Then CRACK, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Lightning cracked and thunder rumbled and rain, rain, rain poured down. SPLIT, SPLAT, SPLIT, SPLAT, SPLIT, SPLAT came a few wet drops on the people’s faces. Suddenly the beautiful blue sky got black with huge, dark clouds. It was the hot, dry time of year when there was hardly ever any rain. The sky was a beautiful, bright blue that day. That will help you finally realize what a sinful thing you did to ask for a king.” “Isn’t this the time of year when it never rains? I’m going to call to the Lord to send thunder and rain. Samuel went on to explain what he was about to do. Stand and watch this great thing the Lord is about to do.” But if you rebel against God, He will be against both you and your king. If you and your king follow God, everything will work out well for you. Samuel continued, “Here’s the king you asked for - Saul. But Samuel was again telling them that this whole idea of a king was, well… wrong.
Saul was standing right there, and this was a party to celebrate the victory with their new king. The people at the party started to squirm a little. And now, after all that, you said, ‘No! We want a king to rule over us like the other nations have!’ You asked for this even though the Lord your God is your king!” He sent Gideon, and then Barak, and then Jephthah, and then me! Each time God saved you so that you could live safely again. Each time they cried, “We’ve been bad! Save us!” And each time God sent judges to help. But His people kept forgetting Him! So He gave them into the hands of their enemies. Why was Samuel scolding them now?”īut Samuel went on to explain: “The Lord is the one who brought this people out of slavery in Egypt and gave them a home in this wonderful Promised Land. “This was supposed to be a fun celebration and a victory party. “Then stand up and let me tell you about all the Lord has done for you and the people before you - because you have wronged Him!” The people declared aloud, “No, Samuel, No! You’ve never wronged us or taken anything from us! We promise!” The people really liked and respected Samuel, and Samuel had never done any of those things. Tell me in front of God and His chosen king - have I done anything wrong to any of you? Have I ruled harshly over any of you? Is there any sin I pretended to not see just to gain something for myself? Have I taken anything from anyone?” I’m old and gray now, but I have walked among you all since I was young. “Well, everyone,” he said, “I gave you your king. “Come on, everyone,” said Samuel, “let’s go officially make Saul the king.” So they had a big celebration to offer sacrifices to God and fully accept Saul as the king.īut Samuel had a few things to say to God’s Children as they all celebrated. “No one will be killed today,” he said, “because the Lord gave us a day of victory.” They said, “Hey, where are those doubters who said, ‘How can this guy help us?’ Bring them over here so we can kill them.”īut Saul stopped them. The people were really happy with what Saul had done. They fought until it was late afternoon, and they totally scattered the enemies. Saul divided the army into three groups and the next morning, they attacked the enemies from all sides. Then Saul sent messengers to the Family in Jabesh and said, “By tomorrow morning, we will come to save you.” All of Jabesh was thrilled to hear that! God made everyone so afraid of disobeying that all of Israel came to Saul, united as one huge army. The message was, “This is what will happen to the oxen of any man who doesn’t come out and follow Saul and Samuel!” He killed his oxen and cut them into pieces, sending the pieces with messengers to tell all Israel to come and fight. Enemies should not be able to do that to people in God’s Family! God’s Spirit came upon Saul and he knew what to do. When Saul heard that, a burning fire filled his bones.
If no one comes to help Jabesh in the next few days, the Ammonite king said he would poke out the right eye of everyone there, and they would become his slaves.” “We just heard that the Ammonite enemies have come and are about to attack them. “It’s because of our family in Jabesh!” they answered. When he got to the town, he saw all the people were crying! “What happened?” he asked. He had just finished some work out in the field. One day, Saul was walking back towards town with his oxen. But some doubting men hated Saul and said, “How can this guy help us?” God inspired some valiant men to go with Saul. After Samuel sent all the people home, Saul went back home, too.
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