Author: Calleen Hough

An act of faith

The purpose of having a relationship with God is so that he can communicate his will to us. Most people don’t understand or choose to deny that God’s will is the force that governs our universe. When we align ourselves with God’s will, we have the benefit of his help. He is like the wind that drives a sailboat along its course. If we try to go against the wind we won’t get very far.

Many people struggle to determine God’s will as if it is a mystery or something that is counter intuitive. Determining God’s will is as simple as looking to see which way the wind is blowing. The problem is usually not that we don’t know God’s will, it’s that we don’t want to do it.

Saul’s son Jonathon understood that God wanted to deliver the Israelites from the tyranny of the Philistines and he was willing to do his part. Jonathon was looking for an opportunity to do God’s will. Rather than waiting for the Philistines to attack them, he wanted to take an offensive position even though the Philistine army far outnumbered the Israelites.

“And Jonathon said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). Jonathon was familiar with God’s way of working and when he discovered an opportunity to attack, he did not struggle with the situation, he assumed God would help him defeat the Philistines.

In order to confirm his belief, Jonathon determined a way for God to show him if it was his will for Jonathon to go forward with his plan. The sign that Jonathon established for the LORD to reveal his will was an act of faith because it meant that Jonathon believed God could make the Philistines answer one way or another when they discovered Jonathon and his armourbearer outside their camp.

The interesting thing about the sign that Jonathon established was that if it was not God’s will for Jonathon to attack the Philistines, then he and his armourbearer would be killed by the Philistines. Jonathon was so confident that the LORD would use him to defeat the Philistines that he risked exposing himself to them before taking any action.

And the men of the garrison answered Jonathon and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathon said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. (1 Samuel 14:12)

We all need Jesus

“And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever” (1 Samuel 13:13). If Saul had been able to live a perfect life, if he had obeyed all of God’s commandments, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come and die for the sins of the world. Even though God made Saul another man and gave him another heart, Saul was still a man and he had a sin nature like everyone else. Even though I am born again and love God with all my heart, I still sin, I make mistakes and screw things up. That’s why I need Jesus, why you need Jesus, why we all need Jesus.

A two step process

When Samuel addresses the people of Israel, he refers to King Saul as the LORD’s anointed. The word translated anointed in 1 Samuel 12:3 & 5 is mâshîyach (maw – shee´ – akh). “The New Testament title of Christ is derived from the Greek Christos which is exactly equivalent to the Hebrew mashiyach” (4899). What King Saul and Jesus have in common is they were both anointed for a special role as God’s chosen one. The difference between the two is that King Saul was only able to save the Israelites from physical death at the hands of their enemies, Jesus delivers God’s people from a second death which is a spiritual death that results from sin.

I believe the reason why God gave the Israelites a savior to deliver them from their enemies in the Promised Land is because they needed to realize that being saved from physical death was not enough. The problem of sin was still there and had to be dealt with also. When God saved me from overdosing on sleeping pills, all my problems did not go away. My problem with sin still had to be dealt with in order for me to have eternal life and to be able to go to heaven when I die. The important thing about God saving me from the overdose is that it gave me a chance to hear the gospel and to give my life to Christ. Otherwise, I would have died in my sins and gone to hell for eternity.

I think salvation is a two step process. The first step usually goes unnoticed because in essence, nothing happens. We don’t die before we get to step two which is accepting Jesus as atonement for our sins. God keeps his children alive until they are secure in Christ. If King Saul had not been put in his position, it is possible the Israelites would have been wiped out by the Ammonites. After defeating them, Saul said, “to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel” (I Samuel 11:13). Just before Jesus died, he said “it is finished” (John 19:30).

The making of a king

“And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart” (1 Samuel 10:9). King Saul was a different person after his encounter with Samuel. God not only changed his outward appearance when he turned him into another man (1 Samuel 10:6), but the inner man was transformed also.

“The heart includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man. In fact, it embraces the whole inner man” (3820). After God turned Saul into another man, people that knew Saul before would have said, you’ve changed, you seem different to me. After God give him another heart, Saul would have said, I’ve changed, I am different person than I was before. Saul underwent a complete transformation before he became king of Israel.

