Ep. 78 - Saul Fights the Ammonites

Last we left our story, Saul had just been made king. Saul, a simple farmer from the tribe of Benjamin, just so happened to be the tallest and handsomest man in all of Israel. And while looking for some donkeys, super tall Saul paid a visited to Samuel. But little did Saul know, God had big plans for Saul that day. While visiting Samuel, Saul was anointed king. Now, unlike what you might expect, Saul didn’t really seem to want to be king. And even after a whole bunch of crazy things happened, including Saul prophesying like some megachurch pastor, Saul still wasn’t all that excited about it. Then all the Israelites gathered together and cast lots to see who would be king. And wouldn’t you know it…Saul was chosen as king. But not everyone was super happy with Saul. And they asked themselves, “How can this man save us?” (1 Sam. 10:27) One of the big reasons why they’d wanted a king was to help them defend themselves against the surrounding nations…who were at that moment arming themselves to the teeth. And while Saul might have been super tall and super handsome, he was still just a simple farmer from a small family from the smallest tribe in all of Israel. Could Saul defend Israel against its enemies? Would the Israelites follow this humble shy guy when it really mattered? Well, let’s find out.

Now it didn’t take too long for Saul’s kingship to be tested, because almost as soon as Saul had been anointed as king, the Ammonites attacked. And the Bible says, “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead.” (11:1) Jabesh Gilead was an Israelite city just east of the Jordan river and so was pretty close to the country of Ammon. And like we’ve been talking about for a few episodes now, the nations surrounding Israel were building up their armies for war…and the Israelites were worried that eventually one of these nations would attack. Well, it looks like the Israelites weren’t worried for nothing, and the first nation to attack them was apparently the Ammonites.

Now along with rest of Israel, Jabesh Gilead was entirely unprepared for war. (If you kidzos will remember, this was one of the reasons that the Israelites thought they needed a king…they thought they needed someone to help them get their act together.) So, the people in the city right away went to the Ammonites to surrender. But the Ammonites were pretty brutal, and Nahash the Ammonite replied to them and said, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring reproach on all Israel.” (11:2) Yikes! So, the Ammonites were apparently more than happy for the people of Jabesh Gilead surrender, but only if they let the Ammonites poke out all their right eyes! Man…pretty crazy right?

But don’t forget that these were ancient times, and things we would consider brutal now were a bit more common back then. But one question you might be asking is…why the right eye? Why not the left eye? Or why not some other body part? Well, as it turns out, the right eye was especially important for fighting in an army. When a soldier was in a battle formation, you would have your shield in your left hand and your sword in your right hand. So while you were protected by your shield on your left side, on your right side you had to be able to see what you were doing. So, if you couldn’t see out of your left eye, well that wasn’t the best but at least your shield was protecting your blind spot. But if you couldn’t see out of your right eye, well you were basically useless…you couldn’t fight in an army. And this was the exactly the idea. By poking out the eyes of all the people of Jabesh, the Ammonites would make it so that they could never be a threat to the Ammonites. And not only that, but a poked-out eye wasn’t something that you could easily hide. So, having a whole city of people with poked out eyes would also be a constant reminder that the Ammonites were stronger than the Israelites.

So, what did the people of Jabesh Gilead do? Well, of course no one wanted to have their eye poked out! But also, didn’t Israel just get a king? And didn’t they get a king for exactly this situation? So first, they replied to the Ammonites, and said, “Hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” (11:3) The Ammonites, apparently knowing that the tribes didn’t usually help each other out, agreed. And so the people of Jabesh Gilead sent messengers to the new king…King Saul. And the Bible says, “the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices and wept.” (11:4) Saul’s town of Gibeah wasn’t all that far from Ammon…and the people of Saul’s town were understandably upset. As far as they could tell, the dreaded invasions had started…and before long, the Ammonites would be strolling into their town. Now Saul was just coming into the town behind a herd of animals (ya know…still doing his farming thing), and he heard the people crying and weeping. And Saul asked, “What troubles the people, that they weep?” (11:5) And the townspeople quickly caught Saul up on what was happening in Jabesh. No doubt all eyes were on Saul. What would this new king of Israel do?

Well, they didn’t have to wait long to find out. And the Bible says, “The Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, ‘Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.’” (11:6-7) God inspired the king of Israel to take immediate action. Right then and there, Saul found two nearby oxen, killed them, cut them up into pieces (maybe kinda like what a butcher would do), and send the oxen pieces to all the tribes of Israel with a message. And the message was – hey guys, your brothers are being attacked…and if you don’t come out and help…this is what is going to happen to all your oxen. Now, back in those days, oxen were one of the most expensive animals you could own. The order of cost for animals was something like goats at the bottom, then sheep, donkeys, cattle, oxen, and then at the very top…horses. So threatening to kill all their oxen was a pretty big deal.

