59 – The Rest Of The Story – Part 1

FULL MEETING WITH MIDRASH HERE

NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE RECORDING.

There is confusion in the chronology of 1 Samuel chapters 10:8 through the end of 13. These chapters describe what happened to Saul and all Israel in the 7 days of Saul’s anointing week but they are out of order. I will explain a bit later why I believe these chapters are out of order.

This 7-day period was the only time a King of Israel was anointed for office in this way. He was anointed at Shavuot. Later Kings would be officially anointed on Yom Teruah even though they might take office at another time during the year. That was a 1-day ceremonial affair. Never again after the anointing of Saul, would another King of Israel go through this process. Why?

Because this 7-day process was akin to the 7-day process of inaugurating the priesthood. It only needed to be done once. After Aaron died, there were ceremonies to anoint and ordain the next High Priest but there was never another 7-day period like the first one. The 7-day process of Saul’s anointing was not just his personal anointing, but the inauguration and ordination of the office of King.

Saul has now fulfilled the 1st of 7 days in the process. On the first day, he was to have 3 different prophetic encounters. 1) He was to meet his father’s men coming to find him. 2) He was to meet 3 men carrying 3 goats, 3 loaves of bread and a skin of wine and to take 2 loaves which would be offered to him. 3) He was to prophesy with the band of prophets. Saul has now fulfilled all of these requirements. Now we come to day 2. But before that, let me explain why I believe 10:8 to the end of 13 is out of order.

Now, back to the order of 1 Samuel chapters 10 – 17. Chapter 10:8 explains that Saul was to go to Gilgal. That is Saul’s final destination but, during this week, he was also supposed to do what was “appropriate”, things that would challenge his new Kingship. We read of 3 things but there would be more that would happen to Saul unexpectedly during his anointing week. Samuel also told Saul that he would give further instruction to Saul in Gilgal in 7 days. In order for Saul to receive these further instructions and have the office of King conferred on him, he needed to wait on Samuel.

Chapter 10:17-25 proceeded with the beginning of Samuel’s speech wherein Samuel revealed Saul to Israel at Mizpah in Benjamin. Then suddenly, chapter 11 changes the scene from Samuel’s speech to introduce us to a situation, a war, brewing in Jabesh-Gilead in Manasseh’s territory. Then chapter 12 returns to the rest of Samuel’s speech and chapter 13 concludes day 7.

Continuity is better in this study. It is easier to wrap our minds around the events that happened in the 7-day period so that we will understand, in chapter 13, why Saul did not receive the Kingdom after all even though he reigned for 40 years. So let’s study Samuel’s total speech by skipping chapter 11 and going straight to chapter 12. Then we can return to chapter 11.

Here is Samuel telling the people what YHVH gave him to say on day 2. He probably sent messengers on day 1 to all of the tribal heads. They would have needed time to travel. This is why I believe Samuel’s speech, the revealing of Saul, happened on day 2 of the 7 day anointing week.

1 Samuel 10:17  Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah;
1 Samuel 10:18  and he said to the children of Israel, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
1 Samuel 10:19  But you have today rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.”
1 Samuel 10:20  So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.
1 Samuel 10:21  He brought the tribe of Benjamin near, by their families; and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen; but when they looked for him, he could not be found.
1 Samuel 10:22  Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, “Is there yet a man to come here?” Yahweh answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
1 Samuel 10:23  They ran and got him there. When he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
1 Samuel 10:24  Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” All the people shouted, and said, “Long live the king!”
1 Samuel 10:25  Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 

Now we learn that Saul went back to Gibeah at the end of day 2.

1 Samuel 10:26  Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched. 

Samuel told us that Saul already had a following of warriors which YHVH gave him.

Now, Samuel will speak to Israel about himself as their former judge. He wanted to know if he had mistreated or sinned against them in anyway.

1 Samuel 12:1  Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.
1 Samuel 12:2  Now, behold, the king walks before you. I am old and gray-headed. Behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth to this day.
1 Samuel 12:3  Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed [King Saul]. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”
1 Samuel 12:4  They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
1 Samuel 12:5  He said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed [King Saul] is witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” They said, “He is witness.”
1 Samuel 12:6  Samuel said to the people, “It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 12:7  Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh, which he did to you and to your fathers.
1 Samuel 12:8  “When Jacob had come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place.
1 Samuel 12:9  “But they forgot Yahweh their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them.
1 Samuel 12:10  They cried to Yahweh, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken Yahweh, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’
1 Samuel 12:11  Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety.
1 Samuel 12:12  “When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king. 

