God Who Fulfills Prophecy

1 Samuel 10:1-13

1Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, “Hasn’t Yahweh anointed you to be prince over his inheritance? 2When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?”’ 3“Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. 4They will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand. 5“After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 6Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man. 7Let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do what is appropriate for the occasion; for God is with you. 8“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you, and show you what you are to do.” 9It was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs happened that day. 10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them. 11When all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12One of the same place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

Saul set out to look for the donkeys and met Samuel, and there he heard of God’s wonderful providence. He had never imagined that he himself was the king the people of Israel wanted so badly, so Saul must have been deeply confused. Just as he had worked to bring the lost donkeys back to his father, he must now work to lead lost Israel to God. For Saul, from the small tribe of Benjamin, that would be a heavy burden.

Samuel took the vial of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, and told him that Yahweh had made him prince over God’s inheritance. From now on he would live as the king of Israel. Anointing Saul with oil is a religious rite performed on a person consecrated to carry out an office God has granted.

Here Samuel is pouring oil from a vial on Saul, but when God told him to go to David, he commanded him to fill his horn with oil and pour it. And for Saul the word ‘prince’ was used, but of David God said, ‘I have provided a king for myself’ among Jesse’s sons. This shows that God looked on Saul and on David with different hearts. It was probably because God already knew that Jesus would come into the world through David. So Saul’s mission was something like that of John the Baptist, who introduced himself as only the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for Christ. John meant that he had only been given a mission to prepare the way of the Lord, and that he was not the Messiah, who could forgive sins. It is important for everyone to know their own proper place well, as John the Baptist did. If John the Baptist had coveted Jesus’ place because many people followed him, he would have been rejected forever. In the same way, if Saul had obeyed fully and carried out his mission when God made him king, he would have remained a great king. But Saul fell. So God used his corrupted heart to set David up as king, and Jesus came from the root of David.

Once Saul took the throne, he forgot both that God had raised him up and that the eternal king of Israel is God. He coveted God’s place until he was rejected. Unless we throw off human greed, we cannot enjoy a blessing even when we receive it.

After anointing Saul, Samuel made three prophecies.

The first prophecy was that [verse 2] he would meet two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah, and hear from them that his father had stopped worrying about the donkeys now that they were found, but was anxious this time because his son had not come back.

Just as prophesied, Saul heard news of his father on that very spot. There must surely be a reason God had him hear his father’s heart beside Rachel’s tomb. Rachel was the most loved of Jacob’s four wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Because Jacob loved her most, she knew her husband’s absolute faith; yet when Jacob went back to his homeland, Rachel stole the teraphim of her father Laban and took them with her. She knew her husband’s faith and still did not have a whole faith of her own. And Saul was a descendant of Benjamin, the son this Rachel bore. What God wanted to tell Saul concerned exactly this: Rachel was loved dearly by Jacob, yet she did not have a whole faith and served idols.

Rachel gave birth to Benjamin while Jacob was going up from Bethel to Hebron, where his father Isaac was. Her labor was so hard that she thought she might die, and she called the baby ‘Benoni,’ meaning ‘son of pain and sorrow.’ But Jacob did not call the baby ‘Benoni’; he called him ‘Benjamin,’ meaning ‘son of the right hand,’ a name that signifies favor and excellence. Benjamin is a hopeful, positive name. This is how differently a mother and a father looked on one child. The mother’s heart was Benoni, sorrow; the father’s heart was Benjamin, hope.

Saul’s father was glad the donkeys had been found and anxious because his son Saul had not come back. Through the first prophecy Saul had to understand that God’s heart was like this, anxious over a people who could not come back to a whole faith. God wanted Saul to carry out the mission of a king and to build up the Israel of Benoni into Benjamin, a whole Israel. This prophecy held God’s longing for Israel to come back as the true son of the right hand, that is, the son God favors.

The second prophecy was that a little beyond Rachel’s tomb there was an oak, and there he would meet three men going up to Bethel. One would be leading three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. They would greet Saul, who had nothing to do with them, and give him two loaves of bread. This probably meant that God would give Saul, as king, a portion of the offerings brought to God. Through the people’s gift of bread, God was teaching that he would give Saul enough to live on as king without taking the people’s property by force.

