THE END OF THE BEGINNING. 1st Chronicles 10 Sometimes, people say, "Forget the past and start over." There may be some reason to start over because of a mistake or failure, but forgetting the past usually means that the mistakes and failures will be repeated. Repeating the same lesson time after time means the teacher is very inept, or the ones who should be hearing the lesson are asleep, ignorant, incapable of learning, uninterested, or so occupied with other things that they do not pay attention.
The chronicler's interest was to promote continuity with the past in order to unify a new generation who had been living in a foreign land all their lives, where the news and daily events had no real connection to them. They were slaves or indentured servants who depended on the foreign government or their slave-owner to make all decisions. Suddenly, they became a small group of nation-builders who hardly knew where to start and what to do.
History is not redundant when recounting the motivation behind establishing and maintaining a unique identity. Our Lord Jesus Christ intends His people to be a "peculiar people, zealous of good works. One of the most important activities of God's people is to review weekly the most important event in our history as the people of God, by remembering Him in our minds and proclaiming His death. "This do in remembrance of Me" does not give us free rein to design a special program similar to a year-end program for the Sunday School classes and their parents. He gave us a uniquely simple practice in which we are to be engaged weekly to recall our history and the One who placed us in the middle of His-story. On a table is bread and a cup, symbolic of a Person and the greatest work He ever did for us. We do not put a blood-pressure cuff or a box of Band-Aids on the table to remind us that our Lord worked miracles and authority. There are not five loaves of bread and two small fish on the table to remind us that He can create something out of nothing or a lot out of a little.
As "a pilgrim band in a foreign land, who are marching from Calvary," we remember Him who is the Source of Life, the Sustainer of Life, the Giver of Life, the Essence of Life - and we are unified. By the practice of breaking the bread and drinking from the cup together, history becomes real afresh to us today, and the center of our unity is a Person - God Himself. By this means we recall the event and learn the lessons from Him who lived and died for us, and lives again for us. We are raised to walk in newness of life.
The Philistines were a strong tribe of enemies of Israel at the end of the book of Judges who captured Samson and physically abused him, humiliated him, and mocked him before his final act of faith took place. He "slew more [Philistines] in his death than in his life." The failure of Saul, Israel's first king, who followed Samson, led to his death at the hands of the Philistines. An arrow shot from a distance struck him and mortally wounded him.
David, in contrast, is brought into public view first as a young person who got "up-close and personal” with Goliath and then dealt further with the Philistine enemy face to face. For several years, Saul considered David an enemy because of the depth of his jealousy. The recounting of David's kingdom begins with a brief account of the first king, Saul, and how he died.
When God is with us, we have to remember our hope and power are in Him, not ourselves. Our enemy will pursue unless we "resist the devil." The whole armor of God is given to us to be put on for protection. Then we have the sword of the Spirit to motivate us to move forward in faith to "victory in Jesus."
The point of recounting this brief history of Saul to those who never knew his leadership was that they would pick up the reins of nationhood and start again in fellowship with God. They were to start right at the beginning of this new beginning by giving God the first place in leadership and not forgetting the consequences of self-will. Saul did not obey God or turn to God when he should have.
He was unfaithful to God's will and died in his transgression. He turned to the powers of darkness for needed wisdom because he knew he was a failure, and the powers of darkness turned on him. Saul had not done what he was told by God when he stopped short of totally eliminating the Amalekites. He was unfaithful in that event. From that time on, he was obsessed with getting rid of David. The chronicler knew, as he was guided by the Holy Spirit, that there was no unifying purpose in recounting a litany of failures.
The end of Saul's willful reign is the object of focus to help the exiles understand the importance of divine guidance in their future. A battle with historic enemies—the restored ones would have to face enemies; leaders affect those who follow them in the way they live and die—they would have those who followed them both for the good and bad; these were valuable lessons.
Defeat and dishonor have a similar effect on many when we take matters into our own hands. Those people would experience the same results if they did the same things without God. Wrong actions on the part of a leader will likely lead to wrong actions by those who follow them. Saul failed by doing what he knew was wrong and by not doing what he knew was right. We will fail, too, if we do not pursue what is right and avoid that which is wrong.
However, there is another thing to consider. Even though a leader may be a failure in his personal life, the leadership position deserves our respect. There is no excuse for us to "speak evil of dignities." In order for unified continuity to be maintained, the office of leadership needs to be honored even if the person who holds the office fails. Appreciation and gratitude are always appropriate despite failures. Bitterness or a "he got what was coming to him" attitude is never right.
