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[0:00] Sing to God's praise from Psalm 74, Psalm 74 from verse 15, singing to the end of the psalm.

[0:14] Let the enemy reproach the task, or keep it unprocoked in record, and let the foolish people have blasphemed thy name, O Lord, unto the multitude do not thy total soul deliver the congregation of thy poor do not forget for ever, and to thy covenant have respect for earth's dark places be, full of the habitations of horrid cruelty.

[0:42] O let not those that be oppressed return again with shame, let those that poor and needy are give praise unto thy name. Do thou, O God, arise and plead the cause that is thine own.

[0:59] Remember how thou art reproached still by the foolish one. Do not forget the voice of those that are thine enemies, of those the tumult ever grows, that do against thee rise.

[1:14] Verse 18, that the enemy reproach the earth, or keep it unprocoked. Let the enemy reproach the earth, or keep it unprocoked.

[1:44] And that the foolish people have passed in thy name, O Lord.

[2:02] Until the mountain's true to naught, Thy churches so deliver, The congregation knows I could, Could not forget forever.

[2:41] Until I come, the rich thing, Father's church blesses me, Lord of the heretic nations, Of our victory.

[3:20] O let not those of thee oppressed Return again with shame, Let us, the good of the king, Give this unto thy name, To the Lord God, Rise and plead, Thou thoughts of this,

[4:21] Thy Lord, Remember thy holy cross, Still thy love for his one, Do not forget the voice of those That are thy name and peace, Are those that you will ever go, That you are against thee rise.

[5:28] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We turn back to the first book of Samuel, And chapter 13 resume our study in the life of Samuel, Which as we said is so closely bound up with the life of King Saul.

[5:50] We notice first of all the difficulty there is in the first, The very first verse of this chapter, I don't know if you were content with the way it states, What it states, It doesn't really make much sense as it said down for us there, Saul reigned one year, And when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose three thousand men of Israel.

[6:30] It's either very poor English or very difficult way of stating an obvious truth.

[6:41] But when you have the privilege, As I do of studying the various commentaries, It has one of the most contentious translations in the book of Samuel.

[6:56] And the main reason or the main cause of it really has to do with the way the scribes transcribed the scripture, They wrote it, literally wrote it by hand.

[7:11] And the way the Hebrew tongue is set down, A lot hangs on the pointing, These dots and titles that appear between the consonants of the words.

[7:30] And sometimes, In the ancient times, There were omissions, Accidental omissions, Or maybe words Came to lose their sense.

[7:47] And if I read to you the different ways in which the various translations attempt to make sense of what clearly doesn't make sense in the authorised version.

[8:04] In the ESV, for example, Saul was, And then there's a blank in the ESV, Years old. And then it goes on, When he began to reign, And he reigned for blank and two years over Israel.

[8:22] Now that's what they've done to try and make sense of the original text. The new English translation, Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign.

[8:40] He ruled over Israel for 40 years. Now, The Gaelic, Most of you today, Tonight have Gaelic. What's the name of Israel? It goes into the second verse.

[9:06] Now, The last two translations are quite similar. But, Why make an issue about it? Well, The main reason is that The age of Saul when he began to reign in Israel is not disclosed.

[9:29] We don't have a definite age for the beginning of his reign. And, We don't, We're not told how old he was when his reign came to an end.

[9:47] Although, If we go to the New Testament scriptures, You do find in the book of Acts that, In chapter 13 and verse 8, I think it is, We are told there that Saul reigned for 40 years.

[10:01] And, That itself is, Is something that, That, Given the context of his life and how it's disclosed to us here, You'd think that his reign was very much shorter.

[10:17] But, according to the book of Acts, He ruled over Israel for 40 years. And, That tells you that, The way the, The historical account presents to us the life of Saul.

[10:34] There's not much attention given to, Days and months and years. Rather the main activities in which he is engaged.

[10:46] And also, If some were to interpret the opening verses here, As indicative of, Of his age at the beginning, Of his reign.

[10:58] Some would say that he was quite young, But yet, very quickly, You come in the reading of the chapter, To discover that his son, Jonathan, was a man of war, While equipped and able to go to the battlefield.

[11:13] Which suggests to you that, Saul was of mature years, Before he became king over Israel. Certainly Jonathan would have to be, A very, A young man, perhaps, But, Much, Older than that.

