5/13/2022 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 14:1-52, John 7:31-53, Psalm 109:1-31, Proverbs 15:5-7

Today is the 13th day of May, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, and it’s wonderful to be here with you today. Just like it’s wonderful to be together any day. Especially, centered around what we’re doing, which is to take the next step forward in the Scriptures, together. And so, truly, wonderful to be with you today, around the Global Campfire. We are working our way through the Book of 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel introduced us to Samuel and his leadership as the final judge of Israel. And then, we were introduced to Israel’s first king, that Samuel anointed, and his name is King Saul. And so, we’ll spend the rest of the time that we have in 1st Samuel reviewing the life of King Saul and some of his interactions with Samuel. And so, let’s pick up the story. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, 1st Samuel chapter 14.

Commentary:

Okay, so again, in the Book of 1st Samuel we are watching Saul and his reign and his style of leadership and once again, we’ve seen that he’s navigated himself into a really awkward position. And we know that Saul has a pretty profound fear of man, we’ve already been able to witness this day-by-day and today is no different. It’s just that the thing that he was trying to avoid, which is to look weak before his men, is the very thing that he navigates himself into. And so, Jonathan, the Prince of Israel, the son of Saul, decides to go check out what’s going on with the Philistines and he believes that the Lord has handed them into the hands of Israel. And so, they have this criteria and there’s a cliff and they climb up this cliff and a battle begins and Jonathan slays a bunch of Philistines, and that begins to cause an up roaring of the Philistine camp. And so, that amps up until the Israelites, including Saul, can hear that there’s commotion in the Philistine camp. And so, something’s going on. And eventually, they realize that they have a military opportunity to defeat the Philistines in this battle. And so, Saul makes all of his troop’s vow not to eat a thing until the enemy has been vanquished. It just turns out that fighting in hand-to-hand combat burns a lot of calories. And so, the men become exhausted and in capable of pressing into this battle further because they don’t have any energy. And eventually they’re so famished that you know, they’re killing livestock and just eating the livestock with the blood still in it, which is obviously against the Mosaic Law. So, Saul’s decision to be like, decisive in his leadership position, actually limits what is possible and what is capable to be done by…by the Army. Meanwhile, Jonathan, who started this skirmish, got the whole thing going, and initiating the victory for Israel, he doesn’t know about this vow. And so, he eats some honey and he is refreshed and restored until he finds out that there was a vow and he wasn’t supposed to eat anything. This ultimately comes down to Saul deciding that somebody in the camp has sinned and must die because they have sinned against the Lord in a way that is worthy of capital punishment. And in the end, the fact that Jonathan had eaten some honey comes out. And now, Saul is in this really awkward position because he has vowed that the sinner was going to die even if it was his own son, which it turned out to be in this case. And so, Saul is going to kill his son, the heir to the throne of Israel in order to remain this decisive leader. It’s just that, the men know that Jonathan brought about the victory, this all began with Jonathan and he didn’t know about the vow. And so, they stand against their king and say “surely as the Lord lives, not a hair on his head will be touched, it was God, through Jonathan, that brough about the victory”. So, Saul, probably was relieved that he didn’t have to watch his be executed but he also, ends up, looking weak, which is something that he’s trying to avoid, even if it would cost him his son. And so, we can see that these issues are pretty deep in Saul’s life and we’re not finished experiencing them. In fact, if we’re paying attention, this mantle of leadership that is on Saul, is beginning to really destabilize him. And it’s not to much of a stretch for us to consider what we would do to avoid humiliation or looking weak. And what kind of insecurities are destabilizing us.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the story of King Saul. And we thank You for what it surfaces in our own lives as we consider. Certainly, we don’t have the type of decision to make like a king would, but we definitely experience the kinds of insecurities that Saul seems to have. And so, Holy Spirit, come and speak to us in those places. The erratic things that we will go to in order to avoid looking weak. The things that destabilize us to the point that we are constantly pretending to be something different that who we are. You have created us to be who we are. It matters that we are, who we are, in Your Kingdom. Help us to realize that we don’t have to pretend. You’ve invited us into freedom, may we walk in it. And we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.