Voices

Hearing God's Voice Amid Competing Voices

We live in a day and age where we hear a lot of things. We have all kinds of voices speaking to us, about us, which voices do you listen to? We have the talking heads on TikTok, we've got the talking heads on YouTube, you've got the talking heads on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and every one of them from Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Jesse Waters, Sean Hannity, any other nutcase that thinks that they have the meaning and answers to life.

The text we will get to today, 1 Samuel chapter 15, will get to the heart of the problem with man. All those talking heads, they don't have the answer. Conspirator theories, all of this nonsense, who shot Charlie Kirk, who shot JFK, if you knew it would never change your life.

This text will change your life. The beginning of 1 Samuel starts at the beginning with a man named Elkanah. And Elkanah had two wives, one was Pananiah and the other one was Hannah. One could have children and the other couldn't.

And Hannah pleaded before the Lord and cried out and prayed and prayed and prayed and God heard her voice and answered her prayer and gave her a son. His name would be Samuel. She would then take him to Eli and when weaned, she would then give him to him as an offering to the Lord for the rest of his life.

Imagine the only child you ever had, promised no children at this point yet in the book, anymore. She then gives him to Eli after being weaned and it says that she would go every year and she would bring him a robe that she was made.

And if you read through the book of 1 Samuel, you will see that that robe is very significant and it will play a part in today's message as well. But then as you get into the second chapter of 1 Samuel, there is another voice that's speaking to some unregenerate, diabolical priest by the name of Hotpheus and Phineas who were extorting the people of God.

You had Dirtbag 1 and Dirtbag 2 who were taking money from the people of God, having sex with the women at the tabernacle and it says that Eli went to them and he said, what you're doing is wrong and God will punish you.

And the text says that they did not listen to the voice of their father or listen to the voice of God. And you have a little time frame in there where you have battles with the Philistines and then you have the ark taken and it hops around giving them hemorrhoids and all kinds of stuff.

We all know that story and it ends up back into the custody of Samuel. Well then you get to chapter 8 and the people go to Samuel and say, we want a king. We want to be like the nations around us. We want a king to rule over us.

And Samuel took that at heart as if they were talking bad about him. And God says, listen, don't worry about what they're saying to you. It's not about you. They have rejected me as king. And here's what he says to him, Samuel, I want you to listen to the voice of the people and give them a king.

And if you fast forward in time and you were to read when he mentioned Hosea and Hosea chapter 13, it says that God's telling the people, I was your king. I was the one who would deliver and protect you from those around you.

And in my wrath, I gave you a king to punish you. And in my wrath, I removed that man. That's talking about King Saul. So then as King Saul is looked out, they look for a man to be appointed. You remember King Saul, he was tall, dark, and handsome.

He was head and shoulders above everybody. And he is then an anointed king. He then goes back to his father's house. He is tending donkeys and doing whatever, and the man comes to Jabesh Gilead. And he tells the people of God on the other side of the Jordan, you're going to serve me or I'm going to put out your right eye and make you a scourge.

Everybody remember that narrative? And the word gets back to Saul. Saul then is filled with rage, and then the Holy Spirit comes on him. He grabs a bull, he chops it up, says this is what we're going to do with those that don't go out when he fights.

He goes out and he defeats Nahash and becomes the deliverer of God's people. Great act of deliverance by Saul. At this point, Saul being anointed king, this looks like the man. Then you move on forward, and you get to chapter 13, and they're fighting the Philistines.

And Samuel is supposed to meet with Saul to make a sacrifice at an appointed time. And those of you that have read through the book know what happens. Saul gets impatient. His men start to move. They're starting to go back home because Samuel hasn't come to make this sacrifice to God so that basically the war can begin.

And what does Samuel do? He does what God tells him not to do, and he listens to the voice of his own heart. He then takes that sacrifice and does it to himself. And as he is finishing that sacrifice, lo and behold, who walks up?

Samuel. What have you done, Saul? Could you not wait? Move on. Chapter 14. Saul makes a foolish vow. He says, you know what? Whoever doesn't go out with me... Look, we're all making it about Saul. Whoever doesn't go out with me and avenge my enemies...

