WWUTT 339 The Death of Saul?

As King Saul continued to persist in his sin and his rebellion against God, David remained trusting in the

Lord and gracious to all those who were under his care. So we must be as well when we understand the text.

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Thank you, Becky. Today we will conclude our study of 1 Samuel. We've got four more chapters to cover here, 28, 29, 30, and 31.

And then we'll jump into a study of 2 Samuel. It might not be next week. I might do it the week after.

But 2 Peter and 2 Samuel will be our studies starting off 2017.

So to kind of recap where we are in the story, Saul has pursued David for perhaps the last time.

But just in case Saul should pursue David again, David has gone to live with the

Philistines. He's even been given his own town, Ziklag, where he and his men are living.

So that's where we pick up the story, chapter 28. In those days, the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel.

And Achish said to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me and the army.

And David said to Achish, Very well, you shall know what your servant can do. So Achish said to David, Very well,

I will make you my bodyguard for life. Now Samuel had died and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city.

And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem.

And Saul gathered all Israel and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw that the army of the

Philistines was there, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And when

Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

Then Saul said to his servants, Seek out for me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her.

And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a medium at Endor, not to be confused with the forest moon of Endor.

Now where it says here that that God did not answer Saul either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets, he did not get any sort of dream indication from God when he would cast lots or throw stones.

They would be inconsistent. There wouldn't be something that would be falling on a definitive answer of what

Saul thought the Lord wanted him to do. And then the prophets weren't giving him anything either.

So Saul knew that God was not communicating with him and he wanted Samuel to tell him what to do.

So he's going to use a medium to bring the spirit of Samuel back up for the grave so that Saul can get advice from Samuel.

That's what's going to happen here. So in verse 8, Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went he and two men with him.

And they came to the woman by night. And he said, Divine for me, buy a spirit and bring up for me whomever

I shall name to you. The woman said to him, Surely you know what Saul has done, how he's cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land.

Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? But Saul swore to her by the

Lord. As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Then the woman said,

Whom shall I bring up for you? And he said, Bring up Samuel for me. Now, keep in mind here, they're doing this all under secret because Saul has driven out all of the mediums and the necromancers from the land.

This comes from the law of Moses, Deuteronomy 18, 9 through 14. When you come into the land that the

Lord your God is giving you, which is the land that they occupy currently, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.

Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or necromancer or one who inquires of the dead.

For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations, the

Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the

Lord your God for these nations, which you are about to dispossess. Listen to fortune tellers and to diviners.

But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. So Saul is thinking,

Hey, the only way I am going to be able to hear from Samuel is if I bring his spirit up through a medium or a necromancer.

So that's what it is that Saul is doing here. And then in verse 12, when the woman saw

Samuel, so she ends up being successful in bringing up the spirit of Samuel. She cried out with a loud voice.

And the woman said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul. The king said to her,

Do not be afraid. What is it that you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth.

And he said to her, What is his appearance? And she said, An old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe.

And Saul knew at once that it was Samuel. And he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

So basically, whenever this woman who is a medium is talking to the dead, there is a demon, a spiritual demon that will kind of rise up and will do its little dance and whatnot and tell her what the demons are going to communicate to her.

So then she says to the people that have hired her to do this thing, what it is the demon is doing.

Well, in this case, it is not that evil spirit that she has conjured up. It's something else.

And this has caused her to scream and cry out because what she's seeing is not what she expected to see.

It is actually Samuel. So this is a work of God that is being done.

It is not the skill of this medium or this necromancer that is that is doing this.

It is because God decided that the spirit of Samuel would actually appear to Saul to tell him the thing that he's going to say to him.

So then in verse 15, then Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?

And Saul answered, I am in great distress for the Philistines are warring against me. And God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams.

Therefore, I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since the

Lord has turned away from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the

Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David, because you did not obey the voice of the

Lord and did not carry out the fierce wrath against Amalek. Therefore, the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.

The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel.

And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him,

Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and I have listened to what you have said to me. Now, therefore, you also obey your servant.

Let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat that you may have strength when you go on your way. He refused and said,

I will not eat. This woman was afraid that if he died right there, that she was going to be held responsible for it.

And so she's trying to get him to eat so the king won't die. But his servants, together with the woman, urged him and he listened to their words.

So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. Now the woman had fattened a calf, had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it.

And she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she put it before Saul and his servants and they ate.

Then they rose and went away that night. It was unleavened bread. They didn't have to wait for it to rise.

It was ready to eat pretty quickly. So now chapter 29. Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek and the

Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, the commanders of the

Philistines said, What are those Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, Is this not

David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years? And since he deserted to me,

I have found no fault in him to this day. But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him.

And the commanders of the Philistines said, Send the man back that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him.

He shall not go down with us to the battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his

Lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another and dances?

Saul is struck down as thousands and David is ten thousands? Then Achish called David and said to him,

As the Lord lives, you have been honest. And to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign.

For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.

So go back now and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my

Lord the King? And Achish answered David and said, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God.

Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

Now then rise early in the morning and with the servants of your Lord who came with you and start early in the morning and depart as soon as you have light.

So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the

Philistines went up to Jezreel. So Achish is not actually like a superior king.

They can't do anything that Achish says that they have to do. It says that he's the king of Gath. So it was likely a name that was just used as some sort of a leader or a commander.

But he didn't have a superior rule over the rest of the commanders of the Philistines.

So he did what they told him to do and sent David back to his place.

Now, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, again, that's the town where they live. This is chapter 30, by the way.

The Amalekites had made a raid against the Negev and against Ziklag. They had overcome

Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great.

They killed no one but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

David's two wives had also been taken captive, Ahinom of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

And David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters.

But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, bring me the ephod.

So Abiathar brought the ephod to David and David inquired of the Lord, shall

I pursue after this band, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, pursue for you will surely overtake and shall surely rescue.

So David set out and the 600 men who were with him and they came to the brook Besor where those who were left behind stayed.

But David pursued he and 400 men, 200 stayed behind who were too exhausted to cross the brook

Besor. They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David and they gave him bread and he ate.

They gave him water to drink and they gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten his spirit revived for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.

And David said to him, to whom do you belong and where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an

Amalekite. And my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the

Negev of the Cherithites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negev of Caleb.

And we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, will you take me down to this band? And he said, swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master.

And I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad all over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the

Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until evening of the next day.

Not a man of them escaped except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled.

David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken.

David brought back all of it. David also captured all the flocks and herds and the people drove the livestock before him and said, this is

David's spoil. Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow

David and who had been left at the brook of Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him.

And when David came near to the people, he greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children into part.

But David said, you shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us.

He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.

Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage.

They shall share alike. And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the

Lord. It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negev, in Jetir, in Aror, the

Sifmoth of Eshtimoah, in Rakal, in the cities of the

Jemrelites, in the cities of the Kenites, in Hormah, in Bor -Hashan, in Athak, in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

Now, it's said that whenever you pronounce big words and difficult names like that, you're supposed to just hit it quick and keep on going, and then nobody will be none the wiser.

They'll think that you're an expert in those names. I didn't do that very well at all. So here we go. Chapter 31. Final chapter here.

Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Melchishua, the sons of Saul.

The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.

Then Saul said to his armor -bearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mistreat me.

But his armor -bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

And when his armor -bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.

Then Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor -bearer, and all his men on the same day together.

And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the

Philistines came and lived in them. The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found

Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the

Philistines to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of the

Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth -shan. But when the inhabitants of Jebesh -gilead heard what the

Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all that night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth -shan, and they came to Jebesh and burned them there.

And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jebesh and fasted for seven days.

So what ended up happening to Saul and his sons is exactly what Samuel said to Saul was going to happen because he did not listen to the

Lord and then continued to disagree with the Lord further by breaking his law, the law of Moses given in Deuteronomy 18, that you shall not divine anything by a medium or a necromancer, which was what

Saul did. So then he and his sons were killed in the battle against the Philistines, and that is the way the book of 1

Samuel concludes. But you see, David and his grace with his men continued to abound, even though he had men that wanted to come against him and stone him, yet he was strengthened by the

Lord. And when they were successful in bringing back all of their wives and children and the spoil that had been taken from them, you had some men who were wicked and wanted to say, hey, we're the ones that went out and fought in this battle, so all of this stuff belongs to us.

They didn't do anything. Don't let them have any of the spoil. And David said, no, they were just as instrumental in our success as those who carried swords into the battle, the ones who stayed by the baggage and took care of our stuff and our flocks and everything else.

They are just as hard of workers as those who went into the battle.

They contributed to this victory that we have, that we did not lose anything in this battle.

And so the Lord God has said of us that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

The one who sows and the one who reaps receives the same reward.

He talks about this with his disciples in John 4. And then Paul brings it up again with the

Corinthians. I am the one who planted. Apollos is the one who watered, but it is

God who does the growth. So each one will receive the same reward.

Whoever shares the gospel of Jesus Christ and then whoever gets to see a person grow in the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, both are going to receive the same reward.

Those who are saved from death and from the wrath of God and delivered into his eternal kingdom and credit is being given to those whom

God had appointed to do this work and all will receive the same inheritance at the end.

Those who were Christians for 40, 50, 60 years of their life are going to get the same eternal kingdom reward as those who had been

Christians for 4, 5, 6 days. But do not tarry, do not wait to repent of sin and come to the

Lord. Do it now. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Turn from your sins, come to Jesus Christ, worship him as Lord and great will be your reward in heaven.

Lord God, I thank you for the salvation that we've been given in Jesus Christ our Lord. Grow us all the more in this sanctification in the knowledge of your word, seeing the goodness and the greatness of the

God that you are, that you have not let us to perish in our sins, but have delivered us by your grace.

And so may we speak all the more joyfully of your grace to those who have yet to hear of it, who have yet to repent of their sins and experience and know the grace and love and mercy of God.

By Christ in his name we pray, amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.