Read 1 Samuel 14:24-46

When considering 1 Samuel 13 we learned that God’s people needed an obedient King, but Saul was disobedient to the command of the LORD through Samuel. When studying 1 Samuel 14:1-23 we discovered that God’s people needed a courageous King, but Saul was a coward who took no action under a deadly Philistine threat. In both cases we were reminded that, thanks be to God, we have a King today who is both obedient to God the Father as well as courageous on our behalf. Of course, that King is Jesus. This week our passage underscores yet another need of God’s people: a wise King. And, again, our passage underscores this need by highlighting the way that King Saul fails to address it.

King Saul does several unwise things in this passage. For one, he “laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies” (14:24). It does not take a military genius to recognize that this was an unwise move. Jonathan, who had not heard the curse, ate some honey and ended up bringing judgement upon himself (vv. 27-28, 41-43). The starving military, after fighting for their lives all day and finally winning, ended up gorging themselves on meat but “sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood” (14:33). King Saul’s unwise oath led to trouble for his son, his people, and even to the dishonoring of the true King of Israel, Yahweh. Later, King Saul made a second unwise oath when he sentenced Jonathan to death, saying, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan” (14:44). The people were not so foolish as to see the death penalty as the only way of carrying through with Saul’s curse. They saw more options and, as a result, “the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die” (14:45; see Numbers 18:15-16 for an example of ransoming).

Thanks be to God, in King Jesus we have wisdom embodied. Indeed, Paul writes that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Again, Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). We who “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” have a King who would never withhold the most needful food from us during our battle (Ephesians 6:12). Our King sustains us moment-by-moment on the freely given “bread of life”. He has told us, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). And the only reason we are honored to be in this battle for God’s glory, the only reason we freely feed by faith upon the very life of the Son of God, is because our all-wise King came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

– A helpful acronym for prayer is A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). Go to God in prayer and thank him for exercising his infinite wisdom on behalf of us, his people.
– Focus on King Jesus and enumerate ways that he displayed wisdom in the Gospels.
– Where do you need to trust that King Jesus is wise as he rules over your life right now?