The Discipline of Defense

''And there is none of you that is sorry for me''  (I Sam. 22:8).

   These are the words of a king! Who would have thought it could be so? A sovereign stooping to self-pity, a monarch making himself miserable and mean, a crown that cries like a spoiled child! But that is what the story tells, with penetrating insight and illumination into the character of Saul, first king of Israel.

   It would seem that selfishness and self-pity were not conspicuous in Saul's character at the outset of his royal career. On the contrary, there seem to be some characteristics that are unusually commendable. He came of a good family (I Sam. 9:1), and was a dutiful son, ''a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he'' (9:2). Tall, handsome, competent, co-operative, he had the qualifications to be captain over God's people (9:16). Withal he was humble and unassuming. He made no boast to his relatives about the anointing of kingship (10:14-16), and when he was sought of Samuel to be publicly proclaimed as king, ''he hath

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hid himself among the stuff'' (10:22). He made no reply to his critics (and what young man raised to any place of responsibility or authority does not have an abundant supply of the scornful); rather, when ''they despised him, and brought him no presents . . .he held his peace'' (10:27). I like that. It takes strength of character and confidence in God to keep one's tongue when he is derided and despised by the malicious and merciless. They judged him before he had opportunity to prove himself; but he could keep sweet.

   When the occasion arose to reveal his qualities of leadership, he was not inadequate (11:4-11); and a signal victory was achieved under his generalship. Again he showed that he could be magnanimous; for when his soldiers wanted to cut off his erstwhile critics, Saul could say with generosity, ''There shall not a man be put to to death this day: for today the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel'' (11:13). Those are the words of a king!

   However, flaws began to appear in his personality and character; qualities that would have to be discarded completely if he were to continue truly as king. Despite his home training (or because of it?), and his anointing with the oil of God at the hand of Samuel, he seemed to lack a sense of the spiritual. He was earthly-minded, despite his language indicating a trust in God. He was self-willed, impulsive and imperious; and when it seemed that Samuel tarried in coming to the troops, Saul presumed the prerogatives of the priest by offering the sacrifice.

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That presumption may not seem important to us, for we lack the background of the sacrificial ceremonialism of the Jews, and the utter sanctity of the altar and its sacrifice. This low regard of Saul for the things of God made it apparent to Samuel that Saul lacked some basic essentials of kingship (13:13,14).

   Saul seemed to lack a sense of fitness in things human as well as divine. When a great victory was in the making, after it had seemed that the cause was hopeless because of the odds against him (13:15-23), the king hampered the efforts of his men rather than helped them by his denying them any food (14:24). Even his own son Jonathan had to admit, ''My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found?'' (14:29,30). Saul had received some object lessons in things human and divine; and it was up to him to profit thereby. If so, he would still be a king; if not, he was a failure.

   The test came some years later in the matter of the Amalekites, the fierce, implacable foes of Israel (15:1-3). His instructions were clear (15:3); his obedience was only partial, for ''Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep . . . and all that was good . . .but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly'' (15:9). The test was made; the failure was obvious; and the Most High

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revealed to Samuel, ''It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments'' (15:11).

   Taken from the people, entrusted with the kingdom, tested in implicit and unquestioning obedience to God, he was found wanting. And what was his excuse? ''Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord . . . but the people . . .'' (15:20,21). In the earlier incident, when irreverently and impetuously be intruded into the office of the priest, he excused himself in like manner, ''Because I saw that the people were scattered . . . the Philistines will come . . .'' (13:11, 12). The people, the Philistines; always somebody else was at fault! Those were not the words of a true king.

   Impetuosity, impatience, petulance, pride, these are not kingly, nor manly characteristics; and because they were not faced squarely and conquered within his own breast, they overcame Saul. He becomes a smaller man as he grows older, picayunish, peevish, pitiful. He revealed his true self in his own words of wailing, ''and there is none of you that is sorry for me'' (22:8).

