God Chooses Saul to Be King

Transcript

GRS 2-64
4/15/2007
God Chooses Saul to Be King
1 Samuel 9-10
Gil Rugh

We are in first Samuel; we are going to look in chapters nine and ten together. Very crucial portion of the word of God because it marks a major transition in God’s dealing with the nation Israel. For the first time we are going to have a king anointed over the nation Israel. That king, as you are aware will be the man Saul and that begins the monarchy, the rein of the kings in the nation Israel. So we move from the time of the judges following Joshua’s leadership, we had Moses, then we had Joshua, then we have the time of the Judges. Now we are going to move to a formal monarchy with the king and all the trappings that will come with a monarchy. This moves along, we will end up with palaces and all that goes with the rein of a king.

What you are going to find as we move through chapters nine and 10 is going to be said in the context. Remember chapter eight, Israel has rejected the Lord. In chapter eight verse seven, God said to Samuel, “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them”. There has been a king over Israel, but it’s never been a formal earthly salve monarchy. The God ruled over his people, but Israel was not happy with that arrangement. They wanted a visible king as chapters eight verse five said, “Appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations. Down in chapter eight, verse 20, that we also maybe like all the nations and so that is what we are moving to in chapter nine.

Down at the end of chapter eight, the last verse, there the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king”. So God is going to give them what they want and they want a king. So the chapter opens up with immediately introducing us to Saul and his family background. There was a man of Benjamin, the tribe Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. So Saul comes from a well respected family and from a line of those who would be known for their valor, men of respectable position in Israel.

He had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man. There was not a more handsome person than he among all the sons of Israel. From his shoulders and up, he was taller than any of the people. So here you have the first introduction of Saul and they wanted a king like all the nations and to be a king like the nations was like, you should look like a king and here is a man who is kingly in his appearance. His head and shoulders above others, so naturally he stands out, you notice him when he gets in the room and then he is extremely handsome. He is a choice and handsome man. So he has the physical appearance of a king. He looks like a king should look.

Now we go to just some of the practical settings here and we are going to see the God’s hand is at work in all the details to lead to the appointing of Saul. Verses three and four tell the account; the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father were lost. So Kish, Saul’s father says, “I want you to take a servant and go find the donkeys and the donkeys had turned out to graze and wandered off, so now we need to go locate them”. So Saul and his servant pass through the hill country of Ephraim, pass through the land of Shalishah. But they did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim, but they weren’t there. They passed through the land of Benjamites. They didn’t find them there. So Saul and his servant are roaming through the countryside everywhere that they could think where the donkeys might have wandered off.

It seems like, well you know, what’s the point? I mean donkeys wander off, it’s not an unusual event, it’s not dealt with like this was something rare when you have animals turned out and you don’t have the restriction of some of the fencing that we would have more modern times and for them to wander off, but this is key, God is in control here. These donkeys just have wandered off. They are moving if you will, according to divine appointment and some of the things which seem like a bother and inconvenience, a cause of frustration become the very things that God is using for the accomplishing of his work. The donkeys are lost. They are right where God wants them to be and Saul wandering over the hillsides looking in the various locations where the donkeys might have been, is not just on an aimless journey. God is bringing him to the appointed place he wants him to be, at the appointed time he wants him there.

The verse five, when they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “come let us return or else my father will cease to be concerned about the donkeys and will become anxious for us”. Saul is ready to return home when he realizes, we are gone too long, we are not told how long they are gone here, but it could been a matter of days roaming through this area. And my father will begin to wonder maybe something happened to us. So we better turn for home. The servant has another idea, while we are this close; we are near by where there is a man of God.

Verse six, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city. The man is held in honor, all that he says surely comes true. Let’s go there, perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out”. The servant shows some perception, we will go to the man of God and find out about this journey we are on. He could tell us something about in this practical matter, about the donkeys and so on. Saul said to his servant, “We can’t go to the man of God and not bring a gift. We have used up our food; we don’t have anything we could give him as a present”. The servant, verse eight said to Saul, “Behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver, I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us our way”. So it was customary, when you went to Samuel you brought a gift showing your respect, a way of honoring him.

