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[0:00] 1 Samuel. Turn to 1 Samuel. And our text for tonight is the entire chapter, chapter 11.

[0:25] ! So I'll go ahead and read it to begin with,! just so that we can get the whole story. We can get the whole story together in our minds, and then I will, before we're done, reread nearly every part of it again.

[0:37] So let me start out with verse 1, chapter 11, 1 Samuel. Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead.

[0:50] All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you. Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring reproach on all Israel.

[1:11] Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, Hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.

[1:26] So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and told the news in the hearing of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices and wept. Now there was Saul coming behind the herd from the field.

[1:40] And Saul said, What troubles the people that they weep? They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.

[1:54] So he took a yoke of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.

[2:11] And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. When he numbered them in Bezek, that's where they met, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

[2:27] They said to the messengers who came, Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.

[2:38] Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.

[2:51] So it was on the next day that Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and killed Ammonites until the heat of the day.

[3:03] And it happened that those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. Then the people said to Samuel, Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us?

[3:18] Bring the men that we may put them to death. Saul said, Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.

[3:29] Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal.

[3:42] There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. There Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. So, you know, it's kind of a breath of fresh air in our study of 1 Samuel, especially in the part of it that we've been looking at concerning Saul and, you know, some of the things surrounding his anointing as king and so forth.

[4:09] And so here, this chapter, they're positive. They're very, very exciting. Now, you might remember that last week, we looked at Saul's official, public anointing, and his coronation as king over Israel.

[4:28] He'd already been anointed privately by Samuel, remember? Now, this is a public anointing and coronation, and the people shouted in verse 10, excuse me, chapter 10, verse 24, Long live the king.

[4:45] That's what we studied last week. Now, tonight, we shall look at Saul's first official act as the king of Israel, where he is able to marshal the armies of Israel, to bring unity to Israel, bring the armies together, and lead them to utterly defeat and moralize the Ammonites.

[5:08] And we can almost hear the people shouting, that's our king. All right, so if you're looking for a title, that's the title of my message tonight. That's our king. And so there you have the title.

[5:20] And that's what the people were thinking, ultimately, that is at the end of the story. And rather, you know, when you think about it, it hearkens us back to something that people said that they wanted so badly, remember?

[5:35] You have to go all the way back to chapter 8. Actually, you can go back, even further back than that, because they've been calling for and asking and desiring for a king for a long, long time.

[5:47] But in chapter 8, verse 19, they said, very resolutely, in fact, demanding this, they said, we will have a king over us. That, we also may be like all the other nations, remember?

[6:01] That's what they said. That our king, now listen to this, will judge us, he'll be our king, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

[6:13] So, here we have that very thing happening. For the first time. First time they've had a king, and the first time their king has gone out and led them in battle. And so, this is an exciting story.

[6:27] Now, in a sense, even though their desire for a king was sinful, because it represented their rejection of God as their king, rejection of following his leadership, trusting his leadership, trusting him to go out and battle before them, which he had done many, many times.

[6:47] And so, their desire for a king certainly revealed their sin, their rejection of God. And yet, it was, it was time for it.

[6:58] the time was ripe for them to have Saul step forward and be their king and leader. The time was ripe.

[7:09] Israel, you see, is not a united nation, united kingdom. It's really not. In fact, they never really have been. And really, to some extent, will not be fully united as a kingdom.

[7:28] until David is their king. But, and so, it's kind of a fractured empire, in a sense, or kingdom, in a sense. It's a collection of somewhat independent tribes, you know, dotted all around the region there.

[7:45] And, and so, there are dangers all around them. I mean, real, present dangers. The Philistines, in fact, it's rather interesting that the Philistines were not the first ones that Saul led a battle against.

[8:02] The Philistines were more, you know, really, they represented the close and present enemy at the time. In fact, they even had a garrison, an army garrison, located in Saul's hometown, in Gibeah.

