The Story of King Saul

The Story of King Saul

Israel’s First King

1 Samuel 7-31

Samuel, Israel's judge and leader was old. He made his sons judges over Israel, to take his place in God's service. But Samuel's sons were wicked. They loved money and used their power to get money dishonestly.

The people of Israel suffered because of the sons’ wickedness. The courts were unfair. People had to pay Samuel's sons every time they wanted help.

Something had to be done. One day, the elders of Israel gathered together and asked Samuel for help.

"Give us a king to judge us," the elders demanded. They did not want Samuel's wicked sons to judge them. They wanted a king just like all the nations around them. Samuel was angry. Israel already had a King! God Almighty, the Eternal One, ruled Israel.

When Samuel prayed, the LORD said, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. They have served other gods. Heed their voice and make them a king."

God told Samuel to warn the people that their earthly king would take their money in taxes, help himself to their best fields and vineyards, order their sons into his armies, and command their daughters to work for him.

But the people wanted a king anyway.

God led Samuel to a young man. His name was Saul, he was from the tribe of Benjamin, the son of a mighty man of power. The Bible says he was a choice young man, very handsome, that there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome man the he, from his shoulders up he was taller than any of the people.

The Lord had told Samuel the day before he met Saul that He was sending a man out of the land of Benjamin to anoint king over His people. When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, "Behold, this is the man I spoke to you of. He shall reign over my people.”

Saul did not think that he was good enough to be king. ‘I belong to the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest one in Israel,’ he tells Samuel. ‘Why do you say that I will be king?’ God liked that Saul did not pretend to be big and important. That is why He chose him to be king. Samuel told Saul that, “the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you shall be turned into another man.”

Obediently, Samuel anointed Saul as king of Israel. Some time later when Samuel got ready to present Saul to the people as their new king he was found hiding among some stuff. It seems Saul was not feeling so courageous or competent to be king at the time. When Samuel presented Saul to the people of Israel, they cried, "Long live the king!"

Afterwards the people and Saul all returned to their homes. Soon King Saul was tested. The Ammonites, who hated Israel, surrounded an Israelite city and threatened to put out every man's right eye. What a cruel plan! News of the threat reached King Saul. He got his army ready.

Saul certainly went from being fearful of his responsibilities to being courageous and confident. What caused this change? When Saul heard the disturbing news, “The Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger.” It wasn’t until Saul was empowered by God’s Spirit that he was fully equipped to carry out this huge assignment to his calling.

When the two armies met, Saul destroyed the Ammonites and rescued the city. King Saul gave God the glory, saying ". . . today the LORD has accomplished salvation in Israel!"

God helped King Saul be victorious in many battles, and the people began to honor him as a brave leader. It wasn’t long that Saul seemed to forget that God had given him the kingdom and could just as easily take it away. Instead of being careful to obey all of God’s commands, Saul allowed pride to creep into his heart and to crowd out his fear of God. He began to think he was wise enough to decide for himself what was the right thing to do.

The greatest failure for Saul was when he disobeyed God at Gilgal. The Philistines were encamped against Israel and Saul’s troops were deserting daily. The prophet Samuel had promised him that all would be well, only he must wait on God’s time. Samuel would come at the end of the week and would offer a sacrifice. Then Saul’s armies would have the victory. Saul impatiently went ahead and offered the sacrifice himself. No sooner than he finished than Samuel appeared.

Samuel asked, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the men were deserting, and you didn’t come at the appointed time, and I saw the Philistines gathering, I felt forced to offer the sacrifice myself.”

He knew that was Samuel's job. He knew God wanted him to wait until Samuel came to do it. Saul had decided to take matters into his own hands. Saul disobeyed God! Disobedience to God is always serious.

Samuel said, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you.”

He then told Saul of God’s decision, “Up until now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His Own Heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Another time, God ordered Saul to destroy the wicked people of Amalek. He said to put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys, he was not to spare any of them. But Saul and the army spared Agag king of the Amalekites. They also spared the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything they didn’t like or was weak, they destroyed.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

Early the next morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told that Saul had gone to Carmel. There he had set up a monument in his own honor, and then gone down to Gilgal.

When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

“Oh really,” Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is the lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Saul answered, “The people brought them back from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” he said.

Samuel said, “You were once small in your own eyes, but now you have become head of all Israel. Didn’t the Lord anoint you king over Israel? And he told you to totally destroy Amalekite and to completely wipe them out, to spare no one, to spare nothing. Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went and did as the Lord told me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back their king. The people took sheep and cattle from the plunder in order to sacrifice them to the Lord at Gilgal.”

