"Victory over the Serpent," 1 Samuel 10:17-11:15, Dan Claire

First Samuel chapter 10, today's Old Testament lesson, we're

1 Samuel 10 · chapter mention

we're going through First Samuel carefully and slowly, and

today's lesson is about God's chosen king trampling the

serpent under his feet. God's chosen King tramples the

serpent under his feet and it's a reminder of what Jesus Christ

our King has done for us and the spiritual warfare that He calls

us to undertake in His name. So let's pray as we turn to His

Word. We thank You, Almighty God, for

the gift of Your Word, and you call us to to read it and to

listen and obey what You have for us.

We can't do this apart from Your grace and the power of Your

Spirit. So pour out Your Spirit upon us

that we would learn and understand and have the courage

to live faithfully according to what you teach us and bless us

as we go out from this place, that we would live in accordance

with your word and these things we ask in Jesus name, Amen.

So today's lesson from First Samuel chapter 10 and 11 is a

1 Samuel 10 · chapter mention

pivotal moment in the history of redemption.

It describes how God chose Saul to be Israel's first king, and

then Saul united all 12 tribes of Israel to fight the Ammonites

who had laid siege to God's people in the city of Jabish

Gilead, which is on the eastern side of the Jordan River in

modern day Jordan. The most important word in this

story is a word unfortunately left untranslated in our English

Bibles. It's the word Nakash Nakash,

which means serpent, but is the name of the Ammonite king.

It's the very same word that is used to describe the tempter in

Genesis chapter 3. Let's think back to the

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

beginning of the Bible just for a moment.

In the beginning, God made Adam in his image to rule over his

creation, to be king under God, his vice Regent, his under king.

But those whom God calls to to rule must be trained and tested

before they rule. And the most important lesson to

be learned is that you can never overrule God.

No matter how important your role, you always remain his vice

Regent. You always remain his assistant

in ruling. You never get out in front of

him. You always must obey His word.

So God trained Adam for kingship.

He taught him how to guard and tend his garden sanctuary in

Eden. And God told Adam that all the

fruiting trees were good for food, but one fruit was

forbidden for a time until Adam grew to maturity before the

Lord. But Adam alone was insufficient

for this role to rule. And so God made Eve to partner

with Adam in the work of multiplication and dominion.

And it was Adam's duty to train Eve for their royal duties, just

as God had trained him. And then came the test.

Nakash the serpent, Genesis chapter 3 came to Eve and and

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

asked, did God really say you shall not eat of any tree in the

garden? Adam should have crushed Nakash

right then and there. He should have crushed him under

his feet. Instead, Adam listened in

silence. And then when Eve picked the

forbidden fruit, Adam should have rushed to her rescue.

Instead he watched her eat it. And when Eve didn't die, Adam

thought I should do this too. God had called him and trained

him for high office, but he buckled in the face of danger.

He disobeyed God's word, and he failed the serpent test.

And that could have been the end of the whole story for us.

That could have been where humanity ended right then and

there. But God and his great love chose

to redeem us. He promised that someday a royal

descendant of Adam and Eve would come to defeat Nakash the

Serpent. Nakash might bruise his foot,

his heel, but this king would someday crush the Serpent's

head. And that's what makes today's

story so incredibly exciting. And we come to First Samuel

1 Samuel 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 page 218 in the Church Bible, Nakash the serpent

has has arrived in Israel and he has come and laid siege to

Jabish Gilead on the eastern side of the Jordan.

In modern day Jordan, the people now want a king to lead them

into battle. For Samuel 1017, men from all 12

tribes of Israel gather at Mitzvah the Watchtower, the

place the central meeting area where all the tribes come

together to prepare for war. And in verses 18 and 19, Samuel

reminds the soldiers who are gathered that God is their king.

