The Lord’s Day Evening
September 6, 2009
1 Samuel 9:1-10:16
“You Never Know What You Might Find
When You Go Off Looking for Your Lost Donkey”
Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas
Now the summer has gone and September is here and we’re back in Samuel.
And it was a long time ago, in a place far, far away, and we’ve forgotten
the story, but I’m going to take just a couple of seconds or so to remind you of
the story because it’s very easy.
Chapter 8 of first Samuel, you’ll remember, the people of
Father we thank You for the Scriptures and again, we need Your help.
We want this Word not only to inform our minds, but to get right into our
very hearts and lives and for that we need the help of Your Spirit.
So come, O Lord, help us as we read the Scriptures to not only read but
to profit from that which we read.
We ask it all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“There
was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son
of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.
And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man.
There was not a man among the people of
Now the donkeys
of
When they came
to the
As they went up
the hill to the city, they met young women coming to draw water and said to
them, ‘Is the seer here?’ They
answered, ‘He is; behold, he is just ahead of you.
Hurry. He has come just now
to the city, because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place.
As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the
high place to eat. For the people
will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those
who are invited will eat. Now go
up, for you will meet him immediately.’
So they went up to the city.
As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his
way up to the high place.
The day before
Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel:
‘Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the
Then Samuel took
Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at
the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons.
And Samuel said to the cook, ‘Bring the portion I gave you, of which I
said to you, ‘Put it aside.’’ So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and
set them before Saul. And Samuel
said, ‘See, what was kept is set before you.
Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might
eat with the guests.’
So Saul ate with
Samuel that day. And when they came
down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof,
and he lay down to sleep. Then at
the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, ‘Up, that I may send you on
your way.’ So Saul arose, and both
he and Samuel went out into the street.
As they were
going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell the servant
to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while,
that I may make known to you the word of God.’
Then Samuel took
a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, ‘Has not the
Lord anointed you to be prince over His people
When he turned
his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart.
And all these signs came to pass that day.
When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the
Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.
And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the
prophets, the people said to one another, ‘What has come over the son of
Saul’s uncle
said to him and to his servant, ‘Where did you go?’
And he said, ‘To seek the donkeys.
And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.’
And Saul’s uncle said, ‘Please tell me what Samuel said to you.’
And Saul said to his uncle, ‘He told us plainly that the donkeys had been
found.’ But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did
not tell him anything.”
Well so far, God’s holy, inerrant Word.
I. The sovereignty and providence
of God.
In 1948, in Reader’s Digest, a story
appeared about a man by the name of Marcel Sternberger.
He was in
Now, Marcel Sternberger, just a few weeks before, had met a woman, a Hungarian
by the name of Marya, Marya Paskin.
He said to Bella on the train, “What was your wife’s name?”
“Marya,” he said. They
stopped at the next station. Marcel
Sternberger made some excuse about wanting perhaps to have some coffee with him
before going to work. But before
having coffee, he said, “I must make a telephone call.”
He had apparently taken down this woman, Marya Paskin’s, phone number.
And he calls her. And he
says, “I met you just a few weeks ago.”
And she says, “Yes, I remember.”
“Can you tell me the street and the number in the street that you lived
in
That’s a true story. Well, if you
believe Reader’s Digest1
it’s a true story. (laughter) I’m
going to believe that it’s a true story.
Coincidence? Or, as
Reader’s Digest ended that story, was
God riding the subway?
It’s another day on the farm and the donkeys have broken out.
Kish, the father of this young, handsome young man, Saul, he has to wake
him up, as all young men have to be woken up, and be told that he has to go and
look for them. And for the next 25
verses in 1 Samuel chapter 9, we read this fascinating story about a search for
donkeys – a fruitless search as it turns out, that took three days and they
travelled something like twenty miles.
The servant, when Saul decides he’s had enough of this looking for
donkeys – the food as it happens has run out – he does mention that his father
might be more worried about them than his donkeys – the servant suggests,
“there’s a prophet in this town.”
Yes; ching ching. “His name is
Samuel.” And they suggest that they
go and see Samuel. Samuel has a
fee, an interesting point of exegesis which I dare not go into.
And it just so happens that the servant has a coin in his pocket to give
to Samuel. Now, the day before, God
had told Samuel that Saul, this young man, would come.
He would meet the future prince, king, of
Now how do you think God would bring that about?
If you didn’t know the story, how do you think God would bring that about
to Samuel? There’d be, you know,
Cecil B. DeMills, there’d be a parting of the clouds, there would be a light.
You know as I was driving down tonight there was one of these phenomenal
rays of sunshine coming down through the light that you sometimes see in
paintings and you think that never really happens in real life, but it does.
This ray of light suddenly appears through the cloud and there this man,
this handsome young man would be standing and there would be an aura around his
head. No, not at all.
Donkeys have broken loose and this young man is looking for donkeys.
