Samuel gave Saul a commission from God to go and kill the Amalekites who had attacked Israel when they came out of Egypt. God had promised to wipe them off the face of the earth and it was now time to do that. Saul readily obeyed but when it came to burning all the loot, he couldn’t bring himself to kill perfect cattle so he just killed the weak ones. He also brought back the king alive. That is like casting out demons and leaving the principality.
Samuel was furious when he found out and went to talk to Saul. Saul had gone to Carmel to set up a monument in his own honor, then on to Gilgal. Carmel was the place that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal. In Gilgal there was a school of the prophets of God. Gilgal was the first place that Abraham made an altar to the Lord. Samuel had commissioned Saul to be king here and many altars had been established in Gilgal which is in the area of Shechem. Those two different places show us a picture of Saul - he was confused between his own power and God’s.
His excuses to Samuel were lame and Samuel didn’t fall for them. Samuel told him that to obey was better than sacrifice. Saul admitted that he was afraid of the people more than God. Samuel told him that the Lord had torn the kingdom from him that day and given it to someone better than him. What a blow! Samuel put Agag to death and left for Ramah lamenting Saul’s outcome. The Lord encouraged Samuel and told him to put oil in his horn because he was going to let him anoint the next king. God took Samuel to the house of Jesse where he chose his eighth son, David to be the next king. David was not even included in the choosing at first. God always chooses the least and makes them the greatest.
God had to get David from the hills to the palace so he used his gift of playing the harp. Our gifts may seem unnoticed but there is a reason he gave them to us and he will call us up to service when he needs us. Our job is to polish the gifts we have so we will be ready whenever God needs them.
In John we have the story of the woman caught in adultery. Where is the man caught in adultery with her? Was he a priest? Jesus stood up for her because Jesus saw the injustice in their hearts. Jesus wrote something in the dust that made the accusers have a change of heart. In Jeremiah 17:13 it says, “all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” I wonder if he didn’t start writing their own genealogies in the dirt. They were scholars of the Word and they would have known this scripture…just a thought.
When Jesus talked about being the light of the world, the Pharisees questioned the fact that he was witnessing on his own behalf. He tried to explain to him that he did have another witness and it was God, his Father. They had a hard time with this but were not allowed to seize him yet. God, his witness, was protecting him.
Lord, help us to be bold in our witness to you and know that you back us up in heaven. Let us obey you to the letter of your Word.
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