He doesn't say whoever goes out and helps me avenge God's enemies. Remember, the kings were supposed to go out and fight the wars of the Lord, not their own. And he says, whoever will not fight with me to avenge my enemies shall be put to death.

And no man in the army is to eat his own son. Being wearied from battle, had already fought Philistines, reached down with his little staff, and he scoops up a little bit of honey. He licks it. The sugar in the honey brightens his eyes, and buddy, he is ready to kill Philistines.

Saul finds out. Saul said, you broke the vow. I'm going to kill you. Imagine telling that to your son. He had no idea about this vow. The people then come and intercede for Jonathan's behalf and say, Saul, this man fought for the Lord.

You will not put him to death this day. People stood in his stead. Two strikes. That brings us to chapter 15. Let's read the text. I'm going to read the whole chapter, so I'm not asking you to stand up because it is rather lengthy.

Saul's Commission to Destroy Amalek

Chapter 15, verse 1, it says,. And then Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the voice of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming out from Egypt.

Now go, strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has. And do not spare him. And you put to death both man and woman, child and suckling infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey. Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them at Tileon.

200 ,000 foot soldiers, 10 ,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and he set an ambush in the valley. And Saul said to the Canaanites, Go depart and go down from among the Amalekites that I do not destroy you with them.

For you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came out from the land of Egypt. So the Canaanites departed from among the Amalekites. So Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

He captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. And he utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings of the lambs.

And all that was good. And they were not willing to destroy them all. But everything that was despised and worthless, they utterly destroyed. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I regret that I have made Saul king.

For he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commandments. Saul was distressed and he cried out to the Lord all night. And Samuel arose in the morning to meet Saul and was told Samuel saying, Saul came to Carmel and behold, he has set up a monument for himself.

And then he turned and proceeded down to Gilgal. So Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried out the command of the Lord. But Samuel said, What then is the bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear?

Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. But the rest have been utterly destroyed. And then Samuel said to Saul, Stop.

And let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night. The Lord said to me last night and he said, Speak. Samuel said, Is it not true that you were little in your own eyes when you were made the heads of the tribes of Israel and that the Lord anointed you king over Israel and that the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until they are completely exterminated.

Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? But you rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Then Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the Lord. And I went on the mission which he sent me.

And I went and I brought back Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, the sheep, the oxen, and the choice of those things that were devoted to destruction to sacrifice to the Lord, your God at Gilgal.

Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice unto he than the fat of rams. For rebellion is that of the sin of divination, and insubordination is that of iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the voice of the Lord, he has now rejected you as king. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I have feared the people and I listened to their voice.

Now, therefore, please pardon me I sin, return with me that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has now rejected you as being king over Israel.

And Samuel turned to go, and Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, just as he will give it to your neighbor who is better than you.

And also the glory of Israel will not lie nor change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind. Then he said, I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and go back with me that I may worship the Lord your God.

So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. Then Samuel said, Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came cheerfully to him, and Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

But Saul said, As your sword has made women and childless, so will your mother be childless among all women. And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went back to his home in Gibeah.

Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, and Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Most gracious heavenly Father, what a weighty text.

Father, as I once again stand before your people to explain your word, to proclaim your truth, Father, I pray that your servant would do it within the power of your spirit. Father, I pray that for the sinner in here that does not know you, that Father, the very wrath of God that's displayed in this passage would shake them in their shoes.

Father, I pray that today would be this day of salvation for the person in this room that does not know you, and Father, for the believer that's in this room, I pray that today this would encourage the believer to hear the voice of God and to listen and follow the voice of God.

Father, right now, fill me with the power of your spirit. I would preach as a dying man to dying people. In Christ's name, amen. Samuel was sent to Saul and he gave him clear instructions of what he was to do.

There is no ambiguity in chapter 15 verse 1 what Saul's job was to do. It says, then Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to appoint you king over his people. And that is true. He sent Samuel. He poured that flask over his head outside of a city, anointing him king.

