Let's turn back tonight to 1
Samuel, and this evening we're looking at chapter 13. 1 Samuel
chapter 13. In this chapter, we will see
that Saul is told that his kingdom shall not continue. The nation
of Israel desired a king. We've seen this. They said that
we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us
and fight our battles. In doing this, the Lord told
Samuel at that time, They have not rejected thee, but they have
rejected me, that I should not reign over them. That is God
speaking. They have not rejected thee,
Samuel, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over
them. In the book of Hosea, the prophecy
of Hosea, we read this statement. God said, I gave them a king
in mine anger. I gave them a king in mine anger
and took him away in my wrath. So as we look tonight at this
chapter, I've divided my message into four parts, four divisions.
First of all, Saul smites a garrison of the Philistines. Let's read
the first four verses. Saul smites a garrison of the
Philistines. Saul reigned one year, and when
he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him 3,000
men of Israel, where of 2,000 were with Saul in Mishmash and
the Mount Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gevaah of Benjamin,
and the rest of the people he sent away every man to his tent. And Jonathan smote the garrison
of the Philistines that was in Geba. And the Philistines heard
of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout
all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel
heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines.
and that Israel also had an abomination with the Philistines, and the
people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. As I said just a moment ago,
Israel had rejected God as their king, and they desired to ask
for a man who would fight their battles for them. But in this
chapter, we see how foolish This man was, this King Saul was,
how foolish he was. Several weeks ago, we saw that
he raised an army of 330,000 men to fight the Ammonites. Now, we don't know at this point
how much time had passed since he raised that large army, but
we're told that he has only 3,000 men. Only 3,000 men. And it's pointed
out that if, if he had 3,000 to be his attendants, his secret
service, his bodyguards, then he had too many. He didn't need
3,000. At the same time, if he thought
that this was all he needed as a standing army, he had too few. You know, the way the chapter
began, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned, two
years over Israel. It's hard, and no one is for
sure exactly the time period here, and some have suggested
that Saul reigned as a one or two year old child would reign. His foolishness is manifested
throughout this chapter. his foolishness as a reigning
monarch. In verse four, we see that the
Philistines, they had a garrison in the country of Israel. They had a garrison there. And
Saul gave the commandment to his son, Jonathan, to smite them. And it appears from what we read
here that there was an agreement. between the Philistines and Israel
for this garrison. These people that were in this
garrison were somehow protected, something like we might think
of today as diplomatic immunity. They were in the country of Israel,
but there was some kind of an agreement or treaty for them
to be in this garrison. And if you notice here in verse
four, It says that Israel also was
had an abomination that literally is that they stank. They stank, literally did stink
with the Philistines. In other words, they had acted
foolishly in attacking these people that somehow must have
been protected there in their country, had some kind of a right
to be there. Just a small group, wasn't a
large garrison by any means. And so Saul provoked them. That's what he did. He provoked
the Philistines by doing this. And as Literally, it says here,
Israel also had an abomination, literally did stink with the
Philistines for their betrayal in this action. They provoked
them to war. But the second thing I point
out to us is that the Philistines and Israel prepare for battle. They prepare for war, verses
five through seven. And the Philistines gathered
themselves together to fight with Israel. See, he had provoked
them. He's bringing this battle on,
this war on himself by attacking this garrison. He provoked them. And the Philistines gathered
themselves together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots
and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand which is on the seashore
in multitude. and they came up and pitched
in Mishmash eastward from Bethhaven. When the men of Israel saw that
they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, then
the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets and
in rocks and in high places and in pits. And some of the Hebrews
went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul,
he was in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. So what we see here is the Philistines
gather an army, and it's a large army. Now most of the writers
are in agreement, there wasn't 30,000 chariots, even though
this is what we read here, because that would have been just more
than we read of any king ever having, 30,000 chariots. When Pharaoh took off after Israel
when they were delivered out of Egypt, you know, and came
to the Red Sea. You know how many chariots Pharaoh
had when they went out into the Red Sea? 600. And that was a
mighty nation. Egypt was a mighty nation. And
then later we read that Solomon, who was a very wealthy and powerful
king himself over Israel, he had 1,100 chariots. So to read here that the Philistines,
which were not that large of a country by any means, that
they brought 30,000 chariots. Most of the writers believe that
what this actually means is there were 30,000 men associated with
the chariots that they were able to bring to the field. 30,000
men. The point is, that the Philistines were able
to raise a very large army. I mean, when it says here that
they were like the sand on the seashore, verse, let's see what, yes, verse five, the
people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. The
Philistines raised a very large army. Now, we're not told how
many Israelites responded, Saul had a trumpet blown, bringing
the people together, raising an army like he had done before.