[8:16] So, you have the Philistines to the west, and the Ammonites, very, very present danger, and, of course, that comes out in the story. The Ammonites to the east, on the other side of Jordan, Transjordan, and so, there are dangers all around them, and Israel has problems then, on the outside as well as the insides.

[8:38] On the outside, geographically, they are spread out, and they are scattered out in all directions, but, on the inside, there is the need for unity, not only as a nation, but unity in spirit.

[8:54] Remember what we saw at the end of chapter 10, we studied last week. Saul has been anointed as king. He is God's choice. Samuel, God's prophet, God's priest, God's mouthpiece, he anointed Saul.

[9:11] No question that he is the man that God chose. So, that's just been done, and yet, the chapter ends, in verse 27, with these words, but some rebels said.

[9:22] It doesn't say how many there were, but it just identifies a schism among the people as to whether, you know, Saul would be accepted as their king. It says, some rebels said, how can this man save us, lead us, be our king, deliver us?

[9:40] And so, they despised him. They didn't bring him gifts, which just simply points to the fact that they were not supportive of him and did not respect him.

[9:53] So, that's how chapter 10 ends. So, that gives you a glimpse into the disunity of spirits among the people of Israel. Israel. And, really, these guys in verse 27, chapter 10, were rejecting God.

[10:09] Okay. They didn't have any choice in the matter. It's not a democracy. God has made the selection. Saul is to be their king, and so, so to reject Saul is to reject God.

[10:21] And so, it points to this disunity of spirit. And, and there's perhaps something even more problematic in Israel that really made the timing of this battle, ultimate battle and victory, it made it timely.

[10:39] And, that is, Saul needed something to kickstart his reign, his kingship. I mean, you know, think about it, and I read the story a moment ago, and so, see if you can remember one, at least one, many, but one very odd part of the story.

[10:59] And that is, where is Saul at this time? When all this is happening? He's out taking care of the cows. He's not doing any kingly work or business.

[11:12] Remember, after he was anointed and after his coronation, Samuel dismissed everyone to go back to their homes, and he dismissed Saul too, and he went back to Gibeah, and so he's taking care of his daddy's cows.

[11:24] That's where Saul is. I mean, can you believe that? I mean, isn't that odd? But that's what it says in verse 5. In verse 4, it tells us about the messengers coming from Jabesh-Gilead, coming to Gibeah to report the threat of the Ammonites, and so then in verse 5, this is after they've made their report, now there was Saul coming behind, seems like he's always hiding behind something, coming behind the herd from the field, and Saul said, basically, what's going on?

[12:00] What's all the hubbub here? He's the king, for crying out loud, and yet he really hasn't accepted that position at this point. He was anointed back in chapter 10.

[12:12] Wasn't he king now? Yes, he was. All right, so the time is right for something to happen that would take Saul away from the cows, out of the farm, away from the farm, and propel him into his reign as king.

[12:29] That's what God chose him for, that's what the people were needing and demanding, and the needs of the day, especially in light of the enemies that were in close proximity, demanded a king who could lead the armies of Israel, really could bring them together and lead them.

[12:46] All right, so the time was right. All right, so let's look at the text then, and I've already kind of introduced my first point, and here it is. The cruelty that provoked the king's wrath.

[12:59] That's the first thing we see in this chapter. The utter cruelty that served to provoke Saul's anger, the king's wrath.

[13:13] So let's walk through this. Verse 1, then Nahash, the Ammonite, came up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. All right, encamped means they are knocking at the door.

[13:28] They're threatening this city and the people of this city. They're about, they're besieging them, about to conquer them. Now, where is Jabesh-Gilead?

[13:39] I have a map. There it is, right there, Jabesh-Gilead. This is the Jordan River. Right? So this is, this area is Transjordan.

[13:54] Remember, two tribes, two and a half tribes settled on the other side of Jordan. This is not technically the promised land. This is over here.

