Kingdom Lost (part II)
1 Samuel 14:24-52
Main Idea: The Lord desires a humble heart of faithfulness more than empty religiosity and worldly success.
I. Bright Eyes and Empty Bellies (14:24-35)
Even though “the Lord saved Israel that day” (14:23), the men of Israel were “hard pressed” (14:24a; cf. 13:6) because of a fasting oath laid upon them by King Saul. His motivation is selfishly related to the vindication of his own name (14:24b) rather than a concern for the Lord and His people.
As the people fight hard for Saul, they come upon a forest dripping with honey; Jonathan, unaware of the oath, eats some of the honey and his eyes become “bright” (invigorated & refreshed). While the people are “faint,” Jonathan sees the foolishness of Saul’s oath; he has forbidden a good thing provided by the Lord, ruining the spoils of a great victory (14:30).
Saul’s foolish man-made commandment ends up causing the people to break God’s clear commandment, as they “pounce” and eat meat with blood (cf. Lev. 17:10-13, Matt. 15:3). Ultimately, Saul is acting as a legalist, driven by his own fear and insecurities to use external religiosity to manipulate and curry God’s favor.
Works righteousness or legalism [is the] subtle proclivity to seek to leverage Christ’s favor with our behavior… There is an entire psychological substructure that, due to the fall, is a near-constant manufacturing of relational leveraging, fear-stuffing, nervousness, score-keeping, neurotic-controlling, anxiety-festering silliness that is not something we say or even think so much as something we exhale. And if you trace this fountain of scurrying haste, in all its various manifestations, down to the root… you find gospel deficit. You find a lack of felt awareness of Christ’s heart.
~ Dane Ortlund, Gentle & Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners & Sufferers
II. Silly Vows and Silent Responses (14:36-46)
Though Saul has just built an altar to the Lord, he forgets about him moments later. The priest urges Saul to “draw near to God” in prayer before another attack, but “the Lord did not answer him that day” (cf. 8:18). The silence of the Lord is compounded by the silence of the people (14:39).
Saul suspects that his son Johathan has played a role in this situation, but he doubles down on his man-made oath. After Jonathan is “taken” by lot, Saul takes up the role of a prophet (cf. 13:11), willing to shed the blood of his own son who freely “confesses” his actions.
Jonathan’s conscience is unburdened and free because of his genuine faith in God, while Saul acts in wickedness, choosing himself and his foolish vow over his faithful son. The people courageously swear an oath of their own before the Lord and “ransom” Jonathan, knowing that he is the one who truly “worked with God this day.”
III. History’s Accounting and God’s Assessment (14:47-52)
This summary of Saul’s kingship seems to be positive, though it fulfills Samuel’s warnings (cf. 8:11) and hints that his kingship is coming to an end.
History’s judgment is that external human calculation of a person’s life and work. It’s what folks can observe. By such a standard, Saul had made his mark and made it well… But [history’s judgment] does not have the decisive verdict… The vital assessment cannot come from the applause of men within history but only from the God who reigns over history. What matters then is not success (whether political or military) but covenant. Yahweh is not looking for winners but for disciples. And for the Bible, covenant obedience matters far more than vocational achievement… We have then these two estimates of Saul, the historical and the covenantal. Both are true... But only one matters.
~ Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart
1 Samuel 16:7: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Mark 8:34-37: And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?
