10. Samuel and King Saul: Leadership of Different Stripes

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SAMUEL AND KING SAUL

Leadership of Different Stripes

Speak, Lord, forthyservantheareth. This response by the young Samuel sets the stage for his long and faithful ministry among the Israelites. It is difficult to imagine those same words in the mouth of Saul. Saul, the first king of Israel, is anointed by Samuel, an act of faith that would haunt Samuel in the years to come.

The book of 1 Samuel picks up where the book of Judges leaves off. Samuel is the last of the judges and the first great prophet among the Israelites. During this era Israel transitions from a loose association of tribes governed by judges to one nation—a united kingdom—governed by kings.

During much of the period of the judges, Israel is in a turmoil, with everyone doing that which is right in his own eyes. The people are rebellious and unwilling to live under God’s law. That defiance continues in the following generations and is seen very explicitly in the early chapters of 1 Samuel. Here the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, disgrace the priestly profession by brazenly bringing prostitution and other vices into the very house of God. Incredibly, there is no obvious negative influence on the young Samuel growing up under their noses in the midst of their priestly “ministry.”

The sons of Eli [Hophni and Phinehas] followed the example of Canaanite worship rather than the instruction of the Mosaic Law. Ritual prostitution was part of Canaanite worship, and Eli’s sons seem to have adopted this custom. . . . Earlier in Israel’s history another Phinehas, the godly son of another priest, Eleazar, had executed an Israelite named Zimri and a Moabite woman named Cozbi for practicing sexual immorality in the tabernacle (Num. 25). Now this Phinehas, a priest and the son of another priest, Eli, was practicing sexual immorality in the tabernacle. How far the priests had departed from the Lord during the approximately 300 years that separated these incidents!

Despite such wickedness, properly ordained religious rituals continue, and it is in that setting that Samuel rises up as God’s spokesman. The first major issue he will deal with is in some ways more political than religious. The Israelites are disgruntled. Their neighbors are ruled by kings, and the Israelites look on with envy. A king is exactly what they want.

Through Samuel, God warns them that a king will oppress them, but they pay no heed. So they are saddled with Saul as king. Samuel, the last judge, and Saul, the first king, are polar opposites. Indeed, Samuel is one of the few major figures in the Old Testament of whom nothing negative is reported, apart from his lack of control over his wicked sons.

Very few individuals in biblical times or since could reflect on their upright lives before a massive audience and not get heckled. Samuel was one of them. He was an honest man who had never exploited or stolen or taken advantage of anyone—never taken a bribe and always upheld the law. If anyone had ever lodged a complaint against him, he would have made it right. No one ever had.

Saul, on the other hand, is one of the more tragic figures in the Bible. Here is a man who had shown so much promise but ended up so badly. Early in his rule he wins major victories over both the Ammonites and the Amalekites. He takes all the credit himself. With his massive ego—as big as the monument he sets up in his own honor—he goes his own way, ignoring God’s specific commands. He is rebuked by Samuel, who tells him God has rejected him. Saul pleads for another chance, insisting he has made a proper sacrifice. It is too late. He will be done in by the Philistines.

In the end he is spinning out of control and is utterly defeated. His life is a sad commentary on the consequences of arrogance, disobedience, infidelity. His voice rises out of the grave: Turn your life around while yet there is time. Samuel’s final words to Saul carry a message of timeless truth:

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As much as in obeying the LORD?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

and to heed is better than the fat of rams.[1]

Samuel: Judge and Prophet

He is a little boy on his first big trip away from home, perhaps running ahead of his parents and grabbing a pebble from the dusty road and tossing it up in the air. Has his mother attempted to explain to him that he will never come home again? Has she told him about the old man who will be his new father? If she had, how could he have possibly understood?

How would a mother prepare for such a separation? Would she push him out of the house and send him off to a cousin in another village to live for weeks on end? Or would she cling to him, knowing that their days together are numbered? There is no way to prepare a child for such an outcome, and little Samuel must have felt confused and utterly abandoned when his parents returned home without him. To complicate matters, he has just been weaned, a sometimes-stressful time for a child.

The little boy’s reaction is not disclosed in the text—only the description of the environment in which he is left: the utterly dysfunctional family of the old priest Eli. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are wicked men. They make a sacrilege of the temple worship rites, demanding the best steaks before they’re even offered as a sacrifice. Worse yet, they are making God’s temple nothing less than a whorehouse, demanding sex from the female helpers. Eli begs them to reform their ways. They ignore him, and he is powerless to stop them. This is the atmosphere in which Samuel, a solemn little boy, is reared.

Young Samuel hearing God’s call

But in the midst of this mess, God comes to Samuel in the dark of night. The boy is awakened by a voice calling his name. Thinking Eli needs something, he runs to help. But old Eli tells him he did not call and that Samuel should go back to bed. This happens again and still again, until it occurs to Eli that God may be calling Samuel. So he sends the boy back to bed and tells him to prepare to hear a message from God.

At dawn Samuel arises to do his usual temple duties, avoiding Eli. But Eli is on to him. He calls for him, asking precisely what the message from God was about. The words are not what Eli wants to hear. Samuel spills it out. God had informed him in the night that he is going to bring terrible judgment on Eli’s family. Eli is not surprised. He had previously been warned by a prophet about his sons’ evil ways.

