Explore the compelling story of Saul, the first king of Israel, whose journey from anointed ruler to rejected leader is a profound lesson in the corrupting nature of power and the importance of obedience to divine commands. Despite being endowed with all the gifts needed by a king, Saul’s impulsiveness and failure to listen to God’s instructions led to his downfall. Through a vivid recounting of biblical events, this episode delves into the crucial mistakes that cost Saul his throne and provides lessons that resonate with leaders today.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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The first king of Israel was exactly what the people envisioned for a king. He was tall, handsome, athletic, and God gave him all the gifts he would need as a king. He had a chance to become great and to have his dynasty established forever. And it was a real chance, too, not something extended and then later to be taken away. But it was as true then as it is today that power corrupts. And early on, Saul displayed an impulsiveness and a headstrong quality that nearly led him to kill his own son. The first thing he did wrong was to assume the office of a priest. Samuel had been a little later than Saul thought he ought to be, and people were drifting away from Saul, and he thought, I’d better do something religious here, and offered a sacrifice, which only the priest should have been doing. It was a day of a major battle, and he commanded on that day, again, I guess, trying to be religious, commanded that everyone fast on this day. Now, his son Jonathan never heard this. So as he went along the field, he actually dipped his staff into a honeycomb that was there and ate some honey. And when he did, only then did somebody bother telling him what his father had said. And they said, Hey, your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food this day. And the people were faint. Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. Look how my eyes have been enlightened because I tasted just a little bit of this honey. How much more if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies, which they had found. There had been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines. And as it was, they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ajalon, but the people were very faint. It was a bad day in a lot of ways. The people started killing the animals they had taken and spoiled and eating them in haste with the blood. I mean, they’re just gobbling the food down because they were so starved. And Saul said, let’s go down after the Philistines by night. We’re reading in 1 Samuel chapter 14. Let’s spoil them all night till the morning and let’s don’t leave a man of them. And somebody said, whatever seems good. But the priest said, well, why don’t we draw near to God before we go? So Saul asked counsel of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? But God answered him not that day. God, it seems, was in no mood to talk to Saul. Saul, on the other hand, knew something was wrong. And so he decided, we’re going to have to find out where the sin has been this day. For as the Lord lives, which saves Israel, though it be Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But no one would answer him a word. So he said to all Israel, you be on one side, Jonathan and my son will be on the other side. And the people shrugged their shoulders and said, do what seems good to you. Therefore Saul said to God of Israel, give a perfect lot of And Saul and Jonathan were taken. The people were escaped. And Saul said, Well, cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken. And Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. Jonathan said, All I did was taste a little honey with the end of the rod in my hand, and, lo, I must die. And Saul answered, God do so to me and more also, for you shall surely die, Jonathan. Now, you know, he didn’t stop to think before he ever made this oath. He never did give any careful consideration to the implications for the people, for the armies, and what was going to happen. Saul was just trying to be religious, and so he declared a fast for everyone. And he was so narrow-minded about it, when all was done, he couldn’t say, well, Jonathan did it in ignorance. He just said, no, no, you’ve got to die. Saul’s really a curious blend of a man consumed with his own power, a man who had an ego as big as he was, and yet who felt like he had to somehow be very religious. Well, the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? Jonathan is the one that led the battle in the first place and caused them to win. And they said, God forbid, as the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan that he did not die. So Saul went up from following the Philistines, and they went back home to their place. And instead of this being brought really to a firm conclusion, it was left hanging. So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the children of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah and the Philistines. And wherever he went and turned himself, he vexed them. He really was giving them a hard time. He gathered a host and smote the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them. You know, it really, as you read through the account, reading between the lines, it seems that nearly every nation around Israel had been spoiling them as weak as they were. They had gotten to the place, they had become such a weak people that they had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen their farm instruments. They had no swords, they had no fighting instruments, and everyone around them, if they came into Israel and saw something they wanted, they took it. Saul put an end to every bit of that. And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him unto him. As Samuel warned, Saul instituted the draft. Well, in 1 Samuel 15, Samuel comes to Saul and says, The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now we have a job for you to do. Listen to the voice of the Lord. This is what the Lord says. I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now, the Amalekites had been singularly vicious in the days following the Exodus. They had not just fought the front of Israel’s column. They flanked them and killed the people who were old and weak in the rear of the column. There’s a scene actually in the movie, Henry V, or actually I guess in the stage play as well. In Henry V, where the French actually go around the front lines of the English and their cavalry and charge among the children, the old people, and the sick, and the infirm at the rear of their lines and kill them all. A particularly vicious and unmanly thing for the French to have done at that time. Well, that’s what the Amalekites did. So, the word from God to Saul was, now go and smite Amalek. utterly destroy all that they have. Don’t spare them. Slay man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. This is what I guess