READING (4)
READING (4)
JT We started with the circumstances that gave the occasion for the introduction of Samuel, and I think it would be helpful to consider the circumstances that caused the introduction of Saul. There was dissatisfaction with what God had approved in such a marked way, as the previous chapter indicated, and the dissatisfaction that had already existed found a convenient excuse in the misconduct of Samuel’s sons. Chapter 12 shows that there was nothing in Samuel to furnish this excuse. They had to testify to his integrity from his youth till he became grey-headed. The dissatisfaction that shows itself against what God approves opens the door to the man after the flesh.
SJBC And I suppose the Lord goes to the root of the matter when He says, “they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them”.
JT Yes; that was at the root of the matter.
Ques Why, do you think, did they make Samuel’s sons an excuse?
JT Because there was none other. If our wills are at work we are sure to find an excuse for what we do; and of course this was a very convenient excuse; there was misconduct, but it was not with Samuel.
Ques Would you say that the cause for doing wrong things does not always appear on the surface? The Lord discerned what the real issue was here.
JT Yes; and the elders of Israel evidently fixed their minds on this plea, whereas the Holy Spirit would direct us to the root of the thing — what the real issue was. The real issue was the state of [p. 55] the people. The difficulty did not lie with Samuel. Of course his sons’ conduct was bad, but the real issue was the state of the people. Chapter 12 brings that out. Samuel waits, as that chapter shows, until they have had a little experience of Saul, to raise this issue, and to bring home to them what was underlying their suggestion to have a king.
SJBC Is there any moral thought in their request, “Now appoint us a king to judge us, like all the nations”?
JT Well, it goes with their general state; they would drop down to the level of other nations, overlooking the fact that they were infinitely superior in their king. It was Jehovah they were dispossessing.
PL Was the “shout of a king” among them heard in Samuel’s ministry?
JT There was power with Samuel personally; there was no rising up against him. He judged Israel all the days of his life, notwithstanding what they said. The “shout of a king” (Numbers 23: 21), is really more important in a way than the king. You may have the king without the shout. In Saul there was not the shout of the king; the power of God was with Samuel.
Ques Have we got a similar thought in Miriam and Aaron complaining against Moses, using as an excuse his marriage with an Ethiopian woman?
JT That is a very similar case. What lay at the bottom of that was jealousy.
Ques Would it be right to suggest that Samuel’s house was not in order?
JT The fact is stated that his sons’ conduct was reprehensible. But then chapter 12 shows that his conduct was not reprehensible. He challenged Israel; and he represented God; his sons did not.
Rem Hosea reviews the situation: “O Israel, thou that art against me, against thy help. Where then [p. 56] is thy king that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath” (Hosea 13: 9 - 11).
JT Exactly; that is the comment of the Spirit later on this event.
Rem Yes; both the comment of the Spirit, and the lesson to be learnt from it.
JT What it all points to is that the danger of the dispensation is to quarrel with what God may be using, and with what God may be approving. That is a serious matter; quarrelling with the position in which there is evidently the power of God. The earlier circumstances, that is to say, the circumstances in relation to Eli and his house, was the opposite of this. There was no evidence of the power of God with Eli or his house. The ark was taken. There was the observance of externals; thinking that the ark itself, as a mere symbol, would save them in such a manner as is described in the earlier chapters. So that, if in a general way God is with His people in any locality, it is a most serious thing to interfere with the regime as it stands. There may be weakness, and there may be mistakes, but it is for us to discover whether God is there with His people, notwithstanding. God goes a long way with His people.
Ques How are we to understand the fact that Samuel made his sons judges over Israel?
JT I think there was a recognition with Samuel of the natural. Who is there that is perfect save One? We see in Samuel how he mourned for Saul after God had rejected him; and we also see how he mistook Eliab for Jehovah’s anointed. But, notwithstanding these defects, God was with him, and that is what we have to go by. If God is with a man, it is a serious thing to question him.
Rem There should have been faith with the [p. 57] people that God would continue His regime. Instead of that, they said Samuel was getting old.
JT God could raise up another. Samuel was getting old, but he was still there.
Ques What does it mean, to judge Israel?
