11. GRACE REIGNS (Chapters 27 - 30)
Harry Foster
THE first half of this book was devoted to Hannah's trial and prayer, the appearance of Samuel and the subsequent emergence of Saul. With his failure we found God intervening again to bring forward the one of His choice, David, the man after His own heart. The second half of the book covers about twelve years and tells of the trials of David who, having been anointed and commissioned to be God's king, had to wait and be proved by God. Our last study deals with chapters 27 to 30, finishing with the tragic end of Saul and terminating David's period of probation. If we continued on into 2 Samuel we should be considering David's history as king, but for the time being we conclude this series of studies with the record of how he came to the throne.
Saul was called to the kingdom, was tested and found wanting and so his sad and challenging story is one of failure. A dreadful indication of this impending failure is given in the fact that when Saul inquired of the Lord he received no answer at all (28:6). His army was outnumbered and the prospect so grim that we are told that Saul was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. Now there is no disgrace in a man being afraid. Almost every man of God in the Bible had at some time or other to be reassured with the words: "Fear not!" The tragedy with Saul, however, was that God did not say 'Fear not' to him; in fact He gave no reply at all to Saul's prayers. There are statements by David in some of the Psalms which show that to him this would have been the ultimate calamity if it had happened to him: "My rock, be not thou deaf unto me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit" (Psalm 28:1). For God to be silent to him was the worst thing which could possibly happen. Enemies, distresses, calamities, these he could bear; but if God refused to answer him then life itself had no more meaning. Well, God never was deaf to him, nor will He be to us, but he was to Saul. The Lord answered him not by dreams (which was one of His methods of speaking to men), nor by Urim (the light on the high priest's breastplate), nor by prophets (though even some of the bad kings at least had a message from God through a prophet). This was tragedy indeed. To pray and to get no answer at all, to find that God refused to speak to him. The reason is not far to seek. It is Wisdom which declares: "Because I have called, and ye have refused ... ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof ... Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me diligently, but they shall not find me" (Proverbs 1:24-28). [92/93]
SO God had nothing more to say to Saul. What then could he do? He went to a source of information which he had himself formerly banned (v.3), a 'medium' who could put him in touch with the other world. This is what large numbers of people are doing in our own countries today, ignoring God's orders and going back on their own good laws. It is neither 'fun' nor is it just pretence, as Saul soon found. When a spirit appeared which seemed like Samuel, she realised who her visitor was and was frightened. She could trust her 'familiar spirit' to speak through her, but she could not trust it to deliver her, and she would not have gone on if Saul had not guaranteed her safety. Her insight was correct, and we need never be surprised if spirits give evidence of their knowledge, for of course the Devil knows the past. He knew what Samuel looked like when Saul last saw him, and so he produced the spectre of an old man covered with a robe. Saul was deceived, and may be so was the woman, but it was obviously a deceiving spirit masquerading as the old prophet. You notice that it asked: "Why hast thou disquieted me ...?" Can we tolerate for one moment the thought that a wayward sinner or a sordid old woman could cause any disquiet to a godly saint resting in the presence of his Lord? "There the wicked cease from troubling; there the weary be at rest," affirmed the old patriarch (Job 3:17). Is it possible that a cringing wreck of a man like Saul could have any power to alter that? Notice, too, that the spirit speaks of being brought up. Had it really been Samuel, he would surely have felt that in coming back to earth he was coming down. Can anyone who has the least insight into spiritual things believe that in eternity a saint of God will look anything like he did when on earth? Earthly robes will have been left behind, old age exchanged for eternal youth. There is no such thing as 'an old man' in eternity.
For me, then, this was not Samuel but a masquerading spirit. It knew the past and could quote all the familiar story of Saul's disobedience and rejection, for evil powers doubtless gloated in the unseen as God's name was dishonoured in this man. It knew that the Lord had departed from him -- everybody knew that -- and it must have had a shrewd idea that the coming battle would bring victory for the Philistines. I suggest that it did not know the future (which is known only to God) but seized the opportunity of introducing the idea of suicide into the mind of the desperate king. One of his favourite ploys is to suggest that we end it all -- he tried that, unsuccessfully, with Job -- and in fact that is precisely what Saul did (31:4). This, then, was the shameful end of a man who failed of the grace of God. David did not kill him; nor did God; nor indeed did the Philistines, for he committed suicide. This was the final outworking of disobedience. The original act may have seemed quite small. He had been told to wait seven days for Samuel, but he could not wait and impulsively took things into his own hands, forcing himself to a sacrifice which was not for him to offer. 'Disobedience?', men may comment, 'but it was not all that important'. 'Conceit and self-will? True, but none of us is perfect!'
Well, men may minimise the responsibility of a man called to the kingdom, but God will not do so. The end of disobedience is death. And like so many others, Saul involved others, including his own three sons, in his downfall. The Philistines gloated and praised their idols (31:9). That was what Satan had been working for. From the day when God regained for Himself the glory which departed through the capture of the Ark, the Devil had been seeking an opportunity to rob God once more and gain glory for his own kingdom of darkness. The real issue was not just the man, Saul, but the perpetual war between Satan and the Lord, a war which still continues and in which we are all involved. Can God be robbed of glory? Can the Devil usurp that glory for himself? This is the question which lies behind Saul's history and ours. In Saul's case it was a grievous blow to God's glory. The kingdom of Israel was at a very low ebb after the defeat on Mount Gilboa. Happily God had His answer. He had been preparing David for just such a time.
There is just one bright spot at the end of 1 Samuel: "When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons ... and buried them ... and fasted seven days" (verses 11-13). These were the men who had been saved by Saul's first great victory (chapter 11). In the hour of general defeat it is heartening to know of some who were grateful enough and bold enough to break into Philistine territory to recover at least something for the glory of God.
WE turn now from Saul to David, and may be rather surprised to find that he too is in rather a bad way. The thought that I wish to stress in this connection is that an abiding principle of God's working is resurrection. The kingdom is [93/94] brought very low and its new beginning must be a resurrection act of God. David, also, is passing through an experience which can only be solved by resurrection power. Clearly the prelude to resurrection is to be brought right down to zero. The actual zero point of David's experience is found in 30:4-6: "David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep ... and David was greatly distressed ...". This, mark you, was God's anointed king! He is at rock bottom. He has lost all; all except the grace of God.