But Samuel replied, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as much as in obeying Him? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

And Saul said unto Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”

Saul begged Samuel to pardon his sin and go back to Israel with him. Samuel refused and as he turned to go, he tore the skirt of his mantle and said, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, one that is better than you.”

Samuel also told him, “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for He is not a man that he should repent.

Again Saul begged Samuel to return and honor him before the elders and before Israel. So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.

Samuel came no more to see Saul, but he mourned for Saul until the day he died. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.

One day the Lord asked Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?” God then tells Samuel that he has provided a king from among the sons of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah, and he was to go and anoint him with oil.

From this point on Saul’s story is largely the account of his increasingly troubled relationship with David. The Bible says the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Let’s discuss this a moment. Why did God let an evil spirit torment Saul? In what way was the evil spirit “from” the Lord? Ultimately, all things are under God’s control. It is likely that this evil spirit was part of God’s judgment on Saul for his disobedience, or when God’s Spirit departed from Saul he was no longer protected from the evil spirits. That’s the danger of turning from God and being disobedient.

Saul’s servants were concerned for him and suggested, “Behold, an evil spirit from God troubles you, let us look for someone that can play beautiful music with a harp. Then when this evil spirit is upon you, he can play and this will comfort you.”

Saul said, “Yes, find someone and bring them to me.”

Then answered one of the servants, “Look I seen such a man. He is the son of Jesse, plays beautifully, is a mighty man, a man of war, prudent in matters, has a pleasing appearance, and the Lord is with him.”

So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, asking him to send his son, the shepherd boy, to him. And Jesse sent David to King Saul, along with a young goat, and a mule loaded with bread and wine.

When David arrived and stood before King Saul, he loved him greatly, and he became is amour-bearer. Saul sent word to Jesse asking to allow David to remain in his service because he had found favor in his eyes.

And it came to pass that whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would play his harp, and it would comfort Saul, and the evil spirit would leave him.

One of the most famous events in Saul’s life was the standoff with the Philistines in the valley of Elah. Here Goliath taunted the Israelites for 40 days until David, who was just a mere shepherd boy at the time, slew him.

As Saul and David returned from the battle women were dancing in a victory parade singing: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

Because the people made more of David’s single victory than all of Saul’s, the king went into a rage and became jealous of David. From that moment he plotted to kill him. Saul became afraid of David, because the Lord was with David, and had departed from Saul.

Later David had to end up escaping Saul with the help of Saul’s son and daughter.

From this point on instead of building up Israel, King Saul wasted much of his time chasing David through the hills. David, however, respected God’s anointed king and despite several opportunities, he refused to harm Saul.

Several years later it came to pass, that the Philistines gathered for a huge battle against the Israelites. By this time Samuel had died and King Saul was greatly afraid. He enquired of the Lord but the Lord did not answer him. Saul became so desperate that he consulted a witch to bring up Samuel from his grave to ask him a question because the LORD no longer answered him. Saul knew this was a direct commandment from God not to consult or have anything to do with witches, but he did so anyway. Whatever appeared, a devil disguised as Samuel or Samuel’s true spirit sent by God, it predicted disaster for Saul.

Because of his sin, Saul and his sons died in battle the very next day. Saul had reigned over Israel about the space of forty years.

Saul had the honor of becoming Israel’s first king. Saul changed to follow God. The Bible says that he was changed into a different person because he received power from God. Saul was called by God, but his life turned into a tragedy for one reason. Saul did not trust God.  He didn’t finish well.

We could all learn some very spiritual lessons from the story of Saul. Like Saul, many today can start off well after receiving power from God, but don’t finish well. There is a danger of turning away from God.

Saul could be impulsive, acting unwisely. His jealousy of David drove him to madness and a thirst for revenge. More than once, King Saul disobeyed God’s instructions, he became wise in his own eyes, he made decisions without the council of the man of God in his life. God eventually withdrew His Spirit from Saul. God doesn’t take it lightly when we deliberately disobey his commands and instructions.

God wants us to depend on Him. When we do not and depend instead on our own strength and wisdom, we open ourselves to disaster. God wants us to go to Him for our sense of worth. Life with God has direction and purpose. Life without God is meaningless.

The Bible says sin is the source of turning away from God. When we sin we don’t have to turn away from God because he has provided a way to turn back to Him. If you have turned from God, there is hope, you can repent and turn back to God. King Manasseh is a great example of this. I encourage you to read his story. Let’s be loyal to the Lord and finish well.