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1 Samuel 14 – Praying through the Bible #90 – A Prayer to Find Someone to Blame
Arrogance blinds so that everything good is about us, and nothing bad ever is. Blame is the name of the game, and the finger always points outwardly. Saul’s story is abrupt and kinetic at the beginning, and as incoherent as his mind. One mistake of Saul is he makes everyone abide by his rash vow (14.24). Fear and arrogance becomes king, destroying anyone but never willing to blame self.
Here is Saul’s vow: “Cursed is the man who eats food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies” (14.24). Saul’s not thinking clearly, or of others, creates weakness in his soldiers. So when the troops finally eat, they are starving and eat contrary to God’s command by eating meat with the blood (14.33). Saul blames the people, taking no responsibility for the sin: “You have been unfaithful” (14.33).
Another casualty to Saul’s vow is Jonathan. Unknown to his father, he already had an amazing victory with just him and his attendant. They defeated 20 men (14.14). Contrast Jonathan’s words with Saul’s. Jonathan says, “Come on, let’s cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will help us. Nothing can keep the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few” (14.6). Saul’s vow was about himself and his vengeance. After the victory, ignorant of his father’s ill-chosen order, Jonathan reaches out with the end of the staff he was carrying, dips it into the honeycomb, and revives his energy (14.27).
After the vow, we find Saul’s first recorded prayer: “Should I go after the Philistines? Will You hand them over to Israel?” But God did not answer him that day (14.37). When God won’t answer King Arrogance, he immediately looks for blame: “All you leaders of the troops, come here. Let us investigate how this sin has occurred today. As surely as the LORD lives who saves Israel, even if it is because of my son Jonathan, he must surely die!” (14.38-39). Another rash vow. In the blinded eyes of Saul, Jonathan is culpable, but Saul is not. When God does not answer Saul, the prideful king doesn’t look back to his willing disobedience in acting like a priest (13.6-14). Neither does he look at his rash vow being a stumbling block leading others to sin. No, the problem cannot be himself. He is too blinded by arrogance.
Saul prays again to find the sinner. Finally the lot lands on Jonathan. Therefore he tries to kill his own son, but the people rescue Jonathan. Sadly, Saul wasn’t praying with the intention of finding the true source of sin; so God led him to the conclusion he wanted. While Jonathan broke Saul’s vow, Saul broke God’s command. While the soldiers sinned in eating blood; Saul led them to being desperate. Sometimes God’s answers are God giving us what we want to see, because we are too blind to see the truth.
Prayer Challenge: When God is not answering our prayers, we need to pray that we will always look at ourselves first before blaming others.
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