[14:06] And so you have Gad and Reuben and a half the tribe of Manasseh settling on this side. And so these are people on the other side of the Jordan. So there's Jabesh-Gilead.

[14:18] The Ammonites, you can't see it because we had to enlarge the picture with this green over here. In fact, it's a much larger area than what it looks like there.

[14:31] So, we have Jabesh-Gilead, people of Jabesh-Gilead. And so, Nahash, the Ammonite from here, has besieged the cities, surrounded the cities, knocking on the door.

[14:45] Now, who were the Ammonites? You remember a little of that history. Well, they were actually cousins, the cousins of Israel. Now, how could they be cousins? Well, they were descendants of Lot, Abraham's cousin.

[15:04] And it's a terrible story. Remember, the Ammonites were the offspring of Lot as a result of his drunkenness and incestuous relationship with his daughter.

[15:21] And so, there's where Ammon came from and the Ammonites came from. So, there was no real love between Israel, God's pure people, and the Ammonites.

[15:34] But also, the Ammonites had something against Israel. something pretty understandable to a point, although it's what happened to them was part of God's will, God's direction of Israel in conquering the pagans of the land.

[15:54] About, I think, probably 30 years, we're just talking about a few decades, from this time in our story, during the time of the judges, during the time of Jephthah, specifically, one of the judges, Israel had attacked the Ammonites and destroyed no less than 30 of their cities.

[16:18] And so, you know, they held a grudge about that. I mean, they would not soon forget that. And certainly, a few short decades wouldn't be long enough for them to forget what Israel had done to them.

[16:33] And so, it kind of gives you an explanation about the Ammonites and why they might have something against the people of Jabesh-Gilead. And remember, they wanted to bring shame, reproach upon all of Israel.

[16:48] That was their desire to really punish them. All right, so what happened? Well, verse 1, then Nahash, the Ammonite, came up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a covenant with us.

[17:03] Make a covenant with us. What are they doing? They're suing for peace. For peace. They're, actually, they're surrendering. So, make a covenant with us.

[17:16] Don't destroy us. And we will serve you. Pretty cowardly thing. Don't you think? So, verse 2, And Nahash, the Ammonite, answered them on this condition.

[17:29] I will make a covenant with you that I may put out all your right eyes and bring reproach on all Israel.

[17:40] That's pretty cruel. in fact, that would be possibly the first thing we would think of. You know, how cruel and gruesome this is. I mean, what a demand.

[17:52] We'll not conquer and sack your city on this one condition. That all the men, basically the men in the city, will pluck out, gouge out their right eyes.

[18:07] So, the first thing we think is how cruel this is. But, possibly the second thing, or along with that, we might be wondering, well, why would they do that? I mean, I mean, you know, they just kind of pull that out of the hat somewhere, or maybe this is in the playbook of cruelty for this ancient culture.

[18:27] I mean, why, for what purpose would they make this stipulation? You have to understand something about ancient armies. This is rather interesting.

[18:38] A soldier would carry basically two pieces of weaponry. One would be for protection, the other would be for offense, one for defense, one for offense, one would be a shield, the other would be, of course, a sword.

[18:54] And, with the shield, the soldier would protect, of course, his body, his vital parts of the body, most of his head.

[19:07] Now, he couldn't cover his whole head because then he couldn't see to fight, and that's exactly the point. They would hold the shield and it would protect one eye, but it would always leave the right eye open so that they could do battle.

[19:23] All right? And since most men, most people, are right-handed, and even if they were left-handed, they would train them to all fight in the same way.

[19:33] So, most, not all soldiers, were trained to fight right-handed. And so, he would hold the sword in, the soldier would hold his sword in the right hand, and the shield in his left hand, and so he would cover his left eye and keep his right eye open so he could do battle.

[19:57] So, what happens if you gouge out his right eye? you basically made him unable to fight in battle. And this was the idea.

[20:09] All right? This was what Nahash planned to do. I mean, he would conquer the people and gouge out the right eye of all of the potential soldiers so that they could not do battle.

