Psalm 131, 132; 1 Samuel 13:5-18; Acts 8:26-40; Luke 23:13-25
The Philistines come against the Israelites with overwhelming force and the people fear them, hiding in caves and clefts of the rock. Samuel has commanded Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days for his coming and Saul obeys and yet was Samuel testing him to see if he would act presumptuously? Saul indeed sees that his men are leaving him for fear he decides to wait no longer and to offer sacrifices to seek the favor of the Lord. It almost sounds like Saul believes that there is some sort of magic associated with the offering of sacrifice, it will please God and He is then bound to act on behalf of the king and the army against the Philistines. There are teachers today who preach that when we speak we bind God to act based on our words as though they were an incantation that necessarily brings into existence what we speak. Saul has stepped out of his lane in offering this sacrifice and has not trusted in the Lord. For this transgression, Samuel says that the Lord will not bless him as He would have if Saul had been obedient. There will be a king after God’s own heart and it will not be Saul.
Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus and yet decides to punish Him and release Him. Pilate knows that this crowd won’t be appeased with simply releasing Jesus thus the punishment even for an innocent man. They will not be appeased with anything other than the death penalty. Ultimately Pilate values peace more than justice and decides to acquiesce to their demands. Often we choose the path of least resistance rather than demanding justice although it is a higher value to the Lord. This scene is the ultimate in injustice and also in presumption. After all Jesus has done among them how could they possibly demand that He now be crucified? We wanted to know good and evil and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and now we see that sin overcame that knowledge, the ultimate good stands before men and is condemned as evil in the belief that good is somehow being done.
The eunuch is reading from Isaiah about one who will be killed even though he is righteous and justice will be perverted. It seems odd that Philip would have been taken away from Samaria where the Lord was doing great things among many people to come here and witness to one man, a man who would have no offspring after him to whom the faith could be committed, but through this man, a nation would hear the Gospel. There were Jews in Ethiopia and through this man the secrets of the prophetic words would be shared with them, the interpretive key, Jesus, would be proclaimed. While he would have no descendants in the physical sense, this man would be the father of the faith in his land. Philip preached the Gospel to and baptized one man here but the impact was great, we must not measure the things of God by the standards of men.
Let all who name Christ’s holy Name give God all praise and glory;
Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone:
To God all praise and glory.
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