God’s Provision in Crisis | 1 Samuel 11:1-15
INTRODUCTION
In the annals of history, crises often reveal both the worst and the best in humanity. Yet, amid the darkest hours, God’s provision shines brightest. In 1 Samuel 11, we encounter a besieged city, Jabesh Gilead, facing a dire threat from Nahash, the Ammonite. Their plea for help echoes through the ages, illustrating our own cries in times of desperation. But in the midst of crisis, God raises up Saul, not just as a deliverer, but as a testament to His unwavering provision and leadership.
HF: Today, let us explore how God’s faithfulness transforms crisis into opportunity.
1 Samuel 11
Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
We start with the villain, Nahash the Ammonite. In Hebrew, this same word with the same pronunciation and spelling has two meanings: One can mean ‘bronze.’ Another, means serpent. It’s the very same word used in Genesis 3 to describe the evil one.
CONTEXT
Now when the Israelites possessed the promised land, there were three people groups that God had told Israel not to conquer their land. The Moabites, Ammonites (both descendants of Lot), and the Edomites (descendants of Easu). So the Ammonites were people that they were never to conquer and take over. They had to learn to live with them as neighbours.
APPLICATION
In life, we have to learn to live or work with neighbours, relatives etc. In such cases, borders matter, boundaries make good neighbours. Sometimes God puts tough people around us just like God did with Jabesh Gilead and the Ammonites.
The Ammonites were not good neighbours and they were invading the borders or the boundaries of this city. It wasn’t an invasion like is in our news today with tanks and artillery. This was a slow invasion. It was called a siege where they put sanctions over the city. Nobody in, nobody out, and they would just wait it out until they ran out of resources and gave up. So that’s how we begin in verse one.
Jabesh Gilead shares the boundary with the Ammonites. It is not surprising then that it is then the target for an invasion from the Ammonites. They want to expand, and Jabesh Gilead was the target. This in the Trans-Jordan area, in the east bank, east of the Jordan River.
Up till now Israel’s main enemy in 1 Samuel has been an enemy on the west, the Philistines, and the Philistines don’t have a king. What they have were five lords, ruling over their five main cities, a pentapolis of the Philistines, but they don’t have a king. So Israel never felt the need for a king.
All of a sudden the Ammonites come along and they have a king and Israel is now asking for a King.
1 Samuel 12:12
“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’ even though the Lord your God was your king.
It was actually the attack of Nahash, king of the Ammonites, that put it into the mind of the Israelites that they got a king. He just speaks and the people follow, and we need a king like the nations in particular, not like Philistines but like the Ammonites.
1 Samuel 11:1
Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
Probably, this siege was probably going on for a while. Now they are wanting to make a peace treaty with the Ammonites.
1 Samuel 11:2
But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”
Well, what was the advantage to Nahash of not just invading and wiping them out? Why would he agree to this condition? Well, if they do not have their right eyes, they cannot war with the Ammonites. Right eye is needed to aim the arrow. So they cannot fight against the Ammonites. Moreover, they had one eye, so they could do farming and their work and the Ammonites would get the tax/tribute from them. So it was win-win situation for both.
1 Samuel 11:3
The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”
The people of Jabesh Gilead are the Israelites. They are living in the promised land. Why did they think there was a chance that no one would come and help them? Yes, they are living across the Jordan river, but why would Israel not help them?
BACKGROUND OF JABESH GILEAD
In the end of the book of Judges, chapter 19 to 21, we have a story that is actually a flashback of something that happened a couple of hundred years earlier. It is a tragic story of a beloved woman, the concubine of a Levite from Bethlehem. As they were travelling from her house to Bethlehem, they stopped for night at Gibea, the town of the Benjamites.
In Gibeah, they couldn’t find lodging until an old man offered them shelter. While they were enjoying their evening, wicked men of the city surrounded the house, like in Sodom and Gomorrah demanding to have intimacy with the Levite. The host offered his virgin daughter and the concubine instead, but the men refused. The Levite then sent his concubine outside to them. She was raped and abused all night. At dawn, she returned and collapsed at the house door.
In the morning, the Levite found her dead. He placed her on his donkey and went home. There, he cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them throughout Israel, causing outrage and calling for action against such an atrocity. This incident highlighted the lawlessness and moral decline in Israel at that time. It was just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
As a result, all Israel was called together to respond to this evil act, to show what God thought of what happened to that innocent woman. Obviously, they were after the culprits, but they were protected. When the culprits were not given up and surrendered to justice by the tribe of Benjamin, Israel decided to wipe out all the tribe of Benjamin. So the whole nation of Israel went for a civil war over this offense against a single woman.
By the time it was all over, there were only 600 men of Benjamin left. Who didn’t come when we they called Israel to fight against the Benjamites? Jabesh Gilead. They didn’t come.