But before, remember, he just sent out that word and 330,000
men assembled almost overnight, I believe it was. But this time,
we're not told how many men assembled, but what we are told is how they
acted. Not how many came, but how those
who did come acted. And the first thing we are told
about their actions is they saw that they were in a strait. They
recognized immediately that they were overwhelmed. The army of
the Philistines overwhelmed them. They were in a strait when they
saw the army of the Philistines. And the second thing we read
is they were distressed. They were distressed by what
they saw. And then the third thing is they
began to hide. And what kind of an army is that?
What kind of bravery is that? They began to hide in the caves
and climb hills and to seek any place to hide themselves from
this large army that the Philistines had brought into the land. And
then we read also that some of them actually fled over the Jordan. Remember, the Jordan River was
a division in the land of Israel. There was two and a half tribes
on one side of the river and the other tribes were on this
side of the river. Well, these men, from Benjamin,
that's where they were in the tribe of Benjamin, where Saul,
he was a Benjamite. They fled across the river Jordan. And it says they fled into the
land of Gad and Gilead. The writers point out that as
that land was divided there on that side of Jordan, the closest
to the river, they didn't even stop there in that tribe. They
went to the tribes that were the farthest away. Still in Israel,
yes, but the farthest from the battle that they could get. And
then the last thing we read, they trampled. They trampled. What does all of that tell us?
It tells us they were already defeated, doesn't it? They were
defeated before they ever got engaged in any kind of a skirmish,
any kind of a battle. They were defeated psychologically. They saw themselves as overwhelmed
and the impossibility that was before them. And then the third
thing that we see in this chapter, King Saul disobeyed God's commandment. Let's read from verse eight rather
through verse 16. And he tarried, that is Saul
tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had
appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal,
and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring
hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered
the burnt offering, and it came to pass that as soon as he had
made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came,
and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And
Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, because I saw
that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest
not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered
themselves together at Mishmash, therefore said I, the Philistines
will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication
unto the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and
offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, thou
hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not
continue. The Lord has sought him a man
after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be captain over his people. Because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee. And Samuel arose and got him
up from Gilgal unto Gebeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the
people that were present with him. Look at this, about 600,
about 600 men. and saw in Jonathan his son and
the people that were present with them a boat in Gebeah of
Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped at Mishmash and the
spoilers came." Well, that's as far as we'll read there. It's very clear. You know, as
I read over this chapter several times, my first thought was,
so, His sin was he offered an offering, a sacrifice. He was
not a priest, he was a king. But I came to realize that wasn't
it. That wasn't his sin. And we don't
know for sure that he actually offered this sacrifice. He had
priests with him. We read that in the next chapter.
