Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jun 1944

Often have I been struck, in reading the life of Saul, the son of Kish, with his apparent ignorance of Samuel, the man of God, in his fruitless quest for the asses of his father. It was his servant who said, "Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man that is held in honour; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can tell us concerning our journey whereon we go. Saul spoke of having nothing to give to the man of God and the servant had to come to his aid by saying that he had the fourth part of a shekel of silver to give to the man of God. Saul was willing then to go and replied to his servant, "Well said; come, let us go." Such was the man that God sent to Samuel who would be the first anointed king of Israel.

Samuel said to Saul," Thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for thee, and for all thy father's house ? " Saul's reply was very fitting in the circumstances: "Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner?" (1 Samuel 9. 20, 21). At a later time Samuel reminded Saul of this lowly frame of mind he was in at the first, "Though thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?" But Saul became proud. David indicts him of pride in many of his psalms, as, for instance, Psalms 59.12; 31.18, 28. Ignorance wedded to pride begets sad events. Saul was clearly very ignorant of spiritual things at the first. It took his servant to prompt him about the man of God. It-was also a proverbial saying in Israel," Is Saul also among the prophets?" (1 Samuel 10. 12), as it seemed to be one of the most unlikely happenings, for, evidently, he had no leanings to spiritual things.

But Saul only prophesied when he was amongst the prophets. He may have been like some others, if they are amongst prophets then a prophet they will be, but when amongst sinners then sinners they are to the full. They change their coats according to their company. Such was Judas. He followed the Lord and went with the Devil at the last.

Saul's failure in finding his father's asses, though he tramped through the lands of Shalishah, of Shaslim and of Zuph, seems to be precursory of a life of failure. There were times when it seemed as though he would be a true leader and deliverer of Israel, as God's people wished their king to be, but alas, his

judgements and acts were ill conceived and executed. Even Jonathan would have fallen beneath his father's hastily uttered curse, unless he had been rescued by the people.

But think of David by contrast. Saul failed to find his father's asses, but David ventured his life to save a lamb and brought it back from the lion's mouth. So did he also from the bear. His acts seem to contain a prophecy of what he would do later on, when he saved Israel from the Philistines. He smote the lion, the bear, and the Philistine. He smote both kings and peoples and wrought salvation for God's people. As ignorance and pride were evident in Saul knowledge and humility were characteristic of David. David was a prophet, not simply a prophet when he was amongst prophets. How different were the lives of Saul and David and how different their ends the one in the gloom of ignorance and unbelief seeking a voice from the unseen through the witch of Endor but the other speaking God's word to the last. (2 Samuel 23.1-7) Here we have the same story elsewhere told of the first and the second man .The first was a failure and the second a success the first a true type of natural man but the second of the Son of Man.

The words in Mark 9.2, "Apart by themselves," find a fitting complement in the words of Peter in 2 Peter 1.18, "When we were with Him in the holy mount." Peter, when he wrote these words, was nearing the end of his earthly pilgrimage, of which he wrote," Knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me " (verse 14). Peter's second epistle is one of calling things to remembrance, and, as he calls upon others to remember, he himself remembers that never-to be4orgotten experience of being with the Lord in the holy mount. His was now the act of old age that looks back over life's story, not like youth which looks forward with high hopes and aspirations. Do we remember any such time or times in our Christian life, when we knew we were with Him? when we knew that Christ was not merely a name, or a mere figment of human thought, but a living, loving Saviour and Master, One with whom we may commune, One who is not in a far away heaven, but whose presence is assured to His own by Him who is another Comforter. He said, "I will not leave you desolate (orphans): I come unto you."

Peter says that the Lord "received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Twice has the Father spoken thus of the Son; once at Jordan when the Lord was baptised by John the Baptist. There John heard the high estimate and commendation of the Son which assured him, with the associated sign of the Dove, the Holy Spirit, which descended upon Christ, of the Divinity of the Person he had baptised, and on the basis of what he saw and heard he testified that This was the Christ, the Son of God. Now, again, in the Transfiguration, which was close to the end of the Lord's ministry, the Father speaks of the pleasure He found in the Son. At Jordan, all the Lord's life previously was summed up in the words, "In whom I am well pleased"; so too with the days of the Lord's ministry, they were equally a pleasure to the Father.

The lasting effect of the experience on the holy mount is expressed by Peter thus, "We have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." Whilst the Transfiguration was a precious experience it had a purpose in view. It was not that the ap,0stles should build tabernacles and that all those who participated in that scene should remain there in holy blessedness, and oblivious of the needs of a world of men beneath. A professed communion with the Lord that does not produce greater assurance of the need of the Scriptures and the power of God's word is a false communion. If our communion with Christ does not bring us to where the Lord brought the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, then it is time to reconsider and to take stock of that in which we are engaged. Christ, in the case of those two, interpreted the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures, beginning from Moses and from all the prophets.

Peter's experience made the word of prophecy more sure. His faith in the word of God was fortified by what he had seen and heard. God's word is His

lamp for us in the present dark night till the coming dawn. Midst the present squalor we can turn to this one pure, unadulterated thing, the lamp that shines midst sin and woe, yet is it self unaffected by its surroundings. It gives light to men, but receives none from them. However many books have been written eulogising, explaining, interpreting the Scriptures, we must ever turn to the word itself after we may have drunk at the trickling wells of human exposition, we must turn to this one great fountain that supplies all. It is of more than ordinary importance to notice that the Lord had no other message in resurrection for His disciples than He had given them in the days of His flesh. "These are My words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, how that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning Me" (Luke 24: 44): He with whom they were in the holy mount is the Christ of the Scriptures.

J. Miller | Jun 1944
Jottings