“Also, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.”
~ 1 Chronicles 12:40
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever been asked to be the captain of a team? How do you think that it feels like for a guy or gal to be the elected or appointed leader of a country or people group of guys, gals and kids? How do you think that it feels like to be elected the President of the United States? Would you like to be President Bush? Would you like to have been Saul? Saul was the first king to rule over the Israelite people group guys and gals. The Israelite people group guys, gals and kids were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. Saul did not grow up as a kid hoping that he would be a king one day over the Israelite people group guys and gals. The Israelite people group guys and gals did not have kings when Saul was a kid; the Israelite people group guys and gals had guys and a gal called judges who were ascribed or who assumed being a leader to push marauding guys from neighboring countries and people groups of guys and gals out of the land that God gave to them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . when the Israelite people group guys were purging the different people groups of guys, gals and kids from the land that God was giving to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . ., Joshua had been confirmed by Moses to be their established leader. When Joshua died and because he had not put in place a secession plan that would have had him having a guy in place to replace him when he died – just as Moses did with Joshua during the forty years that God had His specially chosen guys, gals and kids wander aimlessly in a desert before He finally permitted them to go into the land that he was giving to them to live in as their very own land if . . ., the Israelite people group guys and gals for the next 325 years would have only the judges as leaders in the immediate land areas where they lived. Being the Israelite people group guys and gals very first king, Saul had the unique opportunity to mold the position of king to what it was to be like as a king over the Israelite people group of guys and gals and of cementing his own popularity of being a guy who was unconditionally respected by his fellow countrymen. Being a king was something that did not seem to fit Saul. Even though he had been sovereignty anointed by Samuel – who was following the instructions of God – as God the Father, to do so, Saul sometimes really struggled with trusting in only God – as God the Father, to help him. When Saul’s weaknesses and his apparent mental instability were observed and documented by guys and gals in the twelve different Israelite people group tribal clans of guys and gals, the twelve different Israelite people group tribal clans of guys and gals were ready to throw out Saul and to move on to make another guy their king. It messes with your grandpaa’s theological dogma that God would choose a guy to be the very first king over His specially chosen guys and gals who was just minding his own business only to divinely allow the guy to mess up big time as a king – essentially ruining Saul’s life. There is to your grandpaa a fairness piece that seems to be missing in how God – as God the Father, preprogrammed Saul to an abysmal king.
Being asked to be a leader can give an adrenaline kick to the ego of a guy or gal. Your grandpaa knows what it is like to be a leader. South America Mission had your grandpaa from the summer of 1987 to the spring of 1990 be the Field Director of their field missionary team that was in Bolivia. There were about 40 missionaries assigned to the Bolivia field missionary team. OC International then had your grandpaa from the summer of 1997 to the spring of 2003 be the Field Director for their field missionary team that was in Guatemala. During the over seven years that your grandmaa and grandpaa were in Guatemala, the field missionary team grew to over 20 missionaries. Being tasked to being a field leader meant to your grandpaa that he had to always be ready for the unexpected – such as having one of the field missionary team members becoming bedridden with a debilitating illness or the host country being rocked with an devastating earthquake or . . . being a field leader meant to your grandpaa that he had to always be ready for the unpredicted – such as having to intervene with field team missionaries who are struggling with liking each other or having to go to meetings that a field leader is expected to go to or . . . being a field leader as a Field Director was not something that your grandpaa pursued but because of how God hardwired your grandpaa with the administration gifts . . . the two times that your grandpaa flew from a host country after he had been asked to be the Field Director, your grandpaa could almost literally feel a heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa believe that when they left Bolivia and then when they left Guatemala that they were not leaving ‘burned bridges’ – that they were welcome to return to either country at any time. The Chronicler in 1 Chronicles 12 recounts a very festive time. Verse 40 says, “Also, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.” This super gala that included representatives from each of the twelve different tribal clans of guys and gals happened in Hebron. The Israelite people group guys and gals had had enough of their first king – who was Saul; they wanted to make David – who had become Saul’s archrival, to be their next king. Even guys from Saul’s tribal clan – the Benjamin tribal clan, joined with David’s army of supporters who were determined to make him their next king. Even though David had accrued a formidable army of mighty warriors – guys who knew how to shoot arrows using bows, how to sling pebbles using a slingshot and how to throw a spear, what do you think David’s thoughts were about being a king?
1 Chronicles 12 (713)