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 had set out to find his donkeys, met Samuel instead, and there heard of God’s astonishing providence. He had never imagined that he was the king the people of Israel wanted so badly, and he must have been deeply bewildered. Just as he had labored to bring the lost donkeys back to his father, he must now labor to lead lost Israel back to God. For Saul, from the small tribe of Benjamin, this would have been a heavy burden.
Samuel took a vial of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, and told him that Yahweh had anointed him to be prince over his inheritance. From now on he would live as the king of Israel. Anointing Saul was a religious rite performed on a man consecrated to fulfill the office God had granted.
Samuel is now pouring oil from a vial on Saul, but when God sent him to David, he commanded him to fill his horn with oil. And for Saul he used the word “prince,” but of David he said, “I have provided a king for myself among his sons.” From this we can see that God looked on Saul and on David with different hearts. Perhaps this was because he already knew that Jesus would come into the world through David. Saul’s calling, then, was something like that of John the Baptist, who described himself as only the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of Christ. John meant that he had been called only to prepare the way of the Lord; he was not the Messiah who could forgive sins. It is important for every one of us, like John the Baptist, to know our proper place. Had John coveted the place of Jesus because so many people followed him, he would have been rejected forever. Saul too, had he fully obeyed and fulfilled his calling when God made him king, would have been remembered as a great king. But because he fell, God used Saul’s corrupted heart to establish David as king, and from the root of David Jesus came.
Once Saul took the throne, he forgot that God had raised him up and that God was Israel’s eternal King. He coveted God’s place and in the end was rejected. Unless we lay down human greed, we cannot enjoy a blessing even when it is given to us.
After anointing Saul, Samuel gave him three prophecies.
The first prophecy [verse 2] was that by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah, he would meet two men and hear from them that his father, relieved that the donkeys had been found, was now anxious because his son had not come home.
Just as foretold, Saul heard news of his father on that very spot. God must have had a clear reason for causing Saul to hear of his father’s heart beside Rachel’s tomb. Of Jacob’s four wives, Rachel was the most loved, and she was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Having received the greatest share of Jacob’s love, she knew how absolute her husband’s faith was; yet when Jacob returned to his homeland, she stole the household idols 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. Saul was a descendant of Benjamin, the son this Rachel bore. What God wanted to say to Saul was precisely this: Rachel was cherished by Jacob, yet she never had a whole faith and served idols.
Rachel gave birth to Benjamin while Jacob was going up from Bethel toward Hebron, where his father Isaac lived. Her labor was so hard that she thought she might die, and she called the baby Benoni, meaning “son of my sorrow and pain.” But Jacob did not call him Benoni; he named him Benjamin, “son of the right hand,” a name that speaks of favor and excellence. Benjamin is a name full of hope, a bright and positive name. The mother and the father looked at the same child with such different hearts: to the mother, he was Benoni, the son of sorrow; to the father, Benjamin, the son of hope.
Saul’s father rejoiced that the donkeys were found yet worried because his son had not come home. Through the first prophecy, Saul was meant to grasp that God’s heart, in the same way, was anxious for a people who would not return to a whole faith. God wanted Saul to fulfill his calling as king and to make the Israel of Benoni into Benjamin, an Israel made whole. Woven into this prophecy was God’s longing for Israel to return as the true son of the right hand, the son God favors.
The second prophecy was that a little beyond Rachel’s tomb he would come to the oak of Tabor, and there he would meet three men going up to Bethel. One would be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a bottle of wine. These men, who had nothing to do with Saul, would greet him and give him two loaves of bread. This would seem to mean that God would give Saul, as king, a portion of the offerings brought to him. By having the people give him bread, God was teaching Saul that he would provide enough for him to live as king without seizing the people’s property by force.
But Saul did not grasp God’s heart. He exploited the people, and to avoid sharing glory with David he committed evil deeds. He acted so foolishly because he had forgotten that God had chosen him, called him, and established him. We too, if we forget that God chose us and established us, will grow greedy and live lives that fail through envy and jealousy. Unless we continually deny ourselves and renounce the world through the word, we cannot help living by instinct. When we receive the word, we come to see that no human being can make themselves worthy. Saul heard God’s will and failed to understand it, and so he perished.
The third prophecy was that when he reached the hill of God, that is, Gibeah, his hometown, he would meet prophets coming down from the high place, prophesying, with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them. Up to that time the Philistines had set up a camp in Gibeah, within Israel’s borders; there they ran the administration and kept a garrison to watch and control Israel. God made Saul pass the camp the Philistines had set up and meet a band of prophesying prophets, and his purpose was this: Saul was to defeat the Philistines, save Israel, and become a leader who, like the prophets, praised God as he ruled the nation.
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 God with every kind of instrument and proclaimed his word, so Saul, when the Spirit of God came on him, would be turned into another man, full of the Spirit, praising God and speaking his word. When the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, comes upon us, we speak forth God’s word, and praise for his glory rises from us naturally.
The lute was a ten-stringed instrument shaped like a harp; the tambourine was close to the instrument we call by that name today; and the pipe was a flute-like instrument made of reed or horn. The harp, a stringed instrument like the lute, was made to be played while walking, somewhat like the guitar today. In this way every instrument can be brought into the praise of God. But when the Holy Spirit comes, it is different from beating on instruments and singing for one’s own pleasure: we receive the power to prophesy, that is, to speak God’s word.
