This week we are in a
transition period. The timeline for the beginning of our chapter this week
takes place in the time of the Judges, but ends during the reign of Saul.
The key idea today is
‘distortion’. Webster defines distortion as, ‘to twist something out of its
original shape.’ Have you seen those computer programs that can distort images?
Most phones have them today. You can distort a human face to look humorous or
terrifying. As we come to The Story in the Book of First Samuel, we will
examine three major distortions of the perfect picture God set before His
people.
Let’s start with a little
background information before we get to the distortions.
There was a man named Elkanah
who lived in Ephraim who had two wives, the first being Hannah and the second
is Peninnah.
1 Samuel 1:4-5
“Whenever
Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife
Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a
double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving.”
Elkanah
loved Hannah, but she did not feel whole since she did not have any children,
she was heartbroken. Elkanah’s second wife Peninnah made sure to rub it in
every chance she could.
1 Samuel 1:7
“7 Whenever she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way every year. Hannah wept and would not eat.”
This of
course just made things worse for Hannah. It is one thing when you feel bad
about something, it can go to a whole new level when someone makes sure to
remind you about it over and over again. In that day in time Hannah felt
incomplete not having given her husband an heir, but having someone reminder
her of it constantly only made her feel worse.
One year the pain from the
constant reminder from Peninnah was almost too much to for Hannah to bear that she
went to the temple and wept.
1 Samuel 1:10-11
“10 Deeply
hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept
with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction,
remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the
Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
Hannah cried out in agony and
asked God for a child, promising to dedicate the child to God. God heard her
cry and blessed her with a son, who she names Samuel. Hannah was true to her
word and when Samuel was a young boy she turned him over to Eli to serve in the
Tabernacle. We find that God continue to bless Hannah and she has several more
children, 2 boys and 2 girls.
A faithful woman, faithfully
hands over her son to serve the Lord. A background of faith for the three major
distortions of God’s purpose.
The Distortion of Phoniness:
Eli is the head priest and
his sons Hophni and Phineas served with him.
1 Samuel 2:12
“Eli’s sons were wicked men;
they had no regard for the Lord”
This verse makes it pretty
clear, this is not just my opinion. Eli’s sons had no regard for the Lord. In
the next several verses we see how they stole from God’s portion of the
offerings provided by the people. They would outright steal from those visiting
the temple if they did not like the way they did things. We even read that the
boys of Eli were sexually immoral. Simply put, they did not act like the
priests they were supposed to be.
Eli knew what was going on.
1 Samuel 2:23-24
“He said to
them, “Why are you doing these things? I have heard about your evil actions
from all these people. 24 No, my sons, the report I hear from
the Lord’s people is not good.”
Hophni and
Phineas would not listen to their father, but as head priest Eli should have
done something about it. I would like to say he that he corrected his sons, but
no he let his sons continue with their wicked behavior. A man of God came to
Eli and said.
1 Samuel
2:29
“29 Why,
then, do all of you despise My sacrifices and offerings that I require at the
place of worship? You have honored your sons more than Me, by making yourselves
fat with the best part of all of the offerings of My people Israel.”
The
Distortion of Phoniness is pretty clear, Eli and his sons were supposed to be
men of God. They should have lived their lives accordingly and it should have
been obvious to those around them. Not saying they should have been perfect,
but they should have done what God wanted instead of feeding their own desires.
Matthew 5:16
“In
the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
As Christians we can’t just have an outward appearance of religion. We must be genuine on the inside, we must be authentic, and we must live what we believe. If we do, people will see it.
Being phony
is not a Christ like characteristic, it is a Distortion of God’s creation.
The next
Distortion we find in 1 Samuel is the Distortion of Conformity.
God created
each of us and not one of us are identical to the other. Even identical twins
have differences. God created the Nation of Israel for a specific purpose, part
of which was to be His people and to be a blessing to the World and all of
human kind.
What we find
in 1 Samuel 8 is that they were trying to change things up again. They are
Distorting what God had started.
1 Samuel 8:5
“5 They
said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example.
Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”
They are wanting to be like
everyone else with a king to rule over them. Let’s think about this for a
moment. Who is around them, Mesopotamians, Moabites, Canaanites, Midianites,
Amorites, and the Philistines. The people of Israel who are ruled by the One
True God want to trade His leadership for that of a man like the pagan nations
that surround them. They want to be like those who worship statues, sacrifice
their children, and who God wanted them to destroy. Does not sound like a wise
choice to me, but the people were clear and very adamant they wanted a human
king to lead them, judge them, and rule over them. They wanted to conform to
the world.
Romans 12:2
“Do not be conformed to this
age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern
what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
It is real easy to want to be
like everyone else and to want what everyone else has. But like the Nation of
Israel who was created to stand out and be a blessing to others, we to are to
stand out in the world. We are not to aim to be like everyone else. God’s
people are to be different; we are not called to be like other people. We are
God’s unique people and each of us has a unique gift that allows us to be a
blessing to others.
Conforming to the world is a
Distortion of the uniqueness of God’s creation.
The Final Distortion we find
in the Book of 1st Samuel is the Distortion of Misrepresentation.
As 1st Samuel
continues, God gives in and appoints Saul as the king of Israel. Then the
Ammonites come and invade Jabesh-gilead in an effort to weaken and humiliate
the Nation of Israel. When Saul heard this, the Spirit of God came over him.
1 Samuel 11:6-8
“6 When
Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God suddenly took control of him, and his
anger burned furiously. 7 He took a team of oxen, cut them in
pieces, and sent them throughout the land of Israel by messengers who said,
“This is what will be done to the ox of anyone who doesn’t march behind Saul
and Samuel.” As a result, the terror of the Lord fell on the
people, and they went out united. 8 Saul counted them at Bezek.
There were 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 men from Judah.”
God anoints Saul and he defeats the
Ammonites. It is through the deliverance of Israel from the Ammonites that the
people accept Saul as their king.
Things did not always go the way
they were supposed to. Saul offered a burnt offering to the Lord instead of
waiting for Samuel as he was supposed to do. This was the beginning of his
downfall. In chapter 15 we find that Saul disobeys God.
1 Samuel 15:3
“3 Now
go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do
not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep,
camels and donkeys.”
What does Saul and
his men do?
1 Samuel 15:9
“9 Saul
and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, cattle, and choice
animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were
not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and
unwanted things.”
Saul was God’s representative to
the world. He was supposed to do what God commanded him to do, and he did not
follow through. Not doing what God wanted him to do was misrepresenting God to
others, and it did not go well for Saul.
1 Samuel 15:23
“For rebellion is like the sin of
divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have
rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”
Saul Distorted God’s Message by
Misrepresenting Him. We, too, are representative of God to the world. When we
disobey God we distort God to the world. Let us be like Samuel who obeyed God
all of his life. Let’s make sure we are true to God’s Word.
Faithfulness can counter the
Distortions we talked about today.
If you are faithful to God you will
live your life accordingly and will not be phony.
If you are faithful to God you will
know you were created by God for a unique purpose and you will not conform to
the world.
If you are faithful to God you will
represent him fully, follow His commands, share His Word and Love.
Be Faithful to God and don’t let the distortions sneak in.
Thanks for reading and God Bless!
Robert
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