[20:23] all right? So, what should the leaders of Jabesh Gilead do then? Well, they don't seem to want to fight. They're wanting to soothe peace, and the terms of their surrender must be the loss of their right eyes, and so what are they going to do?

[20:43] Well, verse 3, the elders of Jabesh said to him, the messenger, hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel, and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.

[21:02] We'll come out and get those eyes gouged out. Now, this is really kind of incredible, because even though there are no words to this effect, apparently Nahash agreed.

[21:14] I don't know why he would. I guess maybe a couple of possibilities. Maybe he was so arrogant, as to think that he could conquer any army that they might be able to put together from any place in Israel, maybe just arrogant.

[21:32] All right, I'll give you your seven days. It won't matter. Or, it could be that he had pretty good knowledge of the disunity of the nation at this time.

[21:44] Maybe he was pretty sure that Jabesh Gilead, there on the other side of Jordan, people in Israel, in Canaan, they're not going to care, come to their aid.

[21:54] So maybe he was just overly confident about it. But regardless of why, he agrees to them, gives them their seven days. And so verse 4, so the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, told the news, in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept.

[22:16] God, now, let's back up just a little bit and then we'll go forward again. But this really, at the very least, opens up a window into the heart of the people of Jabesh Gilead.

[22:33] That they really had maybe very little, if any, faith in Yahweh God. I mean, what did they say back there in verse 3? And if there's no one to save us, including God, they're going out looking for someone to help them.

[22:52] They won't mention anything here about God. That's what they should have done. They should have lifted this up to the Lord and say, please have mercy on your people here and protect us and save us.

[23:04] Now, God ultimately does save them, but of course it's not because of Jabesh Gilead's face, but rather according to God's purpose at the time through Saul his king, what he wants to accomplish there.

[23:19] And so, you know, maybe somebody will save us. And so, where do they go? They go to Gibeah. My question is, why did they seek help from Gibeah, people of Gibeah?

[23:34] Because Gibeah is not close right now. They're Jabesh Gilead. Gibeah is way down here. All right, so not only is it across the river, but it's quite a way south of where Jabesh Gilead is.

[23:54] It passed through a lot of other cities and a lot of other tribes of Israel to get all the way down to this little bitty town down here below Jerusalem, a place called Gibeah.

[24:07] And, of course, the natural answer, the first answer is, well, that's where the king is. And yet, there's nothing in the text that says they went down there to talk to Saul. In fact, they didn't talk to Saul.

[24:18] They came down to the people of Gibeah and told them the news, and the Bible says that they lifted up their voices and wept. So, why did they go down to Gibeah, and this is interesting?

[24:32] The answer is, the people of Jabesh Gilead and the people of Gibeah had a unique and very special relationship that we don't have to speculate about because we can learn this from the Bible.

[24:46] In fact, we can learn it from a passage that we've already studied, though it's been quite a while when we were studying Judges. You might remember toward the end of the book of Judges, starting in chapter 9 and on from there, this really terrible story about a certain Levite's concubine that was raped repeatedly by the men of the city of Gibeah and then left her for dead and she did die.

[25:15] It's a terrible story. I mean, we don't have time to go back and look at the whole story, but the wicked, perverted men of the city, they wanted the Levite.

[25:27] They wanted him to come out so that they might abuse him, kind of like the Sodomans, Sodom and Gomorrah story. And so instead, he gives them his young concubine, this woman, and they destroy her life, kill her.

[25:44] And so that led to a civil war, if I can just kind of tell the short story. The Israelites, under the command of God, they wreaked a great slaughter against the people of Gibeah, killed many of them.

[26:03] But the people of Jabesh-Gilead refused to join that battle. See, God commanded all of the armies of Israel to come and judge Gibeah for this terrible, heinous act of sin that they've committed, and yet people of Jabesh-Gilead refused to come, refused to be a part of that.

