But what about us? What should we conclude? How are we supposed to think about such things? How are we supposed to react to them? Is God defeated? Is God unable to act? I guess we’d say no, so how are we supposed to react do we shrug our shoulders and carry on as normal because we know God is sovereign? Do we simply ignore such things and carry on as if it doesn’t affect us at all? Or do we react differently?
Is God defeated?
Ch31 of 1 Samuel is bleak. It’s just a few short hours after Saul went to see the medium at Endor at the end of ch28, the morning after his final meal. Look at (1)“Now the Philistines fought against Israel” That in itself wasn’t a problem, in fact Saul was made king to defeat the Philistines, he’d done it before, defeating the Philistines was the norm during his reign. He’d done it, his soldiers had done it, David had done it on his behalf. Except this time its different, this time “the Israelites fled before them and many fell dead.” The three F’s of verse one sum up the situation; fight, flee, fall.
We get more details of the scale of the defeat in the verses that follow, Israel don’t just lose a battle they are routed. Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-shuh, Saul’s three sons are all killed. Saul is fatally wounded and knows there is no hope of victory. It is inevitable that the Philistines will overrun Saul take him captive and torture and mutilate him, so he asks for death, and when that is refused falls on his own sword. The defeat is total(6), Israel are left without leadership – no king and all his sons are dead - and flee, (7)and those around about see the scale of the defeat and thousands become refugees of the war and run. Whole towns are terrified and can see nothing but defeat in their future and so they run. The Philistines occupy Israel.
The defeat is so comprehensive, so cowed and afraid are the Israelites that no-one tries to rescue the bodies from the battlefield. Saul’s and his sons along are looted and decapitated.
But that’s not all that happens(8-9) where do the Philistines particularly proclaim news of their victory? In the temple of their idols. Where do they put Saul’s armour on display? In the temple of the Ashtoreths. The Philistines see Saul’s defeat as Yahweh’s defeat, they see their victory as their gods victory. It’s not |just Saul and Israel who they proclaim as defeated but Yahweh. As the news is proclaimed and the boasting begins as the trophies are mounted on the walls the spiritual conclusions are drawn. The gods win Yahweh loses.
We need to not be surprised when the world crows about what it sees as its victory. We must not be surprised at claims that a churches failure or a leaders lapse or a countries laws prove that God is dead, that he is past it. Claims of God’s demise just like of those of God’s kingdom have always been made. God is not defeated God is faithful.
In Genesis 3 it looks like God’s plans are defeated, as if God is defeated but he sustains as godly line, in Judges we’ve seen it again and again, here we see it again. In places like 1 Kings when Ahab rules, supremely at the cross we see it again – when God looks most defeated he is working his most glorious rescue ever. In the early church as they are arrested and persecuted and scattered God is at work to scatter the seeds of the gospel with his scattered people.
We see it today in places like China where state persecution led the church to thrive. We see it in North Korea. We mustn’t listen to the lies that God is defeated, we mustn’t allow it to make us defeatist.
Bring it down to the life of our church. When people leave we will feel the pain but God is not defeated. When people come and reject the gospel God is not defeated.
God is faithful
Perspective matters when we view events, sometimes we’re tempted into a kneejerk reaction rather than viewing things in the light of who we know God to be. In an ever changing world we forget to focus on the one person who never changes – God.
Perspective matters too when we read the narrative events of the bible, context helps us view things rightly. If you were just to read 1 Samuel 31 you might conclude that God is defeated. But context teaches us God is faithful and sovereign even over these calamitous and disastrous events.
Turn back to 1 Samuel 2 and Hannah’s prayer. This prayer is the primer for the book of Samuel. (3)Reminds us not to arrogantly presume to take God on because he knows and weighs every action, that God is the God of reversals humbling the proud and exalting the lowly. (9)That he guards the feet of his faithful servants but (10)judges those who oppose him. That he will strengthen his king.
