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THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S
“ And when the Lord raised them np judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repented the Lord be cause of their groanings hy reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.” They ,had tried to make Gideon king (Judges 8:22). Israel was not satisfied with God’s rulej&a- theocratic king dom. They had the lust of the eye. They wanted to be like the other na tions. The basis of this request was that Samuel was growing old; that his sons were unfit to succeed him, and that if they were to be on a par with other na tions they must have a king. Samuel took it to the Lord and the Lord told Samuel “ They have not re jected you, but they have rejected Me.” Then the Lord gave to Samuel a pic ture of the king they were to have (8:: 7-18) and the accompanying sorrows. God’s plan for Israel was that He would be their Ruler, their Protector. He did not plan for them to he like other people. Kings of nations have al ways been successors to Nimrod, Saul, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar, He rod, Anti-Christ. God’s people were designed to illus trate, in the midst of the earth, God’s ideal. (Deut. 14:2). “ For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Him self, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” ’ (Titus 2:14). “Who gave himself for us that he might redeem ns from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (1 Peter 2 :9). , “ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pecu liar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The desire to be like the world was Israel’s curse, and it is the curse of the church. God bears a sorrowful testimony,' “ They have rejected Me.” In rejecting Samuel as judge,-^-God-appointed— they rejected God. When men reject our testimony for Christ, they reject Him. Israel refused the warning and suf fered the consequences (Jer. 17:5, 6). “Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart depart- eth from (he Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.” Cod had foreshadowed Israel’s pur pose in Deut. 17:14-20. God acceded to their request. Did you ever think of the sorrows of Jehovah? Of the suffering which Israel brought upon Him? Of His patience? Of His grace? Of His mercy? How He bore them on eagles’ wings? Can you sense the indignity of Israel’s leaders when they renounced God for an earth ly king? God permits what He does not ap prove. He gives men the desires of their hearts. The prodigal was per mitted to go away, and the history of the prodigal is the history of Israel, and the history of every backslider. One sure way— but a sad way—with men, is to let them have their own way. So Israel had ;their own way. God gave them Saul (“ The asked one” ), a typical man, a specimen of the ideal physical man. Saul stands for all that makes for the flesh. He was selfish, proud, self-important, independent of God, wilful. “ The way of the wilful is the highway of the children of men.” There are a few things which we might put to Saul’s credit did we not
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