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The solution to Saul's bad precedent, part 7

Saul’s first disqualification seemed to come about two years into his reign. This made it inevitable that his dynasty would end, but no particular time was specified. Today we know that he reigned 40 years, but no one knew this at the time.

The second disqualification, recorded in 1 Samuel 15, occurred about 16 years later. Scripture does not actually date this event, but we know from chronology and the laws of time that it occurred in Saul’s 18^th year. 1 Samuel 15:1-3 says,

¹ Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. ³ Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him’…”

This tells us that God intended to “punish Amalek” because they were not neighborly toward the Israelites who were coming out of bondage from Egypt. Most likely, they heard how Israel had left Egypt with a great amount of wealth (Exodus 12:35, 36). God enforced His law upon the Egyptians, commanding that when slave owners released their slaves, the slaves were not to be sent out empty-handed but were to be given generous provisions (Deuteronomy 15:12-15).

It appears that Amalek had heard of Israel’s wealth and believed that they could be plundered. Their motive was the love of money, which is “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10 KJV).

The Curse on Amalek

So Amalek attacked the Israelites at Rephidim even before they had reached Mount Sinai (Exodus 17:8). Joshua led the Israelite defense. Moses was instructed to sit on “the top of the hill” (Exodus 17:10) and raise his staff. There are different opinions as to the precise position of Moses’ arms, but it appears that God intended for him to portray Christ’s position on the cross. Moses was, after all, a type of Christ.

Exodus 17:13-16 concludes the story, saying,

¹³ So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner, ¹⁶ and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

We know from other studies and examples that when God issues judgment, He also gives time to repent and correct the problem. In this case, God put a curse on Amalek, and this put Amalek on Cursed Time, which is a cycle of one or more 414-year periods. God told Israel not to forget this but to “write this in a book as a memorial.” Then it appeared that God forgot about it for a long time and that he finally remembered His curse 414 years later—the 18^th year of Saul.

Saul’s Calling as King

Cursed Time begins with a divine condemnation, or verdict (“the curse of the law”), followed by a grace period to give the offender time to repent. In this case the Amalekites failed to repent. In fact, because God gave them more than four centuries of grace, they would not have connected Saul’s war with the root cause at Rephidim. But God does not forget such things.

When it came time for the divine curse to be executed, Saul was Israel’s king. Therefore, he was the one responsible to carry out the divine sentence. Kings rule under God, and so they are responsible to enforce the laws and verdicts from the divine court. So 1 Samuel 15:7-9 says,

⁷ So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Kings are not only stewards under God but also represent the people or nation as a whole. Hence, Agag was the embodiment of God’s curse on Amalek. Sparing Agag activated another law which forbids judges (in this case King Saul) from forgiving sin. It was not Saul’s privilege to forgive the curse upon Agag and spare his life.

A biblical judge is duty-bound to apply the law of God equally and impartially. Once he has issued his verdict, the victim of crime has received justice due to him. The victim then has the right to forgive the one that had sinned against him. I call this the law of victim’s rights. By this law, Joseph forgave his brothers for kidnapping him and selling him to slavers (Genesis 49:17-21). By this law Jesus forgave those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34).

Saul was God’s judge, bound by duty to execute the judgment of the law. When he spared Agag, he assumed the curse on Amalek, because the only lawful way a judge may forgive sin is if he is willing to pay for it himself. This is the only way that the victim of a crime is ensured of receiving compensation for his losses.

Hence, Saul put the throne of Israel in danger of Cursed Time. But Samuel took action which reduced the liability from Cursed Time (414 years) to Judged Time (434 years). Judged time is another grace period for late obedience. 1 Samuel 15:33 says,

³³ But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.

Samuel’s actions took Saul and the monarchy as a whole from Cursed Time to Judged Time.

Saul Dies on Judged Time

By studying chronology, we find that Saul died on Judged Time, originating from Israel’s late obedience. Recall how the people had refused to enter the Promised Land after ten of the twelve spies gave an evil report (Numbers 13:31-33). Because of their refusal, they had to spend another 38 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14), finally entering the land 40 years after leaving Egypt (Deuteronomy 2:7).

Hence, from the time that Israel refused to enter the land on time until the death of Saul was precisely 434 years. Israel’s refusal at Kadesh-barnea delayed their entry into the Promised Land by 38 years, and Saul’s refusal to execute King Agag made him liable for divine judgment under Judged Time as well. Therefore, Saul died after reigning 40 years, but he also died 434 years after the incident at Kadesh-barnea.

I wrote more details of this in chapter 7 of Secrets of Time. You can read it here:

https://godskingdom.org/studies/books/secrets-of-time/chapter-7-the-effects-of-judged-time-upon-israel/

God Rejects Saul

Saul tried to justify his disobedience by appearing to be religious. 1 Samuel 15:20, 21 says,

²⁰ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

Saul apparently forgot what God has commanded. Like many church leaders, they claim to hear and obey the voice of the Lord when in fact they are disobedient. Likewise, they often blame the people—or give them credit for wanting to offer a “sacrifice” to God. But God disagreed. We read in 1 Samuel 15:22, 23,

²² Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination [qesem, “witchcraft”], and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”

Saul thought that God would be appeased by sacrifice and religious rituals, but God called it “rebellion” and “insubordination.” This was the point where “Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 15:35). Not long afterward, God told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem and anoint one of his sons as Saul’s successor. Samuel anointed David, who was, at that time just eight years old.

God allowed Saul to reign for another 22 years before David was crowned king at Hebron at the age of thirty (2 Samuel 5:4).

The Church’s Rebellion

Each year of Saul’s reign related to a Jubilee cycle (49 years) in Church history under the Pentecostal anointing. The 18^th Jubilee cycle of the church was from 866-915 A.D. Toward the end of this period, moral conditions in the church of Rome deteriorated so badly that even the church historians (bishops) called it “the golden age of pornocracy,” that is rule by immorality.

Those bishops were appalled at the orgies going on in the Vatican. Though they believed that the church was called by God, they wished it were not so. But if they had understood that King Saul was a type of the church and that each year of his reign applied to a Jubilee cycle of the church, they might have concluded that the Roman Church would not be God’s agent to bring in the Kingdom Age.

But unfortunately, they believed that Jesus spoke of the Roman Church when He said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). They seem to have been unaware that there are three churches in this progression of the Kingdom: (1) the Passover Church from Moses to Christ, also called “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV); (2) the Pentecost Church between Christ’s two advents; and (3) the Tabernacles Church in the Age to come.

The second church is the rebellious church of Saul; the third church is the church ruled by David, the overcomer. Hence, while Saul was crowned on Pentecost, David was crowned on a Jubilee, the 59^th Jubilee from Adam. (See Secrets of Time.)