This is Samuel’s set up for Saul to go to war against Nahash and the Ammonite army. Saul was in this audience hearing about this situation. This was the unexpected thing that he needed to handle because it was “appropriate” to do so right then and there! His act of rescuing Jabesh-Gilead was critical to his own anointing, but also to the inauguration of the office of King.

1 Samuel 12:13  Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for. Behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.
1 Samuel 12:14  If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you are followers of Yahweh your God.
1 Samuel 12:15  But if you will not listen to Yahweh’s voice, but rebel against the commandment of Yahweh, then Yahweh’s hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers. 1 Samuel 12:16  “Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Yahweh will do before your eyes. 

This is what happened at the Red Sea. YHVH told Israel to stand still and see what God would do (Exodus 14:14). YHVH intends to still uphold His side of the covenant to save the Israelites from Nahash, the Ammonite, and He draws a parallel between the coming war with Nahash and the war with Pharaoh. This was done to parallel Saul with Moses.

1 Samuel 12:17  Isn’t it wheat harvest today? [Shavuot, which tells us that pretty close to or even on Passover and Unleavened Bread was when the people rejected YHVH who had brought them out of Egypt.

This is why Samuel makes the point of tell them how God sent Moses and Aaron to bring them out of Egypt which happened on Passover.] I will call to Yahweh, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in Yahweh’s sight, in asking for a king.” 

1 Samuel 12:18  So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
1 Samuel 12:19  All the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for a king.”
1 Samuel 12:20  Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet don’t turn away from following Yahweh, but serve Yahweh with all your heart. 

If you sin, you must keep going with your life but just don’t sin again.

1 Samuel 12:21  Don’t turn away to go after vain things which can’t profit or deliver, for they are vain.
1 Samuel 12:22  For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.
1 Samuel 12:23  Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
1 Samuel 12:24  Only fear Yahweh, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you.
1 Samuel 12:25  But if you keep doing evil, you will be consumed, both you and your king.” 

That was Samuel’s speech in Mizpah to all Israel on day 2 of Saul’s anointing week. So far, so good. 

Let’s return to 1 Samuel 12:12  “When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king. 

Here, it was revealed that the Israelites didn’t think YHVH would defend them at Jabesh-Gilead and they now wanted a human King. This is despite the fact that YHVH had delivered them from the Ammonites before!

Why did they think that? Because there were no gates for them to go to! They were in the same position then as we are today. They worshiped YHVH with their sight, not their hearts. But this also goes to show us how important are YHVH’s gates!

People have all kinds of false doctrines because there are no YHVH’s gates. They claim that YHVH did away with His Temple system which is not true. They claim that the collective Body of Messiah is all the Temple we will ever have. This perverts Daniel’s prophecy because the altar that gets shut down in Daniel 9:27 becomes our personal heart rather than a physical altar of YHVH. Some claim that we, individually, are the Temple not understanding what Paul said at all. The Israelites in Samuel’s day had just as much confusion which caused them to reach the wrong conclusion which was that they needed a human male to lead them because YHVH was, apparently, nowhere to be found.

The Ark was in Kiriath-Jearim in Abinadab’s house and the tabernacle had been erected at Nob by an unauthorized priesthood. When we forsake YHVH, He forsakes us, which He did for a time, but it throw Israel into profound confusion to the point that they thought a human King would solve their problem!

And now, said Samuel, the Ammonite army was ready to attack Jabesh Gilead in the first of what probably would have become a full incursion into Israel if YHVH had not set this war up for Saul’s intervention. The invasion by the Ammonites was a gift from YHVH to Saul, shall we say. I’ll explain why this is so later, but first let’s examine why He choose Jabesh-Gilead for this?

Jabesh-Gilead (Judges 21:8-10) was the only town in all Israel that did not come with the other tribes to punish Benjamin for the atrocity of raping a woman until she died, a sin for which the tribe of Benjamin refused to repent. The Israelites had nearly wiped out Jabesh-Gilead along with the tribe of Benjamin. The connection between Jabesh-Gilead and King Saul was the rebellion of the tribe of Benjamin and the cowardice of Jabesh-Gilead and the fact that the captured women of Jabesh-Gilead had been taken to Benjamin’s territory to become wives for the Benjamites after the battle was over. They had saved all of the women of child-bearing age but killed all the men, old men and children in the battle because Israel had sworn Benjamin would not get any of their daughters for wives. They found that Benjamin’s 600 male war survivors had no chance of marrying any women except for those from Jabesh-Gilead. Now, the new King of Israel who was from Benjamin will be required to go defend Jabesh-Gilead, which probably was the home of one of his ancestors, from the Ammonite army. Thus, Benjamin and Jabesh-Gilead are tied together.

