1 Samuel 11

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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Will you open us up with a word of prayer? You know, Lord, all things come from you.

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These brothers of mine this morning, as we go through your Word, more about you, Lord.

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May we please you in all that we say and do.

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Alright.

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Let's open our Bibles to 1 Samuel.

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Chapter 11.

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Verse 1, it says, Now Nahash the Ammonite came up, and he besieged Jabesh-Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.

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But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, I will make a covenant with you, in one condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus make a reproach in all of Israel.

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The elders of Jabesh said to him, Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel.

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Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you.

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And then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept.

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And behold, Saul was coming from the field, he was behind the oxen, and he said, What is this matter with the people that they weep? So they relayed to him the words of the men from Jabesh.

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And then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Saul, when he had heard these words, and he became very angry.

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He took a yoke of oxen, he cut them into pieces, he sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul, and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.

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Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.

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He numbered them at Bezek, and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah were 30,000.

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And they said to the messengers who had come, Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you have deliverance.

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So the messengers went, and they told the men of Jabesh that they were glad.

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I'm sorry, and they were glad.

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Then the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, that you may do to us whatever seems right to you.

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The next morning Saul put the people into three companies.

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They came into the midst of the camp, in the morning watch, and they struck down the Ammonites into the heat of the day.

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Those who survived were scattered, so that not even one was left together with another.

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Then the people said to Saul, I'm sorry, then the people said to Samuel, Who is he that said shall Saul reign over us? Well, bring those men out, and let's put them to death.

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But Saul said, Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel.

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Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal.

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We shall renew the kingdom there.

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So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord at Gilgal.

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There they also offered sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the people of Israel greatly rejoiced.

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All right.

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So last week what were there were three things that took place last week.

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You may remember what they are? Three major things.

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We had signs, empowerment, and instructions.

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You may remember what the signs were right off the top of your head? Three goats, three men, three loaves of bread, and he would see the prophets, and he would also then, after seeing those signs, he would then be by the Holy Spirit.

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This here instructions had not yet taken place.

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If you remember at the end it said, and all that day these signs, that was the thing, took place.

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So that's what took place last week, which sets up chapter 11, because what did the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, as I think King James said it, what was its empowerment for? What was its purpose? To validate him and empower him for the purpose of being a king and a deliverer.

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So this here, this empowerment was for kingship and a deliverer.

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So now we get to chapter 11.

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We don't know how long this had taken place since between 10 and 11, but we know this, that people knew that Saul was king.

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And it says, Nahash the Ammonite came up, and he besieged Jabesh-Gilead, and the men of Jabesh-Gilead said to Nahash, okay, Nahash is in this area, he's over here.

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Anybody remember who the Ammonites were? Or Ammonites, however you want to say it? Anybody know? That's right.

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You had Moab and Ammonites were both descendants of an incestuous relationship between the two daughters of Lot.

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So they were constantly trying to, because they were kinfolk.

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So this dude sends, the king sends to here, Nahash sends to this here.

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This is Jabesh-Gilead right here.

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And he says, it's funny, Nahash, his name means serpent, or snake.

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He sends him up and he says, hey, he besieges the city, he wraps around the city, he's beginning to shut off things coming in.

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It's interesting, there was a, I don't know how many of y'all read Josephus? Anybody read Josephus works? No? Anybody know who Josephus is? Yeah, he's a Jewish historian that actually had been captured by Vespasian in the first century.

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He was captured by Vespasian, a Roman emperor, and he said I want to make you a historian for the Jewish wars.

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Well, not only while the 66 through 70 A.D.

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when they besieged Jerusalem, he also was then at the same time writing the Jewish wars and he was writing Antiquities.

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Well, his book in Antiquities makes a narrative of kind of what had taken place here and he said that Nahash had went through and about through the Reubenites and the Gadites and he was basically wreaking havoc on them and he was plucking out their right eye and as he, as these men in these areas fled, he gives the amount of 7,000 men fled to Jabesh Gilead and that's where they held up.

