the ‘good side,’ I’ll go to the ‘dark side of the force.’ I’ll go to the evil side, a medium." Saul doesn’t see anything wrong with that because what is he doing? "I’m trying to fight a Philistine army here. I don’t care whom I consult." |
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1 Samuel 28:7b-8 "There is one in Endor," they said. So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name." |
We call this bringing people back from the dead. I’ve never watched it, but people say that "Crossing Over with Jonathan Edwards" is like this. Don’t watch it. God says very strongly that it is an abomination for anyone to deal with the dead. That’s the point I really wanted to challenge you with: the Spirit world. |
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1 Samuel 28:9 But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?" |
Now begin the questions about whether this woman really knew that this was Saul or not. There’s a little thing here that says that if she knew this was Saul, she would ask this question. She would say, "Why are you trying to trap me?" Saul is in disguise when she’s doing this. |
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1 Samuel 28:10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this." |
Now does she know who’s sitting here? Could be. Could not be. But this man in disguise promises this medium she will not be punished. |
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1 Samuel 28:11 Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" "Bring up Samuel," he said. |
Samuel has died and Saul wants him brought up. |
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1 Samuel 28:12-14 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!" The king said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground." "What does he look like?" he asked. "An old man wearing a robe is coming up," she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. |
"When she saw Samuel…" Is that what it says? Hold on. Note these words carefully as we go through this. How did he know it was Samuel? Remember that he tore the robe when he left? She mentioned the robe so Saul said, "It must be Samuel." |
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1 Samuel 28:15-22
Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" "I am in great distress," Saul said. "The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do." Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors--to David. Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines." Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel's words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and night. When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, "Look, your maidservant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do. Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some food so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way."
This is where I could not find any consensus among the commentaries as to what happened here.
Here are the various views of this:
First, the things you can’t miss:
With that as a foundation, you start examining this. If you look at the characters here:
<Question: If Samuel was with God, why would he say, "You’re going to be with me"?>
That’s right. "You’re going to be with me." That’s another thing. You say, "OK. What’s going on here?"
Look at the people we have here:
Some of you have been through the New Testament class and you know that when people died in the OT, they went to Sheol, or Hades. Sheol had two compartments. (I know some of you have not heard this before and you’re going to ask, "Where did he get this?" We’ll get there. It is in the Bible.) Sheol had two compartments: one is called "Paradise" and the other is "Place of Torment." All of the people who did not have a good relationship with God (before Christ) went to the Place of Torment. All those who had a faith relationship with God went to Paradise. So this raises a question. Samuel is obviously in Paradise. Did God call Samuel out of Paradise, not the medium, but God, because everything is subject to Him, so that he could come up and talk to Saul? That is another way of looking at this. It wasn’t the medium. It wasn’t Satan. It was God saying, "OK. I’m going to use this incident to make this happen."
Is everybody still with me? I know this is heavy.
<Question: If God has turned His back on Saul already, why would He do this?>
That’s another aspect of it. I’m telling you. There are so many ways of looking at this. If you want to get to the point where you say, "I want to know what to believe." I say keep going back to the truth. If you start looking at just this episode, you can’t count the medium because we definitely know the power is Satan’s. You can’t count Saul. Who’s left? This thing called a "spirit," who we say is referred to as "Samuel." I look at this incident and I say that this is why God says, "Do not mess with the hereafter. Do not mess with calling people up from the dead. Do not go to, have your heart after, or get involved with people who are mediums or spiritists to try to hear from the dead because that’s not where it’s at…it’s in the future." There has only been one person who has come back from the dead who we’ve heard from and know about; that is Jesus Christ. He’s the only one. That’s who we should listen to, not these others.
I want you to hear this. This is Rudyard Kipling’s "Road to Endor."
The Road to En-dor
"Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor." I Samuel, xxviii. 7.
Rudyard Kipling
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THE road to En-dor is easy to tread Whispers shall comfort us out of the dark— But they are so deep in their new eclipse |
And not for nothing these gifts are shown Even so, we have need off faith Oh the road to En-dor is the oldest road |
That’s what God is saying. Don’t mess with it. You’re not going anywhere. There are passages over in Exodus and Leviticus that say, "Don’t mess with spiritists, mediums, or witchcraft." I’ve mentioned "Crossing Over," but there’s also astrology and horoscopes. Some of you want to read those but just know what you’re messing with. I believe that. You’re messing with something that God says is an abomination and detestable to me. It looks like fun and it looks great but you are on the road to Endor.
Prayer:
Father, God, we thank you for this morning. Father, I believe your Holy Spirit is here, teaching each one of us at the level of what we’re supposed to be right now with you. That’s what’s so amazing about learning your Word. We don’t all have to be at the same spot. Father, if there are some things that have puzzled or challenged us, I pray that each person will ask your Holy Spirit to lead and guide them. God, you are after us being restful. You’re asking us to have an abundant life. You’re asking us to be one with you, Father, and to be overcomers. When we think about that, our brains and minds should not be stirred up, discontented and distressed like this world is. We are above this world, Father, because of you, because of your Son, Jesus Christ, and because of the power of the Holy Spirit. In your Son’s precious Name, I pray. Amen.
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®.
Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.