[26:24] They basically said no to God. And so, under the direction of God, the people of Israel attacked Jabesh-Gilead, killed every man and every woman that had known a man.

[26:37] Basically, all husbands and wives. I think it also says they killed their children too. It was terrible. And so, they took from Jabesh-Gilead, you might remember this story, 400 virgins, and gave them as wives to the young men of Gibeah, that were still alive, young men.

[27:05] And so, in Saul's day, there's the connection between the two cities. So, we come to Saul's time, his day, many of the women in Saul's hometown, Gibeah, are daughters and possibly granddaughters and maybe great-granddaughters of people who had lived in Jabesh-Gilead.

[27:24] So, there's a connection, a family connection with the people of that city. And so, that's why when they heard the news about the threat to the city, Jabesh-Gilead, they wept.

[27:36] They wept. There was a connection between the two cities. And so, verse 5 says, now, there was Saul, there was Saul coming behind the herd from the field.

[27:50] You've got to love that. And Saul said, what troubles the people? But they wept. And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.

[28:01] All right, so how did Saul react? Well, that gets us to verse 6. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news and his anger was greatly aroused.

[28:15] That's kind of strange. I mean, don't you find that a little strange? The Spirit of God came upon Saul and his anger was greatly aroused.

[28:26] I would just put those two things together. The Spirit of God came upon him and his anger was aroused. Is there a right kind of anger?

[28:39] Anger for God's people? There certainly is. A kind of anger that the Spirit of God would give us? I don't know how Saul would have reacted if the Holy Spirit had not come upon him.

[28:53] Well, I wonder if he would have even cared. And yet, it says, first the Spirit of God came upon him and then his anger was aroused.

[29:04] His wrath was aroused within him. And it's right to be angry. In fact, we would do well to be a little more angry than we are sometimes at certain things.

[29:17] Jesus was angry, cleared out the temple of the money changers and so forth. We ought to be angry about some of the terrible things that are done in our world.

[29:30] all right, so the Spirit came upon Saul and his anger was aroused, but the Holy Spirit coming upon Saul at this time did something else as well.

[29:43] So I want you to notice the second thing, not only the cruelty that produced the king's wrath, but the divinity that proved the king's worth.

[29:56] The divinity that proved the king's worth, not Saul's divinity, but the divine God. And so you have to wonder, as I asked a moment ago, what kind of king Saul would have been if it had not been for the work of the Holy Spirit coming upon his life.

[30:15] And this really kind of brings up two very common questions. And the questions are, was Saul a true believer in Yahweh? I'm going to defer talking about that until we get a little bit further, because, you know, really, this is a very positive story about Saul.

[30:32] And especially when you read again how this chapter ends and what Saul said, you know, to give glory to God. It was God who delivered us. That sounds very much like a believer.

[30:44] But this is the high point in Saul's career as king, and it goes down from there. And so we'll come back to the question a little bit later as to whether Saul was a true believer, whether he was saved or not.

[30:58] You know, there's arguments on both sides of that. I think the greater argument is that he was not, but we'll get into that. The other question, common question, I think, maybe you haven't thought of this, and that is, what really was the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament?

[31:17] There's a difference between the working and ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, difference between that and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

[31:28] Because all throughout the Old Testament, many, many places that is in the Old Testament, you have words very much like what we have right here in our text, that the Holy Spirit came upon him.

[31:41] And something happened. Saul did something. And it was part of God's plan, God's purpose. And then, you know, later we're going to read about Saul, you know, and the Spirit leaves him, and another spirit comes.

[31:59] You remember David was brought into the palace for the very purpose that when he played his harp, it kind of soothed Saul, and the evil spirit would leave him, and so forth.

[32:11] So you have, you know, they have the Holy Spirit coming upon him, and then later you have another kind of spirit coming, and so forth. So what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Well, it's different from the New Testament, in that in the New Testament the Holy Spirit comes upon the believer and indwells the believer, and he takes up residence in the believer, and he never leaves.