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Now, we don't know if that's historically accurate or true.

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We're just telling you what the historian says, but when they did find the Dead Sea Scrolls in cave 4, they did find some Dead Sea Scrolls that did actually say the same thing before the time of Christ.

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Another scroll of the same thing that Josephus did.

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So, Josephus was at least accurate with what had been passed down historically through the intertestamental time.

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So, Nahash goes up there, he besieges the city.

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The city says, alright, basically don't kill us.

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What would be the smart reason for them to make a covenant with Nahash? Just from a logical standpoint.

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What's that? Survival, yeah.

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So, and Nahash says, okay, I'll let you send out this messengers to the land of Israel to see if you have a deliverer.

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From his perspective, why would that be smart? They'd just be so disheartened by the fact that they're going to get overrun.

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Yeah, this is a win-win situation.

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Hey, if we make a covenant with him, he's going to gouge out our eye, okay, and Nahash says, well, if I send it out and they don't, I get to gouge out their eye, and I don't even lose one foot soldier that has besieged the city.

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Now, why gouge out the right eye? I can tell you what Josephus says.

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I don't know how accurate this is, but the right eye would have been on this side of the shield.

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So, if those, most people were right-handed, sorry Andy, most people were right-handed so they held the shield with their left hand, therefore they looked out their right eye.

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Most people were archers, so when they did use the archery, they aimed out of their right eye.

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How accurate that is, I don't know.

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I know what the text says.

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The text specifically says the reason why he's going to do it is to make it a reproach throughout Israel.

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So, imagine all of us got our right eye plucked out.

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We disperse into another city.

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Word's going to get out, oh, wow, man, those guys were slaves of who? Nahash.

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Yeah, so he said it's to make them a reproach.

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So, in verse 3, it says that the elders of Jabesh said to him, let us alone for seven days.

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We may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel, and then if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you.

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Alright, so he says, we're going to send out a delegation of guys.

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We're going to see if there's somebody that can deliver us.

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If nobody does it in seven days, then we'll come out to you, and I guess you'll get to plucking out our eye, and we'll go to serving you.

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And then, in verse 4, it says, the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and he spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept.

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So, this delegation of people leave here, and it is right here's Gibeah, and here's Gibeon.

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It had been like right here, because it was just north, so they sent a delegation to here.

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We don't know where it went.

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We don't know.

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We don't know how many of those men went out to these other places, and nobody said, we'll come.

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We know when it got to Gibeah, what Saul said.

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It says, now behold, Saul was coming in from the field behind the oxen.

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Once again, you remember last week, we talked about the humility of Saul.

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Saul's already king.

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Did Saul have any reason to go back to the field and start working? He's king.

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He did not raise up an army.

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He did not raise up his entourage.

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He did not begin to take chariots and horses and people's cattle, and all the things that he could have done, and by king's rights could have done, because remember, the book of the ordinances had already been set before the Lord.

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He didn't do it.

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What does he do? He goes back to work.

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Imagine his dad saying, hey Saul, I need you to go out there and plow the field.

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Hey king, go plow the field.

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So here it is.

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Saul says he's coming in from the field behind the oxen, and he said, what's the matter with the people that they are weeping? So they relayed his words to him from the men of Jabesh Gilead, and in hearing it, it says in verse 6 that the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became angry.

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Look, Saul became wrathful.

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Does anybody's translation say indignant? That's actually the word.

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Indignation.

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Righteous anger built up within him, and why would we say this is righteous anger? It's coming against the people of God.

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And not only was it wrongfully coming against the people of God, he was mistreating them, and now he was going to enslave them and mutilate their body in doing so.

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So it says he took a yoke of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers saying, whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.

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It's interesting that here it is in Gibeah a couple hundred years later.

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You remember in the book of Judges when we got to the end what happened in Gibeah? These were the men that raped the concubine to death.