JT To deal with everything that arises, according to God. It does not mean punitive judgment. When the Lord was brought before the high priest, one of the officers which stood by struck Him, because they thought He was railing on the high priest. But He said, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18: 23). He was not defending Himself, He was asserting judgment where judgment should have been, but where it was not. The high priest represented the position of a judge, but he was wanting in judgment; judgment was not there. And so Micah says, “They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek” (Micah 5: 1). The Judge of Israel was at the bar externally; He was enunciating judgment. And that is the principle we get in Judges and in Samuel. Samuel refers in chapter 12 to the raising up of Moses and Aaron, and Jerubbaal, and Bedan and Jephthah and himself, to meet the situation. It is one of the greatest principles, really, in the maintenance of the testimony, that there should be the elements of judgment, because things are constantly arising requiring judgment. So the Lord asserts it in the presence of the high priest: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” He was the Judge of Israel.
SJBC Many have a wrong conception of judgment, as though it meant punishment. Judgment would mean discrimination, or discernment.
PL He uses the balance of the sanctuary, and weighs things before the Lord. Is that a feature of manhood?
JT Quite so. The first great judge in Israel [p. 58] was Othniel; a man who was eminently qualified to judge and to make war. Then after him Ehud was raised up, a Benjaminite, and a left-handed man. He judged on the principle of the word of God, which the two-edged dagger would represent.
Ques Would you say the elders of Israel were wrong in taking the judgment into their hands?
JT You see they were quarrelling with what existed. They gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and said to him, “Behold, thou art become old”, etc. They had grounds for quarrelling with the sons of Samuel, but they had no grounds for quarrelling with Samuel. And whatever he had done in appointing his sons, he had judged Israel in a circuit. So notwithstanding his sons’ misconduct they might have reckoned on Samuel. We do not need to think of tomorrow’s requirements; it is what we have got now that should engage us.
SJBC There are those who have got spiritual discrimination, who act on God’s behalf.
JT I think an analysis of the judges in Israel will indicate what should mark us in judgment. Take a man like Ehud, for example; he was left-handed, but he had a dagger which had two edges, and he used it with great dexterity. One needs to recognise how to use the word of God with skill. And then Shamgar judged on the principle of an ox-goad, which would indicate experience. A goad is to keep you in cheek, to keep you within the harness, so that you do not take any licence in what you are doing, you are kept within limits. As Paul says, “I buffet my body” (1 Corinthians 9: 27). One has to know how to keep oneself in subjection. And so he gained a great victory.
And then Deborah; she was a prophetess, and a woman who sat under her own palm tree. She had evidently gained the victory over herself. She had acquired great moral weight, which overcame the [p. 59] great disadvantage of her sex. She did not assert her position; they came to her for judgment. So no matter who it is who has acquired victory, and sits under his own palm tree, people seek him out, because of these qualities. Deborah sent for Barak, and said to him, “Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded?” (Judges 4: 6). It is a question of what God’s commandments are, in her mind.
Then Gideon; he was a man who threshed wheat in a winepress, to secure it from the Midianites. God will use such a man. An angel of Jehovah came and sat under the terebinth that was in Ophrah, as if to take a note of what there was in the locality; this young man was occupied in threshing wheat in the winepress. It was in a winepress, but the wheat was threshed and kept from the Midianites. “And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6: 12). He was a remarkable expression of Christ in judgment; a man who could appease his brethren when they quarrelled with him; he says, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer?” (Judges 8: 2). That is the kind of man!
Well, all these features have got to be linked up together, in order to see what judgment is. And I believe they were all linked up in Samuel. So Israel was found quarrelling with what God had brought in.
Rem One is struck with the attitude of Samuel; he prayed to the Lord, he had a resource. Naturally it would be very humiliating for one who was a prophet, known from Dan to Beersheba, to be set aside thus.
JT It was a very great test for him.
Rem One thinks of the words of the apostle Paul, “the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings and every [p. 60] high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10: 4, 5).