And how did the tribes respond to Saul’s threat? Well, the Bible says, “And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out with one consent.” (11:7) Saul’s threat jolted the Israelites into action, and right away they started sending men to Saul. Saul started marching his men to Bezek, which is a town just on the other side of the Jordan river from Jabesh Gilead. (BTW kidzos, if it helps to see a map of where the Ammonites attacked and where Saul marched his men to rescue them, I’ve put up another map on papasbiblestories.com…go to the blog section and search for Map – Saul Fights the Ammonites…so check that out.) As he went, more and more men from the different tribes joined him. By the time that he made it to Bezek, Saul had amassed a huge army – 330,000 men from all the Israelite tribes. Once the army arrived at Bezek, messengers were sent to Jabesh Gilead to tell them that help was almost there. And messengers told them, “Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.” (11:9) No doubt when the people of Jabesh heard this, they were both relieved and excited. Help is coming! And wanting to make sure that the Ammonites had no idea what was coming, the people of Jabesh told the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.” (11:10) Basically, giving the Ammonites the idea that no one in Israel had answered their call for help, and that tomorrow they could poke out all their eyes.

The next day, super early in the morning…before the sun had come up, Saul marched his men across the Jordan River over to Jabesh Gilead and attacked the Ammonite camp. The Ammonites, who were probably having a lazy morning sharpening their eye pokers…were taken completely by surprise. Saul and his 330,000 men rushed right into the middle of the Ammonite camp, and as the Bible says they, “killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day.” (11:11) The attack continued until the Ammonites were so badly beaten that, “no two of them were left together.” (11:11) That is to say, anywhere that there was a group of Ammonites still fighting, they were attacked and killed. Every Ammonite soldier who was still alive went off on his own to get away from the battle. It was a huge victory for the Israelites.

After the battle was over, and after the Israelites had had a chance to think about what had just happened, they said to themselves, “Ya know this Saul guy…boy it turns out he sure is a great king! He got us to all get together, forced us to do the right thing…and we defeated the Ammonites…one of the biggest nations threatening Israel! Now…back when we were choosing Saul to be king, weren’t there some people who were saying ‘How can this man save us?’ Well, this man saved us big time. So where are those naysayers…so that we can put them to death!” Yikes! But King Saul was having none of it. He knew that their victory has nothing to do with what he had done that day…and everything to do with what God had done that day. And Saul replied to these people and said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.” (11:13)

To celebrate the victory, to thank God for everything He had done for them, and to properly install Saul as King of Israel, the Israelites all went to Gilgal. Gilgal was a place of special importance to the Israelites. Gilgal was the Israelites’ first base camp when they invaded Canaan. It was where the first alter and the first tabernacle had been setup. It was where they had celebrated their first Passover. And now it would also be the place where the first King of Israel would be properly installed. And the Bible says, “There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.” (11:15)

But in the middle of all the celebrations at Gilgal, Samuel had something very important and very sobering to say to the Israelites. And so he stood up, addressed the whole nation, and began, saying, “Indeed I have heeded your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. And now here is the king, walking before you; and I am old and grayheaded, and look, my sons are with you.” (12:1-2) And then Samuel went through the history of Israel, and how God had raised up Moses and Aaron, and many judges (including Samuel) to help Israel in times of emergency. And that all throughout this time, from the time of Egypt until now, Israel had never had a king. And that God had been their king. And that despite God’s warnings, Israel had decided that now they wanted a king. And that even though King Saul seemed to be working out, and even though things had worked out great with the Ammonites, that Israel had indeed sinned against God…and eventually there would be consequences.

To really bring the point home, Samuel called on God to send a big thunderstorm, which God did. And the Israelites realized just how serious it was that they had gone against what God had wanted for them. And the Israelites said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.” (12:19) But Samuel replied and said, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.… I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (12:20-25) At the end of the day, whether they had a king leading them, or a dictator, or a president, or a prime minister, or whatever kind of government the Israelites might want…what really mattered is that they followed God…and that they served Him with all their heart. If they did that, they would be ok…even if the kind of government they had wasn’t the best for them.

Well, the die was cast. For better or worse, Israel was now a monarchy. And the Ammonites, one of the powerful nations that was threatening Israel, had been defeated. But there were lots of nations around Israel. Would those nations see what had happened with the Ammonites and leave Israel alone? And what about King Saul…would King Saul really take to heart the importance of obeying God in all things? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.