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And then the Levites chopped her up in twelve pieces and dispersed her throughout the land, basically saying, if you don't come and join us to fight, this is what we're going to do to you.

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Interesting.

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Who did not come? The people of Jehoshaphat.

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Because remember, what did the men do when they didn't come? They went up there and killed all the men up there and kept the 400 virgins.

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They kept the 400 virgins, made them wives, and then they were still short 200.

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So they went to Shiloh, you remember? They went to Shiloh and it says, alright, when the girls are out there doing their little dance, you go snatch them.

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Yep.

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Ma'am? That was in 87 B.C.

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Yeah, so that's just a little historical of what's happened just within a couple hundred years or so.

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Well, maybe 400, depending on your timing of judges.

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Alright, so now we get to where he says he had taken the ox and he cut it up, he sent it out and he says, whoever does not come out after Samuel and Saul, so shall it be done to his oxen.

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Hey, we're going to chop up your oxen.

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If you don't come out and fight, we're going to butcher all your oxen.

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And it said at this moment that the dread of the Lord fell upon the people and they came out as one man.

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He numbered them at Bezik.

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All those people that decided that they were going to fight, however many they ate, this is where they came, right here.

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Just on the other side of the Jordan.

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It said they had 300,000 of Israel and 30,000 Judahites, or fighters of Judah.

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It said they sent messengers who had come and they said to the men of Jabesh Gilead, tomorrow, listen to these words of deliverance, tomorrow by the time the sun is hot you will have deliverance.

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So the messengers went and they told the men of Jabesh that they were glad.

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So, here it is.

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They've gathered here.

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It's been seven days or however long it was.

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So they're going to cross the Jordan and they're going to come from this way and this way on Nahash.

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So he's got them set up to encamp.

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Basically, pull a flank on the encampment.

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He says where were we at? Verse 10.

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Now, when the men of Jabesh Gilead tomorrow will come out to you.

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This is what they're telling Nahash.

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Tomorrow we will come out to you and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.

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That's some trickery, isn't it? They didn't come out there and tell them, hey, check it out.

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In the morning, we got somebody that's going to deliver us and by the heat of the day, by noon time, you're going to be dead.

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Your corpses are going to be eaten by the carcass feeding birds or the animals of the field.

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That's not what they told them.

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They tricked them and said, alright, just give us to tomorrow and then we're going to come out to you and you can do whatever you want.

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Does anybody's translation say do to us what's right in your eyes? Did anybody say that? Whatever seems good to you.

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Whatever seems good to you.

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I was looking at multiple translations of this and one of them, it's interesting, I can't remember which one it says.

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They tell Nahash, do whatever seems right to you to do to us in your eyes.

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It's just interesting.

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Yeah, the play on words.

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Sometimes you see that in Hebrew literature.

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They try to do a play on words.

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So, the next morning Saul put the people in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and they struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day.

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Those who survived were scattered so that not even one was left together.

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You understand? There wasn't even two guys running together wherever they went.

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Whether they were running this way, this way, this way, not two of them could be found running together.

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This is a decimation of Nahash's army.

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It says, so the people said to Samuel, who was he that said, shall Saul reign over us? Bring those men that we may put them to death.

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You remember back in chapter 10, what did they say about Saul? It said some men of Belial, worthless men, I think some, what's that? Yeah, worthless men.

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What did they say? This dude ain't gonna reign over us.

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How's this guy going to be our deliverer? Who has just become the deliverer of Israel? Saul has.

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Saul has now delivered God's people.

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Hey, his first act of empowerment and deliverance.

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He delivers the people of Israel and he passes the test.

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So, I do believe, and I'm open to correction if somebody can find that this is the pinnacle of Saul.

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This is the highest part of his life.

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And you said, well wait a minute.

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He doesn't have his throne per se.

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He doesn't have his entourage.

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He's not carrying around the ephod or trying to get the ark to come out in the field.

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He's not slain thousands and tens of thousands as we hear them sing later on in the book.

