Saul - Disobedience, Distance, and Dementia (Part 5)
Samuel anoints David as king
The Lord had indeed found a young man who would walk in His ways, and He sent Samuel to anoint him even though he was still a boy. God’s Word says that Samuel would not see Saul anymore, until the day of his death. Saul was distancing himself from God. He was not repentant, and had already lost the kingdom. How much more was he willing to lose?
Samuel traveled to Bethlehem, just as the Lord instructed, and he found Jesse, along with ten of his sons. The Lord told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons was to be anointed, and when he saw Eliab, he supposed he was the one because of appearance. But the Lord refused him, along with the other nine sons because He does not honor the outward appearance as men do, but looks to the heart.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7
After ten of Jesse’s sons were rejected, Samuel asked if that was it. Jesse told him that he had one other son, the youngest, who was keeping the sheep, which probably means that he had the lowest position. Samuel anoints the boy with his horn of oil, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and we find out that his name is David. We also find out that the Spirit of the Lord is no longer with Saul, and not only that, but an evil spirit will also come and trouble him from now on.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. I Samuel 16:13-14
Wouldn’ t you know it; Saul’s servants suggested to him that he bring in the son of Jesse(David), who could play music that would give Saul comfort from the evil spirit, and Saul called him in, loved him, and made him his armourbearer. So we have the old king, who is technically still king, and the new king, who is not quite ready to be king yet, and whenever David plays the harp, Saul rests in comfort from the evil spirit. It could be that since the Lord is with David, whenever David is around, there is enough blessings for all. However, Saul will not quite see it that way…
Dave Earley
Sphere: Related Content
At this very moment Israel is annihilating today’s Amelekites, the Palestinian Arabs, and are using the Hebrew Bible to justify their actions.
Don’t you think it’s time to recognize that the Bible was written by humans without any supernatural guidance, that it’s not the Word of God, and that each one of the authors was promoting his or her and his or her clients’ altogether human agendas?
Fundamentalist and evangelical apologists have invented many fantastic and illogical arguments in efforts to gloss over the hundreds of contradictions with which the Hebrew Bible is filled. Many such apologists claim that the Bible had to have been divinely inspired because it contains no errors (since nothing humanly inspired can be free of error) and then proceed to say that because the Bible is the Word of God that it therefore contains no errors–an entirely circular argument. Many of them also say that the Bible is literally true–and then proceed to say, with regard to I Kings 6:1, that 480 doesn’t mean 480, that it means 300 instead! If literal doesn’t mean literal, then what does it mean?
It’s when one reads the Bible carefully it becomes obvious just how absurd the whole story is. Would a serious God be concerned with getting gifts of gold and silver and gems and tanned dolphin skins from the 2.5 million hungry, starving Israelites at the bottom of the mountain? Would he waste time making sure that His priests would get only the choicest cuts of meat?
The New Testament is even worse, pretending that Jesus was a sacrifice to some unnamed god that needed to be bought off.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:13 pmHi Fred,
I would never say that using God, or the Bible as an excuse to do evil things was acceptable. That is after all what religions do, don’t they?
I have read the Bible several times, and have come to the conclusion that it’s just not something that man could have made up. It’s just not written in the way that man would come up with.
First of all, according to the Bible, our purpose is to glorify God no matter what we do. It’s always been in man’s best interest to glorify man, and get ahead any way possible.
Secondly, the Bible overall tells us about God’s love for man, no matter what we do. It’s always been in man’s best interest to love as it concerns him best.
Thirdly, the Bible informs us that we can know God. How many religions can do that for you? If we can know God, just like we can know anyone else in our lives that we love, then Jesus Christ cannot possibly be a religion, and that is exactly what I believe based on my experience.
Jesus Himself said that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. He also told His disciples that if they had seen Him, then they had also seen the Father (God). According to the Bible, Jesus was God in the flesh, and He gave up His own life willingly as a sacrifice to God (whom He knew).
Why did He give up His life?
If you did read the New Testament, then you know that He told us why.
A long time ago, God made some rules in order to protect His people. However, His people decided that their best interests were more important than following God’s rules, which in turn separated all people from God. All of God’s people were like enemies who had turned against Him to go their own ways.
Jesus said that He had come to bridge this gap between God and man. He would become the One and only mediator between God and man. He gave up His life willingly on the cross, and paid the penalty for every person, and for all time.
But…He left us the choice of choosing to accept His sacrifice for ourselves, or not. The Bible teaches that there are only two kinds of people; those who accept God’s forgiveness and the penalty that He paid for them, or those who do not.
Personally, I choose to accept His forgiveness and the sacrifice that He made for me, so that I could be free from sin and death.
As far as those in the Bible advancing their own agendas; Jesus never did one thing for Himself. He had to have lived a sinless life in order to be an acceptable sacrifice for our sins, or else He would have just died for His own sins.
Jesus told us to; love God and neighbor as ourselves, forgive everyone for anything as many times as it takes, turn the other cheek, and bless those who intend our hurt. You can believe that some guy wrote that, but I believe that God did it. Who would ever say something like that?
If you also look to the writings of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, do you also think that he was promoting his own agenda? What did he ever do for himself after he was converted?
Paul was a persecuter of the Way(Christianity). God changed his heart one day on the road to Damascus, and he never turned back. He went from town to town teaching people about God. He was persecuted, beaten, thrown into prisons, and stoned. Yet, he continued to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to all, and strengthen his brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do people use God, the Bible, or religion as an excuse to do their own thing?
Yes, I do believe people do that. But, I do not believe that about the Bible at all, or those found in it’s pages.
Does God need gold, silver, and gems?
No, I do not believe so, but His people do. Offerings were for the priests (Levites) to live off of since they were to watch over godly duties all of the time. The gifts that the magi brought to Jesus after His birth could have been used by Mary and Joseph to survive when they had to flee to Egypt for a time. A rational reason is not always out of reach.
God never needed to be bought off. He only wanted to love and be loved by His own people, and since we could never bridge the gap between us and God on our own because of sin (disobedience to God), Jesus became our Way to God.
If you have actually carefully read the Bible as you say, then I don’t know what else to tell you. I believe in absolute truth, a thing that can’t be changed no matter what we do or say, and I believe that God is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I believe that I can know Him, just as I know any other person that I love, and I believe that I can know Him only because of Jesus Christ.
Only He can change the heart, just like He did with the Apostle Paul, many others, and continues to do with His people.
He doesn’t want our self centered sacrifices, and our hypocrisy. He just wants our love and our trust, so that He can make us like Jesus.
Thanks for visiting, Fred.
Dave
January 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm