Sermon - Advent Midweek 1 - King Saul

Text: 1 Samuel 8:4-22a; 9:1-2; Matthew 21:1-9

This Advent, we will examine three of the most notable Old Testament kings:  Saul, David, and Solomon, in turn.  Advent has an “Old Testament” flavor, as we take our place alongside the people of Israel who waited and prayed for the coming of the Messiah, the king.  And so it is fitting to dig deeper into the Old Testament as we prepare to celebrate our Lord’s birth.  Through these three kings of old, we will examine the coming king that is Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Be careful what you wish for.  That’s about the gist of what Yahweh said to the people of Israel when they clamored for a king.  “We want to be like the other nations” they whined.  “We want a king!”

Ah, but they already had a king.  Yahweh himself was their king.  And what a good king he was!  Just, but also merciful.  A king who had brought them out of Egypt.  A king who had provided for them through 40 years in the wilderness.  A king who brought them to a land he had promised them, a land flowing with milk and honey.  And the king went before them to clear the way, even fighting the battles for them.  He brought down the walls of Jericho.  He drove out the Canaanites before them.  Each of the tribes had its own portion of land, and was settled, and possessed it.  And there was peace.

But they were slow to learn.  Through the time of the judges, the people fell into the same old patterns – the same mistakes – and history continued to repeat itself.  They would fall into sin, turning away from Yahweh and following other gods, each doing whatever was right in his own eyes.  God gave them over to some enemy, and they suffered oppression.  Each time, the people repented and God raised up a deliverer for them, a judge, to lead them to victory and peace again.  God wasn’t the problem, though, in all this, he was the one to deliver them.  But still they wanted a king.  They wanted to be like other nations.  In effect, they were rejecting God as their king in favor of a mere man.  Not a good idea.  And it didn’t turn out very well.

God warned them, through Samuel, just what a king would mean for them.  A king would assert his rights over them.  A king would conscript their sons for battle, and make their sons and daughters work for his purposes.  A king would take taxes, too, a portion of their crops and vineyards and animals.  You will basically become his slaves.  And when you cry out for relief from such a king, the Lord will not answer you.  Consider yourself warned.

But. They. Did. Not. Listen.

And so they got Saul.  And look what we know about him – he’s tall!  He’s handsome!  Is that what you really want in a king?  Outward beauty, but inwardly lacking – cowardly, and eventually downright evil.  Saul stands as a stark contrast, a foil, if you will, to the king that would follow him – king David.  In fact, Saul was jealous of young David and tried to kill him.  David was far from perfect himself, and we will consider him more closely next week.  But David was, at least, a man after God’s own heart.  He was a man of faith.

But Saul is also a contrast to both David, and the Son of David, Christ the King.  Saul was handsome, one of the best looking guys around.  Surely that would make for a good king, right?  Easy on the eyes.  But we are told that Jesus “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2b) Jesus, especially at the apex of his ministry, would have been horrible to look at – a man of sorrows, beaten, bloodied, humiliated, shamed.  Ah, but there at the cross was his true beauty, for there, at the cross, “it is finished”.

Saul cowered in fear, from the day of his coronation to his confrontations with enemies.  It was Saul, really, who should have stood up to Goliath, but did not.  But nothing caused our Lord Jesus to waver – not powerful men, not jeering crowds, not even the devil himself could shrink Christ from completing his mission – and going to his cross. 

Saul fell from grace, fell from faith, and died in shame, defeated in battle, died by his own hand.  On the eve of that fateful battle, Saul went to see the witch of Endor, and called up the spirit of Samuel from the dead – only to receive the dread prophecy that he and his sons be defeated in battle and die the next day.

The King of the Jews who was crowned with thorns also died in shame, but not for his own sin – rather he was bearing ours.  Not a suicide, but a sacrifice, our king Jesus laid down his life for his friends, the shepherd dying for the sheep.  It was a death that he, Jesus, predicted himself.  He knew, and foretold, who the perpetrators would be, the method of execution, and even the time of his rest in the grave, but also his ultimate resurrection.  And as Saul’s sons met the same fate as their father – defeat and death – so do those who are in Christ follow him into resurrection.  Thanks be to God!

Saul couldn’t ultimately save his people from their enemies, but King Jesus destroys our ancient foe the devil, he wipes the slate of sin clean, and he even defeats death itself – trampling the grave in a glorious victory we call Easter.

The warning, then, to us, is not to reject the king we have because we want to be like the world. 

The people took their eyes away from the many blessings Yahweh had bestowed.  They forgot the greatness of their king.  The despised his word and promise, and doubted and denied his provision.  They sold their collective birthright for a poor facsimile of the real thing.  And they suffered for it.

So, people of God, look to no other king but Jesus.  Put your trust only in him.  Have no other savior but Jesus, your king.  Let him be who he is.  You can’t be king of yourself. And no man, no earthly prince call fill those shoes or sit on that throne.  Give us only Jesus as our king, our master, our Lord.  And we will be in good hands.

The people rejected God as their king, but merciful, loving Yahweh did not reject them.  Instead, he continued calling them to repentance and faith, and throughout the next several hundred years of earthly kings, would continue to patiently do so. 

And finally, he would send his Son, the Son of David, to Jerusalem, to suffer and die.  “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you!’ ” Thanks be to God for the righteousness and salvation he brings.  Hosanna to the Son of David.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.