But Saul did not understand God’s heart. He exploited what belonged to the people, and to avoid sharing glory with David he ended up doing evil. He acted foolishly because he forgot that God had chosen him, called him and raised him up. Believers too, if they forget that God chose them and raised them up, will grow greedy and live lives that fail through envy and jealousy. Unless believers keep denying themselves and forsaking the world through the Word, they can only live by instinct. Those who receive the Word come to realize that human beings cannot make themselves worth anything. Saul heard God’s will and still did not understand it, and so he perished.

The third prophecy was that when he reached the hill of God, that is, his hometown Gibeah, he would meet prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them, prophesying. Up to that time the Philistines had set up a garrison in Gibeah, inside Israel’s borders, and kept troops there to run the administration and to watch over and control Israel. God had Saul pass the garrison the Philistines had set up and meet a band of prophets who were prophesying. His purpose was that Saul should defeat the Philistines, save Israel, and become a leader who ruled the nation, praising God together with the prophets.

1 Samuel 10:6

6Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man.

Just as the prophets praised with all kinds of instruments and proclaimed the Word, Saul too, when the Spirit of God came on him, would be filled, praising and proclaiming the Word, and would be turned into another man. When the Spirit of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, comes on someone, they will speak for God and will naturally praise his glory.

The lute is a harp-shaped stringed instrument with ten strings, the tambourine was an instrument much like today’s tambourine, and the pipe was a flute-like instrument made of reed or horn. The harp was a stringed instrument like the lute, made so that it could be played while walking, and similar to today’s guitar. In this way every kind of instrument can be brought in when we praise God. But when the Holy Spirit comes, it is not like beating on instruments and singing, carried away by our own mood. We receive the power to prophesy, that is, to proclaim God’s word.

Saul received three prophecies from Samuel. Samuel told him that he would hear his father’s heart at Rachel’s tomb, that he would meet people going to offer sacrifice and receive bread from them, and that he would meet prophets full of the Spirit, receive Yahweh’s Spirit, and praise and prophesy with them. Look at verse 9: all of these prophecies of Samuel came true. Now, as Saul watched every sign come to pass one by one, he needed to believe that God’s word always comes true and to rule the nation by faith.

Hebrews 11:1-2

1Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

The power of faith gives believers the strength to go boldly toward the future. If Saul had watched all three prophecies coming true and had held a firm faith, God would have lifted him up to be a great king. But though God had told him the future in advance, Saul could not trust God to the end, and he fell into death.

In verse 7 God clearly told him that when these signs came to him, he was to do what was appropriate for the occasion, for God would be with him. The signs came just as the Word said. Now, if Saul judged rightly and did what the occasion called for, God would help him to the end. It is God who shows the signs; and if Saul simply takes them as his opportunity and obeys God’s will, it is Saul who receives the blessing and enjoys it. This word applies to you now as well. The signs God shows you through your life are opportunities, and if you obey, they will lead to blessing.

In Matthew 24 the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. Jesus answered that they should be careful, because many would claim to be the Christ and lead people astray; that there would be wars and rumors of wars, and nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; and that there would be famines and earthquakes, but all these things would be only the beginning of birth pains. He said that as these things began and iniquity was multiplied, people would deliver you, that is, believers, up to oppression and kill you, and that you would be hated by all the nations for the single reason that you believe in Jesus. He said that when believers came under persecution, many among them would stumble and fall away, seize other believers and hand them over, and distrust one another, and love would grow cold.

But he also gave the promise that he who endures to the end will be saved. What you must do to be saved is to endure to the end with patience and not be shaken by temptation. Today the world is showing the signs, just as Jesus said. Everything is coming to pass just as Jesus prophesied. So then, just as Saul, watching the prophecies fulfilled, was to live as another man, you must now, while every sign Jesus spoke of is appearing, endure to the end in faith and persevere for the sake of salvation.

