Saul.
1 Sam. 9.
WE have in this chapter an interesting little story of some asses that were lost, and how they were sought after by Saul. They belonged to Kish the father of Saul, and he told Saul to take one of the servants with him and go seek the asses. As every obedient son would have done, he immediately set out to do as his father had bidden him. For three days he looked for the asses, going many miles, but he could not find them. Finally, just as he was about to return home, the servant suggested to him that in the city nearby was a man of God, and that he, peradventure, could tell them the way that they should go. Saul, thinking that the advice was good, went into the city and at length found the Seer, Samuel, who now for the first time saw him who was to reign over the Lord’s people.
There was, however, a little difficulty with Saul about going to the Seer and consulting him, without taking a present to him in return for his benevolence in directing their way to find the asses. But the servant had the fourth part of a shekel of silver and this was considered worthy to give to Samuel.
Now, dear children, do you know what a blessed thing it to trust in the Lord to direct your way through this world, looking to Him to guide you in every step you take, so that you may not only be prospered in your way, but also be able to please the Lord in all that you do? You do not need now, as of old, to seek a Seer, or Prophet, in order to find out what God’s mind is about any particular thing. His word is with us, and His Spirit is here in the world to direct the believer and give him intelligence as to what His way is. And is it not a real comfort to know that the Lord will direct us even to find something that we may have lost, if we look in faith to Him? The more simple and trustful we are, the more we shall prove how fully He comes into every little thing in our lives and helps us wonderfully.
But before we can know what it is to have this liberty of going to Him as a Father about everything, we must surely first know that we are His children. Those of this world who do not belong to Him are afraid to go to Him for help and strength, because they have not confidence in Him, and are not His children. Their sins are between themselves and God, and they have not become reconciled to Him. Do all the readers of “Messages of Love” know what it is to “have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins”? (Col. 1:1414In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14).)
This, I judge, is the meaning we may gather from the piece of silver money, which Saul and his servant purposed giving to Samuel. It speaks of redemption. And those who have searched God’s word are agreed that, silver speaks of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The Lord surely would sneak to us from these things that occurred in the history of the Old Testament to magnify and strengthen the precious things revealed in the New Testament.
The lost asses tell us of our own lost condition before God. And every firstling of an ass had to be redeemed with a lamb, or else be killed. “And every firstling of an ass shalt thou redeem with a lamb: and, if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.” Ex. 13:1313And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. (Exodus 13:13).
If we are not redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Lamb, then we must be judged by God’s righteous Judge, Jesus Christ, at the great white throne, and perish forever in the lake of fire.
The asses of Kish were domesticated animals and useful as beasts of burden. There were also the wild asses that lived in the desert, but these were unmanageable and beyond the control of man, as Jeremiah tells us. Jer. 2:2424A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. (Jeremiah 2:24). The disposition of the ass would remind us of the determined and unbroken will of man, which makes him an enemy of God. The book of Job tells us that man is born like a wild ass’s colt. Job 11:1212For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt. (Job 11:12). But it was the tamed asses that were redeemed, and they still retained the old nature of the wild ass. The wild nature was simply subdued and rendered docile.
And so it is with us, dear children, if we be not “partakers of the divine nature.” We may have all the refining influences of a good home, and all the advantages derived from education, and still have only the old nature which neither loves God nor is subject to Him. The Lord said to Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7). It is by being born anew, that is, having a new life from God that we can in any wise love Him.
Saul could not find the lost asses, but the Lord Jesus not only sought out His lost ones, but also found them. The asses were found at the end of three days, by someone whose name is not told us (v. 20). This again speaks of Jesus being three days in the grave and rising again, having accomplished the work of redemption, whereby the lost might be sought and found and saved.
ML 08/10/1902