So it's possible he had a priest who offered this burnt offering. But it's very clear as you read
through this what his sin really was. We're told that in verse
13, thou has not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God. That's the
sin. That's the sin that cost him
his kingdom. Now, we're not sure because I
believe it was in chapter 10, 1 Samuel chapter 10, that Samuel
told Saul to wait seven days and he would come and offer the
sacrifice. Now, that may have been a standing
commandment. We don't know. Or this may be
a time he commanded him a second time to wait seven days. And Samuel would come and offer
the sacrifice and tell him, give him instructions, help him as
he would be involved in the battle. It makes no difference when this
commandment was given. Whether it was a standing commandment
or if this was a recent commandment that Samuel had given Saul, he
disobeyed it. It was the commandment of the
Lord, although it came through Samuel. But Samuel tells him
very clearly, you have done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God. I think we see several things
when you read through these verses about Saul. I see he was impatient. He was
impatient. Samuel told him seven days and
he would be there, but evidently he didn't come as early on that
seventh day. He did come on the seventh day,
but not as early as Saul expected him to come. And so I see his
impatience. You know, one of the most difficult
things for any of us as believers to learn is to wait upon the
Lord, isn't it? I mean, when we have his word
and when he gives us a commandment, we're to trust him, to believe
him. And his command to Saul was seven days, wait seven days. So I see, until the sun went
down that day, It was still the seventh day, and Samuel did come
on the seventh day, but he didn't come as early as Saul thought
he should come. I see his impatience, not waiting
upon the Lord. A second thing I see here is
he was fearful. He was fearful. He saw the people
were deserting him, and this begs this question. Was his trust
in God or was his trust in the number of his army? What was
he trusting in? The number of people that he
had or was he trusting in God? I see he was fearful. We know
that God, he's able to save by many or by few. Makes no difference
to him. God is not limited by our number
or by the number of Saul's troops, he was fearful. Listen, even had the Israelites
been a large army assembled there, they didn't have any weapons.
They didn't have any weapons. Look down to verse 22. And so it came to pass in the
day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found
in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan. But with Saul and with Jonathan,
his son was there found. Only Saul and Jonathan had spears
or weapons of war. The Philistines, notice in verse
12, Verse 20, let's see, let me see
this. Verse 19, now there was no smith
found throughout all the land of Israel. Now this was something
that was common. It was common practice in that
day when a nation would defeat another nation, they would take
their weapons and they would also take those men who were
skilled in in making weapons, blacksmiths here. They took all
the smiths out of the country. Nebuchadnezzar did the same thing
when he conquered Jerusalem and Judah. He took all the smiths,
carried them back to Babylon so that the Israelites could
not begin to make weapons of war. They didn't have any weapons. And that again shows the foolishness
of Saul. The foolishness of provoking,
provoking the Philistines when they didn't have any weapons
to fight with. And people wonder, and it's a
legitimate question, when he defeated the Ammonites several
years before this, why he did not stockpile weapons? Surely
they conquered the weapons from those Those, that army. But again, as I said at the beginning,
as you go through this, you just see how foolish. Samuel said,
you've acted foolishly in not obeying the commandment of the
Lord, but he acted foolishly as a king. In many ways, in many
ways, and it come, chickens come home to roost now. He was fearful, he was impatient,
And he was unbelieving. He didn't believe God. He didn't
believe the word of God. Now, some see this as a very
small matter, very small sin. He did offer a sacrifice, yes,
but the commandment was to wait. Samuel was to offer the sacrifice. You mean for the small sin that
he loses his kingdom? Absolutely. The first thing we
should be aware of when we think about this is, as the scripture
says, the Lord is righteous in all His ways. In all His ways,
the Lord is righteous and holy in all His works. Matthew Henry,
in his commentary, gives several lessons from Saul's sin here. Let me point out, I think I've
got five. First, it shows that there is
no sin little because no little God to sin against. There is
no little sin. Why? Because every sin is against
God. Remember David said that in his
prayer. Against thee and thee only have I sinned. He sinned
against Bathsheba. He sinned against her husband.
But when he confesses his sin, that is David against thee and
thee only have I sinned. There can be no little sin because
all sin is against God. And there's no little God, no
little God. And I thought about this and
I thought about Lot's wife. She just turned and looked back. Our Lord told us, didn't he,
remember Lot's wife. That may and does appear to be
a traveling thing, a small thing, but it was disobedience. It was
disobedience because she had been commanded like Lot and the
others, the daughters, not to look back. But that just shows
us that her heart was still in Sodom. that the angels were able
to bring her out, but they didn't bring her heart out with her.