He's the high king. He's the one who truly protects

them. He reminds them back about what

happened back in Egypt when God was the one who delivered them

from Pharaoh. And God brought plagues upon the

Egyptians and delivered them through the waters of the Red

Sea. And, and they remember what's

just happened in the story of First Samuel, that the

Philistines had come and defeated them and taken the ark

into captivity. But then it was God alone

through the ark who brought plagues on the Philistines.

And when the Philistines came to make war with them again, and

they were gathered in prayer, it was God who thundered and God

who routed the Philistines. It is God who fights their

battles. And Samuel reminds them that it

is God who is their high king. He alone saves them from their

trials and troubles. And then, having made this

point, look at verse 20. Samuel leads them in casting

lots to choose their king. Now why would he do this, since

we already know from earlier in the story that Samuel has

quietly anointed Saul to be the king?

Because God's Word requires in all legal matters at least two

witnesses to confirm what has been done.

And so here God brings the whole Israelite army together to

affirm together as witnesses what Samuel and Saul already

knew, that Saul had been chosen. And so by Lot, by God directing

the Lots verse, the tribe of Benjamin is chosen, and then the

clan of the Matrix and in the family of Kish, and then finally

Saul is chosen by Lot to be the king over Israel.

But where is Saul verse 22? He's hidden among the baggage.

Unfortunately, translated and not, we're not giving his much

information as we need because this makes us all out to be a

coward when that's not the case. It's as if he's hiding in a

duffel bag and that's not the case at all.

The the word translated baggage in Hebrew is a word that's often

times used to describe military equipment.

They've brought all of the military equipment to the

watchtower and they've got it together.

And Saul already knows that he has been anointed to be king.

He already expects that this will be affirmed.

And he is down there amongst the baggage being proactive.

He knows that war is at hand. He has been anointed to lead

them into it. And so he's with the baggage,

the military equipment, and he's assessing their readiness to

face off against Nakash. So they called Saul back to the

assembly. Verse 23, everyone shouted Long

live the king. And then verse 25, Samuel

reminded the people of the duties of the king.

Moses had done this previously in Deuteronomy.

God had done it in Genesis 2, teaching before the testing.

And in this time once again, God doesn't forbid monarchy.

It's right in his plan to redeem the world.

But every king must conform to the word of God, to God's

standards. And especially what's driven

home in these passages is that they must copy and read and obey

the word of God. That is a primary duty of the

king, and you and I are called to this work also.

Like Adam and Eve, like Saul, we too are called to be a vice,

Regents, junior kings and Queens.

Under God. We're called to reign as

stewards over the world that God has made.

He places us in some part of his creation and gives us rule under

Him. And our success in this work

again, depends upon copying and reading and obeying the word of

God. That's our first job in all

things. Verse 26, Saul went back to the

to his home in the Benjamite city of Gibeah.

Maybe this is 5 miles South of the Watchtower.

And there's such a huge back story to what's happening here.

I have to explain it. And it's a little complicated,

so stick with me. He's he's leading a troop of

soldiers who are already loyal to him.

God has touched their hearts. This is a pivotal moment in the

story of redemption because just a few generations earlier,

Gibeah had been a place, a very wicked city, a city that had

become like another Sodom in Israel and where guests to the

city had been surrounded by this band of rapists and a woman had

been brutally treated and murdered in the city.

And as a result of this, some who were loyal to the Lord had

done essentially what happened when Emmett Till was murdered in

the civil rights era and his mom chose to have an open casket so

that all the world can see what had happened.

In this case. They took the woman's body and

they divided it up and they sent it to all Israel and said this

has happened, this wicked thing has happened in Gibeah.

Everyone come together and come to Gibeah to to put this whole

city under a ban to punish this city.

So this wickedness never happens again in Israel.

And so that was how the 11 tribes, the other 11 tribes came

together against the Benjaminites maybe just a couple

of generations earlier in the city of Gibeah, and had pretty

much destroyed it, devastated it.

And almost all the Benjaminites have been wiped out.

As it turned out, when all Israel came together, actually

only one city had stayed home and not fought in that war.

