September 25, 2019: Day 11 – I Samuel 11

We find Saul’s first battle as king.  Do you notice that he hears about the potential of an invading and cruel nation while he is returning from the fields with his oxen.  We are not to think that when Saul is made king that somehow he is living in a castle on a hill far away and that people are serving him.  No, it actually seems like nothing in his life had changed.  Actually, what has changed can be seen in vs.6 where we read that the Spirit of God fell upon him in power.  That is a great change and that has to be the direct result of the change of heart that he had in the last chapter.

Things get a bit confusing at the end of the chapter.  We have Saul lead an armed force against the Ammonites and he takes them by surprise.  The battle is complete and “no two of them were left together.”  It was a rout by the Israelites like they had never experienced before.   As a result the people wanted to single out the naysayers from within Israel when Paul took over.  Their hope was to eradicate the naysayers from among them and actually kill them.  Fortunately Samuel steps in and says, hey, instead of that, let’s just have another service of confirmation for Saul’s reign.  Let’s just have a party instead.

Starting at vs.15 we find the actual coronation of Saul.  All the people go up and offer sacrifices to the Lord.  Everyone rejoiced greatly.  It just takes a massacre in order for the people to support Saul.