Her heart was still in Sodom. It was a small sin. People say
that about Adam, just taking a bite out of that fruit. No,
it wasn't small. It was a great sin because it
was against the great God, against the commandment of God. And we
should train ourselves. Not to think of, you know, people
say a little white lie. How can it be a little white
lie? A lie is a lie. Isn't it? A lie is a lie. And if a lie
is a lie, it's a lie, it's a sin against God. There's no little
sin. Read about the Lord Jesus Christ
in that passage there in Hebrews 1, the scepter of thy kingdom
is one of righteousness, and it is said of him that he loved
righteousness and hateth iniquity." You know, we kind of get the
idea, well, you can be indifferent. No, there is no indifference. There is no middle ground when
it comes to sin. It's either evil or it's not
evil. It's either sin or it's not sin.
So that's the first lesson Matthew Henry pointed out. It shows that
there is no sin little because no little God to sin against.
Number two, it shows that disobedience to an express command, though
in a small matter, is a great provocation. A small matter,
but it is disobedience to an express command. God had clearly
told him. You wait seven days, and he didn't
wait. Number three, Matthew Henry said,
he warns us to take heed to our spirits, for that which to men
may seem but a small offense, yet to him that knows from what
principle and from what disposition of mind it is done, it may appear
a heinous crime. God looks at the heart, doesn't
he? And the outward action may seem just a small thing, but
God knows the principle from which that small action springs. Number four, God, in rejecting
Saul for an error seemingly little, sets off as a foil as a foil
and remind us of the jeweler. Remember, you go in to look at
some jewelry and he takes that dark cloth and he puts it out
there and he puts a diamond on it and it just sparkles. Think
of this, this work of Saul, this action of Saul as that dark cloth. And then along comes David and
he commits adultery. murder, and God forgives him. Then there's that King Manasseh. Remember Manasseh? He was the
worst, the most sinful king they ever had. But God forgave him. And this,
as Matthew Henry said, it serves as a foil to show the grace of
God in forgiving sin. forgiving great sins. And number
five, we're taught here by how necessary it is that we wait
on our God continually. Saul lost his kingdom for want
of two or three hours patience. Think about that. He lost his
kingdom for the want of two or three, couldn't have been more
than three hours he could have waited before a new day would
have come. But his impatience cost him his
kingdom. And I would just add these two
things also to that. Number one, the scripture says,
to whom much is given, much is required. And this man was given
a lot. He was given a great deal. He
was made king. He was made to rule over God's
people. To whom much is given, much is
required. And a second thing, he was the
first king setting an example, an example to those who would
follow him. And the last thing I wanted to
say is this, the fourth one, the way of the transgressor is
hard. The way of the transgressor is
hard. Verses 17 and 18. And the spoilers
came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company
turned under the way that leaded to Orpha, under the land of Shul. Another company turned the way
to Beth-Horon. And another company turned to
the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboam toward
the wilderness. We might ask Israel at this point,
how's this working out? How's this working out? You wanted
a king? You rejected God from being your
king for reigning over you, fighting your battles for you? You wanted
a man that you could see? How's this working out? How's
this working out? Because it seems that the Philistines
now, they just had the run of the land. They'd take one company,
go this way, one company, go this way, one company, go this
way. They wanted to go to take the spoils of the land. That's
the condition they were left in. How's it working out? Not so good, is it? One of the
writers pointed this out, that this chapter 13, in his opinion,
was to introduce King David. Remember, Samuel told Saul here,
God has sought out a man after his own heart. The very first
mention that we have in the scripture about the one who would come
to be the king, and one who was such a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that is David. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to all of us here tonight. Surely there's some learning
for us that we can take from these things and grow in the
knowledge of Christ. Brother Bill, if you will, come
and lead us in a hymn.