Can you guess what city that was?

It was Jabesh Gilead on the eastern side of the Jordan in

what is modern day Jordan. We've already heard about that

city in today's reading. It's the story that's under

attack by the serpent now by Nakash.

He's surrounded it and they're about to be put under the ban by

their enemies a couple of generations earlier.

When, when? When Gibia had been destroyed

and almost all the Benjaminites had been wiped out, but Jabish

Gilead had not come to be a part of that fight, All the army of

Israel had gone over to Jordan and had surrounded Jabish Gilead

and put that city to the ban. And as a result, this is a very

long story. Some of the surviving women from

that town had come to Gibia and become the wives of the

surviving men of the Benjaminites.

And So what does this result in? Saul's parents, or maybe Saul's

grandparents were very much a part of this story.

Saul exists because of survivors of these two battles in these

two cities. And these two cities are very

much connected in Old Testament history, to make a very Long

story short. So here's why all this matters.

Saul was a Benjaminite. His father or his grandfather

was one of the few survivors. After all, Israel had attacked

Gibeah. And then we can't know for sure.

It's very likely that Saul's mother or grandmother was a

survivor of what had happened to Jabesh Gilead.

And now back to today's story. First Samuel 11 verse one,

Nahash the serpent and the Ammonite army have laid siege to

Jabesh Gilead. Verse 2 the men of Jabesh have

offered surrender to them, and Nakash has agreed on the

condition that he gouge out their right eyes, which would

make them effectively unable to fight and would also bring

humiliation on all of Israel. So verse 3 the elders of Jabesh

send word to all Israel saying come and help us.

And you can be sure that they remembered and profoundly

regretted at this point what their grandparents had done when

they had not gone to fight at Gibia.

And they expected that turnabout would be fair play and no one

would come to rescue them at this time. 1st For when the

messengers arrived at Gibia, where the moms or the grandmas

were deeply connected to Jabesh Gilead, they were deeply

grieved. And when Saul verse 6 returned

from plowing the field and he heard the news, the Holy Spirit

rushed upon him, just as the Spirit had done in the book of

Judges with Samson and had done with Gideon and with others.

The Spirit rushes upon Saul and he cuts up his yoke of oxen,

just as had been done a couple of generations earlier with a

woman who had been brutally treated.

He cuts up the yoke of oxen and he sends the pieces throughout

all Israel. And he says, men of Israel, come

and fight. If you don't come and fight,

this same thing will be done to you.

And it was also a call to renewal, not just a call to

fight, because it's an invitation to graciously come to

the rescue of their brothers who had sinned against them.

So it's a national version, I think, of the grace that Joseph

showed to his brothers in Egypt long before.

And again, this is a pivotal moment in the history of

redemption. For the very first time, Israel

is united under a king. He is filled with the Holy

Spirit, and Nahash the serpent has come into the garden,

flowing with milk and honey, and he has come.

Nahash has come to dismember them.

And so King Saul calls all the men of Israel to unite as one

man and fight against the serpent, lest they be

dismembered themselves. And it works.

The fear of the Lord falls upon them all.

They meet together just West of the Jordan.

There are 330,000 of them who gather just across the river

from Jabesh. And so verse 10, the people of

Jabesh tell Nakash that tomorrow we will come to you, and you

will do what is good in your eyes.

It's a double entendre and it it's very clever.

They think that they're going to win, but the people of Jabesh

think that what will happen will be good in their eyes.

The Lord will do a good thing, and God will crush the serpent

under their feet. And early the next morning,

Israel's army swarmed the Ammonites.

Verse 11. They came into the midst of the

camp in the morning watch. They struck down the Ammonites

until the heat of the day. And those who survived were

scattered so that no two of them were left together.

Israel united under God's chosen king, crushed the serpent under

their feet. Verse 12.

