BIBLE STUDY #5

UNGODLY*, IDOLATROUS LUSTS:

A STUDY ON IDOLATRY IN ITS MANY BIBLICALLY UNLAWFUL FORMS (INCLUDING HOMOSEXUALITY, COVETOUSNESS AND OTHER SINS WHICH BRING ON THE WRATH OF YHVH)

WRITTEN BY Mrs. Susan Johnson

(*”ungodly: 1. not godly; not conforming to God’s laws; irreligious; impious; sinful; wicked.” [The American College Dictionary, copyright 1962])

Part Five

Part 5.  KING SAUL’S COVETOUSNESS

 

I Samuel 9:1-2, I Samuel 15:1-26, I Samuel 16:14-23, I Samuel 18:6-12, I Samuel 19:8-10, I Samuel 22:6-23, I Samuel 28:6-19, I Samuel 31:1-6 & I Chronicles 10:13-14  (One can read of King Saul’s life in its entirety in I Samuel chapters 9-21 & I Chronicles chapters 8-10.)

 

King Saul was the first king of ancient Israel and was of the tribe of Benjamin.  This one who was to enforce the laws of YHVH often did not obey the Almighty’s commandments.  One of his many sins was to covet and keep what YHVH had told him to destroy (I Samuel 15 -- He “didst fly upon the spoil” in regard to the encounter with the Amalekites).  Before the battle with the Amalekites, God had forbidden the Israelites to keep the spoil from them; therefore, to disobey this instruction was a forbidden lust.  King Saul’s and the Israelites’ eagerness for the Amalekites’ sheep and oxen (the spoil not destroyed, but kept) was costly.  Disobedience to the LORD’s instructions always comes with a price.  This king’s covetousness took another form when he felt envy toward (was jealous of) David for his popularity with the people (“Saul eyed David”), and this lasted for the rest of his life.  King Saul’s covetousness and his other numerous, unrepentant sins brought upon him YHVH’s slow judgment; he was tormented (“troubled,” made fearful) for many years by an evil spirit (a demon) sent by God.  Because of his rebellion to the word and law of God and his stubbornness (“to peck at, i.e. [figuratively] stun or dull”; my husband said this means to aggressively henpeck), this once great and blessed king of Israel was rejected by YHVH: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (I Samuel 15:23) 

 

After this tremendous, just judgment of God’s, Saul committed attempted murder 3 times.  He tried to murder David twice (I Samuel 18:11 & 19:10) and his son Jonathan once (I Samuel 20:24-33).  In I Samuel 21:1-10 & 22:6-23 we read of the story of the righteous Levite priest Ahimelech (from the city of Nob) and the murder of him, his entire family, the entire Levite priesthood of Nob (85 men), and the entire population of Nob (that is the remaining men, along with the women, children, and nursing babies there), all at the command of King Saul.  Initially he commanded his footmen to kill Ahimelech and the others, and they refused (I Samuel 22:17).  These footmen, according to Pastor John Weaver, were Israelite militiamen who served the king.  (See Part 10 of a 15 tape series on “The Biblical Doctrine of War”.  The entire series is available from Dominion Tape Library, P.O. Box 684, Hephzibah, GA 30815.)  After the refusal of these men, King Saul then turned to the volunteer Doeg, of the cursed Edomite/Canaanite lineage, and commanded him to murder these innocent people (I Samuel 22:18-19).  The lineage of Doeg was that of the Hebrew Esau, who had sold his birthright, and that of forbidden Canaanite women.  (See Genesis 25:20-33; Genesis 28:6-9; Genesis 36:1-2 & v. 43; also see Part 15 of this study regarding the history of the Canaanites/Jews.)  When a king or ruler gives a command for others to commit murder in his name, he is as guilty as the one who does the actual murder(s).  What “abundant” blood Saul and Doeg had on their hands!

 

A few years later King Saul, who had started his kingdom as a good man who sought the council of the godly prophet Samuel, resorted to the evil witch of Endor for guidance (because he had been rejected by YHVH and by Samuel before the prophet died).  The witch was a necromancer who spoke to the dead.  (In this case God allowed deceased Samuel to speak to them, but in almost all cases the speaking “dead” are deceptive demons.)  Shortly after this in a battle with the Philistines, this first king of ancient Israel committed his final act of murder, murder of self, better known as suicide.  “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit (demon), to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD: …“  --

 

I Samuel 9:1: Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
2: And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly [#2896, good]: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier [#2896] person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.  …

6: And he [Saul] said unto him [his servant], Behold now, there is in this city a man of God [Samuel], and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.

 

 

I Samuel 15:1: Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people [#5971], over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD [#3068].
2: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3: Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.  …

10: Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
11: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
12: And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
13: And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14: And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15: And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people [#5971] spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16: Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17: And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
18: And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19: Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly [#5860] upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20: And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21: But the people [#5971] took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
22: And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23: For rebellion [#4805] is as the sin of witchcraft [#7081], and stubbornness [#6484] is as iniquity [#205] and idolatry [#8655]. Because thou hast rejected [#3988] the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24: And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared [#3372] the people [#5971], and obeyed their voice.
25: Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
26: And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

 

 

I Samuel 16:14: But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled [#1204] him.
15: And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
16: Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning [#3045] player [#5059] on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
17: And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.
18: Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
19: Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.  …

23: And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.  …

 

 

I Samuel 18:6: And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine [the giant Goliath], that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets [#8596], with joy, and with instruments of musick.
7: And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
8: And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?
9: And Saul eyed [#5770] David from that day and forward.
10: And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied [#5012] in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.
11: And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.
12: And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

 

 

I Samuel 19:8: And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.
9: And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
10: And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

 

 

I Samuel 22:6: When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;)
7: Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse [David] give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;
8: That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son [Jonathan] hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
9: Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
10: And he inquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals [#6720, “food”; some American Southerners later used the same King James English word and pronounced it “vittles”], and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
11: Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.
12: And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord.
13: And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
14: Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king's son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?
15: Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.
16: And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.
17: And the king said unto the footmen [#7323] that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
18: And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
19: And Nob, the city [#5892] of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings [#3243], and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
20: And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
21: And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD's priests.
22: And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house.
23: Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.

 

 

 

I Samuel 28:6: And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
7: Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit [#178], that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
8: And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine [#7080] unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
9: And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
10: And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
11: Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
12: And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13: And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
14: And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle [#4598]. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
15: And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
16: Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17: And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
18: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.
19: Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

 

 

I Samuel 31:1: Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
2: And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul's sons.
3: And the battle went sore [#3513] against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore [#3966] wounded of the archers.
4: Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5: And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.
6: So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

 

 

I Chronicles 10:13: So Saul died for his transgression [#4604, “treachery, i.e. sin”] which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit [#178], to inquire of it;
14: And inquired not of the LORD: therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

 

 

LINKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS WITH LINKS AND INTRODUCTION

 

Part 6.  MAMMON & APPETITES (AVARICE FOR ANY THING)

 

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