The Bible is always instructing us. Here's what I saw recently in a story from the Old Testament about King Saul.
I Samuel 13: 5-15 tells a story of King Saul preparing for battle. The people are gathered for battle against the Philistines, the iconic enemy of the Hebrew people in the Bible. The prophet and judge Samuel is supposed to come lead them in worship before battle. They need to hear from God and receive God's blessing on the battle before proceeding, yet Samuel doesn't show up when expected. The people get nervous; Saul gets scared. Finally, Saul just handles it himself. He offers the sacrifice. And, lo and behold, about he time he finishes, Samuel shows up!
(Read it for yourself by clicking the Scripture reference above.)
Slipping Away
My translation (NRSV-UE) says that the people began to "slip away" from Saul. Verse 9 asserts this and then Saul confirms it in verse 11.
What does that mean?
In verse 8, the author uses the Hebrew word pus (Strong's word H6327), which means to disperse or scatter. In verse 11, Saul uses the word napas (Strong's H5310) which means to shatter, break, dash to pieces, as well as scatter or disperse. They are roughly synonyms. The former seems to be more straightforward--the people begin to disperse. Saul's word choice in the latter carries an undercurrent of brokenness. The plans have been dashed. Samuel's absence has broken how it was supposed to go.
I Forced Myself
In verse 12, Saul says that he "forced himself" to do what needed to be done. What did he mean by that?
The Hebrew word is apaq (Strong's H662), which means to abstain, refrain, or hold back. It can also mean to compel oneself.
Restraining and compelling seem opposite to me, so I looked at other places where the word was used in this way.
- In Genesis 43:31, David washed his face and came out, controlling himself, after the death of his child.
- In Genesis 45:1, Joseph is unable to control himself and had to get everyone out before he burst into tears.
- Esther 5:10 says Haman restrained himself.
- In Isaiah 42:14, the prophet says that he has held his peace until now. He has restrained himself, but will not cry out like a woman in labor.
- In Isaiah 63:15, the prophet feels God is withholding God's heart and compassion from the prophet.
- In Isaiah 64:12, the prophet asked God if God will continue to abstain from acting in light of the evidence he presents.
From what is Saul restraining himself?
Who or what is compels Saul to do this thing?
Lanes for Everyone
In ancient Israel, prophets and kings had different functions. Kings led civilly; prophets led spiritually. (And priests took care of the Tabernacle or Temple. They don't factor into this story so I won't muddy the water.)
It was not Saul's place to offer the sacrifice. It was not Samuel's place to lead the troops into battle. Each has a role and function. All is well as long as everyone stays in their lane.
But Saul did not say in his lane.
Saul Means Well
Let's be clear. I think Saul thought he was doing the right thing.
Samuel's delay, whatever the reason, precipitates a crisis. The people are beginning to scatter or slip away. At this point in history, Israel had little ability to compel people into military service. Saul is the first king, and under the judges, clans and tribes made choices about supporting a particular military action. Gathered to fight by a compleling vision under a charismatic leader, that pep rally style motivation is waning. The desire to be free of the danger slowly succumbs to the possibility that fighting might be the dangerous action. Their commitment to fight is slipping away and the people begin to do likewise.
Saul feels panicky. Saul has been full of fear his entire life. He hid from his own ordination as a king. They had to pull him from among the supplies to even anoint him king. If you read the story of his life, every move he makes comes from a place of fear. When Saul sees the people beginning to slip away, the fear he's struggled to keep tamped down rises to the surface. He is desperate to succeed. He needs to accomplish what he promised--a rousing defeat of the Philistines. He will do anything to avoid embarrassment of losing and appearing weak.
Make no mistake: Saul is weak. He knows this. He just don't want everyone else to realize this.
Restraining Fear
Saul thinks he is restraining his fear. He thinks he overcame his fear of acting without Samuel or anyone else and did the brave thing. In Saul's estimation, he has acted as a decisive leader. He took charge of the situation.
In Samuel's estimation, he overstepped his responsibilities, disrespected Samuel, and disobeyed God.
Sadly, Saul's motives are not clear to him. He remains oblivious to the root cause of his mistake which ensures that he will not learn and grow from the mistake.
What Could Have Happened?
What would have happened if he has not offered the sacrifice?
Catastrophe looms as one possibility.
The people all leave. There are no people left to fight. The Philistines observe the situation and pounce on the possibility. Israel is defeated, and subjugated to Philistia for the foreseeable future.
What are the chances that God would have let his occur?
Based on the rest of the Bible, it's not likely. The people of God more often experience catastrophe from DISOBEYING God rather than OBEYING. Scripture teaches us that God's timing is not our timing. Sometimes we think God is moving too slowly or even become convinced that God will not act on our behalf. But then God always does.
Responsibility would have remained where it already existed.
Samuel was responsible for the sacrifice. If Samuel failed to come, this would have been Samuel's fault, not Saul's. Samuel and Saul have a complicated relationship, and other times I have sat with this passage, I've wondered if Samuel intentionally moved slowly, stoking Saul's fear fire and giving him the room to fail.
A Lesson to Learn
I believe that if Saul had stayed in his lane, God would have done something amazing. Those who remained would have been part of something historic. They would have told their grandchildren the story as they sat on their knee. In their old age, they would have gathered at the local breakfast joint to tell the story again and again. Glory days!
- So what is the lesson that we can learn?
- What glorious days of God do we miss because we will not wait for them to unfold?
- How often do we get out of our lane and act when we should not?
- Would we be aware of our latent fear driving our choices?
- Are we aware that when we get out of our lane, we make ourselves the blame instead of those actually responsible?
Everyone around us may say, "We have to do something! Anything is better than nothing." The problem is that this is not true. There are things worse than doing nothing and they include doing the wrong thing, especially the wrong thing that could have been avoided if we had listened to God.