“They ran and brought him from there, and when he stood among the people he was head and shoulders taller than anyone around. Sh’mu’el said to all the people, ‘Do you see the man Adonai has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?’ Then all the people shouted, ‘Long live the king!'”– 1 Samuel 10:23-24
So the process to finally reveal Saul to the public as Israel’s first king has begun.
And it all started with the drawing of lots.
Everyone was gathered at Mitzpah (where the Ark was also probably located)…
First, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen…
Second, out of the clans forming Benjamin, Matri was chosen…
Third, out of the families forming Matri, Kish was chosen…
Finally, out of the family of Kish, Saul was chosen.
Now I want you to notice something interesting.
What was the evidence offered up as proof that Saul was the best choice to be King?
It was the fact he was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.
Also, notice Samuel’s wording.
“Do you SEE (visually with your own eyes) that there is no one like this man among the people?”
Saul’s appearance was what everyone expected a king to look like.
In other words, his appearance was majestic and regal…
And patterned after the type of men their gentile neighbors installed as their kings.
Since his appearance matched everyone’s worldly and fleshly expectations, the people got all giddy with excitement and responded:
“Long live the king!”
This was the first time Saul was referred to as king.
Now there’s an interesting point I want you to consider here.
What is the image the institutional church has painted of the Jewish Messiah?
Is it not patterned after the gentile image of what they think a King should like?
That he’s some kind of blue-eyed European who is tall, handsome, wearing a crown of gold and decked out in flowing robes of purple with majestic banners flying all over the place ahead of and behind him?
In other words, is he not portrayed as some rich, regal, and magnificent ruler the likes of which the world has never seen?
This is how the Gentiles (well, primarily the Western church) promote Yeshua in their songs and praises…
And the image they have of him when he returns to establish His Kingdom.
Heck, the church even worships this image as God…I mean that literally.
Now, let’s compare and contrast that image with the true Biblical picture of the Messiah.
The prophet Isaiah says:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
-Isaiah 53:23-24
Again, can you see how the gentile church’s image of the Jewish Messiah is like…um, err, yeah just that homies…
An uncircumcised gentile image!
In contrast, the true Biblical portrait of Yeshua is that of a plain Middle Eastern man, a commoner, and someone who would’ve never stood out in a crowd.
After he was mercilessly whipped and tortured before his crucifixion, he was practically unrecognizable as a human.
And notice how the book of Revelations describes him when he returns:
“He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and his name is the Word of God.”
-Revelations 19:13
Yeshua said the greatest thing we could do for him as his disciples was to help the poor, the abused, and the most vulnerable in our society…instead of killing them off like the Nazis did.
And when he leads the charge of the saints at Armageddon, he’s actually gonna be LEADING the charge.
Not protecting himself by riding some well-guarded royal chariot while his bodyguards run ahead of him to get slaughtered while he enjoys some unkosher ham sandwich while the war is going on.
There has always been a huge disconnect between fleshly mankind’s image of God and the true Biblical picture.
God didn’t need an earthly dwelling place in the form of some magnificent temple.
Nor does He desire silver and gold.
God is anything but the arrogant and regal image we hold of Him in our minds.
In fact, He is the antithesis of that.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
We have a tendency to project this regal and majestic image onto Yeshua because that’s what we think a king should be like.
But those are purely human characteristics, not Godly attributes.
Ya, feel me?
The reason why Yeshua was given all power and authority is that he was the perfect reflection of the Father’s attributes that have NOTHING to do with the typical regal and majestic image most folks project onto him.
In fact, Yeshua so perfectly reflected God’s divine attributes that he himself said “He who seen me has seen the Father”.
Another great NT verse is this one:
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature”
-Colossians 1:15
See that?
It says he is the “image” of the Father in heaven.
And what is that image?
It surely ain’t the uncircumcised image the gentile church has been touting for centuries now.
In fact, when God finally decided to replace Saul with David, the contrast between the two men really stands out.
Because David didn’t fit the image of a king at all…
He was too young, small, and common-looking…
Bottom line, he was just too ordinary to be a king in most people’s eyes.
Yet, he was the one whom God described as a “man after My own heart”.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
-Matthew 11:29
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