20260812 1 Samuel 10 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

Okay, we are back in Judges chapter 9 and 10

Judges 9 · chapter mention

tonight. I always say that. We spent a lot of

time in Judges. 1 Samuel chapter 9 and 10. Now,

1 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

I don't think that I have a ton of material here

tonight, so if there's something on your mind

or a discussion that you want to have or a clarification

that you need, maybe that will help you feel

free. To voice that. It's always welcome. Is

there any question. That left over from last

week. In our discussion of that. Of these same

verses then. I do have a question. Okay good.

I hope it. I hope it wasn't that I. Wasn't listening.

So chapter 9. Verse 16. Where the Lord, I think,

tells Samuel that he's going to send this man

from the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint

him to be captain over my people Israel. And

then the other words I have in the margin are

prince or ruler. I thought you were saying something,

but I didn't. Like, is there significance in

using that word and not king? Because God was

going to be their king and the leader would just

be like a ruler or captain. Did you go into that

much? Not too much. Okay. That's the main thing

I want to talk about tonight. Okay, great. We

will answer that question. Okay. Anything else?

Okay, before we get to that one, because I want

to end with that. Okay. Just some real practical,

hopefully, common sense things that I want us

to notice, especially about Saul's servant. Now,

he's portrayed rather well in this passage. Because

why? What are the two things that he does? Maybe

even three. So, remember you were talking about

irony. Yeah. Afterwards, I was like, that's the

one. The irony is, this guy, he's about to be

king. He doesn't even have any money to pay to

the seer. He's totally broke. And his servant

has to bail him out. And it was the servant that

knew where the man of God was, right? So, and

yes, that is, I mean, if we think about what

a king's role is, in Israel, probably best you

see it in David, is what? David was what? He

was a war king, but what was he before he became

a king? He was a shepherd. So he was the shepherd

war king. Now, so what's a shepherd's job? Keep

the sheep. And just in... in general, then, is

to watch over the animals. Saul's job was to

watch over some donkeys, and he couldn't even

do that, and now he's going to be given the responsibility

to shepherd, to watch over the entirety of Israel.

So that's also the irony in that passage as well.

So what do we say to that? What can we learn

from the servant? Okay. And you never know when

God is going to give you that opportunity, do

you? You just don't. But he was prepared. And

when the opportunity came, he was able to give

Saul good counsel. Let's go to the man of God.

And I came prepared. I've got a quarter shekel

of silver here in my pocket. We can give him

that. So my dad used to... When he had his truck,

he would drive around with gas, with a gas can

all the time in his truck. Now, why did he do

that? Was that just in case he ran out of gas?

Nobody knows. Well, let me tell you something

about my dad. Now, the reason he carried that

around with him was because people do run out

of gas. And so if you have a can of gas... on

your person, and you see someone who's run out

of gas, what is that going to give you the opportunity

to do? Okay, it's going to give you an opportunity

to help that person, and in the course of doing

that, what? You're going to give them the gospel.

You're going to tell them that the reason you're

doing this is not because you were born with

this big heart that just is looking around for

people to help, but you're going to be able to

tell them, This five gallons or three gallons

or whatever of gas that I'm giving you is nothing

compared to what God has given me, which is what?

Christ, his own son, right? He sent Jesus for

me. I'm giving you, nowadays, I guess that would

be $12 or $15 worth of gas. So, you know, and

then there was a couple times in my life when...

I didn't have any cash on me. Now, if you find

somebody in trouble and need some help, it's

hard, I mean, to use a credit card. I don't know

if you understand that. Here's this person, they

need a hand. Yeah, you could take them to the

store, but, you know, I've always got, you know,

some cash on me. And the reason that I carry

that is because I'm looking for an opportunity.

Now, when I lived in the city, I mean, the opportunity

was there every day. You know, I could give away

money down there all the time. It's a little

bit harder in Hillsboro. But I've always got

it. I'm always ready. Do you have tracks with

you wherever you go? Are you prepared, in your

mind at least, to when you get in a conversation

with somebody, are you looking for an opportunity

to declare to them who Jesus is? Now that's being

prepared. We can learn that from this servant.

