"See Saul Teeter-Totter"
or
("Dogged Doeg...Lyre of David")
"Our generation is lost to the truth of God, to the reality of
Divine Revelation, to the content of God's will, to the power of his
redemption, and to the authority of His Word. For this loss it is paying
dearly in a swift relapse into paganism." --Carl F. Henry
*********
The Lyre of David soothed his
master,
But, you see, Saul never heard.
Another Liar had him
mastered....
See, Saul never got The Word.
***************
Early on in the history of the Jewish nation, scripture teaches us that
God's chosen people foolishly clamored for a king so that they could be more
like the pagan nations that surrounded them (1 Samuel 8: 4,5). Apparently,
God's people wanted to 'blend in' with the world. Scripture teaches that God
gave them what they desired. King Saul was appointed, anointed and crowned
to rule over them.
Through the chapters of 1Samuel, we read about the exploits of King
Saul. We read about his victories, his stand-offs and his indecisions. We
read about his errors and his defeats, his steady demise and his increasing
psychological instability. His is the story of a man who tried desperately
to straddle a spiritual fence and a vast cultural divide. On the one hand
Saul knew where his position of power and authority had originated. He knew
that God had placed him on the throne. Deep inside, Saul knew that he owed
his exalted position and his security to the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. Tragically, however Saul began to forget the one who had appointed
and annointed him king, and as time went on found himself increasingly at
odds with the plans and purposes of The Almighty to whom he owed so much.
And so Saul began the prideful spiritual process of dethroning God from his
heart and in doing so tried to sweep God under the rug, out of sight and out
of mind.
The Jews had demanded a king so that they would be more like the
nations around them. They wanted to be "like the world", and eventually they
got exactly what they wanted.
Despite God's longsuffering, grace and mercy, Saul sank deeper and
deeper into the self-destructive fog of Pride and Compromise born of
spiritual adultery. He was an increasingly tormented man. King Saul
discovered that compromise with the world and persistent spiritual
fence-straddling eventually leads to disaster.
**********
In 1 Samuel 21: 7, we are given a bit of insight into the king's
deteriorating mental and spiritual condition. There we are told that Saul's
"head shepherd" was a man named Doeg.....
"Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained
before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd."
In the Hebrew, the word
"Doeg", means fear, anxiety.
[Strong's Concordance 1672,
1673]
When fear, anxiety and worry are our chief advisors and our
"head shepherd", it is usually an indication that we are somehow at odds
with God's will. And when we find ourselves at odds with God's will, the
voice of Doeg in our lives gets louder and louder. A
vicious cycle, indeed.
Saul was a man
in spiritual conflict. On the one hand he understood
his need for and dependence upon the God of David, yet he was also driven
toward compromise with the pagan world and with the culture that gladly
worshipped "other gods".
For Saul, David's God was both a comfort to be embraced and heeded
and a threat to be dealt with and overcome. David's presence was a
nagging reminder to Saul that he was following a crooked and unrighteous
path. Saul knew that he had either to heed David's providential voice and
counsel...or he would have to silence it once and for all.
In the end, Saul chose to listen to the wrong shepherd. Saul was strung
along by Doeg's Liar.
David's Lyre... he rejected.
The king's choice led ultimately to his self-destruction. On Mount
Gilboa, Saul and his Army of Compromise was destroyed by the very world it
had wanted so much to be like.
Assimilation to the deadly max.
And so we read:
"The next day, when the Philistines* came to strip the
dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut
off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout
the land...to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their
people. They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his
body to the wall of Beth Shan*...." (1 Samuel 31:8-10)
**********
Later, when David heard about King Saul's death:
"David took up this lament concerning Saul....and ordered
that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the
Book of Jashar):
'Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on
your heights.
How the mighty have fallen.....
O mountains of Gilboa,
may you have neither dew nor
rain,
nor fields that yield offerings of
grain.
For there the shield of the mighty was
defiled,
the shield of Saul---no longer
rubbed with oil**.....
(2 Samuel 1:17...19...21)
"See Saul Teeter-Totter"
or
("Dogged Doeg...Lyre of David")
Did you see Saul teeter-totter?
Did you guess how he would fall?
Can you see him in the mirror...?
In the churches?....
At the Mall?
******
Yes my friend, ....See, Saul's a picture,
Of America today.
See his shield both cracked and brittle...
Wounded nation...... weakened prey.
We're like Saul who's chasing David.
(Since The Fall that's nothing new!)
Help us, Lord, to get the picture,
And realize who's chasing who!
Saul alone can't slay The Giant.
Lord, Saul wavered from the start!
In the flesh he faltered badly.
Apart from, you, Lord, we lose heart.
Songs of David try to woo us
From the subtle pagan ploy.
Shepherd David tries to save us...
While another would destroy.
All those soothing Songs of David
Now drowned out by "Doeg-Doubts"...
Siren Ashtar's screeching louder,
"Compromise!"
The goddess shouts.
Still we see Saul teeter-totter,
While this warfare rages on.
Giant Philistines attacking...
Saul's resistance?....
Almost gone.
Sword of Truth?.... It's dull and useless.
So neglected over time!
See, God's people wanted "freedom"...
..... Pagan Culture stole them blind.
**********
We've enjoyed this House of Pleasure,
Beth Shan's* gaudy "House of Ease".
Painted Ashtar laughs and cackles,
While transmitting her disease.
Gaze upon her
Beth Shan trophy,
Hanging on that Temple wall.
See Saul's headless rotting body...
O Lord,....
"How the mighty fall!
Lord, like Saul so also nations....
Fall as prey in dim retreat,
Disemboweled on Gilboa,
In the dust.....
At Ashtar's feet.
*******
As a culture's faith is compromised, increasingly it will begin to
covet the enticing pleasures of the world's "other gods". When a nation
neglects to keep her shield "rubbed with oil",... when it fails to keep
"first things first"...sooner or later that nation and culture will be
overwhelmed and swallowed up by the world.
**************
************* *
* - "Beth Shan": means "House of Ease" [Strong's
Concordance, 1052].
-"Ashtar"
was the Phoenecian/Philistine
goddess of fertility and pleasures of the flesh.
-"Philistine": rollers/wallowers in dust [Strong's
Concordance, 6429, 6428]
|
|