[32:35] So it's not a coming upon one of God's servants, or upon a person for a purpose, for a work, to form something that God, that's part of God's plan, and then he leaves.

[32:50] So he comes and goes, and that's pretty much what you find in the Old Testament, and that's what is happening here with Saul. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and later it's obvious that the Holy Spirit was not upon him.

[33:02] In the New Testament, for believers, the Holy Spirit comes permanently. He's not a part-time visitor. He's not a renter. He's not transient.

[33:14] He comes and indwells the believer, taking up residence in the believer, and never leaves. never leaves. It's a permanent residency for the Holy Spirit.

[33:26] And so I think that helps us explain. It explains what is happening here, because we might get all excited, say, well, Saul, he's finally come around, he's finally converted, he's finally a follower of Yahweh God, and isn't this wonderful?

[33:41] And yet, later, all those kind of hopes and thoughts are completely dashed, because of some of the things that Saul does. So, is Saul saved?

[33:52] I don't think so, but we'll talk more about that later. Ministry of the Holy Spirit comes upon a person in the Old Testament, came upon a person in the Old Testament for purpose, to do a work, to be able to do the things that were according to God's plan.

[34:11] So the divinity that proved the king's worth, and, you know, Saul is about to prove his worth here in this story.

[34:23] His kingliness, or rather, the Holy Spirit is about to do this, and let me just walk through again, even though we've read it, starting with verse 5.

[34:37] Now there was Saul coming behind the herd from the field. Saul said, what troubles the people, that they weep, they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.

[34:47] Then, the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. Now we read that a moment ago. So this is the Holy Spirit producing this righteous anger in Saul.

[35:03] But he's going to do something. The Holy Spirit is empowering him to do more than just get angry. And so he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them up in pieces.

[35:17] You know, big chunks of oxen. And then what did he do? What did he do? He sent them throughout all the territory of Israel. So he sent them to every tribe, probably sent them to the specific elders, leaders, of each of the twelve tribes in all of the land.

[35:38] He sent a piece to every one of them. And he sent a messenger, you know, with that chunk, otherwise, I don't know, what would you think about it?

[35:49] What is this? Piece of meat, I guess we'll have a barbecue. But he sent a messenger, all right, to explain the messenger, says, whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.

[36:06] So this is what's going to happen to all your oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people and they came out with one consent. So here is Saul's first really active leadership.

[36:22] Holy Spirit comes upon him, producing a righteous wrath toward the Ammonites. God intends to judge the Ammonites.

[36:33] He's going to use Saul as his servant. And so Saul does something that brings everybody together. You might say out of duress they came, out of fear they came, but Saul is calling the people, he's taking authority, and they respond.

[36:52] They come. And so when he numbered them in Bezek, Bezek, it's not on this map up here, but it's just right over the border.

[37:06] It's right over the border from Jabesh Gilead. If you can still see Jabesh Gilead, just right over, not over the border, over the river. This is just placed right over there. In fact, you can see those orange, not orange, purplish lines that come up, and then they split into three right there on the other side of the Jordan River, and right there at Jabesh Gilead, because you know, as the story goes, he split the company into three.

[37:33] All right, so he has them all meet at Bezek, and the children of Israel were 300,000 strong, and the men of Judah were 30,000. And they said to the messenger who came, Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, so send word to the men of Jabesh Gilead, don't worry, we got it covered.

[37:53] Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help. Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad, of course they were, and therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow, we will come out to you, and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.

[38:16] Now the question is, who are they saying this to? Very likely, even though it's omitted here, or it's not stated here, but he's saying this to the Ammonites. All right, the decision has been made, we're going to come out, do what you want with us.

[38:34] So it was on the next day that Saul put the people in three companies, see that split there, right there at Jabesh Gilead, very near the river of Jordan, the Jordan River, and split them in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning, watch, and killed Ammonites until the heat of the day.