He came prepared. He didn't know that they were

going to have to go see the man of God. He didn't

know that he was going to need the quarter shekel

of silver. Maybe he bought it for his own personal

reasons. Maybe it didn't have anything to do

with kingdom work. But that was the person that

God used in that situation to get Saul where

he needed to be. So, you know. Yeah, go ahead.

I think in the story, though, it lays the blame

at Saul's feet. It would be odd if somebody else

lost the donkeys and Saul went to bail them out.

Well, I take it that Saul was, the reason he

went to look for them was because he was either

in charge of the entirety of the donkey operation

there, or he had some even closer, more intimate.

responsibilities regarding the donkeys. That's

how I understand it. And if it's better in the

story that way. Alright, so let's be prepared.

Next. I forget which verse it is where God calls

Israel his inheritance. I didn't write down the

I didn't write down the number, but in verse

16 there in chapter 9, I have looked upon my

people because their cry is come unto me. And

we're familiar with that type of language because

it's all through Judges. And now here we are

in Samuel and we're seeing it again. We might

be tempted to just kind of read that and just

kind of... But the truth of the matter is that

our God is a faithful God. Is that my phone?

The line is sitting there. I just realized I

didn't turn it off either. Our God is a faithful

God. He is faithful to his word and he is...

What was the psalm we were reading on Sunday?

Who had the opening? That was Chris. So what's

the refrain there, Chris? His steadfast love.

His faithful love endures forever. So Israel

should have been far beyond mercy, right? They

were way past any opportunity of forgiveness

in human terms. They had gone their own way.

They had rejected the Lord. They had left him,

their redeemer, their rescuer, their captain,

their hero, the one that brought them out of

Egypt and gave them this land, gave them more.

Remember, he didn't just give them like a piece

of real estate. He gave them built cities, walled

cities, homes that they didn't have to build.

He gave them cattle that they didn't have to

rear up. They came out of Egypt with... Jewels

and gold that they didn't earn. Just given to

them. And that was the God that they turned their

back on. That was the one they left. And they

didn't just leave him once and learn their lesson.

They left him repeatedly at every opportunity.

And yet God is faithful to his word. And he is

faithful to the promises that he made to Israel

and to Abraham. And he continues on with them.

And they're in trouble. They cry out. And he

comes to their rescue again. Now, that should

warm our hearts. And that should draw us to the

God that loves us. There are no lost causes.

There are no cases that are too far gone. There

is never going to be a time in your life or in

my life. When we should not at first instinct

and at the first sign of trouble and difficulty

run to the Lord. He's full of mercy. He's long

suffering. He wants what's good for us. He's

on our side. Now that, we can't miss that ever

when we go to our Bible. That is a comfort to

you and it is a comfort to me. The next thing

that I wanted to point out, and this is in chapter

10, verses 6 through 8. The Spirit of the Lord

will come upon thee. This is Samuel talking to

Saul. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee,

and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt

be turned into another man. Okay, so there we

have the Spirit. And let it be, verse 7, when

these things are come unto thee, that thou do

as occasion serve thee, for God is with thee.

Now, what does that mean, do as occasion serve

thee? Anybody have something different in their

translation? Who's got a guess as to what that

means? What was Samuel telling them? It just

says occasion required as the occasion requires.

Okay. So act in that situation. When the Spirit

comes upon you and you're there with the prophets,

do what's appropriate. Do whatever the occasion

calls for. That's what you should do. And then

verse 8, he says, And thou shalt go down before

me to Gilgal. And behold, I will come down unto

thee to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice

sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days shalt

thou tarry till I come to thee and show thee

what thou shalt do. So here's Saul. Now, try

to be Saul here for just a minute. The Spirit

is going to come upon you. You're going to have

all these signs that are going to happen to you.