And at that time, if you remember as the narrative is unfolding, Saul felt completely, I should not do this. I am not worthy to be in this place. I'm not worthy to be the leaders of Israel. There was a man of humility at that point.

He says, and when I sent you and anointed you as king over Israel, but now listen to the voice of the Lord. So now there is a new command coming. That new command is this. Thus says the Lord of hosts.

Amalek's Assault and God's Judgment

I want you to punish Amalek. Everybody remember who the Amalekites were. If you go back to Exodus chapter 17, as they were coming through, they had already come through the Dead Sea. I mean, the Red Sea, they had already come through the Red Sea, the parting over there on the other side, they're coming through the Valley of Rephidim.

And as they're coming through the Valley of Rephidim, you had the Amalekites come up behind the women, the children, the elderly and the stragglers, and they begin to brutally murder them. And it's at that point that Joshua goes out to fight.

And that the Lord was giving them the victory as long as Moses was holding up his hands. And as Moses began to get tired, as anyone else would after fighting all day, you remember what happened? Aaron and Ur came up beside them, and he held up his hands until the Amalekites were beaten.

Well, as they left that, there was a statute given. There was a statute given that for what the Amalekites had done to my people, they will be utterly destroyed. Everybody know who the Amalekites were?

The Amalekites were the descendant of Esau. And if you go back to Genesis 36, this is why reading all those funny names and all those genealogies is important because Amalek was the grandson of Esau. And that's also how I date the book of Job.

Because if you know, when you get to the book of Job, Eliphaz was a Temanite. And you know who the Temanites came from? They were a descendant of Eliphaz, who was also a descendant of Amalek. So that puts the book of Job, just for those that want to know, sometime between Esau and Moses, sometime in there.

But they were descendants of those outside the covenant. But as they came out, they were supposed to show kindness. Remember, this is still their brethren. And even the Edomites, although cursed by God, what did God tell the people of God?

You be nice to your brother, the Edomites. But when they continually persecuted the people of God, God says, just like he did the Amalekites, he'll do with the Edomites, I'm going to wipe them out. So this is roughly 500 years later.

God had every right at the time they came to the Valley of Rephidim to kill every one of them, but God did not. He said, there's coming a time when you're in the land, and you can read this in Deuteronomy chapter 25.

This is Moses' swan song, his last preaching message to the people of God, that when you come into the land and God gives you peace, I'm going to send you in and you're going to wipe out the Amalekites.

The time has come. Saul knew this. Saul knew at some point, God was going to raise someone up to go out and be vengeful for what they did for the brutal murder of the elderly, the stragglers, the children, and the women.

And it's time. He said, I will punish Amalek for what he did and how he set himself against you when you came out of Egypt. He says, now go and strike Amalek. Utterly destroyed. The word in Hebrew here is korim, and it means to offer up as an offering of destruction.

You remember when they crossed the Jordan and they went into Jericho? He said, everything in Jericho, wipe out. Except for the gold, the stuff, they would put that in the treasury. But everything was offered as an offering of destruction.

But you had one guy who screwed up, remember? He hid the little golden idol up under his tent. His family were complicit. They knew it was there because it was under the floor. And then when finding out what happened because of the defeat in Ai, what did they do to him?

They took him outside the camp and they put a memorial of stones on top of him and his family and everything that they owned. He says, utterly destroy everything in there. And then he gives clear instructions on how to do this.

He didn't just say, hey, I want you to go in there. I just want you to just fight them until they're done fighting. No, no, no. Listen to what he says. Utterly destroy them and do not spare him. Put to death, man, woman, child, suckling infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey.

You're going to go in there and it's going to be scorched earth, nothing. That means as you come in there, men, and I sent you in there, you see a suckling baby, suckling on its mother's breast. You take your sword and you run it through the both of them.

That's what it says. So what did Saul do? Saul said, I'm your man. Verse four, Saul summoned the people. He numbered them at Tehillim. He had 200 ,000 foot soldiers, 10 ,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and he set an ambush in the valley.

