Saul Defeats the Ammonites(1 Samuel 11)

As we noticed on previous occasions, the inauguration of Saul marked a turning point in the way that Israel was governed, for it was the end of the period when she was ruled by judges and the beginning of the reign of kings.

Secondly, the inauguration of Saul was a process involving four events: his private anointing by Samuel, his public identification, his testing in battle, and the coronation at Gilgal. Tonight we will consider stage 3.

Third, we have to remember that in choosing a king the people were rejecting God. So the giving of Saul was an act of judgment. Nevertheless the Lord loved his people and still acted in mercy towards them, which is how he continues to act towards his people. So in this chapter the Lord gives victory to his people.

The situation Israel faced (vv. 1-4)

We remember that the reason the nation wanted a king was fear of invasion from its neighbours. Here is an example of such an attack, from the Ammonites, who wanted to enslave Israel by making them incapable of fighting (that is why they wanted to remove one eye). It is not surprising that the Israelites feared such an attack.

But there is something very important missing in the response of the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and that is, they did not pray about the matter. Instead they attempted to bargain with the enemy. The people of the city are an example of both the national and the spiritual weakness of the Israelites.

The solution Israel found (vv. 5-11)

Gibeah was where Saul lived, and when the news of the fate of Jabesh-Gilead reached Gibeah the inhabitants wept, perhaps out of a sense of sympathy but also perhaps with a sense of dread, for the enemy was only twenty miles away. What is surprising is that the men of Gibeah did not think that Saul, although he had been made king, could help them.

This is not too surprising when we see what the newly-crowned king was doing – he was ploughing one of his fields. While it is dangerous to speculate, it does look as if he was still reluctant to take the offensive against the enemies of his people. Perhaps he just did not know what to do.

When he discovered the cause of the weeping, Saul was suddenly empowered by the Holy Spirit. This coming of the Spirit, although a supernatural empowering, does not mean that Saul was a true believer (the evidence for that possibility must come from other sources). What is clear is that the Spirit came on Saul to help him in this crisis.

The Bible shows that unbelievers can experience the empowerment of the Spirit. One only has to consider the twelve apostles; there is no reason to assume that Judas did not perform miracles along with the others. Similarly the Spirit enabled Balaam to prophesy about Israel (Numbers 24:2: And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him).

It was common for the Spirit to come upon judges of Israel in this manner: Othniel (Judg. 3:9-10); Gideon (6:34); Jephthah (11:29), Samson (14:19). What were the effects of the coming of the Spirit?

Firstly, the initial effect of the Spirit coming on Saul was anger at the situation. This is a reminder that it is appropriate to be angry at wrong situations. I would term this response jealousy for the Lord’s cause.

Secondly, the Lord made the people willing to follow Saul, so there was harmony in the Lord’s people where there had been disunity – I think the disunity is suggested by the mentioning of men from both Israel and Judah.

Third, Saul had wisdom to know what to do in the situation, so there was an effective strategy among the leaders. Intuitively Saul knew what to do about the situation. Although he had many more soldiers than Gideon had on a previous occasion, Saul may have imitated the scheme of Gideon against the Midianites when he divided his troops into three and attacked at night.

Fourth, Saul was enabled to bring victory to the Lord’s cause. The enemy was totally defeated and the trembling inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead.

The celebration after victory (vv. 12-15)

After victory had been achieved, the people realised that Saul had truly been equipped to be their leader. Their response was to punish those who had criticised him at Mizpah. But Saul here showed good qualities of leadership.

First, he did not do what the people wanted. There must have been the temptation for him to keep his popularity by meeting their desire. But sometimes leaders have to distance themselves from the popular wish.

Second, he realised that the best way to remove opposition is by forgiving the offenders. If he had executed these men, their descendants would have had a longterm grudge against him. Rather he showed mercy in order to allow the rebels to profess allegiance.

Thirdly, Saul gave the credit for the victory to God. He acknowledged the divine help he had received. It is a pity that he did not continue in this outlook in later days, but that should not take away from the correctness of his response here.

There is also the response of Samuel to notice. He suggested that the people meet in Gilgal and renew the kingdom. The reason for this is probably the failure of the people to have a united response to Saul at Mizpah. In Israel’s history Gilgal is associated with new beginnings, therefore it was an appropriate place to gather. This was where the Israelites began their campaign to conquer Canaan, and where they had erected the twelve stones to recall the Lord’s goodness to them. It looked as if a new day was about to dawn.

Spiritual lessons for us today

There are three important lessons for us to learn from this story.

The challenge to God’s people (vv. 1-4)

The threat of the Ammonites is a vivid illustration of spiritual warfare that we face from the powers of darkness. Satan knows that he cannot remove salvation from God’s people. But that does not mean he sees no point in attacking them. He will aim to weaken them. What he wants Christians to do is compromise with the temptations he puts in their way. He will attempt to destroy their spiritual vision. This is what happened to believers that Peter describes in 2 Peter 1:9. In that chapter Peter has described the way of Christian progress, and then says that if a believer does not make such progress, he ‘is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins’. The devil had prevented the person developing spiritually and that person was ineffective.

The control of the Spirit (vv. 5-11)

The experience of Saul illustrates the difference the presence of the Holy Spirit makes in a person’s life. Although every Christian has the Holy Spirit indwelling him, this does not mean that his power is available automatically. If a Christian by his sins has grieved the Spirit, he will not experience progress until he repents of that sin. We thought of aspects of that power last Sunday when we considered that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within Christians. We need God’s power for a wide variety of reasons and purposes. The power of God is not something distinct from the presence of the Holy Spirit; rather it is the Holy Spirit working effectively. For what things do we need power? Here are some, although there are many others:

We need it in order to be patient: ‘Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness’ (Col. 1:11).

We need it for our hope to strong: ‘Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost’ (Rom. 15:13).

We need it to cope with bodily weaknesses: ‘And he said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me’ (2 Cor. 12:9).

We need it in order to know experientially the love of Christ: ‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God’ (Eph. 3:16-19).

There is also an important lesson here for those who are leaders of God’s people. Before they lead Christians into a new enterprise these leaders must possess power from the Spirit. When they are in a proper spiritual state, the Lord will put the fear of God into those who follow them. The proof that leaders are receiving the Spirit’s guidance will be evidenced by the same details that were seen in Saul: jealousy, harmony, strategy and victory. We should be continually praying for this for the church at national and local levels.

The response to progress in the Christian life

The third lesson from this passage emulates Samuel’s response to the victory by Israel. He saw it as an opportunity for re-dedication. This is the appropriate response to fresh understandings of Bible passages, answers to prayer, victory over temptation, the sense of the presence of the Lord at the sacrament. They are not opportunities to sit back and imagine we have arrived, rather they are occasions for repentance and fresh dedication.