[11:34] But that's a minor detail, But it is a detail which we acknowledge exists, And we have to recognize that the scripture sometimes presents us with, With questions, Over the, The scribal integrity, Of integrity, If you like, Of those who were involved in, In transcribing it.

[11:56] It's not deliberate, It may be accidental, But most, At some point, Most, Those who are involved in, Bringing together the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, They, They are confronted with, With words, Perhaps that, Can be understood in a different way, And that leads us into, Difficult areas, But they are acknowledged, And as long as they're not contradicting, The truth that God discloses them, We just allow them to exist side by side, With what the scripture is clearly declaring to us.

[12:35] There are issues, Which, Which, May rise up from time to time, But, Very rarely are they, Anything other than, Issues that, Those who are, Are, Are, Involved in, In academia, Will spend time, On.

[12:59] But what we see here is, However quickly it happened, And however, Whatever reason, Lies behind it, That King Saul, Very quickly, At the, Even at the, Even at the outset of his ministry, However, However, However quickly it happened, It seems that he, He, Established himself, As independent from God, At moments when, You would expect them to be reliant upon God, And, When we, Read verse three, Here and see, And verse four, You're again, Confronted with, The, This hostility that is, Well, Probably existed for a long time, But it seems to have been,

[14:01] Stimulated, By Saul himself, He is the one, Who seems to initiate, The conflict between, Israel and, The Philistines, That's not to say that there was, That there, That there, That, What existed prior to that, Was not a very, A very, Um, Fragile peace, If you like, But, Nevertheless, It seems here that, When you read verse three, Jonathan smoked the garrison of the Philistines, That was in Gepa, And the Philistines heard of it, And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, Saying that the Hebrews hear, And all Israel heard, Say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, And that Israel also was, Had an abomination with the Philistines.

[14:59] So, Both Saul and, The other, Are reckoned to have, Been involved in hostilities, Directed towards the Philistines.

[15:13] And, Some of the commentators, Are of the opinion that, The statement in verse four, There that, The, The, Isia was, Had an abomination with the Philistines.

[15:26] It's not just a statement, Of, You know, That they disappointed the Philistines, That they angered the Philistines, But that the nature, Of the, The, The conflict, And the manner in which that conflict came about, Was, Was, Considered by the Philistines as being, Uh, Unfair, If you like.

[15:51] Or, Is it more important than that? It's considered to be that, That they, It was underhand. Now, Whether you agree with that or not, Is difficult to say.

[16:02] To say. But certainly, Uh, The actions of Israel, Were, Uh, What created the reaction, On the part of the Philistines.

[16:16] And, While we can't answer the question, Why, This, Took place. What was it that stimulated Saul, To do this? Uh, We have no, Uh, Mention of, God being the one, Who told Saul, Saul to go and do this.

[16:33] And, He didn't appear to, Seek the advice of Samuel, Or, The guidance of, The Holy Spirit, In what he did. But, What occurs to me as, As I read this, Is, It reminds you of, The words of Samuel, In chapter 8, When the people of Israel, Demanded a king.

[16:58] He, He clearly, Told them, What kind of, Uh, Situation that, That would, Introduce, Uh, To them. What would happen, As a result of that.

[17:10] He said to them, This would be the manner of the king, That shall reign over you. He will take your sons, And appoint them for himself, For his chariots. And to be his horsemen, And some shall run before him, Before his chariots, And so on.

[17:25] Do you remember that statement? Samuel, Samuel, Had warned them, That one of the consequences, Of them getting their own way, Would be, That this king would, Would draft in, Young men to serve, As soldiers, And young women to serve, Within his, Palaces, And so on.

[17:47] And, Uh, It is clearly come to pass, At this point. For whatever reason, Uh, We see that. This is how it is.

[17:58] And, More importantly, I think, That what comes to light, Is not just the promises, Or the prophecy, Or the wisdom of Samuel, Just simply declaring a fact, That would soon come to light.

[18:16] That what Saul did, Was, Uh, Less than prudent, And that was proved, By the way he conducted himself, Even in the sight of his fellow men.

[18:28] Uh, Uh, One would, Have expected Saul, At an early stage, In his reign, To rely heavily, Upon the Lord, Rely heavily, On the one, That the Lord had appointed, To be his, To be his guide.