   This is the discipline of defense. As long as a man is on the aggressive, alert to his liabilities and limitations, active in his service for God and man, he can be courageous, generous, altruistic, large-spirited; but when he allows himself to get on the defensive: defending his position, policies, procedure, personality, program, then he tends to become timid, selfish,

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self-centered, and small. He has lost the magnanimity that can minimize insults and injuries. He forgets the wholesomeness and soul-health necessary for his own soul, as indicated in a prayer of Phillips Brooks, ''Let me not lose faith in my fellowmen. Keep me sweet and sound of heart, inspite of ingratitude, treachery or meanness. Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them.''

   Self-centeredness makes a man soft, sensitive, selfish. Self-pity makes him pitiable, a picture of pathos when he should be a power for good. Self-importance makes him unimpressive, important in his own eyes but impossible to others. Conceit makes him contemptible. Bitterness of spirit over the success of others makes him blind to his own shortcomings. Envy makes him unenviable. Petulance makes him picayunish. Self-pampering makes him sarcastic. Self-indulgence makes him indolent. Self-defense destroys his self-respect, and makes him less a man.

   This, I say, is the discipline of defense. To whimper is to be a weakling; to complain is to be a coward; to blame others is to be a baby; to pity self to be pitiful; to yell is to be ''yellow,'' which term of contempt contains the whole concept of the unworthy and worthless.

   The discipline of defense demands that we destroy self-centeredness, self-pity, self-importance, self-indulgence, self-defense of any kind. If others are honored, congratulate them (I Cor. 12:26); if you are neglected, forget it. If the job is too big for

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you, admit it to yourself and to others and step aside graciously; you will be a bigger and better man for it. If others can do the job better than you, let them do it with your ''God bless you!'' Let no dog-in-the-manger attitude make you snappy, showing teeth and temper rather than kindness and courtesy; in other words, be a Christian rather than a cur! (a cowardly person)

   The discipline of defense is to ''be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another . . . not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith . . .(to) bless them which persecute you; (to) bless and curse not'' (Rom. 12:10,3,14). It is to ''let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind (to) let each esteem others as better than themselves . . . (to) do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke'' (Phil. 2:3,14,15). It is to do your duty and to do good unto others.

   To defend yourself is to descend to the despicable, the degrading, the destructive; to deny yourself is to ascend to the worth-while, the wholesome and the helpful. It is to be a man or woman of God, fashioned in the furnace of affliction, tested in the trials of life, living on the plane of perfect submission to the Son of God, who ''made himself of no reputation, . . . and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also

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hath highly exalted him'' (Phil. 2:7-9). To bear the cross is to display the royalty of heaven, while to deny the cross is to defend our mean selves; to indulge in self-pity is to degrade ourselves, while to play the man's part in the power of the Spirit is to please Him who defended not Himself.

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go,

Anywhere He leads me in this world below;

Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade;

Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid.

Anywhere with Jesus I am not alone;

Other friends may fail me, He is still my own;

Though His hand may lead me over dreary ways,

Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise.

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Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid

Art thou weary, art thou languid,

Art thou sore distressed?

''Come to Me,'' saith One, ''and coming

Be at rest.''

Hath He marks to lead me to Him,

If He be my guide?

''In His feet and hands are wound-prints,

And His side.''

Is there diadem, as Monarch,

That His brow adorns?

''Yea, a crown, in every surety;

But of thorns.''

If I find Him, if I follow,

What His guerdon here?

''Many a sorrow, many a labor,

Many a tear.''

If I still hold closely to Him,

What hath He at last?

''Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,

Jordan passed.''

If I ask Him to receive me,

Will He say me nay?

''Not till earth, and not till heaven

Pass away.''

Finding, following, keeping, struggling,

Is He sure to bless?

''Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,

Answer, Yes.''

                                                       —St. Stephen, the Sabaite,Eighth Century,

                                                Translated by John M. Neale, 1862

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