82. Leaders: The Good, The Bad, and The Honey!

G', day everyone.

Dave here.

Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

What sort of leader do you like to have?

Have you ever had a bad leader?

Have you ever had a really good leader?

Sometimes on a sports team you might get a captain who you think, this is awesome.

They'll be so good at leading the team.

Other times you might think, umm, this might not go so well.

Perhaps you've had a teacher who you think is super great.

Perhaps you've had a teacher who you didn't get on with so well.

What about a leader who's in charge of your entire life?

A king.

What sort of things would you want in a king?

A few episodes ago, we learned how Israel had asked for a king.

Like all the other nations, they looked at what other countries had and said yes.

Yep, that's what we want.

In today's story, we get to see just how bad an idea that was.

Thankfully, it'll help us think about the best king in the whole universe.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, the Israelites had the Philistines on the run.

Saul's son Jonathan had started the battle trusting that God was looking after Israel.

God had thrown the Philistines into panic and they'd even started attacking each other.

Saul and the other Israelites were late to the battle, but now they're chasing the Philistines as fast as they can.

The whole day there's fighting and chasing.

As the day goes on, even though they're winning, the Israelite soldiers are getting more and more miserable.

This is because Saul's made them all make a really silly promise.

In verse 24, he said to them, no one should eat food before evening and before I finish defeating my enemies.

If he does, he will be cursed.

Whaaaat?

Fighting is really tough work.

It'd make him more hungry, not less hungry.

But did you hear who Saul really cared about?

Himself.

He talks about his victory over his enemies.

He doesn't care about his soldiers.

He doesn't care about God.

He doesn't care about Israel.

It's all about him.

Because of this silly promise, none of the Israelite soldiers eat any food.

And they become more and more and more tired.

At some stage in the day, the army has to move through a forest.

On the ground, in the forest, everywhere they look, there's honey.

Bees have actually made some honeycomb on the ground.

Way back before God gave them this land, he'd described it as a land flowing with milk and honey.

Now Here it is.

There's honey everywhere.

It's a sign of God's goodness and kindness to them.

And, oh, it must look so tasty.

The soldiers mouths are watering, but none of them eat because of the silly promise that Saul made them make.

Jonathan doesn't know anything about that promise.

He'd been off actually fighting the enemy when Saul made the others say it.

He sees the honey and he's super excited.

He dips the end of his stick into the honeycomb and has just a tiny taste of the honey.

The soldiers around him are all pretty nervous.

They're like, ah, Jonathan, there's this promise that your dad made us all say.

That's why we're all so weak.

Jonathan's really angry when he hears about it.

He knows that his dad's been a really bad king.

He says in verse 29, my father has made trouble for the land.

See how much better I feel after just tasting a little of this honey.

It would have been much better for the men to eat the food they took from their enemies today.

We could have killed many more Philistines.

He understands that now lots of Philistines are going to get away.

It'll be easier for them to get another army together and come back and attack Israel.

Saul hasn't been the saviour of Israel.

He's actually made saving Israel harder.

The Israelites chased the Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon, and by then they're exhausted and they're starving.

They're so hungry, they start doing something God told them not to do.

They've captured lots of sheep and cattle from the Philistines, which is fine.

God had made a law, though, that they should never eat meat that still has blood in it.

When they kill animals, they need to let the blood drain out before they cook and eat them.

But now, because of this silly promise, Saul made them say they're so hungry, they just kill the animals and start eating them raw there on the ground.

Ew.

I know, gross, right?

In verse 33, someone says to Saul, look, the men are sinning against the Lord.

They're eating meat that still has blood in it.

Saul gets really angry.

How dare they sin like this?

He sets up a stone where they can kill the animals and drain the blood so they can eat properly.

That sounds like he's really concerned about God and sin.

But he doesn't say, hey, guys, I'm really sorry I made you so hungry.

I'm really sorry I tempted you to sin.

He can see what everyone else is doing wrong.

He just can't see what he's done wrong.

Also, he wants to force God to be on his side, and what the people are doing might stop that.

He doesn't have the same sort of trust in God that Jonathan has.

As the exhausted soldiers are finally sorting out a proper meal, Saul decides he wants to keep the battle going.

He says to his men in verse 36, let's go after the Philistines tonight.

Let's take what they own.

We won't let any of them live.

Can you imagine how the exhausted soldiers are feeling as he says this?