The inner spiritual and moral transformation that Saul experienced resulted in a single-minded commitment to the LORD and his will. It is comparable to the change described in Ezekiel 36:26 where it was prophesied ” A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”

Saul was God’s chosen instrument to establish his kingdom in the Promised Land. In the same way that the Israelites were his chosen people, on an individual level, Saul was God’s chosen man to be king of his people. God’s choosing or election is a part of the process that results in Christians being born again. Saul is an example of God performing the process even before Christ was born.

The interesting thing about Saul’s experience is that he had no say in the matter. God did not ask Saul if he wanted to be king nor did he do it because Saul deserved to be king. Saul’s transformation was necessary so that he could function effectively as king. God made Saul into a king because the Israelites wanted a king and Saul was the man God selected.

Another man

King Saul is the only person in the Old Testament of the Bible that was “turned into another man” (1 Samuel 10:6). The word translated turned, hâphak (haw – fak´) means to change, transform. Prior to Jesus’ death, people were not able to change. Whatever kind of person you were when you were born was the kind of person you would be until you died.

Saul was a Benjamite. He came from the tribe that was wiped out because of their immorality. The six hundred men that hid in the mountains were the only ones that survived. Saul’s father Anhiah is described as “a mighty man of power,” (1 Samuel 9:1) he was very violent and known for his oppression of others. Today we would say that Saul came from an abusive home and his father would likely have been described as an alcoholic. The Benjamites were probably bitter and resentful about what happened to their tribe and became rebels using extreme violence in order to survive.

It did not make sense to Saul when Samuel said “And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house?” (1 Samuel 9:20). Saul’s reputation did not match up with what Samuel was saying about him and he was most likely thinking Samuel was talking to the wrong man.

In order to convince Saul to go into a city that had been taken over by the Philistines, Samuel said “And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee” (1 Samuel 10:7). The primary name of Christ, the Messiah, is Emmanuel which means “God with us” (1694). One of the meanings of the word haphak is converted. It appears that Saul had a conversion experience and was transformed as Christians are today. This would have been a miraculous event prior to the death of Jesus, which probably explains why it only happened one time.

He’s still listening

“And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long: for it was 20 years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD” (1 Samuel 7:2). There are periods if time specified in the Bible that it took to accomplish certain things. It took God seven days to create the world. It took 150 days for the waters to subside after the flood and 14 years for Abraham and Sarah to have a child after Ishmael was born.

The word translated long in 1 Samuel 7:2, râbâh (raw – baw´) means to increase or become great (7235). Jacob spent 20 years in the home of his uncle Laban acquiring wives and flocks. Joseph spent 20 years in Egypt, starting out as a slave and ending up as second in command to Pharaoh. Rabah is used in other instances to mean being in authority, growing up, and the process of time.

Another way to interpret the word rabah would be to make a name for oneself, to establish a reputation or become famous. During the time the ark of God was in Kirjath-jearim, David was being transformed from a shepherd into the king of Israel. The reason why the ark of God was not in the Tabernacle during that time was its importance had diminished. The Israelites no longer lived according to God’s commandments and had made a mockery of his sacrificial system. It wasn’t until David set an example of how to worship and honor God properly that the people began to value the ark of the Testimony.

The ark had a twofold purpose. First, it was a container for the tablets on which the Ten Commandments had been written by God. Second, it was where the mercy seat existed so that God could commune with his people. The mercy seat was not an actual seat, it was the lid of the ark. “This slab of gold represented the throne of God and symbolized His real presence in the worship shrine” (3727). The ark’s 20 year absence from the Tabernacle indicated that God was not speaking to his people during that time period. Although God was not communicating as he had previously, he was still conveying messages through his prophet.

The ark’s 20 year absence from the Tabernacle is significant because it shows that even though God was not speaking to his people, he was still listening. It says in 1 Samuel 7:2 that all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD which means they were crying aloud (5091). During that time period, God was developing David into a leader and a true worshipper that would set a good example for his people. Not only was David the greatest king that ever ruled over Israel, he was a man after God’s own heart who was also loved by many people including Saul’s son Jonathon from whom David took the throne.

