1 Samuel 11

 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalm 119:18)

Jesus came to establish a kingdom of light. One of the signs of that kingdom coming was the opening of the eyes of the blind.

There is an adversary who does not want the people of God to “see” in any sense of the word. He comes to kill. The power of his hatred was working among the Ammonites who desired not only to conquer the people of Jabesh Gilead, but to “bring disgrace on all Israel” by gouging out all their right eyes.

Why would Nahash the Ammonite agree to give the people of Israel seven days to see if anyone would come to their aid? The kingdom of darkness sometimes overreaches. His desire to humiliate the weak was so strong that he expected the joy of seeing that none of the men in Israel would be willing to come to the aid of their own brothers. The elders of Jabesh were already willing to give themselves to the Ammonites as servants, but that was not enough to satisfy the power of hatred among these enemies of God. They wanted to bring God's people lower by showing them that they had no friends who would risk their lives for their sake.

The Ammonites had not counted on the power of the Spirit of the Lord working through the Lord's anointed, Saul. When he heard the news of the threats of these adversaries, “his anger was greatly kindled.”

Saul executed an authority over Israel that was surprising. Was this the man who had been hiding among the baggage in the previous chapter? But now the Spirit of God was using him to muster the fighting men of Israel under threat of their own destruction should they ignore the call of the Lord.

The dread of the Lord fell upon the people of Israel. They were more afraid of God than they were of the Ammonites. Because of this they followed Saul's leadership, and defeated the Ammonites. The men of Nahash had nurtured hopes of humiliating the people of Jabesh Gilead beyond measure, but now Saul and the Israelites won a great victory over their adversaries, and scattered the proud foe.

In His first advent, Jesus did not come with the power of the sword. He showed His strength through His death. Yet it would be wrong to imagine that He did not win a great victory over the devil in His death for His beloved people.

1 John 3:8 tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” The devil must have hoped that the cross would be a horrible public defeat of Jesus. In some sense it was. But a far more important and powerful truth is found in this statement of Paul in Colossians 2:15, that through the cross God had “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.”

Jesus did what He came to do. He destroyed the works of the devil. We may not see all of that victory at present, but it has already been won through the death and resurrection of our King. He was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, a Spirit of wisdom, love, and power. By that Spirit our God defeated a foe that had hoped to keep the world in darkness. But now a new light has dawned, and those who were once in blindness, see.

After Saul and the men of Israel had defeated the Ammonites, some of Saul's followers wanted to slaughter their fellow-Israelites who had earlier expressed doubts about Saul in their foolish words of rebellion. Saul showed himself merciful to those in Israel who were once against him. Why? “Today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.”

May the Lord give us the true vision that comes from His Spirit. May we see wonderful things in His Word. May we love the Captain of our Salvation, renew our commitment to Him as our King, and follow Him in mercy even toward those who have rashly opposed Him. He gives more grace. Let us extend to others grace upon grace. Rejoice in the Lord always!