One of the most important accomplishments of Saul’s reign was the regular defeat of Israel’s enemies, the war efforts largely focused on the Philistines. He rallied the people in an unusual manner, cutting up oxen and sending the pieces to the individual tribes and threatening to do the same to their oxen if they did not fight and come to Israel’s defense: “He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, ‘Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!’ Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man” (11:7-8). So many enemies but Samuel, in his farewell address, could say, “’Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people” (12:20-22).
It is so like Israel, and like us, to look for help in all the wrong places. The people put their trust in a man rather than God. They placed all their hopes in horses and chariots and war machines rather than God. For so long, they had trusted their idols rather than God. How foolish and dangerous! The message to Israel remains, today: Those who will turn from their worthless ways and trust the Lord, these the Lord will bless.
O God, our Help in ages past,
our Hope for years to come,
our Shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal Home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is Thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure. -- Isaac Watts (1719)