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But what is very important is that in connection with the hill of

God we have the company of prophets. What is prophetic gets

special prominence in a time of decline, in a time of ruin, and

that is a sign, a token, of God’s faithfulness. 2 Timothy says, “if

we are unfaithful, he abides faithful” (2 Timothy 2: 13). There is

much unfaithfulness in the professing people of God, but God

is faithful. So it underlines the importance of the prophetic

word in our time.

The prophetic word is here connected with joy, with music—

“with lute and tambour and pipe and harp before them”. It is a

wonderful matter. In the midst of ruin, in the midst of the

decline of Christendom, there is an area where there is harp,

and tambour and lute, and beautiful, joyous music; that is the

expression of joy. God is faithful, and He has preserved for

Himself an area where He can be served, and where what is

of Him can be enjoyed fully.

Saul comes into connection with this. I think these two features

are very important: we must take account of the original

thought of God’s house, but we must take account also of the

reality of the ruin and decline which is obtaining now in

Christendom.

So we have this wonderful experience of Saul. He becomes

one of them; the Spirit of God comes upon him, and God gives

him another heart. It is lovely to see this early history of Saul; it

was not so later, as we know. He did not continue on

this line; he supported in his course the wrong kind of man,

and that is a great danger. A believer is a wonderful

personality, but there is conflict between what is old and what

is new.

It is a great question. Which kind of man am I ready to further,

to support? Mr. Stoney gave a good illustration—if I have two

birds in a cage, a dove and a raven, I must feed the dove and

starve the raven. It is very important which kind of man I am