They've been running and fighting all day without food, and now he wants them to go all night as well.

But he's the king.

So they reply, do whatever you think is best.

Then the priest speaks up.

He doesn't say, do what you think is best.

Instead, he says, let's ask God.

Oh, what a good idea.

It's such a shame that Saul didn't think of that.

But as we've seen, he thinks about himself much more than he thinks about God.

Now in verse 37, Saul asks God, should I chase the Philistines, or will you let us defeat them?

And you know what God says?

He says, nothing.

No answer, no reply.

Not a word.

That's a little embarrassing for God's special king.

Why won't he answer?

He could say yes.

He could say no.

Instead, he said, nothing.

Saul figures someone must have sinned to make God not want to answer.

And so he decides to work it out.

So he says to the leaders of his army in verse 38, come here.

Let's find what sin has been done today.

As surely as the Lord lives.

Even if my son Jonathan did the sin, he must die.

Just like God didn't give an answer, none of the leaders of the army answer him either.

Then he says to all the Israelites, you stand on this side.

I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other side.

Just like when Saul was shown to be king, they're going to cast lots to see which side the problem is.

Is it in all the Israelites, or is it in Saul and Jonathan?

Again, the army reply with that same weary answer, the answer that recognizes that Saul's in charge without saying whether they think he's doing a good or a bad thing.

They say, do whatever you think is best.

Saul prays to God, give me the right answer.

The lots are thrown, and the answer comes up.

The problem is in Saul and Jonathan.

Huh?

Now, that threat Saul made, the threat to kill whoever is responsible, even if it's his own son, Jonathan.

That threat seems very real.

They cast the lots again to find out if the problem is in Saul or Jonathan.

And Jonathan is chosen.

What monstrous crime could Jonathan have done?

What horrible evil has he been taking part in?

What terrible sin has he committed?

Saul asks him what he's done and he replies in verse 43, I only tasted a little honey from the end of my stick and must I die now?

Oh, no.

He tasted a tiny little bit of honey on the end of his stick.

What a horrible, terrible, dastardly crime.

Surely that deserves death.

Well, actually.

Of course it doesn't.

Jonathan didn't make the promise and he was doing a really wise thing.

It was nuts not to eat anything during the day.

But Saul, he's made a promise and he doesn't want to back down now.

He says to his own son, Jonathan, if you don't die, may God punish me terribly.

And now, finally, the army speaks up.

They accepted Saul's decision when he said they should keep fighting through the night.

They didn't say anything when he was threatening to put them to death.

But now his foolishness has gone too far.

Jonathan isn't a criminal.

He's the one man who trusted God, who attacked the Philistines, who.

Who God had worked with to win the battle.

How can Saul be so evil as to say he should be killed for eating a little bit of honey?

In verse 45, they all cry out, must Jonathan die?

Never.

He's responsible for saving Israel today.

As surely as the Lord lives, not even a hair of his head will fall to the ground.

Today, Jonathan fought against the Philistines with God's help, and thankfully they won the argument.

Jonathan is not killed.

Saul stops chasing the Philistines, and because of all his bad decisions, lots of them get away and escape back to their homeland.

Who did King Saul care about?

It wasn't the Israelites who he was king of.

It wasn't his own son who was such a good saviour of Israel.

It wasn't even God who'd chosen him to lead his people.

In the end, Saul cared about himself.

He was a king, just like all the other kings in all the other nations.

Wonderfully, God had a much better plan in mind.

He had plans for a much better king, the best king in all the universe, King Jesus.

Jesus never had to be reminded to ask God the Father for anything.

He prayed all the time.

He never had to be stopped from putting innocent people to death.

Instead, he saved guilty people from from death.

And he never used other people to care for himself.

Instead, he gave up his own life.

He took the punishment for our sin.

He suffered so we wouldn't have to Jesus is the good, perfect, wonderful King.

It isn't hard to follow Jesus.

We don't have to say, do whatever you think is best.

What Jesus thinks is best is always best.

So it's a joy to say to Jesus, do whatever you think is best.

And so no matter where you are in the world, no matter how old you are, I hope you trust Jesus as your good, perfect, wonderful king.

Back in Israel, God's already planning for a new king.

Not a king like all the other nations, but a king who is the sort of king God wants.

But that's a story for next time.

Hi everyone.

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Bye for now.