Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20061001.htm

1 AND 2 CHRONICLES: GAINING DIRECTION OUT OF THE AIMLESSNESS OF APOSTASY
Part I: Gaining Direction From God's Work In Our History From Furthest Antiquity, 1 Chronicles 1-9
D. Gaining Direction From Noting God's REASONS For Shifting The Monarchy From Saul To David
(1 Chronicles 9:35-10:14)
  1. Introduction
    1. Leadership influence in our discipling efforts is always a desirable blessing to possess, for with it the believer can more effectively influence a wider range of other people for Christ and for His Kingdom.
    2. However, as 1 Chronicles 9:35-10:14 reveals, leadership influence is a gift from God, and He supplies it to those who rely upon Him and heed His Word instead of functioning by their own lusts (as follows):
  2. Gaining Direction From Noting God's REASONS For Shifting The Monarchy From Saul To David.
    1. The genealogy of Israel's king Saul in 1 Chronicles 9:35-44 is a close repetition of the 1 Chronicles 8:29-40 record, but the author of Chronicles repeats that record to introduce the story of Saul's death and explain why God shifted Israel's monarchy from Saul to David, cf. Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 603.
    2. In summary, then, 1 Chronicles 10:13-11:1 explains the reasons for Saul's loss of life and monarchy to David. We view these reasons in their fuller Old Testament narrative contexts for our insight (as follows):
      1. 1 Chronicles 10:13a,b reveals Saul died for transgressing "against the word of the Lord, which he kept not" as the KJV puts it. This sin led to other problems and more sins that resulted in a tragic end:
        1. When the Ammonites threatened Israel (1 Samuel 11:1-3) and Saul heard of it (1 Samuel 11:5), the Holy Spirit powerfully came upon him and motivated him to lead Israel and for Israel's people to be willing to follow him in delivering them from the Ammonite threat, 1 Samuel 11:6-7, 11.
        2. After Saul's defeat of the Ammonites, the prophet Samuel warned Saul and Israel to revere and obey God for continued blessing, noting the great things God had recently done for them, 1 Sam. 12:24.
        3. Yet, once victorious over Ammon, Saul failed to recall his need for God, so he called Israel apart from God's lead to fight the Philistines after his son had slain a Philistine party, 1 Sam. 13:1-4.
        4. When the Philistines responded by amassing great numbers against him, Saul still saw the situation apart from his need for God's help, and himself offered a sacrifice to keep the people from scattering from him versus waiting for Samuel to perform the offering God's way, 1 Samuel 13:5-9.
        5. For this sin, Samuel noted God would not establish Saul's kingdom, but give it to another man who knew how to depend upon God and thus to obey His Word, 1 Samuel 13:10-14.
        6. Later, when Samuel relayed to Saul his need to heed God and so to slay all of the Amalekites and their animals (15:1-3), Saul declined to note his need to depend upon God and thus to obey Him, and slew all but the Amalekite king and lustfully saved alive the best of its animals, 15:7-9.
        7. For this added sin, Samuel noted God would end Saul's kingdom, for he had forgotten how greatly he needed God (15:16-17), and that had led him to disobey God to feed his own lusts (15:18-21).
        8. Thus, the Lord eventually ceased giving Saul His Word, for Saul had not needed it, 1 Samuel 28:6.
        9. Later, this vacuum for a word from God led to Saul's effort to contact the deceased Samuel via a medium for help in another threat from the Philistines, 1 Samuel 28:7. This act was a deep violation of Scripture (cf. Deuteronomy 18:9-14), and 1 Chronicles 10:13c reveals it was another reason why God allowed Saul to die and removed him from the blessing of having a lasting monarchy.
      2. Thus, akin to the revelation in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 and Isaiah 8:19-22, Saul failed to note his need for God's help, and so functioned in self-sufficiency independent of and in violation of God's Word and in line with his lusts until his life and hope of a lasting royal line ended in apostasy and his early death!
      3. Opposite all this, David, a "man after God's own heart," noted his need for God and revered and heeded Him, leading to God's giving the monarchy to David and to his line after him, 1 Samuel 16:1, 7, 11-13.
Lesson: Saul failed to see he greatly needed God's power and leading so as to revere and to heed Him, so Saul followed his own lusts, saw God's leading cease, creating in him a vacuum for guidance that led to his consulting a medium and the tragic end of his monarchy! In contrast, David noted his need for God so as to trust, fear and heed Him with the result that God blessed him with a lasting kingdom.

Application: May we ALWAYS recall our NEED for God to be blessed that we REVERE, TRUST and OBEY Him to enjoy God's blessing of leadership influence in our discipling efforts!