The servant says I have got this coin. So just Saul is not carrying any money but the servant is and he has this one coin. That will be an adequate gift and you have a little explanation here, formally in Israel when a man went to enquire of God, he used to say, “Come on let us go to the Seer”, for he who is called a Prophet now was formally called a Seer and that’s going to help us understand some of the reference to Samuel which used to follow. Now, why is he called a seer? What did a prophet do? He saw things, he was a seer, so it’s just another way of identifying a prophet, one who could see what the Lord would have done. So before they were called prophets, they were called seers. Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said, come let us go”. So they went to the city where the man of God was.

In the providence of God, they wandered around these various areas that had been mentioned looking for donkeys that have no particular direction and it just so happens that they have ended up near the city where Samuel is and further more as we proceed, we find out they have ended up here just on the day when Samuel is there for a special occasion. Can you see the sovereign providence of God controlling all the details that go on? Verse 11, they went up the slope to the city. They found young women going out to draw water, they said to them, “Is the seer here?”. They answered them and said, “He is, see, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for he has come into the city today, for the people have a sacrifice on the high place today”.

See the sovereignty of God, it just was that they wandered around out there, but they were out there for exactly the appointed time. They don’t come here a day early or a day late. You don’t find them saying, “Oh, too bad, you didn’t get here yesterday, the seer is already gone”. No you have just happened to be here on the special day when he is here for a special sacrifice. As soon as you enter the city, verse 13, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes. There is a feast associated with this sacrifice. He must bless the sacrifice; afterwards those who are invited will leave. Therefore go up, you will find him at once. So they went up to the city, as they come into the city, behold, Samuel was coming out towards them to go up to the high place.

What a surprise when they will come to Samuel, no surprises in God’s plans. God told Samuel the day before what was going to happen on this day. What if Saul and the servant had decided to go home and not come see Samuel? There is no frustrating God’s plans. It was a will, it wasn’t a lucky that the servant had a coin. Wasn’t it fortunate that Saul said, “Oh yeah, I will do it. My servant recommended”. That's you know, an unusual coincidence that they would have just come. You see the sovereign hand of God on all this. I mean this is the major event. Up to this point it seemed like these are just little insignificant things, lost donkeys, two men wandering around the countryside looking for lost donkeys. Then thinking they will stop and ask the Prophet, the Seer, if he could give them some information to all the plan, you know, before we are done here on this day Saul is going to be set aside in a special way and by the next day he will be anointed the first king of Israel. So they are not mundane events at all.

Verse 15, now a day before Saul is coming, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel, so the day before the events we just read about. God told Samuel, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have regarded my people because their cry has come to me. This is the answer to their cry for a king”. When Samuel saw Saul, the lord said to him, “Behold the man whom I spoke to you. This one shall rule over my people. God’s sovereign control in all of this, here comes Saul walking up to meet Samuel, thinking he is coming to ask about donkeys and God says to Samuel, “The man is the future King of Israel”, that's the man.

Verse 18, Saul approach Samuel in the gate and said, “Please tell me where the seers house is”. You see why we had to be told about the word seer up in verse nine because it’s used here in this context. He doesn’t recognize Samuel. He comes up to Samuel and concise, “Can you tell me where the seer lives?” Samuel answers Saul and says, “I am the seer , go up before me to the high place for you shall live with me today and in the morning I will let you go and I will tell you what is on your mind”. And by the way as for the donkeys which were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them for they have been found. And Saul didn’t even get a chance to tell him about the donkeys. Samuel said, “Don’t worry about the donkeys that you lost three days ago”. He even knows how long ago it was, after all he tells them they have already been found.

God has revealed all this to Samuel obviously, the last statement is significant “and for whom is all that is desirable in Israel. Is it not for you and for all your father’s household?” Israel desire is for a king. Saul is the fulfillment of that desire. So for whom is all that is desirable in Israel, is it not for you? All Israel desires you because Israel is desiring a king and you are the king God has provided for them. Saul doesn’t understand what's this all about. He replied, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of tribes of Israel? Member of the tribe of Benjamin almost annihilated earlier in the time of the judges. My family the least of all the families of the tribe of the Benjamin, he is saying, I am nobody, I come from the smallest tribe and the smallest family in the smallest tribe. What do you mean all Israel desires me? Why do you speak to me in this way?

And Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, who were about 30 men. So you do the sacrifice, you got the procedure and then Samuel has the special meal for 30 invited guests. And Saul is the honored guest here and Samuel has prepared for this, the day before the lord had told him and so Samuel had instructed the cook to prepare the special choicest portion and reserve it until he gives him instruction. Verse 22, Samuel took Saul and his servant, brought them into the hall, gave them a place at the head off those who were invited, who were about 30 men. Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion that I gave you, concerning which I said to you, ‘Set it aside”. The cook took up the leg with what was on it set it before Saul”, the choicest portion. Samuel said, “Here is what has been reserved, set it before you and eat because it has been kept for you until the appointed time, since I said I have invited the people”. So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

Saul still doesn’t know what’s going on, he doesn't understand this. Here he comes to meet the seer, he didn’t even recognize him, know who he was. When he met him, he asked, “Where does the seer lives?” Samuel had to say, “I am the seer”. And now here he is at this special meal and he has been placed at the seat of honor and given the choicest portion, everyone there is recognizing. They don’t know why but by what has been placed before Saul, he is the honored guest here. He is being given special recognition and honor as a special person.

Verse 25, they came down from the high place into the city. Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof. They arose early and at daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof saying, “get up that I may send you away”. So no indication here that there has been any further explanation, we don’t know what they talked about. We are told that Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof. What all he told him, we don’t know. Maybe he explained further what the plan of the Lord was. That would be a logical thing, what else are you going to talk about here? The weather, on a case like this? But we are not told what the conversation was about. So early in the morning Samuel calls for Saul and tells him it’s time to go, so they go out and they are out into the street. They are going down toward the edge of the city.

Verse 27, at this point Samuel tells Saul, “Tell your servant to go on ahead and so they are just left the two of them together”. At the end of verse 27, remain standing now, that I may proclaim the word of God to you. Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him and said “has not the Lord anointed you a ruler over his inheritance?” This act of anointing sets Saul apart in a special way to the service of the lord, you could read Exodus chapter 30, verses 23 to 33, you have special instructions for the preparation of anointing oil and how it was used in different occasions for setting something apart, as holy you are set apart for God. So here the flask of oil poured on his head, you are anointed. You are being set apart for special service to God. He kissed him and said, “Has not the lord anointed you a ruler over his inheritance?

Now you know, even though Saul is becoming King as a result of a sinful desire on the part of the people Israel, he is still now God’s anointed. He serves as God’s appointed leader. And so he is in an official capacity with the authority of the God of Israel behind him now. The lord anointed you ruler over Israel. So this is a sovereign act of God and so for his inheritance Israel has rejected the lord as their King. We saw back in chapter eight, verse seven, but God has not rejected his people. These are my inheritance and I have appointed you King over my inheritance. He is not saying, “They have rejected me as King, so I rejected them. So now they are your people and you are their king”. No, God’s commitment with Israel cannot be broken. So they are still his people.

Verse two to seven are interesting because Samuel gives three signs to Saul to confirm to Saul his appointment as King. First, two men will meet him and tell him that the lost donkeys have been found, verse two. When you go from here today, then you will find two men close to Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, “The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Behold now, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys, he is anxious for you”. And he is asking “What shall I do about my son?”. So that would be the first conforming fact that you have been indeed appointed as King. These men coming, you will know, that’s a supernatural thing because I told you in advance exactly what will happen.

Secondly, you will meet three men on their way to Bethel and these three men will share their provision, a couple loaves of bread with him. That would be another conforming sign to Saul. Verse three, you will go further from there, you will come as far as the oak of Tabor. There are three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread and another carrying a jug of wine. They will greet you, give you two loaves of bread which you will accept from their hand. That's the 2nd confirmation. The 3rd confirmation would be the most fully developed, it is that you will meet a group of prophets and the spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophecy. And that will be a sign that the spirit of the Lord has come upon you to empower and enable you to be the King of God’s people.

