1Sa 11:1 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.
1Sa 11:2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.
If you want peace in this world, it’s going to cost you something... If you get peace from Jesus, you will have to surrender over the throne of your heart to Him and make him King of all. This may sound a little drastic, but trust me, it’s the best way. Because the only way that you can get along in this world without Him is to give up far more than that.
Some that I am working with, when they did it their own way, made deals just like these men. These men were willing to give up their right eye to live a little longer. Some that we know have given up their right mind to live a little longer. Some have given up their self respect. Some have given up their purity or their dignity or their virginity or their children or their spouse or their Sanctification or their morals.
1Sa 11:3 And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee.
These men asked for seven whole days to make up their minds before the enemy destroyed something of theirs..... I am only asking for about 10 more minutes to help you make up your mind to stop the devil from destroying anymore of yours.
1Sa 11:4 Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.
1Sa 11:5 And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.
1Sa 11:6 And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.
WAIT A MINUTE!!! When we think of the Holy Ghost falling, we think of getting happy. Dancing, rejoicing, praising, running and shouting, but let me tell you something... Every once and a while, when the Holy Ghost falls, He ought to make us ANGRY!!!!! Angry that the devil took our purity. Angry that the devil took our sanity. Angry that he got our marriage. Angry that he got our youth, our friends and our patience.
They were going to lose their right eye, but often times, some of us have lost our right spirit, and that should make us ANGRY!.
Angry enough to do better. Angry enough to pray harder. Angry enough to live better.
1Sa 11:7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
Now we have some Godly anger and some Godly fear. This is good. These are a couple of things that the church has been running low on.
Now notice one very, very, very, important thing about this Holy Ghost anger. (Holiness People Especially). This anger was very genuine, very sincere, very aggressive anger. But here is where I don’t want to lose anyone. It was a very CONTROLLED, very lucid, well managed anger. There were NO casualties from Friendly Fire here. He just killed some oxen. This anointed anger was used to free people, deliver people, break the bondage of God’s chosen Israel, NOT harm them.
When I see men and women of God, blowing up and yelling and blasting people. Reaching at long stretching, thin interpretations of scriptures to lock people down and bind them into guilt trips. And using the pulpit to take cheap shots and make personal or political statements (by politics, I mean within the churches). This doesn’t seem to be Holy Ghost anger and genuine conviction as much as it is uncontrolled rage and simple, carnal losing of the temper.
Now I am the first to admit that the Holy Ghost of Heaven will “Pin you down”.... and God can be very poignant about His approach to getting your attention. But I think a lot of us have seen and very easily picked out the difference between righteous indignation and a mad preacher that is losing his control over people and trying to regain the upper hand.
This chapter gives us a hint: When it rallies the people of God to help other people of God, it was God. When it rallies the people of God to attack other people of God, it was NOT God.
1Sa 11:8 And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
1Sa 11:9 And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
This is great stuff. They are telling the saints at Jabesh to hold on. Help is on the way. You may be a struggling minister, a struggling single mother, a struggling young convert to Christ and people are telling you to hold on. But you don’t know if you can make it long enough.
One person said it takes this long, another said that it will take about that long. Listen to me. God is not limited to what so and so said. Look at this chapter. In verse 3 they asked for 7 days. In verse 9, Saul sent a messenger and said by noon tomorrow.... But, verse 11 said, in the morning watch, or some versions render it, “Early in the Morning”..... GLORY!!! You thought it was going to take a week. Your friends thought it would take half a day. But when God got ready to move, He moved first thing, Right Away!!!
1Sa 11:10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you.
1Sa 11:11 And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
1Sa 11:12 And the people said unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.
Ok.... I don’t know if you are ready for this or not, but this is my favorite part.
Back in verse 7, Saul got angry. Now I said it was a controlled anger and that the Holy Ghost wasn’t coming on to a man to help him “Tear People Up”. It was a delivering anger. Not a destroying anger. Yes, I know, they destroyed the enemy and their camp. That’s fine. That is what we the church are supposed to do. Destroy the enemy’s camp.
The problem is that, in ministry today, if your group doesn’t agree with another group, even if both groups are supposed to be on the same side, God’s Side, then you can attack the other group in “Righteous Anger” and justify it, RIGHT?
Look at verses 12 and 13. The people wanted to kill certain members of the Tribes of Israel, (Uh Oh), for not seeing things the same way as the rest of them. Now Saul.... if you want to say that he was still using his Holy anger to kill the Ammonites, then obviously he is still angry here, But, he refuses to let any of the Israelites be slain. Even the ones that disagree with him!!! For in his own words... “This day the Lord hath wrought Salvation”. He was saying No No... Wait a Minute. This was Jehovah’s strength and power. We don’t kill His People with His Power. As a matter of fact, I just re-read the whole story and I do not find anywhere that Saul had these people put to death unless he did it after he had sinned and failed to repent. Does this mean that ministries that use their influence and power to tear down other ministries that don’t agree with theirs more than they use them to “Deliver” others that God wants to claim as His own, could merely be ministries that were once anointed but have since sinned and failed to repent but are just like Saul in the sense that they just haven’t stepped down or been removed yet?
Dear God, help us to use your Holy Scriptures correctly. They are power and life and truth. If we are going to use the ones that teach sanctification, morals and correction, (and we should), then we must use them all... even the ones that often clip our own wings.
1Sa 11:13 And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day: for to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.
God worked saving in the church, not God gave us power to kill so and so. Can’t we see the difference? Even after they just killed off a whole encampment of the enemy, Saul, whom the Holy Ghost was upon, stated that the whole days effort was for the saving of church people!!
1Sa 11:14 Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.
1Sa 11:15 And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
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