The Flesh in Action

From: Samuel: God's Emergency Man By: William Woldridge Fereday

• 2 min. read • grade level: 10

He came, too, of Benjamin—a tribe notorious for its stubbornness in evil (Judges 19:16-30¹⁶And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. ¹⁷And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou? ¹⁸And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord; and there is no man that receiveth me to house. ¹⁹Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing. ²⁰And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. ²¹So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. ²²Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. ²³And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. ²⁴Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. ²⁵But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. ²⁶Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. ²⁷And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. ²⁸And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. ²⁹And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. ³⁰And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. (Judges 19:16‑30)), and now the smallest of Israel's tribes in consequence (1 Sam. 9:21²¹And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me? (1 Samuel 9:21)). His name means asked, for he was the answer to the people's carnal demand. He thus represents the flesh in a remarkable way but was such a one really fitted to curb the restless evil of a revolted people? Flesh can never put down flesh; have we learned this in our assembly difficulties? But that which flesh can only aggravate, the power and grace of the Holy Spirit can entirely remove. How often the church of God has proved this!

Saul seemed unaware of the existence of Samuel and of the wonderful ways of God in connection with him. In this he reminds us of Belshazzar who in his moment of stress seemed ignorant of the existence of Daniel, in spite of the fact that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had some very remarkable experiences in connection with him (Dan. 5:11¹¹There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; (Daniel 5:11)). But then Belshazzar was a pagan, while Saul belonged to a people in relationship with the Lord. The fact is, flesh is never interested in what God is doing nor in the instruments that He is using. Flesh may hear of them in a languid sort of way, but no impression is made upon the heart. In reality, the Lord was more interested in Samuel at that moment than in any other person in the world, for he was the man who stood before Him on behalf of His erring people continually. Yet to Saul he appears to have been unknown!

In his difficulty, Saul had apparently no notion of inquiring of God. It is delightful to us to know that our God is interested in small matters as well as in great. The true child of faith today, if he lost his asses, would not consider the thing too trivial for the divine notice, for are we not invited in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make our requests known to God? (Phil. 4:6⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6)). But Saul was favored with an excellent servant who told him there was a man of God in the city to which they were approaching, and he suggested that they should consult him about their journey. Servants played an important part in the blessing of Naaman, the Syrian (2 Kings 5), from which we may learn never to despise the counsel and ministry of even the humblest messengers.

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