The Ammonites have laid siege to the Israelite town of Jabesh Gilead, threatening to gouge out the right eyes of all the men in the town. Desperate, the people of Jabesh send messengers around Israel begging for help from their countrymen.
How will Israel respond to this threat? How will Israel’s new king respond to the threat? We learned in 1st Samuel chapters 9 & 10, Israel’s new king, Saul, was shy, seeming like he didn’t want to be king. That’s why Saul’s response is shocking to this threat from the Ammonites. Look at 1st Samuel chapter 11, verses 6-9,
“When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. He 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. When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand. They 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.”
Notice a very important detail in verse 6: “The Spirit of God came powerfully upon him.” The presence and power of the Spirit changes shy Saul into inspired Saul. When the Spirit of the Lord is present, watch out.
The Spirit fires Saul up and he institutes the most unique military draft you ever heard of. Cutting up a pair of oxen, he sends their body parts around Israel saying, “Show up or this is what will happen to your oxen.” That is intense.
As a result of that butcher draft, the terror of the Lord comes upon the people, and they get motivated. You might think that word “terror” sounds awful when connected to God. People should never feel terror toward God, right? What is going here? Are the people more afraid of what the Lord might do to them (or their oxen) if they don’t come out fight with Saul, than their fear of what the Ammonites might do? No doubt God is infinitely more powerful than the Ammonites, so there is a sense in which people would be right to fear him more than a human army.
But this terror, which is translated “fear” in many other places in Scripture as “the fear of the Lord,” should be understood as “respect.” Awe. The feeling of awe and terror are extremely similar. I’ve previously written that I love looking at the moon. But it freaks me out. I can’t stop looking, though, because I find it awe-inspiring. Something so massive, so far away, that I can see? And with my telescope, I can see the craters. It’s astounding. It rises up inside me a feeling that is terror and amazement and respect. That’s what is going on in this passage. We can call it, “Healthy fear.”
The Israelites healthy fear is reflected in the New Testament, in Paul’s letter 2 Corinthians. He writes, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.” A linguist I appreciate suggests this could be translated, “where the Spirit of the Lord is present, a person is not dominated” or “… a person does not feel under constraint.”[1]
The Spirit of God frees us from unhealthy fear, giving us a proper respectful fear of God! In Saul’s life, a normally shy, timid person becomes a strong leader when the Spirit fills him. 330,000 Israelites sign up to rescue their brothers and sisters in Jabesh. They do not, however, simply attempt a full frontal attack. They are smart about it, depending on whether you view feigning surrender a lie, or a normal part of war.
In verse 10, we read, “They said to the Ammonites, ‘Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like’.” This is a lie, meant to lull the Ammonites into a peaceful sleep. It seems to work. Here’s what happens next,
“The 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.”
Saul, filled with the Spirit, has led the people to a massive victory, in his first action as king.
But just like that, another issue arises for Saul, and we’ll learn about that issue in the next post.
[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 487–488.
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