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Why would this be the pinnacle of Saul's life and ministry as king? Humility and obedience.

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At this point, remember last week we put all of the list of his humility? Have we seen one time where Saul has been self-serving yet? Was this not an act of humility to go save his people? Matter of fact, it was his job.

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He had been commissioned by God to be the deliverer of Israel.

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Had he not gone and delivered those people when he got the word, he'd have been a failure at that point.

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But what happened when hearing that these people were going to be butchered and enslaved, the spirit of God came upon him and the word is only used, that specific type of word used for the spirit coming upon them to deliver.

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It's only used with three people.

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One was Samson, one is Saul, and the other time is with David.

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That's the only time that word is used.

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Now, is the other times Jephthah and Gideon and Othniel, the word, the spirit of the Lord comes upon him? Yeah, but it's Watahi.

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This is Watishlah, meaning it come on him in a different manner.

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It leaves Samson.

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It leaves Saul.

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In David's case, and we'll get to that, it stays with David.

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It never leaves when it comes upon David.

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So now, he becomes the deliverer.

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He does everything he does in humility.

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He now is actually being obedient to the commission of God to what the leader is supposed to be.

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The leader is supposed to be an obedient, humbled deliverer of God's people.

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And that's what he's doing.

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Now, we get to this point where it says, and he said to the people, who was it that said, shall Saul reign over us? Now bring those men out here and let us put him, put them to death.

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So just previously, those sons of Belial, who didn't bring him presents, who castigated him for being quote, hiding among the baggage, or however we want to say he was not wanting to take the kingdom at that point for whatever reason, and we don't know.

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He says, bring those men, these other people, bring those men and let's put them to death.

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And what does he do? He intercedes for those people.

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He intercedes for them.

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And listen to what Saul says in verse 13.

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He says, but Saul said on this day, not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel.

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He glorifies God.

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Now, we'll see one more time in the book of Samuel where he worships Yahweh, but this is the first time where he actually gives Yahweh, because it should be translated Lord in your Bible, the first time and the only time that he gives Yahweh the glory and the honor for the deliverance.

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This is it.

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That's why this is the pinnacle of Saul's say what you want.

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He kills thousands and thousands.

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But every time Saul does it from this point forward after this event, it's all self-seeking.

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It's all about Saul building his kingdom.

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It's all about Saul being looked as the great king, not as being the great deliverer of Yahweh.

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Remember, who's the hero of the Bible? God is.

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Not Saul.

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When we get to David and he fights Goliath, is it David that does it? David says he doesn't even do it.

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David gives glory to God.

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He says I stand before you and I'm telling you for what you have said against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob today, your head will come off of you.

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And he gives glory to God.

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Everything from this point forward is self-seeking for Saul.

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And it's terrible.

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We begin to see the downward spiral of his life.

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Now, as we he renews the kingdom and we get to verse 15 where it says all the people went to Gilgal.

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And we'll do, we'll probably I don't know, we might start that today.

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We're going to go here.

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So after this great deliverance, they go back to Bezek.

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That's where they encamped.

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And they're going to come here and go to Gilgal.

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If somebody comes up here and they look and you go, hey, there's another Gilgal there.

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This was thought to be two Gilgals, like it was two Ebenezers.

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There's not.

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There's only one in Scripture.

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This was put here based on Martin Luther's text.

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Martin Luther often thought that Martin Luther, the reformer, thought that there was a Gilgal near Shiloh.

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That's all.

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I should have had him when I had that thing, I should have had him take that out so it wouldn't be confusing.

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But that's why I don't know if you've ever seen a map.

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There's also two Ebenezers.

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If y'all have ever seen a map, some of your Bibles, make sure you have a question mark sometimes beside it.

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And that's all it's saying.

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They thought at one time this is where it would be.

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So people will go to Gilgal and it is there that Saul will be set king before the Lord at Gilgal.

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This will be the new establishment of the kingdom.

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It will be the establishment with sacrifice.