The hand of God

After the Philistines took the ark of God, some things happened that caused them to believe they were being punished for what they had done and so they gave the ark back. Even though it was obvious they were receiving divine chastisement from God, their ignorance of God’s ways made them think it could have been a coincidence that their god Dagon fell down before the ark of God when it was brought into his temple.

Because there is no physical evidence that God exists, people that do not believe in him often look for signs to prove his existence. It is very hard to convince someone that God has done something. We can’t see God’s hand performing the act, therefore, there is always room for doubt. The interesting thing about the sign the Philistines chose to prove that the hand of God had smote them was it could have happened purely by chance.

The Philistines sent the ark of God back on a cart pulled by two oxen. The test they devised to determine if God’s hand was on them was if the cart went a particular route then it was God’s hand and if it went another route it was not. Of course the cart went along the route that meant God’s hand had smote them, but there was no evidence that God made the oxen go in that direction. So why did the Philistines rely on the test?

It is human nature to want to have an explanation for everything. Our world is based on cause and effect. The fact that we can’t see the hand of God and don’t know why certain things happen makes us uncomfortable. It is true that God’s hand was upon the Philistines because they took the ark of God, they knew it or they wouldn’t have sent the ark back, but having evidence made them more comfortable and that’s why they devised a test that would confirm what they already believed.

Taken

The movie “Taken” vividly depicts what happens when something precious falls into the hands of an enemy. The two young women, Kim and Amanda are examples of the glory departing from Israel after the ark of God was taken because their appearances were transformed by what happened to them. Kim and Amanda start out as innocent teenagers on an exciting vacation and end up as sex slaves, strung out on drugs and sold as a commodity.

The ark of the covenant was where God’s presence dwelt in the Tabernacle. The ark is a representation of the Believer’s heart in that God’s word is hidden in the heart of every Believer and the Holy Spirit dwells there. The ark was associated with God’s power and became a symbol of his divine protection. When Israel was initially defeated by the Philistines, the elders of Israel said, “Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies” (1 Samuel 4:3).

The Israelites treated the ark as if it was a type of lucky charm. They no longer reverenced it as a holy object that was to be guarded from their enemies. Interestingly enough, the Philistines had more regard for the ark than the Israelites did. Their reaction to it being brought into the camp was fear. “And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us: for there hath not been such a thing heretofore” (1Samuel 4:7).

In the movie Taken, Kim the daughter of former CIA operative Bryan Mills is a virgin and is therefore treated as a very valuable commodity. She is auctioned to the highest bidder and ends up in the hands of a wealthy sheik. Her enemies regard her virginity as something precious that they can capitalize on. Unfortunately, her friend Amanda is sent to a brothel where she dies of a drug overdose.

When Bryan Mills finds Amanda’s body, she looks like a dim shadow of her former self. The drugs and sexual abuse have transformed her into an empty shell, lacking the spark of life that exuded from her when she first arrived in France. You could say that that the glory had departed from her. The word glory or kâbôd (kaw – bode´) in Hebrew “often refers to both ‘wealth’ and significant and positive ‘reputation’ ” (3519).

The Philistines were able to overcome the Israelites and take the ark of God because they knew their lives depended on it. The Philistines fought with all their might. The word quit in the phrase “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men” (1 Samuel 4:9) means “to release power, so that the accomplishment is assured” (1961). Liam Neeson demonstrates this type of fighting in his portrayal of Bryan Mills. Bryan goes to great lengths to find his daughter and assures his ex-wife that he will not come home without her.

The death of Amanda somewhat overshadows Kim’s rescue because there is still some sense that things will never be the same. Like innocence, God’s glory does not reside when there is a lack of reverence for his holiness and his laws are disregarded. “And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken” (1 Samuel 4:21).

A new way to relate

A key indicator of having a relationship with someone is communication. Moses had a unique relationship with God in that “the LORD spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto a friend” (Exodus 33:11). The whole congregation of Israel was able to hear the voice of God, but only Moses saw his likeness.

