Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mankato
Fall 1999 Bible Study
"Old Testament Believers" (Judges-David)
November 21, 1999

SAUL ~ Good King

1 Samuel 8-12

There are two parts to King Saul’s reign‘that in which he was a good king who followed the Lord’s will and that in which he was a bad king who followed his own will. Saul was never the type of king that David would be (a man after God’s own heart; cf: coming weeks of Bible Study). What was Saul’s downfall? How did Saul serve as a "bridge" between the period of the Judges and the "golden age" of Israel? How did Saul fit into God’s plans for Israel’s monarchy? We’ll explore these and other questions this week and next in our study of Saul.

I. Israel’s Desire for a King (Chapter 8)

God’s desire & design was for Israel to have a king

Genesis 17:6, 35:11, 49:10; Deuteronomy 17:14-20; 2 Samuel 7:12,16 & Luke 1:31-33; Judges 21:25

• What were the Lord’s qualifications/guidelines for the future kings? [keep these in mind for evaluation of Saul and other kings of Israel]

The people’s sin was not the desire for a king but the motivation for that desire.

The people’s reasons: Samuel’s sons’ conduct (1 Samuel 8:5); To be like other nations (1 Samuel 8:19-20); The attacks of Nahash king of the Ammonites (1 Samuel 12:12) [cf: Judges 8:22]

Commenting on Israel’s later misunderstanding regarding the Messiah, Pastor Paul F. Nolting writes: "But salvation through a divine Lamb faded from consciousness of the people. What stirred their souls was the prophecy of the coming of a King whom they were hoping would free them from the tyranny of Rome and restore the glory of Israel as it was in the days of David and Solomon. The kingdom they longed for was not spiritual but carnal‘a kingdom like the kingdoms of the world.¹ (p.12f).

"We know what the term "judge" meant in Israel. It meant implicit reliance for deliverance from their enemies on an individual, specially God-appointed‘that is, really on the unseen God. It was this to which the people had objected in the time of Gideon, and which they would no longer bear in the days of Samuel. Their deliverance was unseen, they wanted it seen; it was only certain to faith, but quite uncertain to them in their state of mind; it was in heaven, they wanted it upon earth; it was of God, they wanted it visibly embodied in a man.²

The sins & weaknesses of the people that led to the rejection of the Lord and wrongly motivated desire for a king were the same sins & weaknesses that led to Saul’s downfall are the same sins & weaknesses that led to the rejection of Christ (both then and now). What were those sins & weaknesses? Cf: Matthew 6:35, John 17:14-17, Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15-17, etc.

II. God’s Choice of King (9:1-26)

9:1-2

• Saul = "asked for"
• Saul’s appearance, etc. = people’s desire [cf: Samuel’s desire to anoint David’s brothers and God’s response, 1 Samuel 16]

9:3-17

• loss of donkeys was loss of some value
• prophet = Samuel
• city = Ramah (cf: 1 Samuel 7:17)
• At this time the Ark of the Covenant was in Abinadab’s house (1 Samuel 7:1) so there was no regular worship site at Shiloh or anywhere else. Samuel performed the role of a circuit-preacher (1 Samuel 7:16-17) and performed sacrifices at the high places (sites of worship/sacrifice) of the towns he visited. Samuel was on his way to offer a sacrifice at Ramah’s high place when he met Saul (by God’s direction, not coincidence).
• Like the judges before him, Saul would provide deliverance for Israel (v.16).
• v. 16 "commander" = literally: "prince, leader, ruler"

9:18-26

• Samuel promises to tell Saul all that was in his heart
• Samuel assures Saul the donkeys are found – clears Saul’s head for greater considerations. Note how the mechanism of bringing Saul to Ramah fades to the background once God’s purpose with that mechanism is complete (cf: Caesar’s census that brought Mary to Bethlehem, etc.)
• Samuel had been "charged" by the people to appoint a king. His words in v. 20 allude to this…giving Saul a hint of his purpose.
• Saul is taken aback because of the size of his tribe. Benjamin was small but noted for its warrior qualities, cf: lesson on Ehud another Benjamite. Gideon objected to his being a leader of Israel, not because of his tribe’s size (Manasseh) but rather its weakness (cf: Judges 6:15). **compare v. 21 with 1 Samuel 15:17**
• Saul is honored by his position at the feast and by receiving food specially set apart for him
• Samuel instructed Saul in their private conversations that night

III. Saul is made King and confirmed as king among the people (9:27-11:15)

10:1

• The first king of Israel is ANOINTED. Cf: Exodus30:23-30; Leviticus 8:10, etc.
• God refers to Israel as "His inheritance"

10:2-9

• God gave Saul signs to assure him that this appointment to be king was from Him.