JT Samuel does not quarrel with the people. Who could deal with the matter but Jehovah? for the movement was against Him. And so he prays; he had gone to the root of the matter. “And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them ... . testify solemnly unto them, and declare unto them the manner of the king that shall reign over them”. So in the subsequent part of the chapter Samuel goes over the features of the king. God mercifully forewarns them that he would be a man who would think only of himself, and would take their sons, and their daughters, and their fields and their vineyards. He would think only of himself; that is the kind of character he bears. Very well, they say in effect, we will run the risk of that; and at the end of the chapter the people refused to hear the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations; and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and conduct our wars”. You see how completely self-centred they were, and their king would be like them. The conditions existing were such as would expose them to the rule of the flesh; and God mercifully outlines what they may expect.
Rem God gave them a king after their hearts, before He brought in a king after His heart.
JT Just so; He gave them a taste of what the man after the flesh is, before He brought in His king. So in the next chapter we have Saul. There he is, a fine-looking man! There is not a comelier person in all Israel. Surely they may have said, We are justified now in desiring a man like this; he has ability, and he is just what we want! In a wide [p. 61] way it is typical of what obtains in the whole of Christendom today.
PL If one attaches importance to the meaning of names, Samuel means ‘asked of the Lord’, but Saul means ‘asked for‘ simply.
Rem The man after the flesh is described here that we might take it to heart as a warning, and not set aside what God has provided.
JT There may be great weakness, but you have what God has provided, and you do not set that aside; otherwise you just drop down to the level of the religion around you.
Saul’s lineage is given, and from his shoulders up, his head and his neck, he exceeded all others; there was not a man to equal him all around.
Rem Plenty of head knowledge!
JT Just so. Well, the record is proceeded with, and the first thing is that the asses are lost, and Saul is looking for them. As a man after the flesh he is a comely person, but as a spiritual man he is discredited from the very beginning. The asses are gone, and he cannot find them. A man of God is never puzzled; he knows what to do. And Saul’s servant knew more than he did. Then Saul began to think about his father’s anxiety, and he said, “Come and let us return”. But his servant said, “Behold now, a man of God is in this city”. I do not know that Saul had ever used the expression “man of God”, that would not be in his vocabulary. “And”, the servant continued, “the man is held in honour; all that he says comes surely to pass. Let us now go thither: perhaps he will show us the way that we should go”. Saul did not seem to know anything about Samuel. His servant knew very much more than he did of what was of God.
SJBC Yet in Saul was there not a great deal commendable to start with? When the people came together to Mizpah, when the king was to be selected,
[p. 62] Saul hid himself among the baggage, and he had to be fetched out.
JT Well, but we have to notice there are these touches that God gives for the spiritual mind to discern. So far as the natural man is concerned, what you are referring to would no doubt be greatly esteemed. It is, however, quite evident that Saul’s servant was much further on, spiritually, than he.
Rem Although Saul was the son of a wealthy man, he had nothing to bring to the man of God, not even as much as a quarter of a shekel.
JT Yes. He says, “What shall we bring the man?” He says, “What have we?” And the servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver”. The servant had something.
PL And he would not trust it to Saul; he says, “That will I give to the man of God”.
JT And Saul said to his servant, “Well said”. That does not go very far; to say it is a good remark does not count for very much. However, he adopted the servant’s suggestion. But see how the man after the flesh is exposed! The natural mind might not see anything in these incidents, but they are set down here to show that the man after the flesh is discredited from the very outset.
Ques What about the asses?
JT Well, they were lost. You see there was a discrepancy even then. Why should they have been lost if Saul had been diligent? And even after a search he fails to find them. They were found, but not by Saul.
And “As they went up the ascent to the city, they met maidens going forth to draw water; and they said to them, Is the seer here?” One might point out that verse 9 is a parenthesis in which we are told that “In former time in Israel, when a man went to ask counsel of God, he said, Come and let us go to [p. 63] the seer; for he that is now called a Prophet was in former time called a Seer”. The change from seer to prophet would indicate a better spiritual apprehension of the features of a prophet. So they asked the maidens, “Is the seer here? And they answered them and said, He is; behold, he is before thee: make haste now, for he came today to the city”. You see, they knew the meaning of the word ‘seer’. They were spiritual. It was a great matter that there should be a prophet in that town. He was a man that was noted. These young women were interested and intelligent; they knew the seer, and they knew where he was, and they knew what he was doing. But all this was evidently foreign language to Saul; he was not accustomed to these things.
