Have you ever watched the show, Keeping Up Appearances? What it is. A comedy about a British woman who wants to be thought of as very high class even though her family is low class. Her name is Hyacinth Bucket but she pronounces it Bouquet. She wants everything perfect but her family works against her, and her neighbors run from her.
We all know someone who wants to keep up appearances, and sometimes we do. In our everyday life, we depend on our eyes and we automatically trust them, at least at first, and we often don’t look closely or below the surface. Like puzzles.
But we know that appearances can be deceiving, even though they catch us.
So I wanted to show this video I saw recently because it’s disturbing but informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FERa1AI2EK8
AI has gotten far better on making these deep fakes—videos that are not of anyone but totally generated by the software. Even though they look like someone, they are not. Of course, it is stealing from all over the Internet so it could be someone’s face with a few changes.
Point: appearances are deceiving now more than ever. We have to look below the surface, question, verify, etc. and not respond out of fear of some message we get or video we see that could be a total lie. Older people are the main targets, but the problem is that younger people do not have the life experience to be discerning.
The lesson today is simple and short but definitely life-altering.
I Samuel 16:1-2
What had happened? Saul had done three or four really disqualifying actions, building up to the worst. He had shown timidity and fear at the beginning of his reign. He had made a foolish edict that none of the soldiers could eat until after a battle. It would have led to his son’s death for eating during a time of battle, and the other soldiers were hurt because they couldn’t eat. He sacrificed rather than be patient for Samuel’s return. He did not follow the directions regarding the Amalekite king, keeping him and the best livestock alive, then making excuses and then blaming the “people.” “’They’ made me do it.” Last week’s lesson was “how not to repent.”
Side note: That story is one of the most disturbing and debated in the Bible. While it is clear that Saul disobeyed and for the wrong reasons, wasn’t God asking something wrong? Why kill all the civilians, as we would say? Critics of the Bible, who don’t even believe what it says, claim this is genocide, and some compare it to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians in Gaza, painting the Jews as murderers throughout history.
It’s not pretty, but there are reasons for the narrative as is.
Executing Agag the King makes sense because it was common in those days to put the defeated king on display and use him or other royals as propaganda. This was a time when kings were gods or mythical anyway, so having the king as a trophy was about the conquering king’s greatness. We see this when Babylon captured Israel and took them into captivity—the king was blinded but he was kept in prison.
If Agag stayed alive, or any of the children, they would have hope and continue to be enemies of Israel plotting Israel’s destruction. Russia has taken thousands of Ukrainian children hostage to raise in their orphanages. Do they think that’s going to make those children proud of Russia? The children would not have been treated like Israelites and assimilated.
What had Amalek done that was worthy of destruction? From Chabad, a Jewish website:
Eliphaz, son of Esau (the patriarch Jacob’s brother and sworn enemy), and his concubine Timna had a child named Amalek.1 Amalek grew up in Esau’s household, imbibing Esau’s pathological hatred of Jacob’s descendants along the way. His offspring became the nation of Amalek, and they lived to the south of the Land of Israel, in what is now known as the Negev Desert.2
After the Jewish people crossed the Red Sea, they encamped in Rephidim, a barren location in the Sinai Desert. The people thirsted for water, and G‑d provided a miraculous well of water to accompany them on their journeys.
While the Jews were still at Rephidim, recuperating from their escape from Egypt,3 the nation of Amalek launched a vicious surprise attack on them—though the Jews had no designs on Amalekite territory and were not even headed in that direction.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3942715/jewish/Who-Were-Amalek-and-the-Amalekites.htm
Deuteronomy 25:17 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
This led to a curse on them. One of Agag’s descendants who was not killed was the ancestor of Haman in Esther, who was still trying to destroy the Jews.
Keeping the livestock was clearly just for gain, not for sacrifices, so that one doesn’t count. The livestock would have been unclean anyway in some cases.
God’s command here is hard for us, and I’m not going to deny that. God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). A lot is written on this, but we have to understand the depravity of the Canaanite tribes and the knowledge of God that they would not repent in the future. God is good and just, and in our minds the two do not coexist. Look at the cross: it was the divine combination of justice and goodness.
And all this has to do with appearances, as well. What we see is not always what is.
So, back to chapter 16.
Samuel’s response is kind of odd. God doesn’t chastise him, just gives him an out.
Read 3-9
Jesse of Bethlehem. Keep in mind he is Ruth and Boaz’s grandson, so he was probably well known.
This must have been a time of fear of the king’s tyranny. The elders of Bethlehem are fearful when they see Samuel.
Samuel sees the oldest son, Eliab, and immediately says, he looks like a king, so he must be the one I am to anoint.” Saul was good looking and tall, so that must the what a king needs. And God makes a statement that still rings today in verse 7.
Have we made this mistake? Actually, social science research has shown that we are biased, such as in job interviews, by looks. No surprise. Pretty privilege, the kids call it. Even presidents, where looks should have the least effect on wisdom and performance.
Key point: God sees the heart. Let’s take this apart.
Heart is not emotions. In the Bible, heart is mind, emotions, will, motivation, and more. Actually “bowels,” or “guts.” Innermost being, versus outward and what is easily seen.
Proverbs 4:23: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Craig Troxel, Ligonier Ministries.
Put simply, the heart in Scripture conveys the totality of our inner self. We are governed from this one point of unity. From it “flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). It is the control center—the source of every thought, the seat of every passion, and the arbiter of every decision. All of it is generated from and governed by this one point of undivided unity. That is why everything vital to the Christian life—your speech, repentance, faith, service, obedience, worship, walk, and love —must be done with “all your heart” (Deut. 10:12; 30:2; 1 Sam. 7:3; Ps. 86:12; 119:34; Prov. 3:5–6; 4:23; Isa. 38:3; Jer. 24:7; Matt. 22:37). The heart is the helm of the ship. It takes a bearing and then sets the course of your life. As goes the heart, so goes the person.
Put comprehensively, the heart encompasses various functions, including the mind, the desires, and the will. The mind of the heart includes what we know: our thinking, ideas, memories, and imagination. The desires of the heart include what we love: what we want, seek, yearn for, and thus feel. The will of the heart refers to what we choose: whether we will resist or submit, whether we will say “yes” or “no,” and whether we are weak or strong in our resolve.
For this to be true, God must know us. He looks into our hearts. We cannot hide from Him, He knows what is there, and He loves us beyond our understanding and imagining. So rest in that.
Verses 10-13.
David is “the surprise” to everyone. He is anointed and marked as the future king but NOT YET. So true of us today: we live in the already but not yet. A lot is going to happen in David’s life before he takes over as king, and Saul is not going to give up easily.
How has God worked in a surprising way or through a surprising person?
“The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully on David from that day forward.” Not a throwaway. The whole point. He is going to need this power
The Spirit of the LORD will equip whom He calls with giftedness. What gifts has the LORD given you that you can use to serve Him and His people?
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