Valiant men took a brave action to remove that which was dishonoring to their history as well as to their present nation. The men of Jabesh-Gilead did a very courageous thing when they got the mutilated bodies of Saul and his sons and buried them properly. Saul's fear and frantic pursuit of guidance from the witch of Endor are not recounted here at the place of a new beginning. It would have served no useful purpose in challenging God's people to go forward with confidence in God.
We can't avoid the consequences of failure, but there is no reason to dwell on the past failures of others or to recount them. It becomes a problem when jealousy or animosity moves people to dig up dirt to make mud to throw at those who may affect a new generation of believers. Self-will is a form of stubbornness, which is "iniquity and idolatry." When one chooses to work for God in the way they want rather than the way divine instructions are given, that is a grave sin of stubbornness.
It was enough for the chronicler to identify why Saul died, so they would not do the same things. Saul was unfaithful in not carrying through to the end the command of the Lord. When Saul consulted with the witch, this act was rebellion, which is considered "the sin of witchcraft." He didn't practice witchcraft but yielded himself to be influenced by the power of darkness. The natural man has a dark attraction to the allure of the unknown. That often is camouflaged by Ouija boards, tarot cards, crystal balls, horoscopes, etc., and the "spirit-guides" of the New Age movement.
The keys of life and death are indeed in the hands of the Lord, but the method or cause of death is not necessarily of His doing. "The wages of sin is death," and "death has passed upon all men, for all have sinned," so no one can avoid that consequence. God holds that key, and it was used first to give life. However, the actions involved in the process of death are not removed from one's hands. In sickness, if not altered by medical help, the course of life leads to a short life. If that life is maintained for many years, that does not mean that death is conquered. Only that mankind's intervention and medical practice have temporarily controlled the disease. The Israelites were told if they obeyed the Lord and walked in His ways, "None of these diseases" would come upon them. That didn't mean they would not die, but that they would live longer in the same way as they would if they "honored their father and mother."
An archer's arrow started the death process, falling on his sword in a suicide attempt to avoid torture, and finally, the sword of an Amalekite, one of those Saul spared, was involved in the death of the first king of Israel. The whole story of his life didn't need to be told to motivate the exiles to start a new beginning and move forward in faith. The national identity was now in their hands. The conclusion of a life of failure by Saul, the first king, didn't mean there was no hope for the future.
They had to begin with ruined buildings, natural resources, history that revealed the God of Israel in the past, and the confidence that He would be the same to them as He was to their forefathers. The Lord, who in His own way arranged that Saul's death would not stop His sovereign plans, had already picked David to lead His people into a new day for the nation of Israel. The rest of the book of 1st Chronicles tells of the events that would be beneficial to guide those new people starting over.
Failures come in personal, family, assembly, and national life. This does not mean we should succumb to a feeling of hopelessness. Instead, we should take a brief look back and learn. Then, we should look around at our responsibilities and assets to meet those responsibilities. Then, we look up to our God and commit ourselves to Him to walk by faith in Him. Following that, we go to work and begin again to serve Him wholeheartedly with reverence and godly fear.
Saul made two fatal choices. One act was enough for the kingdom to be taken from his failing hands and given to David. One choice was his unfaithfulness to God by not destroying the Amalekites, and the other was consulting with a medium, the witch of Endor, for guidance. Though David was younger in years, God found a true man who saw beyond the moment to the consequences of his choices. David did not turn aside from divine direction to listen to the voices of those who couldn’t be trusted.
To not do what God says or what He says not to do is a challenge to divine intelligence and will. To do things out of self-interest that lifts one up in damning pride is only concluded when the sinning one dies to self and becomes alive in Christ, or dies physically. The fatal attraction of Satan’s purring voice through a woman leads one into the darkness coming from the pit that’s superhuman. That will take one from the path of righteousness and holy ground, leaving the sinner to suffer like those lost.
Like what happened to Saul, the first act that leads to the final blow may come from afar. Like an arrow from some distant strength let go through the air and landing on a screen in front of you, a missile full of evil can strike a strong man down in deep despair. I can cause a fatal wound and leave you dying then and there. Many temptations come through the air from unknown sources. Through airy skies come sounds, and words, and pictures offering choices. Like arrows that strike between the joints and seams of our harness, there come the poison arrows that, when they hit, can fatally harm us.
When those poisoned tips strike first, we may feel only the prick of conscience, but the awful venom that kills slowly, at first seems harmless, permeates the soul until the mind is filled with unclean thoughts. They begin to rise daily until one is consumed with sins, unsatisfied until one dies. We must keep the doors of our eyes, ears, and mouth under control. When they are left unguarded, they bring poison to the soul, and a life that once was lived in the strength of God now becomes weak. The downfall of the righteous is what those fatal choices seek.