[18:50] But, His, uh, In prudent, In prudent, I think, Would be a sufficient word. He is certainly, Less than wise, In what he seeks to do.

[19:02] Now, The consequence of that is, He, He, He, Carries out actions, That brings condemnation.

[19:13] And the condemnation of Samuel, Is quite vivid, And quite clear. And he is, Expressing the mind of the Lord, On the matter. And it's very interesting, How, How, Some of, The commentators, Are critical, Of, The criticism, That Samuel receives.

[19:37] Because, That, That Saul receives from Samuel. Because they reckon, That he's going overboard. For, For all that Saul has done.

[19:49] And, It seems to them, A trivial matter, For Samuel to, To pronounce upon Saul, The loss of his kingdom, And, The end of his reign.

[20:04] After all, What we see him do, Or he didn't, Or he didn't wait, For Samuel to come. He didn't, He didn't, He didn't, Fulfill, What Samuel expected, Of him in that respect.

[20:22] And he went beyond, The boundaries, Of what was permitted to him. And, Some consider that, To be a minor issue. And, They have great sympathy, For Saul, Because, After all, Samuel said, And, Whenever he said it, And some go back, To the tenth chapter, To find, The source of this statement, That, He would come, And meet with Saul, And, That, Saul was kept waiting, For seven days, And, Because these seven days, Did not bring Samuel, Then it was only right, For him to act, For him to act, As he did.

[21:09] And if you put the question, To yourself, Are we, At any point, In danger of, Exceeding the bounds, Of what, Is permitted to us, Because of our own, In patience, Because, We think, We know, What God, Expects of us, And, When, We, Are expected, To do, What we, Are inclined to do, We're not prepared, To patiently wait, For the Lord, To do what he has promised to do, So we, So we do, What we want to do, Without waiting, For the, For the Lord's time, And I think that's a, An experience, That we have here, It may seem to us that, When Saul demands,

[22:12] That, Sacrifices, Are offered, You know, We read in verse nine, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, To me, And peace offerings, And he offered the burnt offering, You may read that, And think that, Saul personally did that, But, There's no evidence that he did do that, And I don't think he was at this point, Anyway, So far removed from the, The understanding of what God expected of him, Or for bad, That he would do this himself, This was the promise of the priesthood, And he did not consider himself a priest, And it would be wrong for him, To, To do that, And that's not where the sin lies, The sin lies in, In, The word of the Lord coming to him, By way of Samuel, And that Samuel had said that when, When the time, His time was right,

[23:14] That he would come and offer the sacrifices, And Saul did not take God's word from Samuel, And he, And he, He, He, He solicited the help of others, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, Peace offerings, And he offered the burnt offering, And it came to pass, That as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Behold, Samuel came, And Saul went out to meet him, That he might salute him.

[23:45] And some people do believe that he personally did this very thing, But it would, I would find it very difficult to believe that, Even though he is showing signs that he is departing from, A relationship that is wholesome with the Lord, That he is at this stage in this experience, He is so ready to flagrantly disobey, The word of the Lord which tells him that this is the province of those, Who are God's chosen vessels to offer sacrifice, Not him.

[24:27] He is not a priest, He is, He is a king, And that role is his, By reason of God's appointment.

[24:38] But I think, If that is the case, You might ask, Why is it that the sentence that is given by Samuel is so severe?

[24:50] Why is it that Samuel says in verse 13, Thou hast done foolishly, Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee.

[25:03] For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever, But now thy kingdom shall not contain. The Lord hath sought a man after his own heart.

[25:16] Now, You may think that this is something that explains to us the sin of Saul as being an extreme sin in this way, Thinking that it was his usurping the role of the priesthood.

[25:39] But it is more simple than that. Because, When, When the Lord's will for Saul is overlooked or overturned, That is him set on the path of disobedience.

[26:02] So, So, So, So, Fully, And equally, Equally, Equally, Sinful, That, That, That he cannot but bring God's displeasure.

[26:17] If, If, If we put it like this, Self will rather than God's will.

[26:28] Independence rather than dependence on his God. Is that a minor issue? Is it a, Is it a trivial issue? Is any sin trivial in the sight of God?

[26:41] Some of you will know the commentator Matthew Poon, 17th century, I think, One of the older commentaries.

