Legacy

"Then Samuel died"

1 Samuel 25:1

It's very interesting to compare the attention paid by Scripture to the death of Samuel, to the verses that tell us about the death of Saul.  The lesson I think it teaches me is about where my focus is.

The verses that tell us about Samuel's death are few.  Chapter 25, verse 1; and chapter 28, verse 3 tell us only that Samuel died, and that the Israelites gathered and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah.  That's it.

I feel like there's honor in this simplicity.  It reminds me of a verse in Acts 13 about David's death:  "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep and was buried with his fathers."  The End.  No more words necessary.  Glory to God.

Saul, on the other hand, dies not only a battle death, but a soap opera-worthy death.   In chapter 31, Saul is severely wounded by an enemy archer.  Afraid of death, or torture, or torture then death at the hands of the Philistines, Saul commanded his armorbearer to kill him with his sword.  But his armorbearer refused, and rightly so, to kill the man that God had anointed as king.  So Saul took a sword and fell on it.  He died alongside his armorbearer (who also killed himself) all his officers, and three of his four sons.

And, in fact, the Philistines did mutilate his body, decapitating him.  What David had done to their champion, Goliath, they did to Saul, the king of the Israelites, who stood head and shoulders above his people.

Samuel was righteous and gentle; obedient and a man of integrity.  Saul was a man who refused to repent.  We are told by 2 Corinthians 7:10 that "Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation; the sorrow of the world produces death."  Saul's sorrow led to his grave, and David would soon ascend the throne.  Psalm 75:7 says that God puts down one, and exalts another.  The Book of 1st Samuel ends with the end of Samuel's life, and the end of Saul's life.  Saul spent most of his adult life running, but he was running after a man; running to capture and kill David.  Samuel died running the race God had set before him. 

There's a man at my church whom I'll call Dave ~ because that's his name.  He's an older gentleman, so we've never hung out together, and he doesn't have a wife with whom I might chat, so I don't know much about him.   But he's been coming to my church for the last three or four years, with his son and his son's family.  And last year, on Easter Sunday, this gentleman, at the age of 93, accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.   I was a little surprised, because I assumed that because he came to church regularly, he had a relationship with Jesus.  But something in the sermon touched his heart, and he realized that sitting in church is not the pathway to eternal life.  Listening to sermons and singing songs of worship are not what God desires, as much as He desires a relationship with each of us. 

Dave is in a hospice now, and not expected to live much longer.  He is nearing the end of his race, but he is finishing well.  His marathon of 94 years took him directly into the arms of Jesus, who waits with His arms open wide as Dave nears the finish line. 

What's your goal?  Which way are you running?  And what does the finish line look like for you?

~ "let us lay aside every weight, 

and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

and let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us,

looking unto Jesus,

the author and finisher of our faith" ~

Hebrews 12:1-2