“When Saul heard the words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.”
~ 1 Samuel 11:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Has a kid – or a guy or gal, ever saved you from being killed? Has a kid – or a guy or gal, ever protected you from getting hurt? Your grandpaa was protected by a guy one day when your grandpaa could have been hurt or even killed by a couple of guys who did not like it that your grandpaa had glanced into the back of their car. A couple of years after your dad was born, your grandpaa began working at Liberty Loan. The Liberty Loan office where your grandpaa worked was located in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. Your grandpaa’s job was to call guys and gals who had loans with the Liberty Loan office that was in Marcus Hook who were late with their monthly loan payments. Before your grandpaa went to the Delaware State employment office in hopes that a guy or gal there would be able to help your grandpaa find a job someplace – anyplace, your grandpaa never ever thought that he would one day be making telephone calls to guys and gals who were behind on their monthly loan payments. When your grandpaa arrived at the Liberty Loan office that was in Marcus Hook, the manager of the Liberty Loan office – John Walters, had your grandpaa take a timed aptitude test called Wonderlic. Guys and gals who are asked to take Wonderlics have twelve minutes to answer as many of Wonderlic’s fifty questions as they can. When your grandpaa finished taking the Wonderlic, John Walters graded the Wonderlic. When John Walters finished grading the Wonderlic, he asked your grandpaa when he could start working. Your grandpaa told John Walters that he could start working just as soon as he wanted him to start working. When John Walters asked your grandpaa if could start work immediately, your grandpaa said sure so . . . a couple of days after your grandpaa began working at the Liberty Loan office that is in Marcus Hook, your grandpaa heard John Walters tell one of the guys who was working with your grandpaa in the Liberty Loan office – after the guy had refused to leave the office to pick up money from a guy who was delinquent on his loan payments who lived in a rundown area close to Marcus Hook, to go home and to not come back to the office. When John Walters asked your grandpaa to go into rundown areas near Marcus Hook and into the rundown areas in Wilmington, Delaware to pick up money from a guy or gal to be applied to his or her delinquent loan, your grandpaa would go into these areas as your grandpaa was not scared of the guys and gals who lived in these areas.
Your grandpaa had planned to go into an area located north of downtown Wilmington, Delaware the day after Martin Luther King was killed to pick up money from a guy to apply to the guy’s delinquent loan. As your grandpaa was walking to the door of the guy’s house to pick up the money from the guy for his delinquent loan, a couple of guys came charging out of another house. The guys started yelling at your grandpaa saying that your grandpaa had looked into the back of their car and that they were going to . . . right about then, the guy who your grandpaa was meeting to collect money from for his delinquent loan opened the door of his house. Before your grandpaa could tell the guy who he was, the guy animatedly told your grandpaa to walk back to his car – and that he was going to go with your grandpaa to the car. When your grandpaa and the guy got to your grandpaa’s car, the guy got into the car with your grandpaa and told your grandpaa – as he was giving your grandpaa money for his delinquent loan, that he was going to stay in your grandpaa’s car until your grandpaa was out of the area – which he told your grandpaa to do immediately as . . . and to not come back into the area again. The day after Martin Luther King was killed, a number of guys were killed by very angry guys who lived in the Wilmington area and who really liked Martin Luther King.
Shortly after Saul was anointed as the first king over the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, a rogue people group of guys and gals – the Ammonite people group, decided that they wanted Jabesh as one of their towns. Jabesh was located in the Gad tribal clan’s territory. The Ammonite people group’s guys and gals were descendants of Lot, they lived east of the area of land that was settled by the Gad tribal clan and a guy by the name of Nahash was their king. Nahash told the 7,000 guys who were holed up in Jabesh that he would have to gouge out their right eyes if they wanted to live. If these guys could not use their right eyes, they would not be able to use bows and arrows to fight against the Ammonite people group’s guys. Nahash gave the guys who were holed up in Jabesh a week to try to get help from . . . when word reached the guys and gals who were living in Gibeah of what would happen to the guys who were holed up in Jabesh if . . . guys and gals who were living in Gibeah began to cry like babies. Nahash had already gouged out the right eyes of guys from the Gad and Rueben tribal clans. Saul lived in Gibeah. Saul was working with his oxen in his fields when word reached Gibeah of what would happen to the guys who were holed up in Jabesh if . . . when Saul got back to his house with his oxen and saw guys and gals crying, Saul wanted to know why they were so upset and crying. 1 Samuel 11 recounts this incident between the Ammonite people group’s guys and the guys who were holed up in Jabesh. Verse 6 recounts what Saul did when he was told what would happen to the guys who were holed up in Jabesh if . . ., “When Saul heard the words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.” Saul took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces – sending the pieces of oxen by messengers to the other Israelite people group’s tribal clans and . . . when the fighting ended, the 330,000 guys from the other Israelite people group’s tribal clans had totally routed the Ammonite people group’s guys. To not to refuse help when you need help may keep you from getting hurt and it may even save your life. Your grandpaa knows.
1 Samuel 11 (421)