And when the Spirit comes upon you, you're going

to do something you've never done in the entirety

of your life. And Samuel says, just put it in

our vernacular maybe, follow your gut instinct.

Follow your spirit instinct and prophesy. And

that's what Saul did. Now, somebody that was

that full of the spirit, the spirit has rushed

upon him. He's experiencing things he's never

experienced before. Would you think that that

person would need instruction? No, you wouldn't?

Okay. And yet right there, that man who's going

to be filled with the Spirit and is going to

prophesy, that's the same man that Samuel gives

very explicit instructions and expects perfect

obedience to his instructions. Now, what do we

call the Holy Spirit back in the Old Testament?

In the New Testament, we call him the Holy Spirit

or the Holy Ghost, the Spirit. What do we call

this instruction that we get from God? It's a

W. His Word. His Word. We have the Spirit and

we have the Word involved in Saul in these three

verses. The presence of the Spirit does not diminish

the necessity of the Word. So if in your life

you're hoping that you can have enough of the

Holy Spirit that you don't need the Bible anymore,

then you're hoping for something that's never

going to happen. First of all, if you don't have

the Word, you're not going to have the Spirit.

So if you don't have Jesus, you're not going

to have the Spirit. But if you don't have that

Word inside of you, if you're not immersed in

your Bible and in the Word of God, then you're

not giving the Holy Spirit any ammunition to

work on you. You want to try to figure out what's

wrong with your life? You want to try to figure

out how you got where you are right now? The

first question that I would ask you is, how much

time do you spend in the Word? Have you heeded

the word? If you have and the Holy Spirit has

that ammunition, then you can expect that he's

going to wield that sword in your life. He's

going to divide, what, your tendons from your

marrow and other impossible things. In other

words, he's going to get to the heart of the

problem, whatever that is. And the sword that

he's going to use, the scalpel that he's going

to use, is the word of God. Now, that's the same

way it was in the Old Testament. That's the same

way it is in the New Testament. God works according

to his instruction and according to the Spirit.

Even in somebody like Saul, who's going to be

in charge of what we're going to talk about next,

which is this question that a man had. What is

the word captain and rain? What was Saul's role?

But before we get there, I'll pause here again

if anybody has any comments or questions or wants

to say anything else. Nobody? I guess I'll say

what you found. What you pointed out about the

servant is encouraging because it's just like

he's far from the main character of the story.

And I probably wouldn't have even noticed the

details. And it's like that's most of us. It's

like we don't have big parts to play in history,

but just being faithful and reliable in the things

that he was is important to the Lord. those around

us. We don't know his name. He's just this nameless

guy who's a servant who's serving Saul that the

Lord uses in his providence to accomplish his

purpose. Alright, now we have this question.

We asked, I think we answered it last week, all

this secrecy or It's kind of all through, even

at the end, where Saul doesn't tell his uncle

the whole story, he just tells him some of it.

You have this question as to what was on Saul's

mind, what's on it, in verse 19 of chapter 9,

Tomorrow I will let thee go, and I will tell

thee all that is in thine heart. And as for thine

asses that were lost three days ago, not thy

mind on them. So what was it that Saul had on

his mind? Did he have some inkling that something

big was going to happen? Even before Samuel tells

him that you are the answer to Israel's desire.