[26:52] And he says that, When it comes to judging, What man is doing. He says, Man is an incompetent judge.

[27:04] Because, All man can do is judge, The outer activity, As it is conducted. That's the best we can do.

[27:15] We can see, What man is doing externally. But when God judges, He judges, The, The thoughts and intents of the heart.

[27:27] He knows, What lies behind the action. He knows, What lies at the heart of, What is going on there. And, For, Pulses is either, The majesty of God is offended, By the actions of an individual, Because he reads the actions, And understands the actions.

[27:56] For what they are. For what they are. We see nothing but Saul, Saul's outward activity. But God sees, What is behind it.

[28:07] And what is behind it, Is this, A willful indifference, To God's command, As it was communicated to him, By the Lord's servant Samuel.

[28:18] And, It is very quickly, A usurping of God's authority, And an establishing of his own, And thinking that he is able to do that. Even though he defends himself, And says, Well, I did it because, I had, I was seeing the people of, Departing, I was seeing them running away.

[28:40] And that's what was true. It's amazing, How quickly, Just a few chapters back, We read about the, The proclamation of allegiance, Of the hosts, Of Israel, To their king.

[28:56] To their king. They would serve him, They would follow him, They would do as he bid. But now, They are disappearing. And they're running to the hills, They're hiding in the caves, And, They are despising their king.

[29:13] And, I think it reflects, The rebellion of the heart of the king. It is a sort of, It, It accompanies it.

[29:26] What the men, Of Israel are doing, To Saul, Is what Saul, Is doing to his king, Of kings. He's just, Doing his own thing, And forgetting who God is, And what God can do for him.

[29:43] And, We cannot, Realize what he did. As we are often inclined to, Trivialize our own sins. Even when we know, That our sins, Are an offense to God.

[29:57] We readily excuse ourselves, But, Whether we excuse ourselves, Or not. It is what God knows, About us, That needs to be considered, And judged.

[30:12] The sentence of verse 14, Is therefore, Harsh, If it is a trivial matter, But it isn't. And the consequences, Are instance, While we don't know, How long the king, Was on the throne, I've already said that.

[30:30] There's no, There's no time, A time frame to this. But I don't believe, That we can hide, From the fact that, That, Saul's, Natural pride, Was coming, To, To, To, Fruition, Well fruition is not the right, Was, You were able to discover it, You were able to see it.

[30:58] Dale, Ralph Davis, Presents, An example, From, Scottish history, There's a famous preacher, By the name of, Robert Bruce, Not Robert the Bruce, But Robert Bruce, I think one of the, I mentioned him before, One of, One of the most interesting books, On the sacrament, That contains sermons, That he preached on the Lord's day, In the 17th century.

[31:31] But Robert Bruce was preaching, And came, James the sixth was present, And he had the habit, Even when the preacher was preaching, He would, He would, Speak to his courtiers, Who accompanied him to the service.

[31:51] And on one such occasion, Davis tells us the story, That, He, He, The king was seated in his gallery, With several, Several, Several co-chairs, While the king, Robert Bruce preached, In his usual form, James began to talk to those round about him, During the sermon, And Bruce paused, The king fell silent, The minister resumed, And so did James, And so did James, Bruce ceased speaking, A second time, With the same result.

[32:27] When the king committed his third offence, Bruce turned and addressed James directly, It is said to have been an expression of the wisest of kings, When the lion roars, For all the beasts of the field are quiet.

[32:44] The lion of the tribe of Judah, Is now roaring in the voice of his gospel, And it becomes all the petty kings of the earth, To be silent.

[32:58] These men of God were fearless. James the sixth was a king, He would quite readily have sent them to the, To the gallows or wash.

[33:13] But that didn't matter. This was somebody who, On the basis of his own self-importance, Was ready to intrude into the peace of the sanctuary.

[33:25] And it just epitomizes the spirit that, Had come to possess Saul at the time, In the sense that, How readily he forgot, The role that he had, Was a sovereign, In the name of the king of sovereigns.

[33:49] Whatever he thought he had a right to do, It was soon to be proved that, That he had no rights, Except the rights that God gave him.

[34:02] And if he thought that he could, Harness his power to, Defeat the philistines, He soon came to realize that, That was not the case.