But Saul said to the Canaanites, go depart, get away from the Amalekites that you not get wrapped up in this destruction. Now, who are the Canaanites? Well, everybody remembers Jethro, don't you? Not Jethro Bodine in front of Beverly Hillbillies.

But Jethro, that was Zipporah's father, which was Moses' wife. That's Moses' father-in-law. And if you remember correctly, as they came out from Rephidim, they needed water. He struck the rock. Then they moved on and they got to Jethro.

Jethro was the one that says, hey buddy, you're gonna need some help dealing with all these disobedient people. And they set up some elders to help. That was because of Jethro showed them kindness. And we know that Jethro was a Canaanite because of Judges chapter one.

You wanna write it down and go read it, you can see it, he is a Canaanite. So he says, you showed kindness to us. God remember, look here, 500 years later, God remembered what those men did to them in anger and in violence, hurting his people.

But he also remembers those who showed kindness. And he says, what I want you to do is I want you to get out of the way because we don't want you to get wrapped up in this mayhem of destruction. So he said, depart from the Amalekites in verse seven.

So Saul defeated the Amalekites. From Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. That's in, if you had a map, it's the Amalekites come down to the bottom. It's basically the Negev Desert, just on the other side where the Mesopotamia and the Egypt border is.

He captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. That should be a red flag. Agag, captured alive. But he uttered and destroyed all the people by the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag.

One, soon as they got into the city of Amalek, who was the first person they should have decapitated? The king. The king falls, then you can start killing people like ducks in a bucket. They spared them.

And it says they spared the sheep, the ox, the fatlings, the lambs, and it clears everything up so there's no confusion on what they saved. All that was good. I just want you to think about the mechanics of how that worked out.

So they capture Agag. Now they got to weed through all these sheep and ox to figure out which ones are good or bad. Look, when they look through these animals, they could not have a broke tooth, could not have a broke toenail, could not have spots on their gums, the sheep and the ox and all that because these could be offered up as sacrifices at the tabernacle for offering that had to be without blemish.

So you understand that this is a very timely thing to do when we're trying to slaughter everybody. And just to let you know, because of this thing right here, 15 years later, Davids' wives would be kidnapped by the Amalekites.

Fast forward another 600 years. Haman would be trying to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire because Haman was an Agagite. And because Saul didn't do what Saul was supposed to do here, God's people were in danger twice.

Once at Ziklag, 600 years later, under the Persian Empire with Queen Esther. And they utterly destroyed it. Everything that was worthless. That's not what God told him to do. The voice of the Lord said this, you go in there and you kill everything.

God says, it's all mine. I want it all destroyed. He's the one that makes the decisions on how he wants it done. You're a soldier. You're to do what God tells you to do. You're like this. That's what he should have done.

But Saul always thinks he knows better. He thought he knew better when he didn't wait for Samuel. He thought he knew better when making a stupid vow that almost got him to kill his own son. In verse 10, there's a break into what's going on and it shifts from where Saul was at to now where Samuel is at.

It says, and the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I regret that I have made Saul king. Now, I want to answer the regret part. The word for regret in Hebrew can mean repent, regrief, sorrow, okay?

So let's just, this is how you have to do theology. Did God make a mistake by putting Saul in power? Thank you. God makes no mistakes. Who made the mistake? Saul did. By not listening to the voice of the Lord, he listened to his own voice and when we get to it, he listened to the voices of the sheep and the oxes.

He did not listen to the voice of the Lord. Therefore, when he came and he was disobedient, three strikes and he's out. Let's just be honest. He didn't do what God told him to do and when he is experiencing that which is sorrowful when God's people sin.

Divine Grief and God's Unchanging Decree

Let's go back to when Noah and the ark. It said that God regretted he had made man. Well, wait a minute. God didn't make a mistake. God was saying, look, in how the unfolding of my redemption when men begin to become so evil, it grieved him.

Hey, there is a concept that God does not have emotion. I'm going to tell you right now, those men and they're godly men that they're wrong. Read through the scripture. It even at times, Jesus, when he told the rich young ruler to go, it says he had compassion on him.

