Fill Your Horn with Oil, and Go
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of Hope and the God of new things.
God called Samuel to anoint Saul as King. Samuel invested time and energy with Saul, encouraging him to be a faithful king. Yet, because of Saul’s belly god syndrome (BGS), he ignored the LORD’s command and pounced on the spoil for himself rather than devoting it all to destruction (1 Samuel 15:19). Belly god syndrome is when you make your belly your god and do whatever you want with no regard for eternal reality.
Not only that, but as the head of Israel, he pulled a classic “Adam” and blamed the people over which he had been given authority. His mind was set on earthly things, not the things above, where Christ is seated. As we New Covenant people know, Saul could have had faith in Christ and waited expectantly for His coming, as Abraham did (John 8:56).
Nonetheless, Samuel finishes this account of 1 Samuel 15 by proclaiming that the LORD has left the house of Saul. He then hacks Agag to pieces before the LORD. May we also, by the power of the Spirit hack to pieces the Agags in our lives. Amen, and amen.
Samuel is a prophet of God. He has the heart of a shepherd. He reminds me of Job, with a conscience that broke for the sins of others because he saw the beauty of his Savior. The Scripture says that Samuel “grieved over Saul” (1 Samuel 15:35). I can imagine he was grieved by the sin, the opportunity for greatness, for the now-kingless state of Israel, and maybe even what could have been, had Saul been faithful.
This is where I feel a fresh, spring breeze enter the room after a devastating end to Israel’s first king. The LORD graciously rebukes Samuel. How long will Samuel continue to hold onto sadness when the LORD is doing a new thing? Samuel needed to hear that there was great work needing to be done even in spite of the great sin and punishment Samuel had seen firsthand.
Oil, all throughout Scripture is a representation of the Holy Spirit. This is explicit in 1 Samuel 16:13:
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.
The LORD’s command to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil, and go” hit me right between the eyes. Samuel had the appropriate response to the rebellion against the LORD. He did the right thing by conveying the LORD’s message to Saul. I believe he did the right thing by grieving Saul and the sin of the people, for a time.
But then there was a time for a new thing, a fresh wind, a horn full of oil, ready to be poured out on the next man the LORD chose. He is the God of Hope (Romans 15:13). He is the God of new things (Isaiah 43:19).
I pray that the LORD makes me more like Samuel - a man who sees sin clearly, puts Agag to death, grieves righteously over what could have been. I pray the Lord gives me the grace to be ready to fill my horn with oil and go to the new places that he has for me and for my life.
THE LESSON FOR ME
I need to remember that He is for me, and He is not slowed down in his faithful work by my spotty faithfulness. Not only that, He is inviting me in to participate with Him in that work.
