Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-11-07
&eadiua far the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY ..
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
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The life of Saul was failure-tull OF grave
blunders, both in a moral and political point
of view. Still many very important lessons
may be learned by carefully studying saul's
history. Some of the incidents which took
place in his history are, when not carefully
examined, strange and mysterious. A care
full examination of all Of these incidents can
not fail to be both interesting and profitable
to the Christian.
Soon after Saul commenced to reign over
the children of Israel, the Philistines, the
bitter and constant enemies of Israel, gathered
themselves together to fight against the Israel
ites The Israelites seem to have been great
ly demoralzed. Some of them fed from the
country, and those that followed Saul did it
tremblingly. There seems to have been some
understanding between Saul and Samuel that
the latter would, at certain time, come to
Gilgal. The understanding was that Saul
would remain at Gilgal for seven days, du-
ring which time Samuel would come to him
in order to discharge his duties as priest for
the army and Saul, before going into the bat
tie. Samuel did not arrive until late, per-
haps on the seventh day. The people COM
menced to scatter. They were anxious to get
some excuse to leave. Saul grew impatient
and ordered burnt Offering and peace offer
ings to be brought to him, and because Sam
uel was not there he took it upon himself to
offer up the burnt offering. No sooner had
Saul completed the work of sacrificing, than
Samuel came and at once, rebuked Saul &C.
verely for this act. "Thou hast done foolish
ly," said Samuel, meaning by the word "fool-
ishly," wickedly. According to the constitu-
ton of the Jewish nation, Saul had no right
to oficiate at the altar. He did not belong to
the sacridotal tribe +
We might be led at first to conclude that
this act of Saul's was an evidence Of piety.
Such, however, is not the case. It was an
evidence of the want of piety. True and
genuine piety consists in doing our duty and
confdingly leaving the results with Coo.
Saul attempted to force results. He under
took to secure the favor of God by doing an
act which it was not lawful for any one but
priest to perform. Saul could have pro6ta-
bly, at that critical junoture of affairs engaged
in prayer. That he did do this, We have no
evidence. The probability is that he did not.
This act of Saul shows that he was of an i'm.
petuous nature, and that like most Of US, he
had very little confidence in the providence
of God. 1t shows that Saul had not learned
to "rest in the Lord and wait patiently for
him." It shows more than this. We may
infer that religious acts are sometimes evil
dences of want of piety. This may seem to
be plain contradiction but are not the re-
ligious acts of all of us sometimes the evidence
of our sinful lives and more sinful hearts2 1
do not mean that these religious acts are &C.
ceptable to God, nor do say that these acts
are really religious acts, but to human ap-
pearance they seem to be such. In fact they
spring from fear and dread, and many other
causes, none of which resemble faith.
After this unfortunate occurrence, Samuel
went from Gilgal to Gibeah, and Saul and the
army which he was able to control, went there
too The Philistines encamped, it is said, in
Michmash. Gibeah, Jerusalem and Mich
mash, were all in close proximity, which
shows that the Philistines had pretty we'll
overrun the whole country. Whilst the two
armies were thus encamped, it seems that JON
athan, the son of Paul, proposed to his armor
bearer to make an attack upon garrison
of the Philistines. 1t is evident from the
connections, that Jonathan made known his
plans to no one but his armor bearer. Ac-
cording to all the rules of warfare, this was
an unwise and rebellious act. No doubt,
however, Jonathan went in accordance with
the Divine intimation. The garrison of the
Philistines is taken by Jonathan and his ar
NOR bearer, and a general rout of the Philis-
tines commenced. Soon Saul and the whole
army of Israel join in the battle and the Phil
istines are smitten with a great slaughter.
Saul, in order that he might accomplish as
much as possible, issued an order that no man
should eat any thing during the day. He
backed the order with curse. This was
another foolish act. His greed defeated his
design. The soldiers became hungry, faint
and weak, and consequently many of them
were not able to pursue the Philistines to
much advantage. Like many one since
him, Saul attempted to accomplish too much,
and the result was, he did very little. 1t would
have been eminently proper in Saul to have
issued an order forbidding plundering; but it
was foolish toforbid struggling soldiers to take
any food. Jonathan, who seems not to have
been present when this foolish order was given
out, whilst passing in the pursuit Of the enc
my, put forth the rod or staff which he had
in his hand, and took up piece Of honey
comb and eat it, Night came on, and after
the people had gorged themselves with food,
Saul proposed to pursue the Philistines and
spoil them during the night. In this propo-
sition there is much of the coward, tyrant and
mad-man. His soldiers were weary, and
many Israelites were at that time residing
amongst the Philistines, and hence the expe-
dition would have been attended with much
damage to many innocent families. The
priest, Ahiah, who seems to have arrived in
the camp after Samuel left, proposed that
God be consulted with regard to this expedi-
ton. God, however, in his wisdom, refused
to give any answer respecting the proposed
pursuit. Saul, and no doubt the whole army,
came to the conclusion, that some sin had
been committed, and that God was angry
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