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And why go to Gilgal? Or Gilgal, however you want to say it.

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What was the significance of Gilgal? When Andy was teaching through Joshua, what was the first place they crossed the Jordan? Where did they come? They came to Gilgal.

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What was the purpose of coming to Gilgal? It would be there that they would set up the stone and that the men would be prepared for war to go into Jericho.

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And that was always seen as a turning...

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When they crossed that Jordan, this was always a place of remembrance.

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I mean this was a place that they established the first monument.

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Remember they piled up stones.

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Yeah.

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Ebenezers.

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Basically stones of remembrance.

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Stones of health.

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That's why that was a place to go back to.

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A place to remember.

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A place of new beginning per se.

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Yeah.

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Circumcised the men.

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Matter of fact, they had to hang out there until they were healed up before they could go into Jericho.

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Yep.

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And that is always saw the place of, hey, now we've entered the promised land.

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This is a new beginning.

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We've entered God's air and His promise.

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So what do they want to do? They want to go back to that place.

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They want to go back to that opportunity to where they could renew the kingdom.

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Why would they need to renew the kingdom? Because the kingdom was at odds.

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Had no leader.

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We've got to remember we're coming out of the time of the judges into the time of the prophet and priest of Samuel.

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There was no true, quote, leader that would be, that would unify Israel.

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This was not unified.

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Once they have a king, what's that going to do to all of the tribes? They're now going to become under one monarch and what he says goes, whether it be good or bad, there's going to be some bad ones.

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There's going to be some good ones, but there's going to be some bad ones.

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So, what did we learn about Saul so far? Let me erase that so y'all don't copycat what I just wrote up here.

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What did we learn last week about Saul? He was humbled.

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How did he display his, before, before now, how did he display his humbleness? Alright, let's back up and begin when he comes into the picture.

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They were looking for donkeys.

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Once he was looking for donkeys, he gets to, he gets to Samuel.

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What was his response when Samuel says, hey, you don't need to look for the donkeys.

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The reason being is because everything that's going to be desirable and all of Israel is yours and your fathers.

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That's what he told him.

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So, basically, you don't need to worry about these dumb donkeys.

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Any donkey you want is going to be yours.

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And what did he say? Anybody remember his response? In astonishment, he says, how can this be? I'm of the smallest tribe.

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What are you talking about? And it's interesting because that's in between verse 21 and 22.

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Samuel don't even answer his question.

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So, he realizes that he is inadequate.

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How do you spell inadequate? Where's my spell checker? A-T-E.

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He's inadequate, right? He's inadequate.

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Is that a good? Yeah, I don't know about y'all, but if somebody says, hey, you can be the president today, I'd be a little inadequate because I'd be like, where's that big button? And we'll just blow everybody up.

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Okay? Where's that big button? He realized he was inadequate, and he was inadequate, and he knew his inadequacy.

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smallest tribe.

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I would even say this, that because of oral translation, he knew he was not of the kingly tribe.

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Anybody remember who was supposed to be the kingly tribe? What's that? Judah.

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And we're going to find out here shortly that God actually says, and we're going to have to deal with the tension of God saying, I could have established something versus decree.

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He would have said, if you had done what I told you to do, I would have established your kingdom.

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But he did realize that they were, my understanding, were not a king tribe.

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But God was going to establish them.

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Why did God choose a king for the people that was not from the line of Judah? Because they wanted somebody like all the other tribes, the other nations.

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God says, okay, I'm going to give you one.

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I'm going to give you one just like that.

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And I would never have chose the one from the tribe of Benjamin.

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God's king was going to come from the tribe of Judah.

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Okay? So he didn't realize he was inadequate.

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He came from the smallest tribe.

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There was probably an understanding from oral passing down from the patriarchs that, hey, I'm not even part of the kingly tribe.

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He realized that.

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What else do we know about him? Didn't he keep it in secrecy when he was asked by his uncle? Get to the secret.

