“There’s a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it’s not about who’s got the most bullets. It’s about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think …. It’s all about information” – Cosmo, Sneaker.
INTRODUCTION
Information has proven to be very powerful and sometimes of great value since it could be sold for money. The mishandling of information for some reason has unfortunately seen many people move from grace to grass since they wanted to prove how powerful they were, will be or otherwise .
This article tries to bring to light, lessons one can learn especially with regards to information management while coming down from Ramah. Ramah was the birth place of Samuel, a prophet of the Most High (1 Samuel 7:17; 8:4; 15:34). According to Dr. Smith William’s bible dictionary, the name Ramah denotes height, from root word rum which means “to be high”. Two case studies will be used in this article to throw more light on the subject matter. However, much emphasis will be placed on Ramah as described by Dr. Smith Williams since he describes Ramah as place of influence.
CASE STUDY 1: THE YOUNG SAUL’S ENCOUNTER WITH PROPHET SAMUEL
According to the 1 Samuel 9, the young Saul had to leave home with one of his father’s servants in search of his father’s lost asses. This journey led them to the city of Ramah where he encountered the Prophet of God called Samuel. The chapter brought to light lessons on the handling of information. Prophet Samuel, even after receiving a message from the LORD about the young Saul prior to his coming did not immediately reveal it to him. He first took him to a high place and gave him the reserved portion of the meal, a shadow of the information he wanted to tell the young Saul but that environment was still not conducive.
We are so carried away sometimes to be the first to relay information to others without discerning the atmosphere and personalities around the person going to receive the message. Some employees lost their jobs or promotions because some vital information about their impending promotion was released ahead of time, much to the displeasure of their colleagues who found very wicked ways of scheming against them. The Prophet Samuel communed with Saul all night but he never revealed the message to Saul. He held on this life changing information till the verse 27 of 1 Samuel 9 which says “As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” This instruction from Samuel explains it all by unveiling the reason why he could not even relay the information to Saul when he communed with Saul all night upon the top of the house for they were not alone. Samuel then anointed the young Saul and told him about the kingship (1 Sam 10:1, ESV) and asked him to set off for home.
The most interesting aspect of the story was when the young Saul met his uncle right after he descended from the presence of the Prophet which says:
“And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.”- 1Samuel 10:15-16, ESV.
The first question one will ask is, why was the uncle so concerned with what Samuel told the young Saul? Secondly, who informed him about Samuel’s meeting with Saul? Saul’s response to his uncle explains why Samuel asked him to inform his servant to excuse them.
CASE STUDY 2: THE YOUNG AMALEKITE’S ENCOUNTER WITH DAVID
The book of 2 Samuel 1:1-16 tells a story about a young Amalekite’s encounter with David concerning the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan. The first two verses of 2 Samuel Chapter 1 opens us up to an information which will later help us make sound judgments on ascertaining the subject matter. It says: “After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.”
A young man who claimed to have come from the camp of Saul went to David at Ziklag to inform him about the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan at the battle field. He went ahead to prove his claim by bringing out the crown of Saul to appease David since he might have heard about Saul pursuits on David to take his life. He went further to inform David that he caused the death of Saul. We now have to look at the verses from above which showed that David had returned from striking down the Amalekites and the young man in question revealed himself as an Amalekite. Secondly, what was the Amalekite doing in the camp of King Saul?
“The story of the Amalekite is most improbable fiction, and utterly untrue. He knew nothing as to the manner of Saul’s death, but found the body, probably sometime after the king had fallen and took these particular items from the corpse.”- Jimmy Swaggart, The Expositor’s Study Bible.
There is a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend but I add to this statement that till when? We sometimes character assassinate people for crowns in the heart of others since we perceive Saul to be the enemy of David. No wonder David had to kill him for he thought he was bringing good news may be to compromise David as far as his life as an Amalekite was concerned. David reminisce this event in 2Samuel 4:10 which says “when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.”
CONCLUSION
Information is very powerful and our inability to discern the atmosphere to relay it through our speech will be disastrous. Moreover, we will also make wrong decisions in our lives when we don’t discern by the spirit of God, the motives behind certain destiny changing information we receive from certain individuals. David in his response to the execution of the Amalekite said “……Your blood be on your head; for your mouth testified against you saying, I have killed the LORD’s anointed”, 2 Samuel 1:16, NKJV. This sends a great message to us all to be mindful of our speech when we have the opportunity to descend from our Ramah.
