1 Samuel 10:14-16 – The matter of the Kingdom

First Samuel 10:14 introduces us to one of Saul’s uncle, whose name was not mentioned. It’s not clear whether this uncle knew that his brother Kish had sent Saul, his own son to look for his lost donkeys. Hence, his question was a loaded question. He wasn’t just seeking to know about Saul’s itinerary. And the reply Saul gave was equally puzzling. He said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.” Apparently, the uncle was more aware of Samuel. On hearing that he went to Samuel, his follow-up question was  “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”  He probably was aware of the threat of the Philistines. And he wanted to know what perspective of the prophet and hopefully his solution to the threat. But in Saul’s troubling response was his failure to mention the most important part of his adventure. He only told him about Samuel’s prediction of the recovery of donkeys.

Why didn’t he reveal to his uncle about the most crucial part of what had happened in his journey? Verse 16 said he did not tell him the matter of the kingdom which Samuel mentioned to him. He did not talk about his anointing as king. Why? Could it be that he felt guilty concerning his failure to follow God’s instructions to deal with the Philistines? Perhaps he was afraid to confront the truth of his failure. Aren’t many of us like him? We try to skirt around and avoid telling the embarrassing truth about our failure. We would rather hide than deal with it. But while we may hide truths about ourselves from man, we know that nothing is hidden from the eyes of God with whom we all will have to deal with. For all our failure to follow and keep His instruction.  there’ll be a consequence.

What could be the matter of the kingdom which Saul did not tell his uncle? What could be his reason for not mentioning it? For sure, the message of the kingdom was about Saul and the kingdom he was about to be launched as the king. Remember, God had instructed Samuel to accede to the people's request to have a king appointed.  And at this point, the public proclamation of him as the king had not taken place. So far in the anointing of Saul, Samuel only mentioned the world prince, ruler, and leader but not king. Know it or not, the real message of the kingdom, whether it be Israel or us today, is about the reign of God. For us who have acknowledged the Gospel of Christ, we all have received the message of the Kingdom. It’s the message that John the Baptist came to proclaim. It’s the message that Jesus came to affirm Himself as the rightful King.

What matters for us now today is that we Christians are citizens of this Kingdom. This is the Kingdom where Christ is reigning as King in our lives. We mustn’t clamor for another king to rule in the affairs of our lives. Let us have the call of Matthew 6:33 indelibly etch in our life and mind. We are called to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This means that Christ will always have the first claim in our lives. We will seek to know, to serve and to worship Him as King. By the help o the Holy Spirit, we will emulate the life that He has modeled of us.