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What did he say to his uncle? His uncle said, hey, where did y'all go? Did y'all find those donkeys? Nope, didn't find the donkeys, but we talked to Sam.

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Oh, wow, what did Sam, what's that? What did he say? It was like, oh, wow, you talked to the seer? What did he say? He said, oh, yeah, the donkeys were found.

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Go home, your dad's anxious.

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That's all he said.

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He's like, what? That's all he said? Yep, that's it.

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So he kept it a secret.

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Then, when they began to cast lots for the tribes, they got down to the tribe of Benjamin.

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Then they got down to the Mitrate tribe.

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Remember, we said, why was he hiding in the baggage? What was the answer? He was too tall to hide in the broom closet.

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That's why.

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He was hiding.

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Why was he hiding, really? Do we know? We don't know.

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We really have no idea why he was hiding.

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So everything that we say, why he was hiding is all conjecture because the text doesn't say.

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We can make all kinds of, we can make assumptions, we can make what's called inference, bases on internal and external evidence that are not explicit.

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If someone was to say, hey, maybe right here this would be the seed of him being a man that was beginning to have the fear of man, I can see how someone would say that.

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But if you follow so far his humility, he doesn't think he should be the one taking the kingdom.

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So my opinion, this is a time when I'm going to say my opinion, based on my deductions and exegesis of the text, I still believe he felt he was inadequate and should not take the kingdom.

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So it wasn't until God said, when they asked the Lord, where is he at? That's when he said, okay.

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Yep.

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Son of Kish.

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So he kept it secret.

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Then what did he do? We read this morning, what did he do once he was made to be king? You're the guy.

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What does he do? He said, hi.

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I'm about to work.

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I'm about to go to work in the field.

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How many people in here, if you were made king or queen, would go back to work at your job tomorrow? I'd be painting the palace if I was the king.

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No, really.

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How many of you would go back to your regular job? Nobody.

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He had already been filled with the power of the spirit for his kingship.

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And he still went back.

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He still went back to the field.

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That's what baffles me.

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All those signs, remember the three goats, the three men, the three loaves and out of those three loaves, they're going to give you two and then you're going to come from the high place at Bethel and there's going to be tambourines and flutes and lyres playing and when you see them dudes coming, you're going to prophesy because you're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

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All those signs and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was to prove to him that Samuel's words were true, that what God had done as picking the right man was the man and that you were going to be the next king and you were going to be the deliverer and he knew it.

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And what did he do in humility? He went back home and went back to work.

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He went back to work.

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He went back to doing his normal business until God obviously in his providence raised up jerkish Nahash to try to go put some more people's eyes out.

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That's how he rises to this great moment of pinnacle deliverance and obedience and humility and this is to me, this is the pinnacle of Saul's life.

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Um So, what else do we see as humility? I don't know if you call it humility as much as mercy.

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He doesn't have these men who had spoken out against him put to death.

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Oh man, I think that's that is an excellent point.

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He shows mercy right? For those men that spoke against him.

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Here it is you have a man early on, he would not take the kingdom.

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He says look, I'm not worthy for the kingdom.

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But in just a very short period of time, he's going to do everything he can to put men to death to keep the kingdom.

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He's going to try to put innocent and he actually does.

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As we go through this, you're going to see him put priest to death.

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Yeah, he's going to slay the priest of Nod.

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He's going to chase David for years trying to put David to death and he says at this time, we're not going to do it.

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Did they deserve death? I guess, I mean, long live the king.

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You don't speak against the king.

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Back in those days, if you said something against the king and it was bad, it was off with your head.

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He did have the authority to do that but he didn't.

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He showed mercy and why did he show mercy? Because Saul recognized on that day who delivered the people.

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Was it Saul? He said, Yahweh has delivered us today.

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Yahweh has delivered us.

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What's that? Yeah, that's right.

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He tried to raise up the coup and the conspiracy.

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Joab.

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Yeah, he's a bad dude.

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That's a bad dude.