[38:55] And it happened that those who survived, the surviving Ammonites, they scattered so that no two of them were left together. So everybody went his own way, whatever was left.

[39:09] Not even enough of a semblance of an army left over that would include two together, two soldiers, just one. One here, one there, just scattered in all different directions.

[39:22] So a great battle was won. And how did this happen? Well, the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, caused a holy, righteous wrath to well up in him toward the Ammonites for their cruelty, their threat of God's people.

[39:44] And he used then, he also produced in him a sudden ability for leadership. I mean, he already had the persona to go with that. He's taller than anyone else, good-looking, young, and yet no one's ready to follow him just on that basis.

[40:05] But now God produces a true strength inside of him for his purpose, and the people follow him, and he has a strategy for war, and God gives a great victory for the people of Israel, the nation of Israel.

[40:22] Now, really is the first time that we actually have an impression that rather than, you know, little skirmishes of battles here, these tribes against this enemy, and this tribe over here against these enemies, now we have all of Israel coming together in unity as a nation with this one purpose to follow their king and to defeat the enemy that would threaten their people.

[40:50] it's just a great day here in the life of Israel, a great day in Saul's life. He has proved his worth. Actually, it was the Holy Spirit came upon him, empowered him, and proved his worth.

[41:07] And then one more very quickly, and we need to finish this up. So, the cruelty that produced the king's wrath, the divinity that proved the king's worth, and then one last thing, and we'll not need to talk a lot about this, but the community, the community of God's people that participated in the king's worship, not the worship of the king, but his call to worship one true God.

[41:31] So, then the people said to Samuel, by the way, Samuel's still in the picture here, isn't he? It's Saul and Samuel. Samuel is still God's man, God's spokesperson, God's prophet.

[41:46] And Saul, at least at this point, has a tremendous respect for Samuel as God's man. And so, the people said to Samuel, who is he who said, shall Saul reign over us?

[42:01] Who are they talking about? Those, yeah, those rebels, those guys back there in chapter 10, last part of chapter 10, said, wait, what makes him king?

[42:12] He can't save us. We have no respect for him. And so, now, you know, the people are saying, who were those guys? Let's just bring them here and let's put them all to death.

[42:27] Now, this is very wise of Samuel and Saul together. Because things are about to turn ugly. And there's been this great battle won.

[42:40] and great kind of moving toward unity within the nation of Israel. Now, you know, violence, the threat of violence.

[42:54] Saul said, very wise of Saul. Saul said, not a man shall be put to death this day. For today, the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.

[43:08] who accomplished it? The Lord did. We know that, don't we? What's important to note is that Saul did.

[43:20] At least at this time in his tenure as the king of Israel, he gave credit, gave glory to God, and it was exactly the thing that needed to be done.

[43:34] Prime time, opportune time, great victory is won. And now, let's come together and let's worship one true God.

[43:45] Let's give him glory for this. Verse 14, then Samuel said to the people, come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king for the Lord in Gilgal.

[44:01] And so this is the third time, isn't it? that there is this kind of official, I guess maybe we might think of it in these terms. The first time was private, it's just Samuel, anointing Saul to be king, doing it privately.

[44:17] the second time, it's Samuel and God anointing the king. And some of the people are glad about it, but not all of them.

[44:30] And now this time, I guess you could say this is really, really the real deal. I mean, all the people are excited, they're excited about Saul, he's our king, he's our king.

[44:42] Look what he's done. And so they come together and they make it even more official. So they all went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal.

[44:55] There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. This is a great chapter.

[45:07] And, you know, I'm just getting a little tired of all this you know, ugly stuff happening and doom and gloom and wicked things happening and, you know, and now we've got a chapter really say, man, this is great.

[45:25] Well, I'm going to go downhill from there. So I'll just prepare you for that. And we kind of make our way eventually to the king, the man after God's own heart.

[45:41] Thank you.