Live by the Spirit, not the Flesh (1 Samuel 22:3-23)

The transition of authority and power for Israel's Kingship is at hand. Suspense is heightened as Saul's rage and jealousy have consumed him to the point of large scale murder.

The feeling in my gut when I hear about Saul, as he slayed the priests and people of Nob, matches that of 9/11. That morning I watched television reports displaying horrid evil deeds. Something is so very wrong, so my gut says. In each instance human depravity (our sinful nature and its evil potential) reared its ugly head in the form of mass injustice and hatred. This should cause our hearts to react.

Saul called the priests before him, accusing them in the same way that he had formerly accused his servants (22:8). With Saul's hatred seeking a target, the fate of the priests was chosen before they appeared. Saul was in rebellion against God, and the victims of his rage were ultimately an act of spite toward the God who had disciplined him and taken the throne of Israel from him.

He killed Levites that day. They were priests whose life work involved worshiping God by serving the Israelite people in the sanctuary. They were not warring men in their God-ordained role. This tribe of people represented God's holiness in interaction with humanity. Levites were an example for the nation of Israel. They were a living example of life with a holy God.

In sin we, like Saul, are not theocentric. Rather, we are egocentric. It takes God in us to regain a theocentric life. Saul's progression into greater rebellion and hatred was a process. According to God's Law, Saul had a responsibility to keep his heart theocentric. Yet, the life he developed convinces me that he did not. Sin became a driving force in his life, not held to account by his relationship with a holy God.

To me this is a reminder of the importance of the work of a sanctification in my life. I have a personal responsibility in working with the Spirit of God in the process of being made like Christ. My sin nature always has the potential to rebell against God's ways. But the Spirit in me gives me hope that I can continue to be made into a reflection of God's holiness.

My potential to hurt, hate, and live out the sinful nature is as real today as it was before I came to know Christ. Yet, I have the gift of the Holy Spirit teaching me God's ways through faith in Christ Jesus. I can't speak divine judgement upon Saul, but for Christians today we have teaching that bids us toward obedient love:

"So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:12-14 NAS)


© 2007 by Kendra Hinkle

Scripture marked “NAS” is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.