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The Error of Saul

by Jerry Ousley
9/27/2024 / Christian Living

The Error of Saul

By Jerry D. Ousley

In this last installment of the series about the Gibeonites, we find a bit of a strange story in 2 Samuel 21. A famine had come over Israel. It was a time of little or no harvest. Food was beginning to be scarce as the famine went on, now in its third year. David went to the LORD about it. Now you might think that he would have asked God before it got into it’s third year, but for some reason, he didn’t.

Whether audibly or in his mind, God did answer and let him know in no uncertain words that it was the result of an error made by King Saul, who was king before David. Saul started out as a good king, but for one reason or another, he became elated and began doing things he thought was good, but in fact, because he didn’t consult the LORD, they turned out bad. The famine was because of one of those errors.

If you remember from the first article of this series, the Gibeonites were Amorites who lived in the city of Gibeon. The Amorites were one of the nations that God had told Israel to completely annihilate. They didn’t want to die. So, they had come up with this brilliant plan to deceive the Israeli’s into believing that they were from some far-off country. They made a peace treaty with Israel and because they hadn’t consulted the LORD either, they made promises that they were bound to keep.

Saul, in his misguided zeal, thought to correct Joshua’s mistake and had killed some of the Gibeonites. But because of the pact Israel had made with them, God had honored their word to the Gibeonites over His command to completely wipe out the Amorites. We saw in the second article the importance of keeping our word.

Now, with the problem revealed, David sought for how to fix the situation and stop the famine that was punishment for Saul’s harsh actions. David went to the remaining Gibeonites and asked them what he could do to make amends for what Saul had done. They didn’t want money, nor did they want war or the sacrifice of the Israeli people. What they did want was seven men from the house of Saul whom they could kill as restitution for Saul’s massacre.

David spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan because he also had made a promise to Jonathan, the son of Saul, to preserve his house. So, he took the two sons of Rizpah, another Mephibosheth and his brother, Aiah, along with the five sons his own wife, Michal, had bore to Adriel (which was another mistake of Saul. In short, when David fled from Saul’s persecution, he had given his daughter, then David’s wife, to Adriel). These seven men, the Gibeonites hung on a hill.

Afterward, David took the remains of these seven men, along with the remains of Saul and Jonathan, and buried them in the tomb of Kish, father of Saul. Then the Bible says that God heeded their prayer for the land and the famine ended.

The lesson we learn from this strange story is that we must always seek God before we do something that just sounds good. In his heart, Saul wanted to do good. His failure came when he assumed that, just because something seemed like a good thing, or even perhaps the right thing, he should have first sought God. We should only do something like this after talking and consulting with God.

Now, there are some decisions that are just good common sense. I mean, if you think it would be a good thing to stick your hand in a campfire, I don’t think we need to take time to pray before we do it. Common sense given by God tells us that sticking our hand in the fire is going to burn and blister our hand and it is going to hurt. We make decisions all too often that turn out wrong. Maybe if we had taken time to pray about it and listen to what the Holy Spirit whispers in our hearts, things might have turned out better.

Listening to that still, small voice of God in our lives is something we should all heed and take note of. When we do, we can know that the outcome will be the right one. The key is in doing what God speaks to us, not just what might seem good at the time. Don’t make the same errors Saul did. Learn from his mistakes, and also from your own.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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