Saul received three prophecies from Samuel: at Rachel’s tomb he would hear of his father’s heart; he would meet men going to offer sacrifice and receive bread from them; and he would meet prophets full of the Spirit, receive the Spirit of Yahweh, and praise and prophesy with them. According to verse 9, every one of Samuel’s prophecies came true. Now, as he watched each sign come to pass, Saul needed to believe that God’s word is always fulfilled 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.
Faith has the power to make us go forward boldly into the future. Had Saul gained a firm faith as he saw all three prophecies come to pass, God would have raised him up to be a great king. Though God had shown him the future beforehand, Saul did not trust God to the end, and he fell into death.
In verse 7 God told him plainly that when these signs came to him, he was to do what was appropriate for the occasion, for God was with him. As the word said, the signs came, and now if Saul made the right decision and acted as the occasion called for, God would help him to the end. It is God who shows the signs; but it is Saul who will receive and enjoy the blessing, if only he takes them as his occasion and obeys God’s will. This word applies to you 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 many would come claiming to be the Christ and would lead people astray, so they must take heed; that there would be wars and rumors of wars, that nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and that there would be famines and earthquakes, but all these things were only the beginning of birth pains. As these things begin and sin abounds, he said, they will deliver you, that is, his followers, up to oppression and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for no other reason than that you believe in Jesus. When persecution comes, many of those who believe will stumble and fall away, seize their brothers and sisters and hand them over, and distrust one another, and their love will grow cold.
But he also gave the promise that those who endure to the end will be saved. What we must do to be saved is endure to the end with patience, unshaken by temptation. The world today is showing the signs just as Jesus said. Everything is coming to pass as he foretold. Then, just as Saul, seeing the prophecy fulfilled, was to live as a changed man, so we, now that every sign Jesus spoke of is appearing, must stand firm in faith and endure to the end for our 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 in Judea must flee to the mountains, meaning that only by fleeing to the mountain of faith can we live. When he said that those on the housetop must not go down to take things out of the house, he meant that those of us in the place of prayer must not rise up from it because the world has stolen our hearts. And when he said that those in the field must not turn back to get their clothes, he meant that while we carry out the calling God has entrusted to us, we must not turn back to the world out of fear, thinking we will be safe only if we have the world’s power. When he said woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days, he was not speaking of women carrying new life. He meant woe to those who conceive greed and give birth to sin, and then feed that sin the milk of evil to make it grow.
As he said that people here and there would claim to be the Christ, so now many claim to be God or the returning Lord and are leading many souls to hell. They are working to make the chosen stumble with great signs and wonders. Satan, being cunning, does not change the whole of the word; he alters only its ending, ever so slightly, and slips himself into that place. So unless we know the Bible, we can never tell the difference.
Through Scripture the Lord told us beforehand, making it all known, that in the last days a day would come when the abomination of desolation would stand in the holy place. Those who see that word becoming reality must understand it more fully, refuse to be deceived, and keep their faith to the end.
Just as God poured out the Spirit of Yahweh mightily on Saul to give him assurance and caused him to see the signs come to pass, so God has poured out the Holy Spirit on you to give you assurance of faith. If, with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit helping you this far, you still do not keep your faith, you will have to bear the responsibility yourself. If you turn neither to the right nor to the left and look only to the one way, Jesus Christ, faith will lead you naturally onto the road 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 murmured, asking since when Saul had been a prophet. When the Spirit of Yahweh comes, we become new people, changed and given a new heart. This is God’s gift, given from his side alone, whatever the state of our faith, and so when grace comes upon us we must labor in the word and in prayer not to spill it.
Saul, however, prophesied and praised while he was full of the Spirit, but once his heart hardened again he could not hold on to that faith. People whose faith has not matured resolve to live in the fullness of faith when they are with Christians who are full of the Spirit, or when they do church work they enjoy. But many of them, like Saul, cannot stay faithful once they drift away from people of faith or go home and are alone. Being full of the Spirit when the atmosphere is right matters less than staying full on our own. What God wants is for his people to remain faithful and live for his glory even when they are by themselves out in the world. That is why in the Bible we see that the prophets God called were all set apart in isolation and trained to keep faith alone.
Hardship and isolation are the very means by which God calls us and chisels us. For only those who can trust God’s faithfulness and remain full of the Spirit even in their hours alone can overcome every temptation and attack. Only those who can praise with joy and thanks in solitude can boldly cast off their own righteousness and exalt God. While Saul was with the prophets, he knew clearly what calling he had received and how he ought to live as king of Israel. But once he actually became king, he abandoned God first of all, and in trying to kill David, a man after God’s own heart, he was himself destroyed. Without true faith rooted in the word, even if we are full 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, “Long live the king!” and rejoiced. Had Saul saved the nation for the people who rejoiced over him and ruled them according to God’s will, he would have received great blessing. Jesus, the King of kings, gave himself up 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, may you be humble. May you grow lower the more offices you hold in the church, and more obedient to God the more wealth and power you gather in the world. That is the wisdom that keeps a blessing. May you be people who fulfill your calling 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!”