“King Saul’s Living Sacrifice”
[By Robert Haynes]

One of my favorite bible characters – King Saul.

Short Outline:

– Saul was not a godly person, but neither did he struggle with idolatry the way Israel often did.

– Initially, Saul was a man with humble beginnings who delivered Israel for God.

– However, Saul sought Jehovah on his own terms and became more interested in his kingship.

– Saul loved Samuel as a mentor and revered him, and Samuel loved Saul as well, but Saul’s refusal to understand and act upon his sin resulted in tragic spiritual and mental decay.

– The Spirit of the Lord departs from Saul.

– Unwilling to truly repent, Saul became consumed with jealousy and with the continuation of his dynasty, fighting against what God had taken away from him.

– We see this humble man turned mighty deliverer and consolidator of Israel, a petty and jealous man.

– Saul’s story reminds us to take a look at ourselves and our hearts/attitude and is a sharp contrast to David.

– We cannot come to God on our own terms or twist them to support what we think or feel is important.

For myself, King Saul is one of the most fascinating characters in the Old Testament. Saul’s story focuses on his rise and his fall and to provide a contrast to King David. It’s a tragic story of how a humble man turned mighty deliverer becomes petty, jealous, and murderous. As Saul ascends in status, he descends into spiritual chaos. Saul’s story emphasizes how God should be our King and nothing else. It’s perhaps more fascinating because this is not shown through idolatry (as is often the case), but through Saul’s growing obsession with his own kingship and doing what was right in his own eyes. Saul’s story is relatable, and a warning to Christians who appear to serve God, but will only do so on their terms and for their own interests.

King Saul enters the story following Judges, where the worst of the nation of Israel is on display. God had warned the nation of Israel against establishing an earthly king (1 Sam 8:7-9), but permitted it (Deut. 17:14-20), perhaps due to the lawlessness that was prevalent. At the time, Samuel judged the land, but as he grew older, his sons took on more of the responsibilities. However, Samuel’s sons were not good leaders and the Israelite people were scattered and constantly oppressed, so the elders came to Samuel to find a King.

Saul would be that one that would unite God’s people. From the tribe of Benjamin, which was nearly wiped out in a civil war, he decides to visit Samuel while searching for his father’s donkeys (1 Sam 9:1-14). Samuel directs the conversation toward Saul leading the nation of Israel, but Saul needs some reassurance considering his position, and mirrors a sentiment from Gideon (Judges 6:15) that he does not have significant influence as a family in Israel. In many ways, Saul’s story will follow a similar trajectory as Gideon. After anointing Saul, Samuel puts him to work by having him join a group of prophets near a Philistine garrison and that he will even prophesy with them. From there, Saul is supposed to wait, which will come up again (1 Sam 10:1-8). After fulfilling this duty and becoming a proverb (which is repeated in his fall like how he was to wait), Saul finds his uncle who questions Saul about why Saul is with the prophets, but Saul avoids the subject and then goes into hiding while Samuel prepares to announce his kingship. Initially, Saul tries to hide from this responsibility. They find Saul, and Samuel presents him to the people, though they are divided with some questioning whether he can deliver them (when the people should have been looking for God to deliver).

In 1 Samuel 11 and 12 we see Saul deliver the people of Israel, nobly stand up for his detractors, and give glory to Jehovah for their salvation. So now we see Saul officially become king of the people, followed by Samuel’s final warning to the people. Saul seems promising. He has successfully shown he can unite the nation of Israel and deliver them. However, within the first couple years, we see Saul fail where he had previously succeeded (1 Sam 13).