It’s providence.
I want to ask you tonight,
do you believe in the sovereignty of God?
Well, of course you do, you’re Presbyterians, but do you
believe in the sovereignty of
God? Because if you believe in the
sovereignty of God, there are no accidents.
There are no happenstances.
There are no chance occurrences.
Everything, absolutely everything, falls beneath the plan and control and
overruling of God. It doesn’t get
more mundane than looking for donkeys.
Now I know that some of you love
Animal Planet and this story really grips you.
You can see it all; you can visualize the donkeys breaking loose, you can
wax eloquent, but at the end of the day – I’m a farmer’s boy.
I know about animals breaking loose and having to go and look for them.
I may not look like it, but I actually do know what that is.
It’s a long time ago. It’s a
really mundane story. At any level,
it’s a mundane story. And in the
most mundane of events, God is working out His plan and God is fulfilling His
purpose.
You see, sometimes we think God only guides in the big things.
You know, the person you marry, the house you live in, the job that you
have, whether you move from
II. The mercy of God.
It’s about the sovereignty of God, it’s about the providence of God, but it’s a
story about the mercy of God.
You’ll notice in the middle of chapter 9 that there is a sort of hiatus in the
story, verse 16 is a hiatus. The
writer is telling us in verse 15, “Now the day before Saul came the Lord had
revealed to Samuel.” Samuel already
knew that Saul, at least a young man, would be coming.
And why? “I will send to you
a man from the
Now notice in verse 17, “When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ‘Here is the
man of whom I spoke to you. He it
is who shall
restrain My people.’”
Now, other translations have it differently, but let’s go with the ESV,
the pew Bible, for a minute. “He it
is who shall retrain My people.”
What does that mean? And there are
two possible explanations. One is
that the restraint is the restraint because Saul is preventing
I’d rather think that it’s the exact opposite of that.
God does that all the time. You
know, if we were left to our own devices, where would we be tonight?
God gives us individuals who restrain us.
He gives us wives and husbands.
You know what extraordinary acts of folly some of us would have committed
if it wasn’t for our wives, or if it wasn’t for our husbands – they make us look
better than we actually are. And to
an extent, I think that is what God is saying here to Samuel.
Saul, at least at this point in history, Saul is actually going to make
III. The mystery of God’s ways.
But there’s a third thing to see here.
And that is, not just the sovereignty of God, not just the mercy of God,
but the mystery of God’s ways. The
rest of the story, the latter half of chapter 9 and into chapter 10, Saul is
invited to the evening sacrifice, he’s given the place of honor, he’s given the
best cuts of meat and then a bed for the night on the roof of Samuel’s house.
And then in the morning as they are about to leave, there is this
extraordinary event. The servant
goes ahead. Samuel pulls Saul aside
and does a private anointing ceremony.
And it’s Saul the anointed one; Saul, well, the messiah.
He is the anointed one and he is given three signs.
In chapter 10 and verse 2, he’ll come to Rachel’s tomb and he’ll meet
someone there who will tell him that the donkeys are home and that his father is
concerned about him. He’ll go a
little further and he’ll come to the oak of Tabor in verse 3 of chapter 10 and
three men are going to
Now don’t make too much of that.
Don’t read into that that Saul is converted.
That’s not the language and that’s not the intent.
The Spirit comes upon him in order to enable him to perform certain
actions. It’s not a declaration
that Saul has been converted, or in New Testament language, that Saul is in
union and communion with Jesus; that’s not the intent of the passage.
But the Spirit will come upon him to gift him, to enable him, to be the
king that
You notice in verse 7 of chapter 10, “When these signs meet you, do what your
hand finds to do, for God is with you.”
Well, there’s a Philistine garrison in this location, Gibeah-Elohim.
Some commentators think that what Saul is actually being told is, “When
the Spirit comes upon you, now lead a charge, lead a revolt, lead your men into
battle against these Philistines because God is going to be with you.”
Perhaps. And if that is the
case, already you see something of Saul’s failure because he doesn’t actually do
that. His uncle, his name is Abner
– uncle Abe. Abner would be the
next in line to inherit from
Don’t be too hard on Saul at this point.
What is he, twenty? What is
he going to say? He’s going to say
to his uncle, “Look, I met the prophet Samuel, and he anointed me as the next
king of
But you see, there is another king.
This king couldn’t find his donkeys, but there is coming a king who will ride
into
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You again for the Scriptures, and pray now again this evening,
as we close out this Lord’s Day, that you would write it upon our hearts, help
us to rejoice in You, to live out and out for You, to rejoice in our Savior.
For Jesus’ sake we ask it.
Amen.
Please stand. Receive the Lord’s
benediction.
Grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all.
1.
Joseph M. Stowell. Radical Reliance,
Discovery House Publishers,
© First Presbyterian
Church,
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