They want a king and you're going to be that

one. So this was interesting to me. I hope it

is to you. In verse 16 there we have Captain,

we have that he's going to reign. All those words

in the Hebrew lean towards restraint. Okay, he's

going to restrain Israel. Now, hopefully this

will help us to understand the king's role. As

it relates to the law and the law's role as it

relates to Israel. Because these, what was the

laws? Well, first of all, let's go back to Deuteronomy

17. And I'll just read it if you don't want to

turn there. Verses 19 and 20. Now this is the

prophecy or the instruction or the chapter that's

all about the king coming to Israel. Verse 19

says and it sorry verse 18 and it shall be when

he that is the king sitteth upon the throne of

his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of

this law in a book out of that which is before

the priests and the Levites. Going to go to the

priests and the Levites he's going to get the

book of this law and it shall be with him And

he shall read therein all the days of his life,

that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to

keep all the words of this law and these statutes,

to do them. That his heart be not lifted up above

his brethren, and that he turn not aside from

the commandment, to the right hand or to the

left, to the end, that he may prolong his days

in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst

of Israel. Now, so the king and the law go hand

in hand. One doesn't go anywhere without the

other. So the Lord gave this law to Israel. We

looked at it way back, and I'm sure you've read

it lots of times in Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy,

Leviticus. Everywhere the king went, he was going

to go with that. Now, what was the... Why did

the Lord give that law and what function did

it play for Israel? Dad, you preached through

Galatians chapter 4 at some point, right? Okay,

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

so this is, I'm just reviewing here. You all

know this answer. No? Okay, then turn to Galatians

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. And I believe this is going to give

us the answer why God didn't put the word king

here in this chapter of Samuel. Because he wanted

Saul and Samuel and all of Israel to understand

that the king and the law were going to function

in this way in Israel. That the king wasn't going

to be like all the other nations' kings. That

his word was not the thing that was going to

rule the day. That he didn't get to follow his

whim. He didn't get to build up wives and money

and horses. And any of the rest of that stuff.

He was to be a servant of the people. To guard

the people. To watch the people. To restrain

the people in the same way that the law does.

Now that's the only way that King makes sense

in Israel. Right? Do you see the connection there?

Whatever the law is going to do. That king is

going to do that as well because the king and

the law cannot be separated. Do you guys see

that? Does that make any sense? Okay, then verse

22 of chapter 3 in Galatians. Sorry, I think,

or 4, is it 4? No, 3. Sorry, chapter 3 and verse...

But before faith came, we were kept under the

law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards

be revealed. So you're kept under the law leading

to what? Faith. Unto faith. Not until, but unto

faith. In other words, the law was given to bring

Christ. That's familiar. We all know that. Wherefore

the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto

Christ that we might be justified by faith. But

after faith has come, we are no longer under

a schoolmaster. So they were guarded in, they

were fenced in, they were under the law, and

the law acted like a schoolmaster. Now those

are parallels. That's the same thing. He's giving

you two different metaphors there. One is this

fenced -in area that's the law, and Israel is

inside of it. And the other one is a schoolmaster

or a tutor, whichever you have is fine. And the

schoolmaster is the law. That's what Saul was

supposed to do. He was supposed to maintain these

fences around Israel, restraining them from sin.

Restraining them from what? we read at the end

of the book of Judges, which was what? What was

going on in Israel in the time of the Judges?

Chaos. Every man did what was right in his own

eyes. Now here comes Saul. And Saul, the king,

with the law in hand, in cooperation with the

prophet, with the priest, is supposed to reestablish

that law of God and build those fences around

Israel, not... Not walls around cities, but as

in to restrain sin. To remove or to restrain

the chaos that is inherent in Israel. He's supposed

to be the schoolmaster. What? In Hebrew times,

what did the schoolmaster do to the kids? He

beat them. That hard discipline that is necessary

for your kids, that's the schoolmaster. It's

not that he was opening up the math book and

teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic,

but he was sure making sure that those kids made

it to wherever it was that they were going to

learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. And when

they messed up, then the schoolmaster or the

tutor was to use the rod to discipline the children.

to get them to where they needed to go, to get

them to be respectful, to get them to do whatever

it was that they were supposed to be doing. That

was what was at his disposal. So, now, hopefully

the two of those metaphors that Paul gives us

in parallel there start to make some sense to

us. We've established boundaries. You can't go

beyond these boundaries. And while you're inside,

There's going to be somebody there who's going

to administer the rod of discipline to keep you

from going into the chaos and doing whatever

is right in your own eyes and start doing what

is right in the Lord's eyes. Now that was the

function of the law in Israel. That's all that

Paul's talking about. He's not talking about

any kind of function in the Christian life or

anything else. He's telling you that's what it

was for. And what? It was... given unto Christ.

