Although Saul had been privately anointed and publicly chosen king, he did not immediately assume royal state. Guided, doubtless, by the counsel of Samuel, and perceiving from the disaffection of certain men (1 Samuel 10:27) that the nation was not yet quite prepared for the change, he did not deem it prudent to do so. Returning to his former mode of life at Gibeah (ver. 5), he awaited some further indication of his call to be "captain over the Lord's inheritance." "Nothing but true, royal action for the welfare of the state, alike bravely undertaken and firmly carried out at the right moment, could win for him that real deference, that joyful, voluntary cooperation for state purposes from all his subjects, without which his sovereignty must ever remain most feeble and equivocal" (Ewald). It was not long ("a month," LXX.) before the opportunity for such action occurred. He proved himself equal to the occasion, and his patience was justified and rewarded. His position as a military leader was fully vindicated by the result, and his sovereignty was heartily recognised by all the people. This is the chief historical significance of his warlike enterprise or campaign against the Ammonites for the relief of Jabesh-Gilead. Observe that it was -

I. UNDERTAKEN IN A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE (vers. 1-4). If ever war is justifiable (and it seems impossible that it should be altogether avoided), it is when undertaken, as in this case -

1. To repel hostile aggression. The Ammonites were old enemies (Deuteronomy 2:19; Deuteronomy 23:3, 4; Judges 3:13; Judges 10:7; Judges 11:5). They were a nomadic, predatory, cruel, and idolatrous people. For some time Nahash, animated by the desire of war and conquest, "the malady of princes," had assumed a threatening attitude (1 Samuel 12:12), and now laid siege to the capital of Gilead, a part of the Israelitish territory belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh, beyond the Jordan. His aggression was -

(1) Without adequate ground. He probably revived a claim previously asserted and refuted (Judges 11:12-15). But men readily find pretexts for a course to which they are disposed. "From whence come wars?" (James 4:1).

(2) Revengeful. He wished to avenge the defeat long before inflicted by Jephthah. Hatred between nations tends to perpetuate itself, and to become intensified; and successes in war often sow "dragon's teeth" that produce a subsequent harvest of strife and misery.

(3) Proud, boastful, and cruel (ver. 2).

2. To aid imperilled brethren. Between the people of Jabesh and the Benjamites, especially, there was an intimate connection (Judges 21:12-14). Their condition was now degraded, fearful, wretched; and although it was due to their want of patriotism, faith, and courage, yet it did not deprive them of a claim upon the sympathy of their brethren, but was a powerful appeal to their compassion. The appeal of the poor, the oppressed, the slave cannot be unheeded without sin (Proverbs 24:11, 12).

3. To avert a common danger. The siege of Jabesh was evidently intended as the first step in an attack upon all Israel. The distress of the people of Gibeah arose not merely from sympathy with their brethren, but also from fear for themselves, and a sense of helplessness against so powerful an adversary. Saul's enterprise was thus one of self-defence.

4. To maintain the Divine hour. The Ammonites worshipped Moloch (Molech, or Milcom), "the abomination of the children of Ammon" (1 Kings 11:7), and sought his honour in opposition to that of Jehovah. It was a part of the calling of Israel to extirpate idolatry, and it was commanded them concerning the Ammonites, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever" (Deuteronomy 23:6). In their wars with the heathen they acted under a Divine commission. The religious wars which have been waged under the Christian dispensation have sometimes been undertaken from lofty motives, but they have not had the same justification, and the honour of God ought to be sought by other and more effectual means.

II. WAGED WITH HOLY ENTHUSIASM (vers. 5-11). Enthusiasm - God in us. It was -

1. Inspired by the Divine Spirit. On returning from the field, and learning the cause of the people's distress, "the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and.his anger was kindled greatly." There is an anger which is not sinful (Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:26). The feeling of resentment is a weapon put into our hands by God against injury, injustice, and cruelty of every kind.

(1) The anger of Saul was incited by the same spirit as previously constrained him to utter Divine praises.

(2) It was a feeling of wrath and burning zeal against wrong.