Why did he feed the 5 ,000? Because he had compassion. Did Jesus not shed tears and not feel sorrow in front of the tomb at Lazarus? Because Jesus is going to be reacting any different than his father.

Why does it say grieve not the Holy Spirit? It's because God does, and look, I'll make it very clear, undergo emotional experience that originate within him, not us acting on him. Let me explain that.

In the decree of God, God decreed that men would become so evil that he would have to destroy them with the flood. And in time and space, as that unfolded, that grieved God. Understand? Okay. Nothing you and me can do is external force on God that didn't originate from his decree.

It all originates from him. And as it unfolds, this anthropomorphic idea, but anthropomorphic, okay, is being brought out to show that God is grieved when people don't obey his voice. It's very clear.

He said, I regret that I have made Saul king. And he tells why. For he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commands. Actually, some translations say words, some say voice. I prefer the word voice.

All through the book of Samuel, it's hearing voices. Hearing voices. Which voice are you going to obey? Are you going to obey your own or are you going to obey God's? And he said here, Samuel in verse 12, that Samuel rose up.

I'm going to back up. He said, and Samuel was also distressed and cried out to the Lord all night. You know how grieved Samuel had already been at this point? He was disappointed. What was Samuel? He was the mouthpiece of God, not only to the people, but to the king.

And in many ways, the prophet priest had at times more weight than the king because the king was supposed to listen to the voice of God. And where did that come from? It came through the prophets. Remember the prophet spoke for God to the people and the priest spoke to God for the people.

And in many ways, Samuel fulfilled both of those because he is working as prophet and priest. In verse 12, it says, Samuel rose up early in the morning to meet Saul. And it was told Samuel, Saul came to count Carmel and behold, he had set up a monument for himself.

Then go, I'm sorry, then turned and proceeded down to Gilgal. So if you were taking where this would have originated in Gibeah, which would have been up here in Israel, they made their way all the way down.

Hey, 120 mile trek to Amalek. Halfway on his way back at Carmel, 60 miles away, he decided he's going to set up a monument to who? To who? Who? Himself. Hmm. Thought this man was little in his own eyes at one time.

I thought this man was humbled. So what does he do? He sets up a monument, says, look what I've done. Look at Agag. I got him. Look at, you know why they captured him in the ancient days? They didn't kill the kings.

You know why? Because they wanted to make sport of them. I mean, they used to put hooks through their jaw bones and drag them around like animals. Even Ashurbanipal, ruthless, probably the most ruthless Assyrian king ever.

He would put hooks through their jaw bones or through their eye socket, like your bone here, through your eye sockets, and hook them in and then put them in cages inside of his palace. He was ruthless.

He was also the ones that created the cleats that had the spikes on it. So when they said they were going to stomp them on like mud in the street, that's exactly what they were for, for stomping their flesh to where the blood came through their feet.

Well, he makes a monument for himself. Now, on a normal trek, they could usually go about 30 miles a day, a group of men, small terrain not being real bad. So let's just say it took them four days to get there.

How long do you think it's going to take him to get back with all these sheep and cows and all the stuff they're trying to herd and all that? It's going to take a little bit longer. So halfway home, he decides he's going to set up a monument for himself, doesn't even recognize that this was a command of God to go out and do.

And we'll get to that here in just a minute. And it says in verse 13 that Samuel came to Saul and as he was coming to Saul, he'll listen to what Saul says, blessed are you of the Lord. He's like, that's like when a kid knows they've done something wrong.

And they see mom and dad pulled in the driveway. Hey, mama. Hey, dad. This is it. It's Paul Brack King trying to cut it off. Maybe if I cut him off here, he won't hear all of that in the background. Maybe if I get him here and tell him that I've done what I was supposed to do, maybe he'll go on back to Rama before he sees what the larger caravan behind us.

And he says, verse 14, but Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? Each translation may something different than bleeding or lowing, but the word that's used there is the word for voice.

It's the same word that's used earlier in this chapter that says he did not listen to the voice of the Lord. Then it says he'll listen to the voice of the people. Well, here it's actually what are the voices of the sheep in my ear and the voices of the oxen that I hear.