Rem The maidens were evidently intimate with the movements of Samuel.
JT Just so; they knew the great gain of a visit, because they go on to say, “He is before thee: make haste now, for he came today to the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place”, etc. Now just analyse that speech from a spiritual standpoint, and see how much these young women understood; how thoroughly they were in the understanding of what was going on on the part of God in that city at that time.
Rem Saul did not seem to have had much thought about the seer up to that moment.
JT And I think it is very interesting to see in Saul’s servant, and in these young maidens, how God works in what might appear to be insignificant people.
Ques Would you say that the people recognised the power of Samuel when they said him, “Cease not to cry to Jehovah our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines”? (1 Samuel 7: 8).
JT I think so. But I think it is important that we should take notice of these particular touches [p. 64] whereby we can discern whether the man who may be coming forward into prominence is spiritual or not. If you have got your eyes open, something will come about which will enable you to tell whether he is really on spiritual or on fleshly lines.
Rem The apostle says in 2 Corinthians 11: 2, 3 “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. He feared lest they might be going on in a wrong way.
PL It is interesting to notice the difference in the words which God speaks to Samuel concerning Saul and David; in 1 Samuel 9:17, when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah said, “Behold the man of whom I spoke to thee! this man shall rule over my people”. But then in 1 Samuel 16: 12, 13, when David is brought in before Samuel (he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance), “Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren”.
JT As a matter of fact, a king according to God is born. And so we have the king in the book of Ruth born before you have anything of this. Also in the New Testament, we read: “Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?” (Matthew 2: 2). He is anointed afterwards. And in John 18: 37, in answer to Pilate’s question, “Thou art then a king?” the Lord says, “Thou sayest it, that I am a king, I have been born for this, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth”. He was born a King.
SJBC Saul was anointed out of a vial, which would be of human manufacture, and suggestive of the human element which would have set him up as a king; but David was anointed with a horn, which [p. 65] may very likely have been obtained from an animal offered in sacrifice to God.
Rem These principles come close home to us, do they not?
JT That is what one would have in mind, that we might see how to guard against the man after the flesh, and his influence, and be content with what God approves. Of course you do not want to condone the conduct of Samuel’s sons, nor even of Samuel himself in appointing them judges over Israel. It was a very convenient excuse the elders offered, and doubtless the people would be carried by it.
Ques What is the thought in the seer?
JT A seer is a man who sees things. A prophet is a man who conveys the mind of God. Of course he sees things, but more than that, he conveys the mind of God and brings God to the conscience of the people. Samuel conveys the idea of a prophet in his ministry.
SJBC And in Samuel we have the thought of intimacy; he “heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah”, (1 Samuel 8:21. It seems to indicate personal intimacy with the Lord.
JT Yes. And now in chapter 9 you have the wondrous grace of God taking up Saul, and helping him in every possible way, so that he might have every advantage, and that the desire of the people might be fully tested. He obtains light from the prophet; he is anointed, and kissed, and God sets him on his way with every possible advantage; so that there should be no mistake in our judgment of the man after the flesh. There is nothing to be expected from the flesh. With all possible help it is an utter breakdown. So it is better to be with Samuel and his failing sons. Now this occurs every day; conditions arise that give an opening to man after the flesh, and the result is what we see in Saul.
[p. 66] Ques Is it on this line that antichrist will be received?
JT Just so. The door is open for him through conditions in the world.
PL Gaius and Demetrius are approved; they rejected the Saul element; 3 John.
Ques Referring to the present time, would you say that Samuel and his failing sons suggest an abnormal state?
JT Yes; but it is not irremediable. God can come in and meet a situation like that. So it is much better to go on, and give God the opportunity to come in and deal with it. The Holy Spirit tells us that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Thus God had His way in His servant, in spite of the people’s attitude.
PL Saul’s servant, and the maidens, did not seem overwhelmed by any lack in Samuel!
Rem Samuel is still in Ramah, while his sons judge Israel.
JT Yes. He was not on the level of his sons; he was in his own house, where he had his altar. The elders ignore this.
Rem In these instructions given to Saul there would not be any mention of the man after the flesh?