In other words, it was given unto the time of

the gospel, not until, but with a clear vision

that Messiah was coming. That's what the difference

between unto or until. You don't know. So it's

not a reference of time, but it's a question

of perspective. The law was given to point to

the time that was coming when the Son of God

would come into the world. And for those people,

It was a restraining medium in their life. It

was what the Lord gave them to function. So,

that really makes sense to me of why the word

king is not used. Why it's like captain and reign

and kingdom. We see similar things, but the root

of all those things is restraint. And that was

what the king was supposed to do. He was supposed

to be that restraining influence in Israel to

keep them on the right path, to keep them from

doing what was right in their own eyes. Anybody

got any questions there? Well, that's what he

was supposed to do. That's why this chapter,

I believe, is set up the way that it is. He was

to be a restraint. He wasn't given carte blanche

to do whatever he wanted to do. Now they're going

to call him a king later. God save the king.

Are you going to tell me that? I don't know.

We'll have to wait until we find out. I mean,

David was anointed years before he actually took

the throne, right? He was God's anointed before

he was crowned king. But is this term unique

here? Yes. I mean, well, no. I mean, unique in

what? In relation to the king? Yes. Not in relation

to other places. You can look at it. You want

to write these down, you can. 2 Chronicles 19

.11. 1 Chronicles 13 .1 and 2 Chronicles 31 .12.

I think those are the only, there might be one

more I didn't write down. What was the 2 Chronicles?

19 .11 and 31 .12. And then we noticed last week.

We took note of the providence of God that's

all through this chapter. So I'm just reminding

us again of that. All right. Anybody got any

questions? Anybody want to make any comments?

No. You're saying that the term king is made

up by the people, but God intended for it to

be used? Is that your question? Otherwise, I'm

not following your question. Yeah. That's your

question? Yeah. No. God calls him a king. Just

not now. Not at the beginning. Not at the very

onset because I believe God is wanting to emphasize

his role more than his title. And when king takes

on and brings with it, everything that is known

of a king in the surrounding nations and what

was in the heart of Israel, then it's going to

be all clouded and confused. Right? But if we

eliminate the word king and we use these other

descriptive terms, then God has an opportunity

to define what he's going, or how the king is

going to function. So when Israel takes on a

king and crowns Saul king, Anoints him as king

in Mizpah, where we'll read it next week. The

definition of king has been given to them, and

it doesn't have anything to do with what a king

is outside of Israel. It only has to do with

what God has defined kingship here at the beginning,

and Samuel in the words that we read, what, two

weeks ago. So it's important when you're... In

discussions with somebody or just very practically

speaking, you've got to make sure that when you

use a term that the other person understands

the definition of that term in the same way.

Otherwise, you're just talking past each other.

So God defines the term. And when God then later

calls a king, it's according to this definition,

not according to the definition that they found

in Canaan or in Egypt or in Babylon or anywhere

else. Okay. I listened to... Yeah, I listened

to it because I wasn't here last week. But...

Wait, did we say... Oh, I'm English. I guess

that's why. But Saul's talking about being the

humblest tribe or lowest tribe or whatever. It

seemed kind of weird because he seemed like a

really proud person. I figured he would have

said something like, of course, I'm taller than

any man in Israel. I'm the greatest clan in Israel.

Of course I should be king. Well, somebody asked

me something similar to that last week, but there's

nothing in the text that would indicate that

that was not an honest expression of his heart,

of his mind. Yeah, it's contradictory to everything

that goes after, and it's contradictory to his

relationship with the king of Israel, but I can't

tell you that it's, I can tell you it's inconsistent,

but I can't tell you that he was lying. No, I

don't know. Deep, significant thoughts. I just

thought it was. It is interesting. Saul is a

complicated figure and we won't figure him out.

But we don't have to figure him out. All we have

to do is understand what the Lord is telling

us about him. The Lord has it all figured out.

Anybody else?