[34:14] You see the figures that you, You read here in this chapter, It said that, That, That, And I'm quoted was, 30,000, Or whatever it was, Of the philistines.

[34:28] 30,000 charioteers, And more besides. And at the end of the chapter, All that Saul can muster are 600 soldiers.

[34:40] And he suffers instantly, As a consequence, Of the displeasure of God. Samuel departs, And, I think it's pointed out by some, That the fact that he goes to Gilgal, Is indicative of the fact that, Although he left him there, He didn't leave him entirely.

[35:03] He went to the place, Where he would intercede on his behalf, Before the Lord. But, Whether that can be understood or not, The thing is this, That, We see how, How the weakness of this man, Who thought he was powerful, And who had gained victory, Especially, With God's help, Or his enemies prior to this, That, The philistines, Through their armies, They, Come into, The, The, The, Nation of Israel, And they, They, They hamstring them.

[35:49] You know, That's what this means, That, That, Israel, That, The philistines, Took away the blacksmiths, There was no smiths, In, Uh, Israel at the time, What did that mean?

[36:06] It meant that they had, Lost the capability, Of, Producing, Their swords, And their spears, And they, They even had to go, Uh, To them to sharpen, To sharpen, To sharpen their weapons.

[36:22] The scourthes, All these sleds, Were down to the philistines, To sharpen every man's chair, The scourthes, The saxes, And the smarthog. Yet they had a fight, For the maddochs, And for the kourthos.

[36:33] They had been, Overcome, And the philistines, Have seen to it, That they had made powerless, And without, The ability, To defend themselves.

[36:45] And how quickly, That happens. How quickly, The, The lord, Can, Prove to, Those who, Are his, That they need to, Remember him, And depend upon him, And look to him, In all their situations, And, These are lessons, That we find in the scripture, Repeatedly.

[37:10] While we know, The history of Saul, To a degree, There are many things, That you discover. But especially, The interest that Samuel, Had in him, And, The weird continues until, He goes further into, The mire.

[37:27] Well, May God help us, To appreciate, Even, In these, Sad events that, That, You know, Some people blame God, For, For testing, Saul, Beyond his, Capacity to endure, But, God's tests, Are not to make, A person sin, It wasn't, He wasn't tested, So that he would, So that he would sin, But that he would know, Not to, And that he would know, To wait on the lord, And as you know yourselves, The waiting, On the lord, Is one of the hardest things, To do.

[38:06] It's one of the most difficult, Things to do. To do. But the difficulty, Is not the, What, Is the measure of, Whether it is, Something that is, Reliable, Or necessary, Or however we, We would wish to, Understand it.

[38:26] If God intends us to wait, Then wait we must. If we, Choose not to, And rather than, Wait for his, Provision, Or whatever, There's always a cost, To that.

[38:40] And that's what we find, If you want to summarize, What is in this chapter. The fact that Saul, Was not prepared, To wait, For the provision, That God had promised, Then it has consequences, And these consequences, Were to affect his life, From this point on.

[38:59] Or may God encourage us, To think, And let us pray. Lord, Oh God, We pray for your, Word to, Create in us, Even more, A diligent, Searching of the truth, Regarding our own sinfulness, And our attitude too, We pray for mercy, For grace, And for cleansing, We pray for, The ability to, To, To look to the Lord, And to look to you, In order that we might know, What is expected, Of us and from us.

[39:37] Watch over each one of us, Cleansing from every sin, In Jesus name, Amen. We are going to sing, In Godic, In Psalm 94, In Psalm 94, In the last two verses, Of the Psalm, Psalm 94, The last two verses, Of the Psalm, And the last two verses, Of the Psalm, In the last two verses, In the last two verses, Of the Psalm, And the last two verses, Of the Psalm, In the last two verses, In the last two verses, Of the Psalm, Of the Psalm, And the last two verses, In the last two verses, In the last two verses, Of the Psalm, I will sing, Of the verse, In Solomon's WordPress tree,aria questions, Tutreu, Arranz, Artei Argitesh, Artei Artei, Artei Artei Peiwch", Artei Artei Eub какую, Artei Artei, CHOIR SINGS

[41:04] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[42:09] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS I'll see you next week.

[43:04] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[44:06] CHOIR SINGS Father, may grace and hart until you should have raised place. Amen.

[44:21] Amen. Thank you.