Now we can go to chapter 11 to see what Saul would be facing on day 3 of his anointing week.  

1 Samuel 11:1  Then 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.” 

The invasion of the Ammonites had not happened during the week-long process of Saul’s anointing. Rather, Nahash would have already moved against Jabesh Gilead in the days or weeks just prior to Saul’s anointing. The army was already sitting there when Saul was out looking for his father’s asses.

This was YHVH setting the stage for a battle that would serve as a unifier of all 13 tribes around Saul as their King, a gift to Saul, as it were and as I said a bit ago.

The men of Jabesh Gilead were willing to just lay down and roll over for the Ammonites to take them without a fight. This was their problem during Israel’s civil war with Benjamin. In Judges 21:8-14, we read they would not join Israel in punishing Benjamin and then all the tribes went to war against Jabesh-Gilead after they finished off the tribe of Benjamin. The women were spared to become the wives of the 600 Benjamite men who survived the war.

Now, YHVH provided Saul with a way to rescue his ancestors’ village in Jabesh-Gilead from the Ammonites, which would also serve to prove his battlefield worthiness to Israel so the Kingdom would be united behind him. YHVH fully equipped Saul for being King.

So here is what YHVH set up for King Saul and Israel.

1 Samuel 11:2  Nahash 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.”
1 Samuel 11:3  The elders of Jabesh said to him [Nahash], “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.”
1 Samuel 11:4  Then 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.
1 Samuel 11:5  Behold, 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. 

Saul had no more returned to being a farmer than word of this problem reached him. He had not yet gone to Gilgal as instructed. Perhaps he went back to Gilead on his way to Gilgal to make sure his father’s farm was OK before moving on to Gilgal.

1 Samuel 11:6  God’s Spirit came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot. 

YHVH’s Spirit had come on Saul when he prophesied with the band of prophets, and now YHVH’s Spirit has come on him again. Notice that YHVH’s Spirit coming on Saul was the source of his burning hot anger, his righteous indignation.

1 Samuel 11:7  He 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. 

Do you recall how the civil war against Benjamin began when the Levite cut his concubine into 12 pieces and sent them all over Israel? This is a parallel to that and it was being one on behalf of his Jabesh-Gilead ancestors.

1 Samuel 11:8  He counted them in Bezek [on day 4]; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 

First, let me say that Saul “mustered” Israel rather than counting them. The Hebrew word ‘paqad’ (Strong’s H6485) can mean “number” (which is translated as “count” in English) but its first uses were “visit” (Genesis 21:1), “oversee” (Genesis 39:4-5), “appoint” (Genesis 41:34).  

‘Paqad’ was used in Exodus 30:11-16 when the males were numbered in the census for those qualified to go to war. However, Saul did not have time in this 7 day period for all Israel to present themselves for numbering in the manner it was done in the Book of Numbers. Also, remember that YHVH does not like it when Kings number or count His people. We will come to that in the story of King David.

Rather, the better term here is that Saul sent messengers throughout Israel to “muster” for battle at the place called Bezek which is near Jerusalem. Funny how Jerusalem keeps showing up more and more as the time for it to become YHVH’s capital city approaches. It was from the “close-to-Jerusalem” town that would march to Jabesh-Gilead and battle with the Ammonites on day 4 of Saul’s anointing week.

1 Samuel 11:9  They 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.
1 Samuel 11:10  Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.”
1 Samuel 11:11  On the next day [day 5 of the 7 day period], 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.

Saul has now proven to Israel his worthiness to rule. Because of this, we find that Israel was ready to slaughter those worthless fellows we read about at the end of chapter 10 who said they would not follow Saul.

1 Samuel 11:12  The people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!” 

Sometimes, no matter what YHVH provides, there are those who just can’t make themselves be grateful.

1 Samuel 11:13  Saul said, “No man shall be put to death today; for today Yahweh has rescued Israel.” 

Saul has rightly spoken that it was YHVH who rescued Israel. He gave credit where credit was due because he had twice experienced YHVH’s Spirit on him just within the last few days.

It would not have been expedient for Saul to begin killing his own people. That is not the way to unite a nation. The successful battle against the Ammonites had done that.

1 Samuel 11:14  Then Samuel said to the people, “Come! Let’s go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.” 

They may not have arrived in Gilgal until the end of day 6.

1 Samuel 11:15  All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

But before they offered sacrifices and rejoiced, Saul made war against the Philistines. We will study that next time.