Scared and Lots - 1st Samuel 16:1-5

Even though Samuel has informed Saul that God has relieved him of the kingship, Saul isn't going to let it go easily and as far as anyone else knows, Samuel and Saul were just seen sacrificing together at the religious celebration of Saul's victory, so really, Saul is still king in everyone's eyes and only those two know what happened. The question is way would Samuel go with Saul to the sacrifice for the victory celebration knowing full well that the people would take that to mean business as usual? TB says that some possible reasons include that Samuel didn't know what else to do. If he were to tell all the people that Saul was no longer king, but without having the replacement king ready to go, then civil war could start as each tribe tried to sit their own king on the throne in the power vacuum. Another reason could be because even though Israel had just defeated the Amalekites, there were still several other nations surrounding Israel that could have seen a king-less Israel as vulnerable and start a war with them trying to take their territory. Samuel didn't know who the new king was supposed to be, he just knew that Saul had been rejected by God, he didn't want Isarel to become vulnerable to outsiders or opportunistic parties within itself. So these are reasonable explanations as far as why Samuel didn't come out swinging against Saul immediately following God's decree, but he did never see Saul again.

Everyone goes home and Samuel is heartbroken over Saul revealing himself to be incapable of righteous leadership, and God comes to him and asks "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?" He tells Samuel to fill a horn with oil and go to see a man named Jesse in Bethlehem because one of his sons is going to be the new king. Samuel is pretty nervous about doing this because "if Saul hear it, he will kill me." When I first heard this response from Samuel I was expecting God's reply to be something like "where is your faith" or "ye of little faith," or something like that. I was expecting chastisement but God doesn't do that, God simply gives Samuel a strategy. I don't think that this should have been as big of a deal for me as it was because in my experience, from my understanding, God requires perfection at all times. Perfect faith, perfect actions, perfect attitude, perfect everything before He will act or respond. Samuel was afraid, God didn't rebuke his (justifiable) fear, he just gave him a solution. I don't think it works like that every time, like when the disciples were afraid in the boat because of the storm, Jesus rebuked them or at least asked "where is your faith?" I don't think I've realized until this moment how impactful not understanding that story has been for me, as well as my own interactions with God. God is slowly teaching me about HIs character, apparently He doesn't require perfection, but He acts according to where we are and our understanding and is harsh when it's necessary and helpful to our spiritual growth but otherwise he meets us where we are. And maybe a cover was necessary, maybe walking into town saying "I need the family of Jesse, one of his sons is our new king" wasn't going to be the best strategy for Saul, the new king, or the people, and in fact, we will see that that's the case at the end of the chapter.

Why Samuel was afraid makes sense, and TB gives a really good explanation of Samuel's fears and I think it profitable for understanding, so I'm just going to quote it here, even though it's pretty long. TB explains, "First he's afraid of the increasingly unpredictable Saul. Any man, who would blatantly disregard the Lord's declaration that he was no longer the king of Israel and instead defiantly remain on the throne daring God to do something about it, was a dangerous man who would brook no challengers or insubordination. And secondly Samuel was uneasy dealing with Judah because he knew Judah's leadership wouldn't easily welcome or trust him. After all Samuel's personal heritage was with Ephraim, the chief tribe among the northern tribes, and his loyalty (as far as anyone knew) remained with Saul, a northerner. Samuel venturing into Bethlehem to pow-wow with the powerful family of (Jesse) could easily have been interpreted by Judah's clan leaders as spying or treachery and by King Saul and the northern coalition as treason." These are valid reasons for concern on Samuel's part and Samuel will have to accomplish his mission playing it close to the vest because it isn't time for the whole world to know everything that God is doing.

God's answer to Samuel's concern is for Samuel to take a female cow there to do a sacrifice for a Zavah sacrifice. The people of Bethlehem see Samuel coming and they are a little concerned as well, because this is outside of Samuel's normal route and they don't want any trouble. They send out messengers asking Samuel "Comest thou peacably?" He tells them that he's there in peace and to do a sacrifice and told them to sanctify themselves. Jesse and his sons are there and Samuel is looking at the sons and trying to determine which son is the one God has chosen. TB notes that almost certainly Samuel was using lots to determine which son was chosen, and this brought out another question for because we don't use lots now to determine God's answer to our prayers. In fact, in the Book of Mormon, the prophets and even just those who praying to God, lots don't answer their prayers either. It just makes me compare the difference in answering prayers in ancient Israel versus today or other times like in the Book of Mormon. It's just interesting to think about, the why and which is better and what the process actually was and if there were lots, then what was the indication that that lot was the one being chosen. And even if they were lots, then the verbal discussions given by God to Samuel, as we'll see soon, would have been going on as well, so why not just the verbal yes or no instead of the lots? I don't know, it's interesting to think about.