Articles
Person Of The Week: Saul
Saul’s life might be summarized as “What might have been.” Saul was the first king over the “United Kingdom,” a confederation of all the tribes of Israel under one monarch. At first Saul was humble and unassuming (I Sam. 9:21), but before long he changed and became rebellious.
He offered an unauthorized sacrifice (I Samuel 13), made a selfish, rash oath (I Samuel 14) and then failed to execute God’s battle plans against the Amalekites (I Samuel 15). At that point, God rejected Saul and directed Samuel to anoint David as his successor.
That rejection and the subsequent blessing of David drove an already unstable King Saul into full-blown insanity. He falsely accused his son of treason and embarked upon a campaign to assassinate David. He had an entire city of priests murdered without cause.
He pursued David relentlessly, who passed on several chances to kill the king, and then wept as David exposed his groundless hatred. At the end of his life Saul even turned to a medium for guidance, having been abandoned by God.
When Samuel pronounced judgment on King Saul, he said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel?” (I Sam 15:17). But Saul’s humility gave way to pride, greed and personal power, and these qualities led him away from God.
And so will they do to us if we let them.