you would call the nuclear option. It is the sort of thing that happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki because those two atom bombs did not distinguish between male and female, between child and suckling, between ox and sheep or camel and ass, although I don’t think there were any camels there. It’s also what happened to Dresden before that. It’s also what happened to Tokyo and the fire bombings of those two cities. Destruction like that does not distinguish between dogs and cats. Everything goes up in smoke. Now, this instruction from God disturbs a lot of people. I’ve heard some convoluted explanations that attempt to exculpate God from what happened on that day and blame it on Samuel. But it’s only an attempt by people who do that to make God over in their own image. They’re embarrassed by God. They feel like they have to justify God, explain God, apologize for God. But the fact is, this is an example of divine justice. And we might as well own up to it. Apologizing for God is not what we are called to do. Sometimes the wickedness of a people is so great, sometimes the corruption is so deep-seated, that they and their children are beyond redemption. In a way, you see something similar to this developing in some communities. Muslim societies to this day, as children are educated only in the Koran and steeped in hatred of the West and of anyone who is not Islamic. And this has gone so deep, and it hits these children so early, that the children even are beyond redemption. Now, you may prefer a different kind of God. And if so, you had best go find him or her. For what we are dealing with here is the God who created the heavens and the earth and the God who said this. Reading from Deuteronomy chapter 32, here’s what God says. To me belongs vengeance and recompense. People’s feet shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees that their power is gone and there’s no one shut up or left. And he shall say, Okay, where are their gods? Where is the rock in whom they trusted, who did eat the fat of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their drink offerings? Let those gods rise up and help you and be your protection. See, now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For he went on to say, I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. If I wet my glittering sword and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and reward them that hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh and that with the blood of the slain of the captives from the beginning of the revenges upon the enemy. Man, you read that, you wonder, wait a minute, is that God to answer? Yes, it is. He is a God of vengeance. He is a God of justice. Painfully, though, for man, the sword of the Lord is often in the hands of men, and they have their job before them, as Saul had his. I’ll be right back to tell you how this played out with Saul.
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So now, do we understand the instructions that were given to Saul? This is what God told him to do, regardless of what we think about it. Go and smite Amalek. Utterly destroy all that they have and don’t spare them. Slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, and Don’t leave anything alive when you leave. Okay, Saul gathered all the people together, numbered them in Talaim, 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. And they came rolling down to a city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley. Now Saul sent word into the city to some people called the Kenites. He said, you get out among the Amalekites because I don’t want you to die with them. You showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the Kenites, not being stupid, got out from among the Amalekites. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah till you come to Shur over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. He utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, best of the oxen, the best of the fatlings and the lambs, everything that was good and would not utterly destroy them. Everything that was vile and refuse, they destroyed utterly. Now, when you sit back and think about this for a moment, you can begin to see what’s going on here, what God was after. He did not intend for the destruction of the Amalekites to look like a war for plunder. He did not want it to look at all like these people came down here, plundered them, took things away, and did what they’re doing for gain. This was a pure justice war. It was a war purely for vengeance, and vengeance is the central value in justice. In Israel, blew it by turning it into a war of plunder. Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, It repents me that I’ve set up Saul to be king. I’m sorry I did it. He’s turned back from following me. He has not performed my commandments. And he grieved Samuel. He cried to the Lord all night. Poor Samuel. He really loved Saul. Samuel was a kind man, a good man, and didn’t want this kind of thing to happen. Finally, he came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “‘Blessed be you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.'” What a strange moral build this man had. What a strange mind. He actually could do something that God said don’t do and then say, well, I’ve done what God said to do. And Samuel said, well, what then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen, which I hear? There shouldn’t be any critters down here. And Saul said, well, they brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God. And the rest, well, the rest we’ve utterly destroyed, just like God said. Now, if you’re paying attention to this, you remember it said Saul and the people did this. Now, Saul gets the first hint that all is not well. He does two things. One, he begins to blame it on the people, taking his responsibility for it away from himself. And secondarily, he tries to make it a religious act. Well, yeah, we kept them, but we intended to use it as a sacrifice to God, so that makes it okay. Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what the Lord has said to me this night. And Saul, probably somewhat trembling, said, Stay on. And Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel? And the Lord sent you on a journey. He said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites. Fight against them until they are completely consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you fly upon the spoil and did evil in the eyes of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. Yea, I have obeyed his voice. I have gone in the way the Lord sent me. And I’ve brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I’ve utterly destroyed the Amalekites. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, but the people, they took of the spoil, the sheep, the oxen, the chief of the things that should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. And that’s a lie. They didn’t save those things to sacrifice to God. All that is is a cover-up. And Saul was king, wasn’t he? Then why did he allow the people to take the spoils? The answer is Saul was in it up to his hips, and Saul himself was involved. But now he is trying everything he possibly can to avoid responsibility for what he’s done. He is in denial. Then follows a truly profound statement from Samuel. Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? You think these animals out here are going to kill these animals as sacrifices to God, that that’s more important to God than simple obedience? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. To listen is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Oh, try to remember that. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness, because Saul was a stubborn man. He was a man who, even when he’d done the wrong thing, couldn’t manage to bring himself to own up to it. It’s one of the great differences between he and David. When David messed up and David was challenged, David had nothing to say except, I was wrong, I’m sorry, I repent. Not Saul. But Samuel then goes on to say, Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. Finally, after all this way, finally when it’s too late, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words. Because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. And what on earth is the point in having a king if he’s just going to do what we tell him to do? If he’s afraid of us, the people, what’s the point? Saul is still trying to lay off his guilt. It was the people’s fault. I’ve sinned, yes, but the people made me do it. Now, therefore, I pray you pardon my sin. and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. And that’s final. As Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold on his skirt. He grabbed him. And it tore. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours that is better than you. And the strength of Israel will not lie or repent. He is not a man that he should repent. And poor Saul said, Well, I’ve sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord your God. I don’t know how much weight to put on those words, but this is twice in this event that Paul has spoken of, Yehovah, your God. Not our God, not my God, Samuel. Your God. And it, in a way, I guess, tells us how far Saul had fallen. So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord, and then said, Samuel, bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agab came to him delicately, and he said, Ah, boy, I’ve cheated death this time. And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agab into pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Serious fellow, Samuel. Then Samuel went to Ramah. Saul went to his house in Gibeah. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul. And the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. Did God make a mistake? No. No, he didn’t. The people wanted a king. He gave them a king. He gave them the very best that there was to be had. God didn’t make a mistake. Saul did.
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Stay with me. I’ll be right back. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, The Book of Samuel, Number 6. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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And the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul? I’ve rejected him from reigning over Israel. It’s over. We’re reading in 1 Samuel chapter 16. Fill your horn with oil and go. I’m going to send you to the house of Jesse of Bethlehem, for I provided me a king among his sons. This is one of the great turning points in history. One of the greatest men of the Bible, one of the greatest to ever come on the scene, one of the most important and an ancestor of the Messiah forever. is the man who is about to be ordained, anointed as king. His hometown is Bethlehem. And Samuel said, I can’t go up there. If Saul hears I’m going up there, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you. Say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. And you shall anoint unto me whom I will name. Now, this is a passing interest. You know, the Bible says the Lord will not lie. But he doesn’t seem to mind misleading Saul as to what Samuel’s really up to on this occasion. So Samuel did what God said. He went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming. and said, are you coming peaceably? Now, it’s really fascinating. This old man shows up on the scene, wandering down the road, wearing a robe, I presume, with a staff in his hand, long beard, and probably tottering a little bit because he is getting old. He scares the people to death. He said, I’ve come peaceably. I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them. Now it came to pass that when they got there, he looked at Eliab, Jesse’s son, and said, Oh, surely the Lord’s anointed is in front of him. Good looking guy. But the Lord said to Samuel, Don’t look at his face. Don’t look at his height. I have refused him. The Lord sees not as men see. For the man looks on the outward appearance. The Lord looks on the heart. This time, we’re going to give Israel a good king, but we’re not going to give one necessarily that’s going to look like a good king to them. Now, this is an important verse, one we should never let ourselves forget. Man looks on the outward appearance. The Lord looks on the heart. So Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, no, this is not the one. He made Shammah pass by another son. He said, the Lord hasn’t chosen this one. Jesse made seven of his sons to pass in front of Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, I’m sorry, the Lord has not chosen any of these. Is this all your boys? He said, well, yes, there remains yet the youngest. And behold, he’s out keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him. We will not sit down until he comes here. And he sent, and he brought him. Now he was ruddy, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. You know, commentators suggest that David may well have been red-headed. Unusual, I suppose, but quite possible. Who knows what particular set of jeans his mother carried, but a ruddy, red-headed, red-faced young man, very good-looking. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. The Downside The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. That’s a really disturbing passage of Scripture. The movement of the Spirit of God from one to the other, and a man who had had it being left without it and in deep trouble. And Saul’s servants said to him, Look, an evil spirit from God is troubling you. Let our Lord now command your servants to look for a man who is a cunning player on a harp, and he shall come to pass. When the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play, and you will be well.
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Until next time. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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