Verse five, afterwards you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. So you come there you will meet a group of Prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, tambourine, flute and lyre before them, they will be prophesying. The spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you shall prophecy with them and be changed into another man and it shall be when these signs come to you do for yourself what the occasion requires for God is with you. So in other words after these three things take place, then you can proceed with the work and the task that God has called you to do to be King and that’s what verse seven indicates. Do for yourself what the occasion requires for God is with you. Then things will come up where Saul will take the initiative to deal with the Philistines and so on. Here is what Samuel say, “Do whatever would be right for the King to do”.

And then Samuel tells him, makes an appointment to meet him at Gilgal and Saul is to wait there for Samuel for seven days. Verse eight, you shall go down before me to Gilgal; I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do. Now what happens is you have unfolded the fulfillment of these signs with the special development of prophecy which demonstrates the spirit of the lord came upon Saul, it came, verse nine, it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart and all those signs came about on that day. They came to the hill there, a group of prophets met with him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so he prophesied among them.

It came about when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets that the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” A man there said, “Now, who is their father?”, therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” When he had finished prophesying he came to the high place.

Some observations about these verses that we just read, verse nine says that when he turned his back to leave Samuel God changed his heart and all these signs came about on that day. Now look at this and say, this mean at this point Saul becomes a converted man, a saint man. God changed his heart, makes him a new person and thus he is now a converted person.

How you view this is somewhat affected by how you look at the rest of Saul’s life. It seems to me better in the context indicate that he changed his heart and that God is preparing him to be King, it doesn’t have to do with his spiritual conversion. He is now the Lord’s anointed; the one God has set apart to rule as king. But that doesn’t necessarily indicate that Saul is even truly a saint man. In fact there is some things in Saul’s life later that may indicate he is not. Look in chapter 16 verse 14, as a result of Saul’s sin, that we will see as we move further in studies of the Samuel, the lord rejects him and replaces him with David and so you read in first Samuel 16 verse 14, now the spirit of the lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. So you see the coming of the spirit on Saul and all this preparation was to enable and empower him to serve as God’s anointed King.

It’s not necessarily a conversion experience, a salvation experience. Look in chapter 18, verse 10 says, “An evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul”, this demonic spirit now comes upon Saul. Down in verse 12, now Saul was afraid of David for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul, and over in chapter 28, and here is where Saul seeks the help of the medium and calling Samuel back from the dead in verse 15, chapter 28. Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”. Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed, the Philistines are waging war and so on”. Verse 16, Samuel said, “Why do you ask me since the Lord has departed from you and has become your advisory?”. God has now opposed Saul and Saul is under the influence of demonic power.

So all of that to say it seems in the context of Saul’s life and service back in first Samuel chapter ten verse nine, when it says, “God changed his heart, he is talking about that transformation in him now being able to function as King”, and when the spirit of God comes mightily upon him, verse 10, that's not a saving experience, that's the spirit of God who is anointing him and he functions among the prophets because that demonstrates the anointing of God upon him and there is the way for his acceptance as King as well as recognition by the people. In verse 10, when it says the spirit of God came upon him mightily that empowers him to be a ruler. Back up to the Book of Judges, we have seen this expression a number of times during the time of the judges.

Back in judges, chapter 6, verse 34 “So the spirit of the lord came upon Gideon, one of the judges of Israel. Spirit came upon Gideon to empower and enable him to be the judge of Israel, over in chapter 11 of judges, verse 29 “now the spirit of the lord came upon Jephthah again to enable and empower him to serve as a judge in Israel. Chapter 13, verse 25 and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him, talking about Samson and down in chapter 14, verse six, the spirit of the lord came upon him mightily. These are the spirit coming, not in the New Testament sense of coming doing dwell a person as part of regeneration and saving, but coming upon to enable them for service, this could happen even to an unregenerate person.

