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The solution to Saul's bad precedent, part 9

Biblical prophets did not hesitate to criticize Israel’s failure to hear/obey God. Neither did Samuel hesitate to criticize Saul’s shortcomings, even though he genuinely loved him. The prophet tells us in detail what the root problem was. It was that the people as a whole demanded a king like the nations, rejecting God’s rule.

Kings reflect the hearts of the people as a whole—not all of the people, but certainly the majority. God has a way of monitoring the heart condition of the people as a whole, and so God gives them the desires of their heart. The government is simply the visible reflection of the collective heart of the people. Hence, there is plenty of blame to go around.

It takes a time of genuine repentance (change of heart and mind) by the people themselves to bring about a change of government. Without repentance, presidential candidates offer “change” as a slogan, but once the new president is in office, the changes only make things worse. Hence, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary to initiate any positive lasting changes.

Bible teachers have long criticized Saul for his rebellion against God, but most of them have failed to recognize that Saul was a type of the church in the Pentecostal Age. Most of them identify with David, the overcomer who was crowned on a Jubilee year, not understanding the real difference between the church and the overcomers. In fact, they acknowledge Pentecost in one way or another, but they know almost nothing about the law of Jubilee. There is so little teaching on the Jubilee, so how can they really be of the house of David?

In 1964 a preacher named Clayt Sonmore published a book entitled, Beyond Pentecost. Overall, it was a very good book, which I read many years later on a flight to Australia. Clayt was one of the founding directors of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Association in 1951 and was very influential in the Charismatic Movement that rose in the 1960’s. I met Clayt in the 1990’s, as he lived in a Minneapolis suburb and we had friends in common. He passed on in 2017.

https://www.rundus.com/obituaries/Clayton-Earl-Sonmore?obId=28904589&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Clayt wrote how Saul was a type of the church, even though he did not realize that Saul was actually crowned on the feast of Pentecost. If he had known this, it would have strengthened his rather controversial position linking Saul to the church. He also rejected the teaching of the Restoration of All Things, caused (in my view) by a lack of any in-depth understanding of the law of Jubilee. Nonetheless, his book was very interesting to me.

The Evil Spirit Troubles Saul

David was anointed by Samuel when he was just eight years old. He was still too young to be a king, but an unexpected consequence occurred. 1 Samuel 16:15 KJV says,

¹⁵ But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

We see, then, that in the 18^th year of Saul’s reign, comparable to the late 9^th century of the church, Saul was no longer a Pentecostal. The Spirit of God which had caused him to prophesy and to be turned into another man left him. Worse yet, the Spirit of God was replaced by “an evil spirit from the Lord.”

The immediate lesson to be learned here is that a Spirit-filled believer can lose his Pentecostal experience. I believe that Saul himself did not understand what had just happened. But from then on, the “spirit” within him “troubled him.” The NASB reads, “terrorized him.” Samuel does not tell us what Saul might have felt, because the prophet had no further contact with Saul.

What does this turn of events tell us about the church as a whole, beginning in the 9^th century?

Perhaps it is significant that Scripture mentions this evil spirit seven times: 1 Samuel 16:14; 15, 16, 23 (twice); 18:10, and 19:9. The sixth time it is mentioned is particularly disturbing. We read in 1 Samuel 18:10 KJV,

¹⁰ And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house.

It seems that Saul, the Pentecostal, had continued to prophesy and that this was not a one-time experience at the time of his coronation (1 Samuel 10:10). But after the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, he continued to prophesy during worship times, but now under the influence of “the evil spirit from God.” The result is recorded in the next verses, 1 Samuel 18:11, 12,

¹¹ Saul hurled his spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David escaped from his presence twice. ¹² Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

It appears that Saul believed that the Holy Spirit of God had told him to kill David, when, in fact, this was the voice of the evil spirit from God. Saul no longer knew the difference. Jesus said in John 10:10,

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

David’s Music

When the evil spirit from God first began to trouble Saul, his servants suggested that they find a musician to suppress this evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:16). Verse 18 says,

¹⁸ Then one of the young men said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with him.”

We are not told how long it took for Saul to send for David as a musician. However, it must have been some years later, because he is described also as “a mighty man of valor, a warrior.” This must have taken place prior to when David killed Goliath (in the next chapter), because David was yet unknown to Saul. 1 Samuel 16:23 says,

²³ So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

This seems to suggest that music in the church is more than just praise and worship. It is also to protect the church from the negative effects of the evil spirit from the Lord. David loved music, but Saul had to have it. So in those days it appears that Saul often sent for David and came to depend upon his musical gift. So also is it to this day, where music has come to dominate church meetings and where teaching the word seems to be less urgent.

It is possible that David’s music career in Saul’s service occurred when he was close to the age of 18, about the 27^th or 28^th year of Saul’s reign. That would correlate with the 27^th or 28^th Jubilee of the church (1356-1454 A.D.). The Renaissance in Europe began about the year 1400, which had an effect on music as well. From 1400-1600 we saw the rise of “rich polyphony,” which refers to a style of music in which multiple independent melodic lines are woven together, each with its own rhythm and contour, but fitting harmonically into the whole.

This led to the great Classical Music symphonies from 1750-1820 prior to the Romantic era (1820-1900), followed by modern music of the 20^th century. If we view such music history in terms of Saul’s reign, it suggests that the rise of harmony in music during the Renaissance fulfills an underlying pattern of David’s music career.

In addition, the rise of David himself at this time suggests the rise of a new class of overcomers in the Protestant Reformation. Just as Saul and David quickly came into conflict, so also did the Reformers conflict with the old church order in Rome.

David Kills Goliath

In spite of being summoned to Saul’s house to play his harp for the troubled king, David continued to live at home. About ten years after David’s first anointing, in a battle between Israel and the Philistines, David was sent to the battlefield with provisions for his older brothers who were in Israel’s army.

When he got to the scene, he discovered that a giant named Goliath had issued a challenge to fight an Israelite champion. Such a practice was done occasionally throughout history. David volunteered, killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:50), and beheaded him with his own sword. At that point, Saul was unaware that Samuel had anointed him to be king.

Saul was very impressed with David and “did not let him return to his father’s house” (1 Samuel 18:2). Saul’s son, Jonathan, gave David his robe, his armor, his sword, and his bow and belt (1 Samuel 18:4). We then read in the next verse,

⁵ So David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war…

Saul found David to be very useful in those days, no doubt recognizing that God was with him. But David soon became too popular, and Saul began to be afraid that he would displace him as king. 1 Samuel 18:6-9 says,

⁶ It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. ⁷ The women sang as they played and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” ⁸ Then Saul became very angry… ⁹ Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

Saul loved David (1 Samuel 16:21), but his inner fear and insecurity motivated him to try to kill David as a potential rival to the throne. No doubt the evil spirit from God also knew that David was a threat, and for this reason, it moved Saul toward attempted murder. These things are recorded in Scripture for our learning. By understanding how Saul was a prophetic type of the church in the Pentecostal Age, we can derive greater insight as to the church conflicts in recent centuries.