20240321

he would have

1 Samuel 13:13-23 (JDV)

1 Samuel 13:13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have been foolish. You have not kept the command Yahveh your God gave you. It was at this time that Yahveh would have permanently established your reign over Israel,
1 Samuel 13:14 but now your reign will not endure. Yahveh has found a man after his own heart, and Yahveh has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what Yahveh commanded.”
1 Samuel 13:15 Then Samuel went from Gilgal to Gibeah in Benjamin. Saul registered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.
1 Samuel 13:16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the troops who were with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines were camped at Michmash.
1 Samuel 13:17 Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three divisions. One division headed toward the Ophrah road leading to the land of Shual.
1 Samuel 13:18 The next division headed toward the Beth-horon Road, and the last division headed down the border road that Notices out over the Zeboim Valley toward the wilderness.
1 Samuel 13:19 No blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise, the Hebrews will make swords or spears.”
1 Samuel 13:20 So all the Israelites went to the Philistines to sharpen their plows, mattocks, axes, and sickles.
1 Samuel 13:21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel for plows and mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for pitchforks and axes, and for putting a point on a cattle prod.
1 Samuel 13:22 So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hand of any of the troops who were with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.
1 Samuel 13:23 Now a Philistine garrison took control of the pass at Michmash.

he would have

Samuel tells Saul the bad news of his failure of the test. He also tells him what God would have done if Saul had been faithful. He would have given Saul a permanent reign. Saul had been so anxious to preserve his temporary success that he wound up giving away his chance at a permanent reign.

You and I are tested in this way as well. If we want to hold on to our temporary successes in this world, we will miss out on the promises of God for the next. The permanent reign is the reign that really matters. The permanent (eternal) life is the one that will really matter. When we meet our Savior as he judges the sheep and the goats, if he tells us to depart from him because he never knew us, it will not matter how successful we were in this life.