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1 Samuel 16—2 Samuel 1
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Scripture Reading: 1 Sam. 31:1-13; 2 Sam. 1:1-27
In this message we will consider the ending of Saul (1 Sam. 31) and David's reaction to it (2 Sam. 1).
The first point concerning Saul's ending was that he lost God's presence (1 Sam. 16:14). Today we treasure and enjoy God's presence. God's presence is just the Spirit. The Spirit is the resurrection of Christ; the resurrection of Christ is Christ Himself (John 11:25); and Christ is the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God. The Spirit is the reality of God and of the resurrection of Christ. If we have the Spirit, we are in resurrection. If we have the resurrection, we have Christ. If we have Christ, we have the embodiment of God. It is a tragedy that many of today's Christians miss the Spirit. They have the Spirit in their theology, but they do not treasure the Spirit as the consummated God.
At this point I would like to say a word about the steps of God's process. God in eternity past was merely God, divine and triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. According to His desire God made an economy, and according to His economy He created the heavens and the earth with man as the center. Yet He still remained purely divine. However, God intended to join Himself to man in order to make Himself one with man. Thus He became a man through incarnation, putting on man's blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). In eternity past He was merely divine, but by being incarnated He became a God-man named Jesus Christ. Through the process of incarnation He entered into humanity, making Himself, the divine One, one with humanity. In this way He became the God-man, the One who is both divine and human, the complete God and the perfect man.
As the almighty, eternal, and complete God, He lived in humanity for thirty-three and a half years. Then, as the eternal One who is the eternal life, He entered into death and toured Hades for three days. Rising from Hades, He walked out of death and entered into resurrection. Through incarnation He brought God into man, and in resurrection He brought man into God. Through incarnation He brought divinity into humanity, and in resurrection He brought humanity into divinity. After His resurrection He entered into heaven, and today He is in the heavens as a man sitting on the throne (Acts 7:56; Heb. 1:3b; Eph. 1:20).
As such a One, He is now the consummated God, having passed through the steps of incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. In ascension as the consummated Triune God He remains the complete God mingled with the perfect man — the God-man. This realization is the conclusion of our study of the Bible over the last seven decades.
Today as the consummated God He is the Spirit, our life, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Master, our Lord, our Father, and our God. He is everything to us. He became a man that we as men may become God in life and nature (but not in the Godhead). He has made Himself one with us, and He has made us one with Him. He went through human living, and we traveled with Him. He went to the cross, and we were crucified with Him. He resurrected, and we resurrected with Him. He is in the heavens, and we are there with Him. Now the consummated Triune God as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) indwells our spirit (6:17; Rom. 8:11). Hence, the realization of God's presence is altogether a matter of these two spirits.
Saul lost God's presence, and eventually death came in every way, in every aspect, and in every sense. Saul and his sons died a corporate death. Let us now consider the account of the ending of Saul in 1 Samuel 31.
At the time of chapter thirty-one, the Philistines were fighting against Israel (v. 1a).
The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and fell down slain before them on Mount Gilboa (v. 1b).
The Philistines chased Saul and his sons and struck down his three sons, including Jonathan (v. 2).
The battle bore heavily against Saul, and he was badly wounded by the archers. Saul asked his armor bearer to draw his sword and thrust him through with it, but the armor bearer refused. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it (vv. 3-4).
Saul's armor bearer fell likewise on his sword and died with him (v. 5). Therefore, Saul, his three sons, and his armor bearer died that day together (v. 6). This corporate death was God's fair judgment on the one who had rebelled against Him, had usurped Him, and had become His enemy. Saul had set up his own monarchy, abusing to the uttermost all the divine things given to him.
The men of Israel on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan forsook the cities and fled, and the Philistines came and dwelt in them (v. 7).
The next day the Philistines came to strip the slain and they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off Saul's head and stripped off his armor and sent them all around throughout the land of the Philistines, in order to announce the good news in the houses of their idols and to their people. Then they put Saul's armor in the house of Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan (vv. 8-10). What a terrible ending!
The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, and all the valiant men went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and burned them and buried them at Jabesh. Then they fasted seven days (vv. 11-13).
In 2 Samuel 1 we see David's reaction to the death of Saul.
On the third day after Saul's death, a young Amalekite reported the death of Saul to David. In order to please David he told him that he saw Saul leaning on his spear and that Saul had asked him to kill him and that he had done so (vv. 1-10).
David was not pleased with the report of the young Amalekite, but rather condemned him for killing the anointed of Jehovah and sentenced him to death (vv. 11-16). David did not consider Saul his enemy but always regarded him as God's anointed. This was David's view of Saul.
David was deeply saddened by the death of Saul. David sang a dirge over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he commanded that The Song of the Bow be taught to the children of Judah (vv. 17-27).
The record of Saul's terrible end is a strong warning to all the serving ones in the kingdom of God not to do a separate work within the kingdom of God or to abuse anything in the kingdom. In the Lord's recovery we must be in fear and trembling, always working for God's kingdom and not for our own work.
