Pentecost 2, Year B, 6-10-12
1 Samuel 8: 4-20; 11: 14-15
Psalm 138
2 Corinthians 4: 13- 5: 1
Mark 3: 20-35
Security in Christ
Most individuals spend a great deal of their lives trying to find or win or buy or
build security for themselves. People want financial security. People want their homes
secured. They want health security. We buy insurance for property and person so we
feel that we are secure. We expect our leaders to keep our country secure from outside
threats. In the first book of Samuel, chapter seven, we saw that Samuel was the kind of
leader Israel needed to provide them with security. The heart of Samuel’s leadership was
calling the people of God back to the Lord and praying to the Lord for the people. That
was the kind of leader Israel needed, and Samuel was the leader God provided.
Chapter eight of first Samuel takes us forward many years. In verse one we read:
“When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel” (v. 1). Samuel had
led Israel for many years. Time had taken its toll on Samuel. He didn’t have the physical
energy that he had at one time. His eyes were dimming. He could feel the physical aches
and pains that he did not have in his earlier years. He had come up with a solution to his
old age. He appointed his sons, Joel and Abijah, to be judges over Israel. They served in
Beersheba which was the southern most city in Israel. This was some fifty miles from
Ramah which was Samuel’s home. What we are going to see is that Joel and Abijah
were a long way from Samuel’s direct observation and influence. In verse 3 we read:
“But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and
accepted bribes and perverted justice.” Entrusted with the service of the people, the sons
of Samuel abused their trust by putting themselves before those they were supposed to
serve. They were corrupt. They were takers, not givers. The peace, security, and
prosperity of the years under Samuel were in jeopardy if his sons were to play a role in
Israel’s future.
In these circumstances a proposal emerged for establishing the security of the
nation that was to change Israel forever. The proposal came from the elders of Israel.
The problem, as they described it, was Samuel’s old age and his son’s misconduct.
Samuel’s life, though highly respected by Israel, was coming to an end. At the same
time, those to whom he had delegated some of the work were corrupt. Their proposal
amounted to an abandonment of the Lord is indicated by two things. They asked for a
king to lead them. And in particular they were looking for a king like the other nations.
They were rejecting God as their king. Samuel did not like the proposal: “But when they
said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And
the Lord told him: ‘Listen to the all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they
have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I
brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they
are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what
the king who will reign over them will do’” (vv. 6-9). Samuel had taken this proposal
personally. But God told him they weren’t rejecting Samuel but they were rejecting God
as their king. God told Samuel to listen to them and warn them, an ominous note, what
the new king would do.
So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the elders who were asking for a
king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your
sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in from of his
chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties,
and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of
war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughter to be perfumers and
cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and
give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and
give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of
your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks,
and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for
relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day” (vv.
11-18).
Sons will be drafted into military service; he will take their daughters; he will take
the best of their fields; he will take a tenth of their produce; he will take their servants and
livestock; he will take a tenth of their flocks, and they will be slaves. The warning fell on
deaf ears: “But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king
over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out
before us and fight our battles’” (vv. 19-20). God acquiesced to their demands and gave
them a king.
Of the 43 kings who reigned in Israel only eight are given a favorable light. Saul
started well but finished an abject failure. David was a great king but hand an affair with
Bathsheba and had her husband killed in battle. Solomon was a great king who was
known for his wisdom and built the temple. But he also married many foreign women
and allowed them to bring their pagan religion to Israel. All the kings had their
shortcomings. None were perfect.
But God had promised Israel that he would send them the Messiah-king who
would reign in justice and righteousness. In the book of Isaiah we read: “For to us a child
born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s
throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever” (Is. 9:6-7). On the first Good Friday, Jesus stood before
the great pagan political leader of that day – Pontius Pilate. Pilate put a question to Jesus,
“Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus reply was, “My kingdom is not of this world, If
my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not
be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from this world” (Jn 18:36).
Jesus was not a king like all the other nations. Jesus is a king who does not take
but gives. We read about King Jesus in the book of Philippians: “And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on
a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11). It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that
we find our ultimate and eternal security.