This time, when before a Philistine garrison, Saul was again told to wait for a week for Samuel. When Samuel did not arrive, the people began to scatter. We see Saul react to this and try to assert control over the situation himself by offering his own sacrifices instead of following God’s command. Samuel confronts him for his actions, but Saul instead justifies his actions of seeking God through unauthorized sacrifices because he was afraid (1 Sam 13:12). Saul had wanted to unify his people under his authority, and for that reason, he would have his dynasty taken away (1 Sam 13:14). We see Saul’s fight against the Philistines play out and learn a bit more about Saul’s character, and that he was no different from many of the flawed leaders in Judges. Saul has his people take an oath to not taste any food, but his son, Jonathan, was unaware of this oath and ate honey to get the strength needed to deliver Israel. Meanwhile, Saul’s army is hungry, which causes them to eat from the spoils of their battle without draining blood (1 Sam 14:31-34), which was forbidden. Not realizing his own son broke his oath, Saul builds his first altar to Jehovah to seek counsel, but tries to slide the eating of blood under the rug through more sacrifices and continues to focus on the battle. When God would not reply, he then recognizes he must confront the sin and utters another hasty oath, similar to Jephthah (Judges 11:30-31). Saul was ready to put his son to death, but the people of Israel already recognized God with Jonathan, and not with Saul’s attempts at seeking God’s counsel or the legitimacy of his oaths (1 Sam 14:45). Nevertheless, we see Saul’s kingdom grow and expand.

Samuel continues to guide and instruct Saul, and sends him against the Amalekites, where Saul again stumbles when he disobeys God’s word with the Amalekites. We see Saul more interested in reaching God through his own means, by sacrificing what he was supposed to destroy and letting the people enjoy some of the spoils. Samuel notes that Saul should have obeyed God’s word rather than make sacrifices of the Amalekite’s spoils (1 Sam 15:22). We see in Saul’s response that he is more concerned with his appearance before the people and would rather do things his own way. I think we can fall into this trap easily as well, and why I find Saul such a relatable character. We feel like if we can point to one way in which we are praising God, that we can ignore other aspects of God’s Word. Despite Saul’s pleas and his attempts to worship, he prefers doing it in his own way, and at his own benefit. From 1 Sam 15:24-16:1, we see the relationship that Samuel and Saul have built. Saul would want Samuel to return with him and Samuel mourns over God rejecting Saul, but they never see each other again. When we serve God in our own way, and in a way that benefits us, we will never truly become closer to God or God’s people. Eventually, the disparity in our will and God’s commands will take us farther away as it did with Saul. While Saul continues to ascend in physical status, his spiritual health continues to decay. We see Saul become obsessed with his kingship. He becomes murderous, threatening anything that would oppose him (1 Sam 16:2, 18:9-12, 19:9-10, 15-17, 22:13-19, 23:7-8). Saul begins to exalt himself and focuses on his kingship to the point where he would attempt to kill his son again (15:12-15,18:7-8,13, 20:28-33).

Saul’s worst traits continue to become amplified while he pursues God’s new chosen king, David. Saul had removed mediums from Israel, following God’s commands, but God having departed from Saul and Saul never stopping to reconsider his actions consults a medium (1 Sam 28). Saul is certainly unique, in that he did not stumble into common pitfalls like so many of the other wicked kings with respect to idolatry, witchcraft, or the customs of the idolatrous people. However, as Samuel noted in 1 Sam 15:23 (NKJV), “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” In Saul’s downward spiral of rebellion and stubbornness, he ends up breaking God’s commandment against witchcraft. Whatever Saul needed to do for himself in the moment, he would always take that path. Now it brings him to the point where he would outright disobey God’s will to do so. He seeks his own mentor, Samuel, from beyond the grave through a medium since God would not communicate with him otherwise. For his first major offense, the kingdom was taken away. For his second major offense, God rejected Saul as King and departed from him. Now, Saul would perish and he would finally face defeat (1 Sam 28:17-19). Even in his final moments, Saul only thought of how he would appear before the people and decided to take his own life. A tragic end to someone chosen by God to deliver and protect His Nation who initially showed promise.

The main takeaways from Saul’s story is how our carelessness with God’s word and obsession with status causes us to drift away from His People and His Promises. We also need to be careful that what we’re doing for God is also not something we are doing to serve ourselves and our appearance before others. Saul’s role in the story is to be an example of what God does not want in leaders for his people. We cannot preach of God’s deliverance and be a leader for others when we are reckless with God’s word. It is so easy to fall into these pitfalls, which helps to make Saul so relatable. Coming out of that pitfall requires humility, recognition of God’s word, and the willingness to climb out with God’s support.