Some of Saul's loyal soldiers want to take vengeance on the

naysayers, but Saul says, no, no, not a man shall be put to

death this day for today. The Lord has worked, Yeshua has

worked salvation upon Israel. And so basking in this

salvation, verse 15, they go down to the Jordan River.

They cross the Jordan River at the same place that Israel had

entered into the Promised land centuries before under Joshua,

that at that time, you know, they took 12 Stones from the

river. They set them up as a pillar in

that place and all the men were circumcised in a renewal

ceremony. This time they pass through the

waters as a kind of baptism, and on the West Bank they renew the

Kingdom and worship together, feasting and celebrating and

praising the Lord for the amazing things that he has done.

And that brings us to the end of the story and brings us now to

what does it mean for us? God made us to rule.

God created us to be involved in multiplication and dominion

under Him as His vice Regents in and through His Word.

God teaches us how to do this. He teaches us how to tend and

keep the garden wherever we're planted.

And through the power of the Holy Spirit, He calls us to

fight against Nahash the serpent and crush him under our feet.

As it was for Adam and Eve, as it was for Saul.

Our success depends upon putting God first, trusting that He is

the one who goes before us, and reading and obeying His Word.

As we're going to see in the next several weeks, Saul does

great in this battle, but it goes to his head and he puts

himself over God, and his success does not last.

He fails in the mission, He did not keep in step with God's

Spirit, and he lost the Kingdom. But thanks be to God, because in

the fullness of time God sent his Son into our world to be

King. The angels promised Mary and

confirmed this with the heavenly host and with the Magi in

Bethlehem. But Jesus didn't become king in

his infancy, did he? He had to learn obedience.

He had to be trained and tested before he ruled.

He studied the Scriptures, and he increased in wisdom and

stature and in favor before God and man.

And then after his baptism, as we heard in the Gospel lesson,

he was tested in the wilderness before he began his public

ministry. Jesus expected the serpent.

He knew what was coming. And he was ready.

He fought the serpent and did not sin.

And ultimately, for our sakes, on Good Friday, he suffered the

torture and humiliation of the cross.

Nahash thought that he had had victory over God's chosen king.

He thought he had given him a head wound.

But on Easter he discovered his mistake.

For Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come

again, and Jesus is now the rightful King over all creation.

And all of us who are baptized belong to him.

We are his subjects. We are called to love and trust

Him and to study and obey His Word.

And all other alliances and allegiances and affiliations are

downstream from our loyalty to King Jesus.

All other kings and presidents and parties are downstream from

our loyalty to King Jesus. All pastors and priests, bishops

and archbishops are downstream from our loyalty to King Jesus.

Every knee must bow to him. And again, we aren't simply

called just to bend the knee before him, but also to rule

under him as his vice Regents. He puts us in the ranks and He

uses us to grow His Kingdom. And once we understand and agree

to this, we should expect that God would order our lives in the

same way that He would be teaching us, that He would be

training us, and at times that we would be tested also.

We have to learn how to discern right and wrong.

We have to choose to do what is right, come what may, and we

should expect the serpent. We should not be surprised when

the serpent comes. This is a necessary part of our

training. When he comes, we mustn't give

ourselves to Him. He means to do us harm.

He comes to kill and destroy. He prowls around like a roaring

lion, seeking someone to devour. We must learn to join God in the

fight that he has already won, and to trust that he will crush

the serpent under our feet. We almost we must also learn to

fight the serpent together rather than fighting one

another. And when there are victories, we

must celebrate in worship, renewing our vows.

And thankfully, when we fail, we must look to Jesus, who for the

joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its

shame and is now seated at the right hand of God.

By faith we await his death. Blow to the serpent.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, that you are

training us and preparing us, and you've called us to this

work of ruling under you. And each person here I know has

work to do this week that will be challenging and they need

your help. And so we call upon you, Lord,

to instruct them and prepare them and strengthen them, and

then defend them from the enemy and give them success in this

spiritual warfare that you've called us all to.

And we pray this in the name of the Father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit, Amen.