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Today.

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And then when David gives the kingdom to Solomon, he gives him a hit list.

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Here's who you got to go take care of for doing a bunch of bad stuff.

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Remember he had Solomon kill all them bad people.

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So anyway, so that's why this is the pinnacle.

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That's why this is very important that this would be the time in Saul's kingship that we could say, man, he was flawless.

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He was flawless.

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Alright, we got four minutes for disagreements, riots, or demonstrations.

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Now.

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I mean, if you think about Saul, he's such an interesting study, right? Because most people will say Saul was either this or that.

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And as you go through and see the progression in his life, he was a lot of things.

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He wasn't just...

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I mean, if you look at it just from New Testament eyes, it's harder to make sense, but when you look at it as his life progresses, you can see him just in so many different...

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in so many different mindsets.

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Yeah, and context.

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Remember, context is king.

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Context is king for understanding the empowerment by the Spirit and the purpose.

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Remember last week, anybody remember me saying it was men that were empowered by the Spirit that were ungodly men.

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That were men that were actually condemned to hell.

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Remember who the one we can speak of just right off rip? Balaam.

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The Holy Spirit came upon Balaam and he prophesied the same way.

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So just because the Holy Spirit comes on someone to act in such a manner in the Old Testament, for them to do an act for God does not mean that they were converted.

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And that's how our minds, like he just said, from a New Testament perspective, we try to go, alright, was he converted or not converted? I can say this, just as we do not need, and I'm going to continue to put this up here, you don't confuse success with faithfulness, okay? Don't do it.

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No more than you should confuse leaves with fruit.

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If I hand you an apple leaf, are you going to eat it like an apple? Why? Because it ain't fruit.

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Just because he has military success does not mean he was faithful to God.

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God was faithful to himself at the beginning when he said, I'm going to give you a king, and that king is Saul.

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He told Samuel, what did he say that Saul would do come hell or high water? What was going to happen? He's going to deliver my people.

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That's the one thing he said was going to happen.

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No matter what, this man will deliver my people from the hands of the Philistines.

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And that's what he did.

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He did that.

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And he faithfully, look, every time he goes into we're going to see it coming here in 13 with his first great failure happens, he went in, he did a great act, he had these instructions, he was supposed to go to Gilgal and wait, and he could not wait, and he failed to do what he was told to do after a great defeat.

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Same thing with the Amalekites.

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He goes in and he slays all of the Amalekites.

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Anybody remember that story? He killed all the Amalekites, except for what? The choices of the sheep, the choices of the sheep and the cattle, and he saved Agag.

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And from the people's perspective, was that a success? Yeah.

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From God's perspective, was that faithfulness? It was disobedience because when Samuel comes up, he says, what's the bleeding of the sheep that I hear? Oh, well, we decided to save that, and he said, no, no, no, no, no.

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Those were dedicated to God for destruction, and he says, where's Agag? He goes, oh, he's right here, we kept him too.

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He said, what did God tell you to do to Agag? He said, kill him.

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He said, now bring me a sword, and it says that Samuel, in his old age, hacked him up in pieces.

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That means he was not faithful.

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But his military might be a success.

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Okay? All right, let's pray.

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Father God, thank you for your word.

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Once again, we thank you that we can, week by week, and month by month, and year by year, Father, look at a word that has been established and tested and tried and true, that, Father, it's without error in doctrine and theology, and that, Father, we can examine it to know you better, to understand you better, to see how you reveal yourself, not only through redemptive history, but in history itself, to see that you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you are the God in heaven that does what he wants, and he does it for his own glory.

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Father, thank you for Saul.

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Thank you for the examples, Father, that we see of a man who started well.

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And, Father, we pray that as we can continue to look at this book, that, God, you would help us to look at his example, and that we not follow after it.

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Father, we thank you for this time of corporate worship we're about to go into.

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We pray that you would prepare our hearts for the preaching of the word and the singing of the hymns.

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In Christ's name, amen.