Wednesday 27th March 2019 - Daily Reading:
1 Samuel 14:24-52 - Rules and Oaths by Becky Brooks
Saul reveals something about himself in this episode when he refers to the Philistines as “my enemies”. The Philistines are not Saul’s enemies; they are God’s enemies, and Saul is supposed to be acting as God’s agent in the role of king.
So personally is Saul taking things, that he forbids anyone in the army to eat until ‘his’ enemies have been defeated. Later, he does not think to consult with the Lord about what action to take until the priest reminds him to. He becomes petulant when God does not answer his question immediately. He raises his own command to the level of God’s command when he considers breaking it to have been a “sin”. His unreasonable command eventually brings him to a point where he faces putting his own son to death.
When God identifies Jonathan through the lots, he brings Saul and all of Israel to a realisation of what Saul has done. He has created his own rules and obligations for his people to follow, not sanctioned by the Lord, and devised severe punishments for breaking those rules. It is Saul who has sinned yet, by identifying Jonathan, God creates a situation where the Israelites are able to show Saul the mistake he has made and rescue Jonathan.
Saul’s error was the same as that of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day – creating unreasonable rules and regulations for everyone to follow that made their lives unnecessarily hard, and were not of God. A well-nourished army is an effective army. Saul was actually limiting his army’s effectiveness by his rule. Jesus had harsh words to say about the religious leaders. Saul suffered the loss of his army’s confidence in him because of his actions. It does not go well for anybody who tries to create their own laws on top of God’s.
We, too, must be careful of creating regulations for ourselves and others that are not of God. These can become a barrier to people who are seeking Jesus, and also to those who are trying to serve him. Our preferences, desires and rules can never take the place of what God has ordained. Only his ways are perfect.