The Story of King Saul

The Story of King Saul Saga

King Saul in the Bible Events

Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Daily Bread study program. This is the Story of King Saul in the Bible study taking a look into the thought provoking story of King Saul and how the concerning choices made within the Story of King Saul in the Bible study affects your be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.

The Story of King Saul Explanation
King Saul in the Bible Truth

Great to have you here once again to share more Daily Bread together. In our study of 1 Samuel, we recently learned about Saul's first victory over Ammon, and then Samuel's address to Israel. Let's pick up from there.

First, we must remember that way back when, things weren't like they are today. In today's time, the leader of a nation is the commander in chief all right, but they don't go out to battle with the rest of the military.

Also, don't forget that these soldiers of Israel have had no military training whatsoever ... And those that are strong enough in faith to fight, are relying on the power of God to be victorious.

Let's recall what's happened recently in the story of King Saul. Saul's military history began with a battle against the Ammonites. The army that was united for Israel consisted of 330,000 soldiers. They were victorious and a great celebration was had.

The Story of King Saul Bible Study
King Saul in the Bible Concerns

So ... What do you suppose the army of Israel did between battles? Since the conquest of Canaan was over, do you think they had military bases where they had boot camps and target practice and military strategy lessons?

Well, perhaps precious few of the soldiers were that enthusiastic to protect and defend their new inheritance, but probably, except for a few bodyguards of the king, it's likely that most went home to their families.

Now, let me remind you of something that the Lord warned Israel about way back even before they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land.

... And there it was hundreds of years later, and Israel was still troubled by all those that weren't driven out during the occupation of their inheritance. In fact, it's now thousands of years later, and Israel is yet troubled by them.

The Story of King Saul Discussion
King Saul in the Bible Story

Now, back to our story ... Let's look at a few different things that are directly affecting what happens for Saul. As you may remember from the Book of Judges, as long as the children of Israel followed the commandments of the Lord, things went smoothly in their conquest of Canaan, but whenever they went backsliding, the disaster that they imposed on their enemies was turned back upon them. In this story, it wasn't the children of Israel that erred, it was Saul himself.

Let me give you the setting ... Saul has now reigned for two years over Israel, with one victory over Ammon. Apparently there was some peace time after that, and the only military that Saul kept at hand were three thousand soldiers. Two thousand of these were with Saul in Michmash.

Saul's son Jonathan was with the other thousand in Gibeah, who successfully attacked a military post of the Philistines in Geba. The proximities of these places is something like this, with Gibeah and Gilgal being approximately 15 miles apart.

So Saul spread news of this victory to all of Israel, then combined all three thousand troops together in Gilgal and declared war on the Philistines.

The Philistines then assembled a huge army of 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and more soldiers than one could count. Just counting the chariots and horsemen alone, it was twelve times the manpower that Saul had.

The Story of King Saul Continues
King Saul in the Bible Warning

Seeing this, many of the soldiers of Israel were frightened and hid themselves in caves and forests and such, and others went to the land of Gad and Gilead, east of the Jordan for refuge. The remaining soldiers stayed with Saul, but even those trembled in fear.

Now, Samuel had told Saul to wait for him, seven days, and he would come to Gilgal and make offerings to the Lord before they went to battle. But when Samuel was late in arriving, Saul grew impatient and made the offerings himself. Just as Saul had finished making the burnt offering, Samuel arrived.

What have you done? Samuel asked Saul, and Saul explained that a number of his troops had abandoned and the Philistines were gathered together. With Samuel's absence, he was afraid that they would attack before offerings were made to the Lord, so he took it upon himself to do it.

Well, this was a mistake. How so? you may ask. Think back to the situation with Abraham and Sarah, and when Sarah was impatient waiting for the child that the Lord promised, and they took it upon themselves to have a surrogate ... You remember that whole thing?

The Story of King Saul Disobedience
King Saul in the Bible Danger

But we're not just talking about impatience here, as you might imagine, an offering as important as this was probably supposed to be performed by a Levite priest, which Saul was not. I don't recall reading anything about Samuel telling Saul, "In case I get stuck in traffic, go on ahead and start the fire without me." God's timing isn't always our timing

How many times in our own lives do we find it necessary to go on ahead with our own plans because we're too impatient to wait on the Lord's plan? At any rate, Saul was told by God's Prophet to wait for Samuel, and no matter what the circumstance, he should have waited.

So, Samuel said to Saul, You did a foolish thing and didn't obey the commandment of the Lord. Your kingdom would have been established forever in Israel, but now, your kingdom won't continue. You see, the Lord wants a man after His own heart to be captain over His people.

How do you think Samuel was feeling about all of this? Remember, Samuel was annoyed that the children of Israel chose to have a king in the first place, so one might wonder what his perspective was. Well, one thing is certain, Samuel was a Prophet of God, and he loved the people he served for the Lord. Even though Samuel may not have been tickled pink about the prospect of having a human king over Israel, he also knew that Saul didn't choose to be king either.

The Story of King Saul Mistake
King Saul in the Bible Error

The people wanted a king, and he was God's anointed, so one might assume that Samuel, in the interest of the welfare of Israel, wished Saul prosperity, so quite naturally, Samuel was disappointed at Saul, and he left Gilgal and went home to Gibeah. Saul and Jonathan followed with the mere 600 soldiers that were left.

Ouch!

"Your kingdom won't continue."

What does that mean? Well, had Saul proved himself to be trustworthy to follow God's Word, the throne would have passed on to his son Jonathan, and then Jonathan's son after him, and so on, continuing in Saul's bloodline forever ... But ... Since Saul displayed dishonor in carrying out the Lord's commandment, he lost the privilege.

Now, the Philistines also had a camp in Michmash, and while Saul and Jonathan and their small amount of soldiers remained in Gibeah because they knew they couldn't defend the land, the Philistines raided the area in three companies, in three different directions around Michmash.

The Story of King Saul Conclusion
King Saul in the Bible Summary

Obviously controlling the area, they then prohibited the Hebrews from making any swords or spears ... And any farming tools that they needed to have sharpened, had to be taken to the Philistines to do it. So, when there was warfare, the Hebrews were weaponless, however, Saul and Jonathan were both found possessing weapons ... Isn't that curious?

One might come to a few different conclusions about that, but consider this ...

Perhaps the Lord wanted to make the ultimate point, that weapons would not win any battles for the children of Israel ... Only the power of God would.

Anxious to find out what happens next? Well then hurry back for more Daily Bread!

Copyright © 2000-2024 All Rights Reserved.