Chapter 14, verse 19, while you are here still with Samson, the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. So this is repeated occasions where special enabling power from God was needed for their particular realm of service. Chapter 15, verse 14, you have the same kind of the situation, the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. So I think that when we come to chapter 10, this is a temporary empowerment for Saul to serve as King. When God is done using him in that way the spirit of lord will depart from him. That's why David prays after his sin with Beersheba that the Lord not take his spirit from him. And that’s why the God not reject him as King as he did to Saul, but that he be gracious and allow him to continue in that capacity, now to be careful, when we read these things about the Holy Spirit, that we put them in their proper context. The spirit of the Lord cannot depart from a believer in our day because Romans eight tell us if any man does not have the spirit of Christ he does not belong to him.

So the coming of the spirit permanently and dwell in believers happens after and as a result of Pentecost and after Pentecost, but it’s different in the Old Testament, there it is an empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Okay verse 11, the people are surprised to see Saul because he is back now near his home area. So those who knew him previously verse 11, saw that he prophesied and was with the prophets and they wonder, “What has happen? How does Saul? Is he now a prophet?” And the question in verse 12, a man there said, “Now who is their father?” And they say, well wait a minute, I thought they knew the father because they said at verse 11, he is the son of Kish. The question there, who is their father is probably a reference to the prophets, you know the plural, who is their father and the leading prophet here, the father refers to the prophet and we want to take the time to go through the references, but second Kings 2:12, second Kings 6:21, Chapter 13, verse 14, all referred to a prophet as father.

Father, it was the title of a prophet. So who is their father, who is the leader of these prophets and is Saul therefore among the prophets? Is he among the group who are joined to this particular prophet and thus also gives prophecies? Obviously not, his anointing with the spirit is for a different purpose to be King and when Saul returns home his uncle asks him what happened and he tells him, “Well we couldn’t find the donkeys so went to get input from Samuel”. Now uncle says, “What does Samuel tell you?” And Saul just tells him part of it. He told us plainly the donkeys have been found. But he didn’t tell them, he didn’t tell his uncle the matter about the kingdom. Now, why don’t he stand here and say, while I was there, Samuel anointed me as King over Israel? Just not comfortable saying that. So we are going to have a public ceremony now and that’s what the chapter ends with.

Verses 17, and following you are going to have Samuel calling the people together at Mizpah and before the nation he is going to anoint Saul as their king and they are going to recognize him as their king. And this will prepare for events like in chapter 11, where he leads the armies of Israel out against the Ammonites and the enemies of Israel. Interesting how Samuel begins the installation ceremony, by rebuking Israel for their unbelief. Verse 18, he said to the sons of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought Israel up from Egypt. I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians, from the power of the kingdom that were oppressing you. Remind here, I am the God who did all these things in leading you and delivering you. But you today have rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses. Yet you have said no, but set a King over us, what could a King do for you that I haven’t done, I delivered you, I protected you, I have defeated your enemies” but no that's not good enough.

You said no, set a King over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the lord by your tribes and by your clans. So in this context, in response to your disobedience, your rebel and your rejection with me, I am going to give you what you want. So why not? And they are going to do this by lot. So that everyone recognizes, this is an act of God, this is not just Samuel picking out someone, this is God selecting and as the lots are cast, it become clear to everyone that this is God’s choice. Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near. The tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot, so they cast the lot and each one is selected, Benjamin is the tribe taken. They brought the tribe to Benjamin near by its families and the Matrite family was taken and Saul, the son of Kish was taken, so there it comes down, they narrow down the process, they get the one individual, one man, Saul, but they can’t find him. Where is he? He is hiding by the baggage.

He is not putting himself out here, we say well this man is truly a humble person, but it maybe just the general fear of taking on this responsibility and that reluctance that will characterize Saul, that unwillingness to trust the lord and depend upon him for his strength. Now one thing to recognize, I can’t do this with my on power, another thing, to be unwilling to trust God’s power to do what he would have us to do. So you need to be careful, I don’t want to have self confidence in myself. I recognize my weaknesses, I recognize my inabilities, but I am not to do this with my own strength. So by now Saul would have recognized, this is an overwhelming task, it’s a frightening task. But Samuel has anointed me under the direction of God. God has confirmed this to be by three distinct and clear signs. His spirit has come upon me in a very clear, evident way.

