And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. – 1 Samuel 12:21
Good advice for an aspiring politician (prospective leader of the people), is it not?
A young Saul is anointed King of Israel and the heavy mantle of leadership soon burdens Saul’s shoulders.
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Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel.
- King for one year
- Raises an army of of 3000 in year two.
- 2000 men with Saul in Michmash in hill country of Bethel [v.2]
- 1000 men with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin
3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
- a garrison is troops stationed in a town to defend it, typically a small number of the entire army.
5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.
Imagine that after a short time in office and you announcing a great victory (really, a small battle won by your son in a border town) that you discover that your neighboring enemy, Philistia, is bringing an army of 30,000 men and 6 thousand chariots against your army of 2000 men who are mostly shepherds. 
What next? Saul is in danger of immediate defeat.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, 7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
God’s great nation of Israel is fleeing the heathen Philistines and Saul leads those who do not desert to temporary safety.
8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
Can a dead King defend the towns of Israel from the caves of the hills of Benjamin?
King Saul is practically impatient. Saul has had instructions from GOD through Samuel. What are they? WAIT! Wait seven days.
Could the LORD who parted the waters of the sea and crumbled the walls of Jericho not defeat a mere army of men and horses?
Yet Saul does not believe Samuel and the LORD are true to this time to redeem the threatened nation.
… And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?”
Can a King, President, Premier or Prime Minister lead without God?
Yes. Throughout recorded history it happens daily and in many places.
Yet no nation can claim God without obedience to God’s will.
Saul has forsaken the word of the Lord. Saul has rejected the promises he made before the Lord’s Prophet, Samuel, and the people of Israel who follow him as King. Saul seeks to intercede as Priest before the LORD, usurping Samuel’s lawful role and his sworn allegiance to the will of GOD.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue.
The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart,
and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people.
It is clear from history and scripture that Samuel speaks of the anointing of David, a servant in Saul’s household, yet more importantly, ‘a man after God’s own heart.’
15 And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.
And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
- 30,000 Philistines on foot and
- 6000 Philistine charioteers stand ready to attack
- Samuel and his men left for Gilgal
- King Saul now has only 600 men.
- The small army of Saul departs for the battle at Gibeah
- None of Saul’s men have spears or swords, only Saul and Jonathan! [v.22]
What a predicament! Saul is surrounded. He is stripped of his kingdom. The King has few followers. AND GOD is NOT on his side.
Yet in spite of all that, GOD wins the battle by the hand of Jonathan. You can read about it in 1 Samuel 14.
The book of First Samuel is essentially the story of King Saul. David now enters in the later chapters. The timeline of Saul is approximately:
- 1043 B.C. Saul becomes King
- 1041 B.C. Saul’s War with the Philistines & Jonathan’s Miraculous Victory
- 1028 B.C. Saul’s Disobedience and Samuel’s Rebuke [ch.15]
- 1024 B.C. David anointed King [ch.16] & David kills Goliath [ch.17]
- 1011 B.C. Saul Slays the Priests of Nob [ch.22], David flees Saul, Samuel dies
- 1010 B.c. Saul consults a witch at Endor [ch.28]
- 1010 B.C. David flees to the Philistines, is sent away & defeats the Amalikites
- 1010 B.C. Saul & his sons killed in battle 1 Samuel 31
A question of Legacy for Leaders
What will be your legacy:
O King or Premier,
Honorable President, Prime Minister?
What will be your legacy:
Frail leader of men,
Lowly servant of all?
Compare King Saul to David, a man after God’s own heart:
[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,]]
I will love thee,
O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
my buckler, and the horn of my salvation,
and my high tower.
I will call upon the LORD,
who is worthy to be praised:
so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
A thousand years after Saul, a captive Jerusalem looked for a King like Saul to redeem them from Rome. Rather, a King of the Jews entered the gates humbly and redeemed our souls on a cross.
Three thousand years since King Saul and war still looms large in the hills near to Jerusalem. The war of ungodly men still seeks to destroy both the power and the mercy of God.
Christ Jesus has led the captives of sin right up to these last days.
Our Lord and God has conquered death and calls us to an eternal New Jerusalem.
Question to a Sinner Redeemed
Fellow sinner redeemed,
Will you bow down to Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior?
Blessed be God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
Who is and was and will be forever.
Amen.
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