Matthew 24:15

15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Jesus said that in the time of destruction those who are in Judea should flee to the mountains. He meant that only by fleeing to the mountain of faith can we live. He said that the one on the housetop should not go down to take out the things in his house. By this he meant that believers in the place of prayer must not let the world steal their hearts and get up from the place of prayer. And he said that the one in the field should not return back to get his clothes. This means that while carrying out the mission God has entrusted to us, we must not turn back to the world out of fear, thinking that we will be safe only if we have the world’s power after all. When he said there would be woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days, he was not speaking of pregnant women carrying life. He meant woe to those who conceive lust and bear sin, and then nurse that sin with the milk of evil until it is full grown.

Just as Jesus said that people here and there would claim to be the Christ, many people now claim to be God or call themselves the Lord of the Second Coming, and they are leading many souls to hell. They are working hard to make the chosen ones stumble with great signs and wonders. Satan is cunning. He does not change the whole Word; he changes just the end of it slightly and slips himself into that place. So unless we know the Bible, we can never tell the difference.

The Lord spoke in advance through the Bible and made everything known: in the last days a day would come when the abomination of desolation would stand in the holy place. You who see that word becoming reality must understand the Word more closely, and you must not be deceived but keep the faith to the end.

Just as Yahweh poured out his Spirit mightily on Saul and made him see the signs come to pass so that he would have assurance, God has poured out the Holy Spirit on you to give you the assurance of faith. When God, Christ and the Holy Spirit help you this much, if you fail to keep the faith, you will have to bear the responsibility yourself. If you turn neither to the right nor to the left but look only to the one way, Jesus Christ, faith will naturally lead you onto the way of salvation.

In verse 10 Saul met the band of prophets and prophesied with them. Those who had known Saul before saw him prophesying with the prophets and whispered to one another, asking since when Saul had been a prophet. When Yahweh’s Spirit comes, a person becomes new and is changed with a new heart. This is God’s gift, given from his own side, whatever the believer’s faith may be. That is why, when grace comes, we must work at the Word and at prayer so that we do not spill it.

But though Saul prophesied and praised while he was filled, once he grew hard again he could not keep that faith. People without a mature faith resolve to live with a full faith when they are with believers who are filled, or when they are doing church work they enjoy. But once they drift away from people of faith, or go home and are alone, many of them, like Saul, fail to keep the faith. Staying filled on one’s own matters more than being filled by the atmosphere around one. What God wants is for believers to keep the faith and live for God’s glory even when they are alone in the world. That is why, in the Bible, the prophets God called were all set apart in isolation and trained to keep their faith alone.

Suffering and isolation are the very means by which God calls people and chisels them into shape. For only those who can trust God’s faithfulness and stay filled even in their hours alone can overcome every temptation and attack. Only a person who can praise with joy and thanks in the hours alone can boldly throw away their own righteousness and exalt God. When Saul was with the prophets, he knew clearly what mission he had received and how he should live as king of Israel. But once he actually became king, God was the first thing he threw away, and he tried to kill David, a man after God’s own heart, and was destroyed instead. If we do not have a true faith within the Word, even if we are filled for a while, we cannot keep grace; we spill it.

In verse 24 Saul at last became king. When Samuel told the people that Saul was the king Yahweh had chosen, the people who had rejected God shouted and rejoiced. If Saul had saved the nation for the people who rejoiced in him and governed them according to God’s will, he would have received great blessing. Just as Jesus, the King of kings, sacrificed himself for God’s glory and completed the work of salvation, Saul too should have lived for God’s glory, but he lived for his own.

When God lifts you up, be humble. The higher the office you are given in the church, the lower you should become; and the more wealth and power pile up for you in the world, the more you should obey God. That is the wisdom that keeps a blessing. May you carry out your mission for Christ, who gave you life. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 11:1-12

1Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” 2Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make it with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out. I will make this dishonor all Israel.” 3The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” 4Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5Behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, “What ails the people that they weep?” They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6God’s Spirit came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot. 7He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8He counted them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.” 11On the next day, Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 12The people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!”