Saul gets an opportunity to prove his mettle as a
leader. The men of Jabesh-Gilead are
under siege by the Ammonites who propose a treaty of sorts, surrender and we
will gouge all your eyes out or we will kill you. They instead ask for a seven days respite to
alert their fellow countrymen to see if they will come to their aid. At one time the men of Jabesh-Gilead had
failed to come forth in support of the nation when the tribe of Benjamin was
nearly destroyed for its villainy (Judges 20) and so the nation took vengeance
against this city on the other side of the Jordan, from the tribe of Gad, and
took several hundred women from there to provide wives for the decimated
Benjamites. Now, they are in need and Saul,
himself a Benjamite, is roused to come to their aid. It is certainly possible if not likely that
Saul's line was preserved by a woman from Jabesh-Gilead. At his summons the people respond and the
Ammonites are routed. The nation is now
restored and Saul is king by unanimous acclamation, the people will not
tolerate any dissension on the matter.
Whereas Saul is acclaimed as king, Jesus is rejected. They have determined that He is a pretender
and they will not have him, no matter what the people may think or
believe. These leaders have made up
their minds and they will not brook any dissension from the people. They now try Jesus at night before the
council without any of the little people there to speak on His behalf, they
will find out about all this on the morrow when they awake. Jesus makes no defense, will not say that He
is Messiah, they have all the testimony they need concerning that matter in the
works He has done and the teaching they have heard. They must decide for themselves. He does not, however, deny His identity, such
would be a lie.
The mission was to preach in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and
to the ends of the earth. The first two
places were within the national boundaries, Samaria was just outside
geographically but far separated spiritually from their brothers. They had once been part of the nation but had
separated themselves when the religious center was moved to Jerusalem. Jesus had gone there and found a harvest
among these people in John 4 and now when persecution breaks out after the
stoning of Stephen and the early church is forced to scatter, Philip, one of
the deacons, goes to Samaria and preaches and performs signs. They believe with gladness at what they hear
and see in the proclamation of this Jesus who they surely recall being among
them for those three days previously.
The seed had been scattered and now was being harvested. There is a similarity here between the once
despised Samaritans now being embraced into the nascent church and the people
of Jabesh-Gilead, once despised outsiders being saved by Saul's army. We are to always be prepared to restore those
who were once part of the flock.
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