He feared people when he should have feared God. Moreover, he continued to worry about one thing in light of correction—his own reputation and honor. Saul is perpetually downplaying his role in the bad decisions he makes. He keeps bringing in other people as if they are responsible for his mistakes.
When convicted of this sin, his response is less than admirable. He never actually changes, and he perpetuates these behaviors until the end as he continues down a self-centered and prideful path. Contrast this with David, who is characterized in these same chapters as radically obedient and trusting of Yahweh, which eventually leads to his rise as king and solidifies his lineage.
These two characters provide us an opportunity for self-reflection so that we might find the blind-spots where our pride may be getting the best of us. We justify our poor decisions and try to negotiate with God. We let our cultural river sweep us away. All of this forces the reader to ponder if we are more similar to Saul than different. In what ways do we elevate the opinions of other people above the wisdom and love of God?
In what ways do we blameshift in order to avoid truly owning our failures? Unlike Saul, Jesus was a king of Israel who never failed, but took upon himself the consequences of the failure of others. Unlike Saul, Jesus never flinched when faced with the dark side of humanity.
What Saul needed, and what we really need, are new hearts and minds that don't need to defend themselves or justify failure and selfishness. What we need is what David later prays for after his greatest blunder:. Aeron Sullivan is our Director of Web Technology and comes to us from the military and for-profit technology sector.
He holds a bachelors in political science and an MBA. In , Aeron was named one of Inc. He resides in San Diego, CA with his wife and two daughters. How to Read the Bible. Word Studies. Old Testament Overviews. New Testament Overviews. Book Collections. Visual Commentaries. Though the Bible states that during Saul's reign he demonstrated shortcomings like extreme jealousy of David, as the first king of Israel, Saul succeeded in bringing different tribes into a closer association and achieved several victories over Israel's enemies.
In addition, the united monarchy that Saul established was subsequently ruled by the lauded leaders David and Solomon. Samuel decreed that Saul no longer had God's favor and anointed David as the next king. There are different stories about Saul and David's early relationship. In one, Saul initially welcomed David to his court as a harpist; his musical talent could soothe Saul should he be tormented by an "evil spirit.
Triumphs such as David's heralded defeat of Goliath awakened Saul's jealousy. This feeling continued despite David's marriage to Saul's daughter Michal, and his friendship with Saul's son Jonathan. After Saul decided to kill David, the younger man ended up seeking safe harbor with the Philistines. The Bible recounts that before an important battle with the Philistines, Saul visited a witch to ask about his fate. The witch conjured the spirit of the departed Samuel, who informed Saul that he and his sons would be defeated and die.
After fighting the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, 1 Samuel relates that Saul chose to fall on his sword to avoid being taken by the enemy. Information about Saul's life and reign comes from the Bible, whose text was not written down until years after Saul had allegedly lived and ruled.
No other texts confirm his existence, and views on the accuracy of the Bible vary. For some scholars it contains historical accounts, others feel there are pieces of historical information to be uncovered, and in another view , the tales are more literary than factual. Yet there is evidence confirming some aspects of Saul's life. Excavations at Tell el-Ful biblical Gibeah revealed a "rude fortress" that has been linked to Saul. In , an archeological team claimed to have discovered the biblical city of Ziklag, which is where David supposedly went to evade an envious and murderous Saul.
And the existence of Saul's successor David was supported by the discovery of a stone with the words "House of David" inscribed upon it, though this reading of the inscription is not definitive. Saul became increasingly jealous of David, accusing his son-in-law of conspiring against him. On several occasions, Saul tried to kill David. David fled to Judah but Saul pursued him.
Finally, David took refuge in Philistine territory. But they also reveal that people from Bethlehem in Judah joined Saul in battle when the Philistines tried to invade the central hill country from the southwest 1 Samuel Saul obviously exerted some political influence south of Jerusalem in the northern mountains of Judah, preparing he way for the federation of Israel and Judah under David. The wars against the Moabites, the Edomites, the king of Zobah and even the Amalekites 1 Samuel , 15 may simply be a transposition from David to Saul made by the Judahite historian because he had so little information about Saul.
Unfortunately, we are left with little solid information about Saul or his reign. All that can be said with confidence is that Saul seems to have been named king so that he would lead the Israelites in their wars against the Philistines. It probably included Mt. Ephraim, Benjamin and Gilead. He also exerted some influence in the northern mountains in Judah and beyond the Jezreel Valley.
To the south, in northern Judah, settlement was even sparser. The principle Israelite site of the previous period, Shiloh, seems to have been destroyed in the midth century B.
This destruction is often attributed to the Philistines as a follow-up operation after their victory at Ebenezer 1 Samuel 4. Shiloh is mentioned only once in the stories of Saul and David 1 Samuel Archeology seems to confirm that until about B.
Recent population estimates set a figure of about 50, settled Israelites west of the Jordan at the end of the eleventh century B.
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