And listen to Saul's response. He knows he's busted. Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites. Look at this coward. Monument builder. Look at me. Look at me. Look what I did. But then when he's called on the carpet about, hey, why am I hearing sheep and oxen?

Oh, they did it. They did it. Blame shifting. They have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice. Listen to this. To your God. Wait a minute.

Saul, that's your God. Words have meanings here. Why didn't he? Hey, if you could just white out that why in there. This is your God. Why didn't he say our God? I'm going to tell you why. Because Saul don't care about God.

Saul cares about himself. Saul has always cared about himself since he became king. Look, there was a little while when Saul was like, yeah, you know, I'm a king and God's put me here. But it wasn't long that he then got into the idea of, hey, man, I'm the man.

What I say do, he goes and does it. What I want someone to do, they go and do it. And what did Samuel tell them earlier in the book? I think it's around chapter 11 or 12, somewhere in that area, when he gives his speech of his farewell speech to the people that I'm not going to be really your leader.

You now have a king. You're supposed to obey him. And he actually says, if you listen to the voice of the Lord, you and your king will be well. He tells the people, listen to the voice of the Lord. You and your king will be well.

And if your king listens to the voice of the Lord, that's go back and read it. That's the words that are used. It will be good for you. Well, there comes a time when Saul's like, you know what, man, I don't need those voices.

I am the voice. Who's going to tell the king what to do? Hey, and if those people really, let's just say, let's give for just a second, give Saul the benefit of the doubt that they did save those without him.

What should Saul have done when he walks up and he sees that they had saved those sheep and those oxen and that they had saved Agag? What was the first thing he should have done? He should have looked like the gladiator, killing everything in sight.

But that's not what he did. He blames it on them. He said they have spared the best of the sheep and the oxen and sacrificed to your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed. Hey, utterly destroyed appears in this text nine times.

I think it's very clear what's supposed to take place. Nine times. You know how many times the voice that they hear is listed? Nine times. Nine times it's told utterly destroyed. Nine times voices is used.

And which one is he supposed to listen to? He was supposed to listen to the voice of the Lord. It says in verse 16, and then Samuel said to Saul, wait. Translation, other translations say, stop and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.

It's like when your kid comes up, he's trying to plead the case and you're just like zip it. I know what happened here. You don't need to try to plead your case. You're at fault, zip it. And that's what the prophet tells him.

He says, let me tell you what the Lord spoke to me. Speak. That's all Saul can say. Speak. And here's what Samuel said. Is it not true though you were little in your own eyes, you were made with the heads of the tribes of Israel?

That is so true. He should have answered yes. Though when I talk through the book of Samuel, some of you know that there is an idea and interpretation that somehow Saul was hiding in the baggage because he was a coward.

That is not my position. You don't do exegesis by, as you're reading through the whole narrative, you exegete it like this. You read the whole thing and then you take the whole narrative and then you start piecing together, how did Saul see himself?

And even at the beginning, when he was out looking for his dad's donkeys, had been gone, what, for three days, when he was told to go meet the seer and when he met the seer, which was Samuel, and Samuel says, hey man, I've got to tell you something.

God has said to anoint you as king. He recoiled and says, man, I can't do that. One, the Midianites were the smallest of all the tribes. They were the smallest. He says, I can't do that. He says, no, no, but this is what you want done.

Matter of fact, why don't you come in and eat? And they just, remember they made a big meal for him. He got the big fat piece of meat and he was really being almost like a coronation dinner. And then when he leaves, he goes outside the city.

He says, send your servants on. I don't want your servants to see what I'm fixing to do so they don't go back and say anything until I'm back and can tell the rest of the people. And then he poured that flask over his head and he says, man, he basically says, I'm not worthy.

We've come a long way, Saul. You were little in your own eyes, although you were head and shoulders above everybody else. You were little in your own eyes. You were humbled, Saul. And he says, and the Lord anointed you to be the king over Israel.

And then he sent you on a mission. And then he tells him exactly what he was supposed to do. He says, I told you this a few days ago. I told you, you were supposed to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites, the sinners.