JT Well, you see it was still a tentative time. God was still testing man; and I think these advantages spoken of in chapter 10 show that God would set him out with every possible advantage. And that only brings out how hopeless the flesh is.
PL Does it not also suggest the last overtures of God through Christ to Israel? I was thinking of the grace in which the Lord waited upon Israel.
JT Yes, quite so. If there was no fruit, the tree was still there; and the vinedresser says, “Let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit — but if not, after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13: 8, 9).
[p. 67] Rem When they went to look for Saul when the, king was being selected, he had hidden himself.
JT Yes. You do not see anything like this in David. It is all of the flesh. Hiding amongst the baggage suggests the backwardness of the flesh, which is of no value at all — no more than the forwardness of it.
Ques What would the king suggest? It says here, in verse 16, he was to save the people.
JT He was to represent God in His supreme authority. For this he should be like God. David typified Christ in this respect. See 2 Samuel 23: 3, 4.
Ques Would the shoulder and what was on it, which was set before Saul to eat, be suggestive as to whether he would be able to sustain the people for God?
JT I think so; it was food that a king needed.
Rem In 1 Samuel 9:13 we read, “For the people eat not until he [Samuel] has come, because he blesses the sacrifice; afterwards they eat that are invited”.
JT That is what the maidens say; showing that they knew what marked occasions like this. They would not eat till he came, because he blessed the sacrifice. And then those that are bidden eat. The prophet, as representative of God, being there, the occasion was an auspicious one, and these maidens were in the spirit of it.
Ques Although things are in a weak state, is there not power available, that the man of God should be according to God?
JT Certainly. And then also what existed under Samuel was not beyond remedy. So that there was really no cause for asking for a change. It is these changes and revolutions that are so dangerous; because if things are not right, God can put them right. Let us not take it into our hands to do [p. 68] so.
PL Would you say that the scripture in Ecclesiastes 10: 4 applies: “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for quietness pacifieth great offences”?
JT I think so.
Rem Gideon said, “Jehovah will rule over you” (Judges 8: 23).
JT Yes; they wanted to make him king. Chapter 12 brings out all this, for Samuel would not let the people off; there was a great lesson to be learnt, and they had had experience of Saul. So Samuel comes, and he says to the people, “Come and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there” (1 Samuel 11: 14). He would bring them all down there, because it is there that you learn things in the light of God; it is there that self-judgment is customary. “And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Jehovah in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed peace-offerings before Jehovah. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced exceedingly” (verse 15).
And now Samuel seizes the opportunity to bring all the light of chapter 12 to bear on them. All had been going well with them evidently; they were so far in keeping with Gilgal; but he would go to the bottom of things, for the lesson has to be learnt. I think this chapter shows that we shall reap the bitter fruits of our sowing as we are governed by our wills. God will not let us off; He loves us too well to allow us to miss the lesson of it.
So Samuel says, “Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that ye said to me, and have made a king over you. And now behold, the king walks before you; and I am old and grey-headed; and behold, my sons are with you;” he is not hiding his sons, or what they were. And he says, “I have walked before you from my youth up to this day”. They were thus brought face to face with what God [p. 69] had provided, and also with what they themselves had provided. And he says, “Here I am: testify against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I injured? or of whose hand have I received any ransom and blinded mine eyes therewith?” One is reminded of Paul’s address to the elders from Ephesus in Acts 20. Samuel has the people before God, and they own that there is nothing in him, no justification at all for having asked for the change; it was their own will. And they are to learn now the fruits of their own will.
God will not let us off when we open a door for the flesh by being discontented under what He has provided; we shall reap the fruits of it. Samuel had been ill-treated by them, but he is not really concerned about that, he is concerned about Jehovah — how did all this affect God? And so he continues: “It is Jehovah who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt”. He brings in God, and all that God had been to them. So that it was an opportunity to learn not only the bitter fruits of their own will, but also what God had been to them from the outset.
PL Does not the Lord in His rejection speak somewhat similarly? The works that He had done for the Father bore witness; John 5: 36.
JT Yes; and again, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John. 5: 17).
This chapter is the climax of the instruction to be gained from bringing in Saul. This is the chapter for the people, that they should profit by the exercises, profit by their failure, and see what God had been to them from the very outset.