(3) It was directed towards the welfare of his people and the honour of God.

(4) It qualified him for a great enterprise; led him to assume the leadership of the nation to which he had been appointed, and to summon the tribes to rally around him. The gifts of the Spirit of God are various, and adapted to the requirements of the age.

2. Shared in by all the people.

(1) "The fear of Jehovah fell on the people," i.e. a fear inspired by him. "In Saul's energetic appeal the people discerned the power of Jehovah, which inspired them with fear and impelled them to immediate obedience" (Keil). That power is able to fill a whole nation, as well as an individual, with new emotions and impulses.

(2) Under its influence "they came out as one man" (with one consent).

(3) Mustered under the leadership of Saul in Bezek, near to Bethshan. A common danger often draws men into closer union and cooperation than peace and prosperity.

3. Expressed in a confident assurance of help. "Tomorrow, by the time the sun be hot, ye shall have help" (ver. 9). Faith looks upon that which is believed as if it were already an accomplished fact.

4. Manifested in energetic action. His promise was not in words merely, but was followed up by deeds (ver. 11). "It was night when Saul and the armed multitude which followed him broke up from Bezek. Little did he know how well the brave men of Jabesh would requite the service (1 Samuel 31:8-13). Strange that Saul's first march should have been by night from Bethshan to Jabesh, the same route by which at the last they carried his dead body at night" (Edersheim).

III. ATTENDED WITH EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS.

1. The defeat of the enemy - sudden, unexpected, and complete. "Two of them were not left together," and their king, Nahash, was slain (Josephus). "Those that walk in pride he is able to abase" (Daniel 4:37).

2. The deliverance of the oppressed, who were not afterwards wanting in gratitude or courage.

3. The cessation of disaffection (vers. 12, 13).

4. The united and joyful devotion of all Israel (vers. 14, 15). Observe -

1. We have other enemies to encounter than those of flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

2. We must contend against them not simply for our own safety, but for the good of our fellow men.

3. It is only by the help of the Lord that we can prevail. - D.

My subject is Divine indignation — its advantage, its characteristics, and its limitation.

I. MARK THE ADVANTAGE OF A GOOD, WHOLESOME INDIGNATION. The situation was a critical one. Only a month before, as the LXX give the date, Saul had been anointed king. But it is a weak, disjointed realm of which he is made the head — weak because attacked from without, doubly weak because disunited within. Give Saul a few years of peace, and he will have a chance to produce a different state of affairs, instead of that God sends the young king and young kingdom through a very baptism of fire and blood. And Israel heard, and the people lifted up their voice and wept — wept in impotent helplessness, wept in pity for their brothers, wept in pity for themselves, because in their own opinion they can do nothing. You may have seen, in an occasional fit of repentance, a man who has sold himself body and soul to drunkenness. You may have heard the maudlin sobs in which he humbles himself because he has been such a ten-times fool as to suffer this enemy to encamp within the frontier lines of his life. And you may have seen him slip back to his vice with the tears of shame not quite dry on his cheeks. The man is not the stronger for those tears; he is the weaker. That was like the state of Israel. There never will be help in such tears while the world lasts. Jabesh-Gilead could weep for itself; even the empty eye sockets which Nahash meant to leave them would still be of use for that. Jabesh-Gilead wants something harder than tears; God's cause wants more than melancholy shakings of the head. God and Israel want a man with a man's heart within him and a man's hand on a sword hilt; and so the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled greatly. We want something more of that indignation — eager, hot, fiery — which will burn out evil in the hearts and lives of men. Both in the Church and in the market the world needs men who have the courage of their convictions, and who dare act on them. Of such as will shake their heads sagely over the rottenness of this old world we have enough and to spare. Of an idle and ignorant tolerance we have over much. There are some things in human life which should never receive quarter — selfishness, cowardice, and all lying. Give up lamenting for one half hour, and do something to rid the earth of these, something to cleanse your own life of these, and you will not go back to the weeping, having found the better way. The Saga of our pagan ancestors imagined human life as a great tree whose roots were set deep in the earth while the branches towered up to heaven. But a great snake gnawed at the trunk continually, and would, so ran the tale, bring it to the ground one day. There is that great three-headed snake, which is gnawing still at the trunk of our social and national life, and its three heads are faithlessness, lust, and drunkenness. It is time that vain regrets were done with, that weak and mean excuses for these things were put away, and that the Church, believing in her Divine Head, awoke to her part as a company of those who are banded together to do battle to the death against those things which rot the heart out of life. Who will go forth unto the war with us against these? The effort is useless without a spark of God's own righteous indignation in the hearts of men.