First of all they didn’t come and fight against this offense.
Second, they also didn’t come to make that promise: We’ll give none of our daughters to these people.
When a nation has a time of turning from God, they go crazy and they do crazy things. So they went over to Jabesh Gilead, killed just about everybody, stole 400 virgins, came and brought them to the men of Benjamin and that is what perpetuated the tribe. Saul’s mother or grandmother may have been from Jabesh Gilead.
So when the men of Jabesh Gilead say, “I don’t know if anybody’s going to come,” they are still feeling this history that they have.
1 Samuel 11:4
When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud.
How many times does that happen to you? You know, you read the newspaper, you find out about some horrible thing going on elsewhere in the world and the natural response is of course feeling sorry for them or to weep, to grieve over these things. All the injustices that are done around us grieve us. But they did nothing other than weep.
1 Samuel 11:5
Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
So that reaction of the people is to cry about it, but not Saul. He doesn’t cry about it.
1 Samuel 11:6
When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger.
Saul in this early period, is really like the ideal kind of king that God wanted for Israel.
First, Saul is returning from the fields behind his oxen. He doesn’t think he is too good for manual labour. My goodness, he is still ploughing his fields with the oxen. Even though he has already been recognized, anointed as a king and recognized by the people. He is not living off the backs of others. He is still taking care of his own needs, and there he is with his oxen, valuable farm animals.
Secondly, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him and he burned with anger.
The people wept, of course, there is something to weep about. Saul gets angry. With the empowerment of the Holy Spirit he is angry and he is about to do something.
The Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever and he is called the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament as well as in the New. In fact, the Holy Spirit, that is the Spirit of God, does in fact transform Saul in dramatic ways.
Saul prophesied in the Holy Spirit
1 Samuel 10:6
The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.
Saul was Changed into a Different Person
That is what we call a new creature in Christ. The Holy Spirit who is there in the original creation, brooding over the waters and instrumental in creating life is also instrumental in creating new life making you a new person. Saul, you are going to be a new person.
1 Samuel 11:7-8
7He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out together as one. 8When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand.
He is not threatening their life in this act. He’s not saying, “If you don’t come and help fight for us, we’re going to kill you, that is not what he was saying.” He said, “If you don’t come and help, so shall it be done to your oxen, your livelihood, not your life.”
In other words, he was saying, don’t just keep going about your business as if this does not matter to you. We want everybody together. He probably was dramatically reproducing that same effect as we read about at the end of judges, this time though it was a little easier to take because it was an oxen that was cut up, but there was a link with those two events.
Saul is doing something based on their history from Judges. When we know history we can understand why people do what they do.
So Saul is acting like a leader here. God has equipped him.
Sometimes God’s equipping is a righteous anger.
Now don’t go home and use that as an excuse. Next time you get mad at something, don’t say well pastor says that when the Spirit of God rushes upon someone righteous anger is what follows. But we do read this occasionally in scripture.
1 Samuel 10:26-27
26Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. 27But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.
God had just pointed out Saul. Samuel the prophet had anointed him. He won the lottery in a dramatic, improbable choice of lots. Out of all the men of Israel, the lot falls to Saul. That is God’s man. Everyone else is shouting, long live the king. But some troublemaker said, how can this fellow save us? They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent. He keeps his peace.
When a man is really filled with the Spirit he learns to hold his tongue. It takes the Holy Spirit to respond like that, like Saul, in that circumstance.
But then in our text it says, though he could not take offense apparently at the nasty attitudes of people around him, when Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power and he burned with anger.
He kept his cool when they were bad mouthing him, but he blew up when it wasn’t his rights that were being abridged, but those men of Jabesh Gilead. It is the injustice that threatened to another that he got angry.
The Bible tells us not all anger is wrong.
James 1:19
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
But that doesn’t mean you never become angry. You are not angry when they bad mouth you, but when they bad mouth someone else you get angry.
Ephesians 4:26-27
26“In your anger do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.
On one occasion Jesus looked around in the synagogue at the self-righteous leaders who were finding fault with him because he was about to heal someone on the Sabbath.
Mark 3:5
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
This anger is motivated by love. Love for the man with the palsied hand, and fury for those who would hinder him from getting healed.
Whey they were hindering the little children to come to Jesus, he was angry.
Mark 10:14
When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Jesus got angry but it was not for sins against himself but against others. It was always a show of love, a demonstration of love. Anger is a gift of the spirit when it is motivated by love.
“You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes a man angry.” – Abraham Lincoln
What is it that makes you angry?
Do you get angry when someone questions your intention or dignity? Or do you get angry injustice happen to people around you. What bothers you about when you read the newspaper? Do you get angry when an innocent person is exploited. Or is our anger just provoked by the fact that we are not getting our way?