  "[the first sign] would be a pledge that it was likewise by God’s appointment he had been anointed king. Thus the first sign would convey that his royalty was of God… [re: 2^nd sign] only two loaves out of all the sacrificial gifts being presented to Saul. To Saul this, then, would indicate royalty in subordination to God…The obvious import of [the third sign] in combination with the others, would be: royalty not only from God and under God, but with God.³

• Samuel told Saul to go to Gilgal and wait there 7 days…see 11:14 (13:8 seems to be a similar but separate occasion)
• Notice the change of v. 9. Cf: Ezekiel 36:25-27. God equips those whom He calls. **compare v. 9 with 1 Samuel 16:14**

10:10-16

• Saul prophesied just as Samuel said he would
• Why were the people surprised at Saul’s prophesying?

10:17-10:27

• Saul was king as soon as God chose him; he was publicly chosen by lots (God directed) and declared king among the people
• Why was Saul hidden amidst the equipment/baggage?

"…Saul had concealed himself among the baggage on the outskirts of the encampment. Even this seems characteristic of Saul. It could have been neither from humility nor modesty‘both of which would, to say the least, have been here misplaced. It is indeed true that this was a moment in which the heart of the bravest might fail, and that thoughts of what was before him might well fill him with anxiety. Saul must have known what would be expected of him as king. Would he succeed in it? He knew the tribal and personal jealousies which his election would call forth. Would he be strong enough to stand against them? Such questions were natural. The only true answer would have been a spiritual one. Unable to give it, Saul withdrew from the assembly. Did he wonder whether after al lit would come to pass or what would happen, and wait till a decision was forced upon him? The people at any rate, saw nothing in his conduct that seemed to them strange; and so may take it that it was just up to the level of their own conceptions, thought to us it appears very different from what a hero of God would have done…[f.n. the reluctance of Moses and of Jeremiah in similar circumstances afford no parallel, although that of the former, at least was the result of weakness in faith. But their hesitation was before God, not before men.] ⁴ cf: Saul knew he was the Lord’s anointed…cf: David’s approach once he was anointed.

• Samuel explained the behavior of royalty…undoubtedly much of what he had told them in chapter 8 as well as God’s direction in Deuteronomy 17 (see above).
• There were rebels ("sons of Belial") who objected to Saul’s reign, just as there would be dissenters with the shift to David’s and Solomon’s reign too.
• Saul did not push his kingship at first, but returned home. When the need for a king arose, then Saul was called into action from which time he assumed the prominent role as king.

11:1-15

• Jabesh Gilead had not come out against Benjamin in the earlier Israel vs. Benjamin war (Judges 21:9)
• The men of Jabesh Gilead would honor Saul and his son’s desecrated bodies (1 Samuel 31:8-13)
• Saul was working with oxen in the field when the call to battle came.
• Saul assumed his God-given leadership role
• The people united around Saul’s leadership "as one man"
• God gave Saul and the people a great victory.
• Saul spared the lives of those who had rebelled against him.
• Now united under their king, Israel worshipped the Lord and celebrated their king in Gilgal

IV. Samuel’s Address at the "renewal" of Saul’s Kingship (12:1-25)

• Section addressed in last lesson on Samuel
• Samuel "sets his house in order" as his role as judge folds into Saul’s role as king
• Samuel makes his sons responsible for their own deeds ("my sons are with you…") and declares his faithfulness (cf: Paul in Acts 20:27, etc.)
• vv.13-15 – IMPORTANT WORDS FOR KINGDOM‘and for SAUL ITS KING!
• Rain was not common during the season of wheat harvest (cf: November ’99) so when the thunderstorm came after Samuel’s prayer, the significance was clear (vv. 17-18).
• vv.19-21 – God’s grace is demonstrated in His use of the people’s sin to accomplish their good and His goals.

Note on 13:1

Translations differ in their rendering of verse 1 in chapter 13. This is because the Hebrew text does not supply the a number in the first part and, many feel, deletes a number in the second part of the verse. Literally the verse reads: "Saul was a son of years in his reign/ruling and 2 years a king upon Israel…." Anything more than this involves some speculation and addition on the part of the translators.

Sampling of Translations:

• Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel (KJV)
• Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel (NKJV)
• Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years (New Living)
• Saul was a young man when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years. (Contemporary English)
• Saul was forty years old when he began to reign and he reigned thirty two years over Israel. (NASB)
• Saul was thirty years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel forty two years. (NIV)
• Saul was years old when he became king and he was king of Israel and two years (BECK)
• Saul had been king for one year and when he had reigned two years…. (Luther)
• The Greek translation of the Old Testament omits this verse altogether.
• All translations note the difficulty of this verse and their suppositions.

--Pastor Wayne C. Eichstadt