God isn’t defeated he is sovereignly keeping his word. Saul has been opposed to God, repeatedly choosing his word and ways above God’s and now he is weighed and broken. Turn to 1 Samuel 28:19 God has done exactly what he said. Israel and Saul have been delivered into the hands of the Philistines and Saul and his sons are dead. God’s words of warning must be taken seriously
God is keeping his word about kingship in Israel too. Turn to Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Saul rejects God’s law, God’s word to him and so his reign is cut short. But the fact that God is faithfully keeping his word does not remove the sense of tragedy, God is not dead or defeated but Saul and his people are. God’s warnings have been ignored and the outcome is tragic. Israel and even David (2 Samuel 1) still mourned Saul. The writer still records this overwhelming defeat to evoke our compassion. We are not to be hardened to it because Saul deserved it and God was keeping his word.
That is so helpful. We can sometimes find ourselves being compassionless when we hear of tragedy and struggle. This week has seen God’s church in Nigeria attacked again and again, church burnt down and worse. How do we react? We mustn’t brush these things off as if they don’t affect us. We must be compassionate for God’s people just as David is for Jonathan – God’s faithful servant and his friend.
But we must also have the same compassion for those who reject God, just as David mourned Saul who had sought to kill him. God is not defeated, God is sovereign and faithful, but that does not make us compassionless towards those involved.
Secondly we are to see that events don’t challenge our trust in God and his rule but we are also to be warned that a promising beginning can have a tragic end. We are to beware of putting our word in place of God’s, we’re to pray for those we know of in danger of doing so, and be ready to warn them.
God is not defeated, God is faithful to his word, Jesus has secured the victory, the outcome of the battle is not in doubt God will build his kingdom and nothing will stop it. That ought not to make us cold but it should move us to be compassionate and reach out to those who are in danger of ignoring God’s word of warning.
God gives his people hope
Amidst all the darkness of this chapter there is a tiny spark of hope at the end of the chapter. The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead, in a scene reminiscent of something from lord of the Rings, stealthily march through the night over 15 miles of enemy occupied territory just to get the bodies of Saul and his sons. Jabesh Gilead is the town Saul rescued from the Ammonites in his first act as King of Israel. Now in gratitude and faithfulness they end the desecration and gloating as they retrieve the bodies. There’s a glimmer here that God is not done with his people, they have been beaten but their defeat is not permanent.
But there are also other signs of light all around this chapter. Hannah’s prayer promises that “God will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed” well we know Saul is no longer God’s anointed king, we’ve been waiting for David to take the throne. And ch31 makes us long for the coming of God’s chosen king. He is Israel’s hope. We tend to read 1 Samuel then take a break and look at 2 Samuel, but in the Hebrew bible it’s all one book, this isn’t the last chapter, it’s simply part of David’s rise to the throne. It is sandwiched between ch30 where God strengthens David and wins an amazing victory over the Amalekites and David’s anguish at these events and his coronation as king in what becomes Israel’s golden age as God strengthens and exalts his king who follows his law.
Hannah’s prayer at the start of 1 Samuel looks forward to God’s coming king and David at the end of 2 Samuel looks back and sings of God’s salvation. Israel’s hope is the coming king, not the king who is like the nations in rejecting God but the one who God has anointed.
God’s perspective is long term, his kingdom plans are long term. If we just read 1 Samuel 31 we might despair and conclude God is defeated. But God’s perspective and plan are long term, he will keep his word and bring about his kingdom.
So what? We need to learn to avoid knee jerk instant reactions to events. We need to learn patience and to wait on God trusting that he is faithful and he is building his kingdom.
When we hear of a church shutting we are to be saddened by the conclusions others draw about God from that. We are to be compassionately concerned about those affected by it but we are not to be defeated. When we hear of court rulings that go against God’s word or restrict God’s people, we’re not to react in a alarmist ways decrying the end of Christian Britain, we pray, we bring our concern to God and recognise that he’s faithful, it is just what he said would happen in the last days and that God is still building his church, that he is sovereign. We are to patiently take the long term view and long for the return of his king – Jesus - and the coming of his kingdom when everyone will see that God reigns.
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