How can we be less prone to anger?
Let it go. Let go your anger.
1 Corinthians 6:7
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
Why not rather be wronged? When we have a God in heaven who is looking out after our interests, we don’t have to look out after our own, he can take care of it.
Speak up or take action.
“War is love’s response to a neighbour threatened by force.” – Augustine
But it does mean our anger can energise us to solve and tackle problems and to intervene and to speak up.
Proverbs 31:8
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
If there is something that has your heart, get involved, do something.
Psalms 82:3
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Prayer.
Prayer is one thing we can do.
“If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.” – Richard Foster
I don’t know what we can do about the injustice around, I don’t know what we can do about the innocent suffering. But I do know we can take some action, we can speak up, and we an pray. It is amazing that that would be possible to show the love of Christ.
1 Samuel 11:8-10
8When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand. 9They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be rescued.’” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. 10They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like.”
They were really relying that the men of Israel were going to come through for them. But the men elders of Jabesh Gilead lied to the Ammonites, they deceived the Ammonites.
1 Samuel:11-15
11The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
12The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.”
13But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.”
14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
Saul is a great king so far, isn’t he? This has been fantastic.
I want to do is draw a few lessons. What can we learn to apply to our lives from what we have read here?
Saul Didn’t Waste Energy on Offenses.
Those messengers came from Jabesh Gilead and they came into his territory and it says they whispered in the ears of all the people. Now it would have been so easy for Saul to say, “Why am I the last to hear about everything?”
Have you ever said that in your home? Like all the kids know about something that’s going on. You say, “Why am I the last one to hear about this?.”
Here’s the thing. Saul didn’t even waste time on that offense. It was an offense. They should have come directly to him and said, we need your help. You are the king after all, you have the ability to help. But he didn’t waste time on offense. He just went to the business of getting what needed to be done.
Saul was Led by the Spirit and He Walked in Wisdom.
The Spirit of God rushed upon him. God equipped him for this task. God gave him a holy indignation, and he trusted God’s leading. He rallied the support. He leaned into the equipping of the Lord. Saul trusted that God had given him everything that he needed. We can learn some good lessons from that.
Saul Resisted both Gloating and Retaliation.
How pleasing is it to be proven right in front of people who formerly criticized you? It feels really good, doesn’t it? And you sort of want to perpetuate that. So when someone starts saying now, “Who is criticizing Saul? But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.”
Saul says nobody is going to die today. Furthermore, he reminds them that this wasn’t about him anyway. This was about what God did and so he treated those people with grace and he gave glory to God.
Don’t Put People in Categories
Now I want to ask you a question. Does it bother you today that we’re highlighting all of these positive traits in Saul? You know a little bit probably about this man. Saul later trusted in his own abilities and he disobeyed God and God rejected him asking.
Does it bother you that all we’re saying is good things about him today? It may, because in the Bible we want people to be all bad or all good. In life, we want people to be all bad or all good. If we like someone, we don’t want to admit he does one thing that’s wrong. If we don’t like a person, we do not want him to do something that’s good. We want people to stay in their categories.
The reality here that we learn is that God chose Saul. God equipped Saul. Saul walked in God’s blessing, until he didn’t want to walk in God’s blessing, until he walked in his own rebellion. We need to remember this as we deal with people going through life. We’re not all good. We are not all bad.
CONCLUSION
As we conclude our journey through 1 Samuel 11, we see how God’s provision in crisis isn’t just a historical event but a timeless promise for us today. Just as Saul responded with courage and the Spirit’s empowerment, God stands ready to act on our behalf in the challenges we face. Whether it’s personal struggles or global uncertainties, remember His faithfulness displayed at Jabesh Gilead. Trust that He hears our cries and intervenes with His perfect timing. Jesus exemplifies this divine rescue perfectly; unlike Saul, who rallied Israel against an external threat, Jesus came to rescue us from our internal enemy—sin—through His sacrificial death and resurrection. He is our present help, not a distant spectator. Place your hope securely in His unfailing provision and experience His grace that redeems and restores beyond measure.
LIFE APPLICATION POINTS
Trust in God’s Timely Intervention.
Just as God intervened promptly at Jabesh Gilead, trust in His perfect timing in your crises.
Question: How can you cultivate patience and trust while waiting for God’s timing in your current challenges?
Respond with Courage and Empowerment.
Saul empowered by the Spirit, respond to crises with courage and reliance on God’s strength.
Question: What steps can you take today to rely more on God’s strength rather than your own in difficult situations?
Seek God’s Guidance and Direction.
Just as Saul sought God’s guidance before acting, seek God’s wisdom and direction in your decisions during crises.
Question: How can you prioritize seeking God’s guidance through prayer and Scripture in the midst of your current challenges?