II. MARK THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS INDIGNATION. "Human anger resents the hurt, Divine anger resents the wrong." Can you make the distinction, for it is a weighty one? It was the foul wrong meditated against Israel. and through Israel against Jehovah, which passed like fire into Saul's blood Divine anger hates sin because it is sin. There is many a man who repents of his sin after it has been found out. Here one who regrets his drunken habits after they have cost him his situation. So long as they only threatened to cost him his soul he heeded not. There one who sorrows over her shattered reputation after it is published to the world. So long as only God knew it did not greatly matter. It is a cruel and bitter mistake, that of hating sin's results instead of loathing sin itself. It came to pass that Jesus was led up to Pilate to be tried for His life, and there He was scourged and condemned. And when all this was so fully under way that no human power could stop it, Judas went up to the temple, and, scattering his blood money before the priests, went out into the darkness and hanged himself. All earth and hell might have laughed to scorn the man's folly. Was his sin made any greater because the crucifixion resulted from it? Was that traitor kiss made any blacker because it led to the darkness of Joseph's tomb? No. We need to see sin as God in heaven sees it, and that was one reason why the Cross was set up on Calvary, that we might know how sin appears in the eyes of Him who made us.

2. Another characteristic of this Divine indignation I would have you notice: It is not selfish; it is for God's glory. Mark this in Saul's action. A month or so before, when he was crowned king, certain men would not have him as their ruler. And now, when he comes back victor, his supporters urge him to bring out these men and to slay them without ruth. But with kingly self-command Saul refuses. His sword is to be drawn against the enemies of God, not against the foes of his own fame. His indignation is hot against Ammon, for Ammon is Jehovah's foe. His indignation is nil against these men, for they are only his private enemies. Human indignation is often selfish; Divine anger is fired at any indignity done to God's glory. Cannot one see the distinction in our Lord's own life? When His enemies railed at Him as a man gluttonous and a wine bibber, He held His peace, or only uttered words of solemn warning Against their wilful closing of their eyes to the light. But when He saw the temple courts choked with the tables of the money changers, and the pavements defiled by the sellers of pigeons and lambs, He took a lash of knotted cords and bound it round His hand and drove them out. And when He saw the Pharisee taking the very kitchen spices of the widow, but hold himself free, He spoke words which fell like molten metal on these men. It is easy to see when we are hurt, easier to resent it. That is very human. It is Divine when a man sees his brother made in the image of God outraged, and keep all his indignation tot the cause of God. Suspect your auger when there is self-interest in it; trust it when it burns hot for justice to your brother.

III. MARK THE LIMITATION OF THIS INDIGNATION. I mean that it will not, that it cannot make up the whole of religion. It needs more than hate of wrong to do that; it needs the love of right. Religion is to love God even more than to hate the devil; and the latter is most valuable when it is a means of leading to the former. I have spoken already of how woefully Saul fell away from this position in which he here stands. He fought for God against Ammon when fighting against Ammon did him no hurt. He fought against God in hunting down David, when David's life seemed to threaten his throne. His indignation burned hot where his self-interest was not involved; but it went out with a hiss when that can came into play. It is only the fine flame of love — love to right and truth and fair play, love to Jesus Christ — which will bear a man through life scathless, and at last present him faultless at Christ's appearing. Do not be content till you have gained that. For indignation melts in the fierce flame of passion, and hatred of wrong vanishes when wrong ministers to one's own wishes.

(A. C. Welch, B. D.)