Prior to the Israelites reaching the Promised Land, God told them there would one day be a prophet among them and he said, “I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream” (Num 12:6). Over time, God communicated less and less with his people and became more distant with them because of their sin. The purpose of having a prophet was to keep communication going so that God’s people would not be cut off completely. You could say that a prophet was God’s mouthpiece. The LORD said he would put his words in the prophet’s mouth, “and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Duet 18:18).

Samuel was similar to Moses and Abraham, but he was technically the first person in the Bible to have the specific title and purpose of being God’s prophet. Samuel began to minister unto the LORD when he was just a child, probably around the age of eight. When Samuel began serving in the Tabernacle, he was trained to be a priest by Eli, the chief priest at the time. Communication from God was rare and Eli and his sons were about to be excommunicated because of their corrupt practices. It is unlikely Samuel spent much time learning from Eli, otherwise his character might have become tainted by Eli’s bad influence. Samuel may have been as young as twelve when he was called to be God’s prophet.

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: And it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth. (1 Samuel 3:9-10)

Samuel’s election to be God’s prophet at a young age indicates that maturity or experience ministering before the LORD were not requirements for becoming a prophet. The main quality that God may have been looking for was innocence. Samuel may have been naïve about what was going on with Eli and his sons, but he understood that they had been disobedient and were going to be punished. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli all that had been revealed to him, but Eli threatened him by saying, “God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto thee” (I Sam 3:17).

Samuel’s induction into being a prophet was a turning point. God’s message for Eli was the beginning of the end of the sacrificial system God had established to cleanse the Israelite’s so that he could have fellowship with them. Samuel was to be an example of a new way of God interacting with his people. Samuel had to listen carefully to God’s message and pass it on to others. There was to be no interpretation or expounding on what God said, just an exact repetition of the words that were spoken to him. “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19).

God’s plan

During the time of the judges, it is recorded that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Even though God had given the Israelites detailed instructions about how they were to live, they were not following God’s laws and commandments. The priesthood had become totally corrupted. The sons of the chief priest were the worst of all. They took portions of the meat offerings for themselves and had sexual relations with women that gathered at the door of the Tabernacle.

Although many judges had turned the Israelites to God for decades at a time, there was no consistency and the Israelites always went back to their evil ways. Even the judges themselves were flawed and made moral mistakes as Samson with Delilah. The problem was that the people had been influenced by the nations that occupied the Promised Land. Even the sons of Eli, the chief priest “were sons of Belial; they knew not God” (1 Samuel 2:12).

God’s plan to save his people began with the separation of Abraham and his family from the land of Haran. Then, Aaron and his family were separated from the rest of the Israelites to be priests, holy and consecrated to God. The final separation would be the Messiah who would be set apart from all mankind as the anointed Christ, the Savior of the world.

“And I will raise up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sore house and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever” (1 Samuel 2:35). The words faithful and sore are both translated from the same Hebrew word, ’âman (aw – man´) which means to endure and also to have belief or to believe (539). The priests of God were intended to be Believers. They more than anyone else had reason to believe because they had access to the Holy of Holies where God was present in the Tabernacle.

An essential part of believing is a personal relationship with the person one believes in. In order for someone to do that which is in the heart and mind of God, he would first have to know what is in the heart and mind of God. That kind of knowing can only come through a personal relationship. God made himself available to the Israelites, but the Israelites did not want to fellowship with God; they did not want to learn his ways and discover what was in his heart and mind.

The missing link between God and his people was the Holy Spirit. Prior to Jesus’ death, Believers did not receive the Holy Spirit. The priests were anointed which mean they were consecrated or set apart for God, but they were not sealed as we are with the Holy Spirit. To be sealed means to stamp with a signet or private mark. Just as God dwelt in the Tabernacle, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and makes God available for a personal relationship.

“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him (1 John 2:27).

The only way that God would be able to raise up a faithful priest that would do what was in his heart and mind was with the help of the Holy Spirit. No longer would people have to go to the Tabernacle to pray or commune with God, because the Holy Spirit is present everywhere. Believers could access God through the Holy Spirit and have constant fellowship with him anywhere.