Turning out as One Man
Turning out as One Man
Words of Faith 9-13-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
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." [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." [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." [4] When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. [5] Just then, Saul was returning from the fields behind his oxen, and he asked, "What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?" Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said. [6] When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger. [7] 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 turned out as one man.
Saul had been anointed and confirmed as king of Israel. It appears he tried to return to his business as usual, but it did not take long for a national crisis to arise. The Ammonites, ancient enemies of the Israelites, attacked the area where the tribe of Benjamin resided. This tribe had been greatly weakened historically through war, making it an easy target.
Nahash knew that this area would be easily defeated. He proposed a humiliating set of terms for surrender. As a condition for surrender, he would gouge out the eye of each one living there and so mark them with disgrace. In Jewish tradition, such a disfiguring injury was not only an unmistakable mark of humiliation; it represented the disfavor of God or a punishment for sin. It was a cruel condition, but the alternative was death.
Nahash was so confident in his ability to conquer this tiny group of Israelites that he even allowed them to contact the rest of the nation, knowing that there was no standing army among the loosely connected confederation of tribes. When the other Israelites heard about all this they wept because they could see no solution. They had no organized army. There was no response.
When Saul learned of the plight of this weakened city, he became enraged. In his first act of leadership, Saul did something dramatic. To rally the nation, he took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. He sent a piece by messenger to each tribal area with the firm message-- "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel."
This may seem like a strange message to us, but losing the family oxen would be humiliating and debilitating. A team of oxen was like the family pickup truck in a farming community. One could not survive without them. This seemed to get the attention of everyone in all parts of the nation. It was time to come together.
The message was clear. This sort of humiliation could not be tolerated. The scattered tribes rallied together and came out "as one man" in response to the threat. Perhaps they realized that if a tiny tribe could be picked off, then any of them could be picked off.
There is a powerful reminder here. The Enemy will come after the smallest and weakest first before moving on through a nation. If we do not stand together, we will be picked off individually. If we do not come to the defense of one another, we will lose who we are together. If we rally "as one man," the Enemy cannot stand against us. This is so true in the Body of believers and the community of God's people.
Heavenly Father, help me to hear the needs of Your Body. Help me to recognize the cry of the weakest among us. Help me to rally with fellow believers as one man in response to the threats that come against us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.