To be hiding among the baggage is not a mark of humility, failure to place your confidence in God even in the face of an overwhelming task. But anyway God tells Samuel where he is hiding, he is hiding in the baggage. So they ran, took him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upward, I mean what a man. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him, whom the lord has chosen? Now you note the balance here. He start out at verses 18 and 19, you have rejected the lord that's sin. But Saul is God’s appointed King. Any disobedience to Saul will be a disobedience to God. You can’t say, well look, he shouldn’t be king anyway because Israel selected him and wanted him as a king by rejecting God, so it doesn’t count. God is honoring their request.

And so do you see him whom the lord has chosen? The details of the process are as they are, but Saul is God’s chosen King. Surely there is no one like him among all the people, so all the people shouted long live the King. You wanted a King, look at him. He is more kingly than any one around. People has to agree, I mean look, we all look up to him, handsome, striking, choice, all, long live the King.

Samuel told the people the ordinance of the kingdom, so now you are going to write down. Now we have move down to a more of a formal setting, we have a monarchy. And so he writes down the book, the ordinance of the kingdom and what the guidelines will be, the responsibilities will be, set them in a book. Placed it before the lords so they could come here and find out if there is any questions and Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house. Saul went to his house at Gibeah, the valiant men whose hearts the Lord had touched went with him.

There you see, now God has moved among others, valiant man, men who can inform if you will be the royal bodyguards, attachments of soldiers that are proven man, valiant men, tested that the Lord placed in their heart, you know, we want to go with Saul, King will need us. But this wasn’t their choice, it was God placing it on their heart to do it. Not everybody is so excited, certain worthless men said, “How can this one deliver us?” Worthless men, sons of Belial, but you know the only ones who reject Saul are worthless men, godless men. They despised him and did not bring any present. But he kept silent, in this occasion he doesn’t say, “anybody who doesn’t support me is going to die”, but just let’s say dumb, but you note the character of those.

There is a matter in verses 18 and 19 tell us that they have rejected God. In their rejection, they have asked for a king, God has honored their request, now Saul is his chosen King, anybody who refuses to acknowledge Saul is a worthless, godless man and that's how they are described because they don’t see the hand of the Lord is now upon you. They said, “How can this man deliver us?” Well in one sense they are right, he is just a man and you could make a case. He is a man who is taking the place of God in the sense that Israel rejected God to have him as their King, it doesn’t matter. God has acted, now it is settled and only worthless men are rejecting him. Let me say one thing about Samuel, I have impressed and you can’t help, but be impacted by his God character, you find nothing but willing obedience on Samuel’s part through all of this and he is the instrument that God uses to select Saul, to anoint Saul, to present him to the people and you understand this is in the context of Samuel’s leadership now being rejected and the leadership of his family.

We move back in chapter 8, Samuel recognized they are rejecting him and his family. Then God says, “That’s not the really issue. They are rejecting not you, but me. That's the greater issue”. But in all of this you don’t find anything, but willing obedience on Samuel’s part even as he appoints if you will, his successor and his family lying here in this way does come to an end. They will no longer rule, his children will not rule, but now we have a King in Israel. But all within the plan of God as he prepares the way for his purposes for his people, let’s pray to God.

Thank you Lord for your grace, thank you for your sovereignty and all the little details, but we were in owe. Even the animals follow your directions, Lord, help us to keep this in mind in our own lives the little details and the things would become frustrations and things that come, we don’t see purpose. Yet were reminded, you are the God who is sovereign, you work all things together according to your perfect plan for our good and your glory. There are no accidents, there are no mistakes, there are no worthless events in that sense, and there be glory to walk day by day and deal with whatever comes into our lives in the context, this is what my God has planned for me and our desire to be to learn all that we should in every situation we are placed and we may grow a mature and give honor to your name, we pray in Christ’s name, Amen.