When I was about fourteen . . . I began to suspect that I might be called to preach. . . . I knew the story of the boy Samuel, how he was called in the night by a voice speaking his name. I could imagine, so clearly that I could almost hear it, a voice calling out of the darkness: “J. Crow.” And then I thought maybe the voice had called, and that I had almost but not quite heard it. One night I got out of bed and went to the window. The sky over the treetops was full of stars. Whispering so as not to waken my roommate, I said, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” And then, so help me, I heard the silence that stretched all the way from the ground underneath my window to the furthest stars. . . . Though I knew that actually I had heard no voice, I could not dismiss the possibility that it had spoken and I had failed to hear it because of some deficiency in me or something wrong that I had done. My fearful uncertainty lasted for months. . . . Finally I reasoned that in dealing with God you had better give Him the benefit of the doubt. I decided that I had better accept the call that had not come, just in case it had come and I had missed it.

In the ensuing years, Samuel’s reputation as a man of God grows. Under his guidance Shiloh becomes a center of spiritual formation. People come from great distances to hear his prophetic words. The infidelities of Eli’s household, however, had polluted all of Israel and would not go unpunished. Indeed, the Israelites suffer a great military defeat at the hands of the Philistines.

Rather than repenting and calling upon God for help, the Israelite leaders decide to transport the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to their encampment, thinking it will bring them victory. It is a most grievous mistake. Again the Philistines thoroughly trounce the Israelites. They seize the Ark and, as God had foretold, also kill Hophni and Phinehas.

When Eli, now ninety-eight years old and obese, hears the news, he falls off his chair, breaks his neck, and dies. He had led the Israelites as judge for forty years.

From this point on Samuel becomes a very effective leader of the Israelites, serving as prophet, priest, and judge. In fact, he functions as a circuit-riding magistrate, traveling to Bethel and on to Gilgal and Mizpah, and then returning to Ramah, the hometown of his parents, where he resides.

His first major address to the Israelites comes after the Ark of the Covenant has been returned. (It has brought terrible calamities upon the Philistines, and they are most eager to be rid of it.) He delivers a fiery sermon telling Israel to abandon their idols and serve God alone. Having witnessed supernatural judgments from God, the people are ready to take seriously Samuel’s words. They are richly rewarded. When the Philistines are attacking, God launches explosions from heaven—blasts of thunder so deafening the enemy simply flees, with the Israelite army in hot pursuit and gaining a significant victory.

In thanksgiving to God, Samuel sets up a memorial pillar near Mizpah and names it Ebenezer: “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.”[2] The display of fireworks and the stone pillar mark the beginning of an extended time of peace between Israel and her pagan neighbors, especially the Philistines.

An unfortunate aspect of Samuel’s leadership is his failure to guide his sons, Joel and Abijah, in the ways of the Lord. Samuel is following in the footsteps of his father Eli. Like Eli’s sons, his own sons also turn away from God. Samuel, unlike his mentor, functions effectively as Israel’s leader to the end of his life. But he is blind to the behavior of his sons and appoints them as judges. They are thoroughly corrupt, and the people are clamoring for another form of government.

Samuel strongly opposes the Israelites’ desire to have a king as all their pagan neighbors have. The Israelites are a covenant people, who are to look to God alone as king and live by the law handed down by Moses. But despite Samuel’s objections, God permits the people to have their own way—to have their own king. This even after Samuel lays out all the pitfalls and warns them of the inevitable tyrannies of kingly rule—forced labor, military conscription, burdensome taxation.

Everyday Life

Growing Up in Ancient Israel

The Bible makes reference to many young children, though never offering their own point of view. What, for example, was Isaac thinking when his father was about to sacrifice him on an altar? How did Ishmael feel when he was sent into the desert with his mother? And what was little Samuel thinking when his mother left him with an old priest and just walked away?

For Hannah, as painful as the parting must have been, her action was a fulfillment of a vow to God. Her sacrifice was her son. God was very personal and real to her, and she feared for her son—and for herself—if she reneged on her promise. Children were regarded as a gift from God, who both closed and opened women’s wombs.

From the moment of birth infants were tenderly cared for—first by the midwife and then by the mother. The most complete description of such initial care comes from the prophet Ezekiel, who is actually describing what had not happened to Jerusalem: “on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths” (Ezek. 16:4 NKJV).

Before they were three, children were typically weaned, at which time there was a celebration. Samuel’s weaning was perhaps delayed until he was presumably old enough to be left at the temple. Soon thereafter he was mature enough to hear the call of God, albeit with the prompting of Eli. Such religious maturity was not uncommon for children whose lives revolved around a culture of religious faith.

Childhood was short in the ancient world. Girls learned the duties of a homemaker from their mothers, while boys typically worked with their fathers in the fields or in a trade. By the time girls reached their teen years, they were eligible for marriage—childhood forever gone.

The Israelites saw increasing corruption among the judges and when Samuel’s own sons proved corrupt the Israelites had had enough and demanded to be ruled by a king instead of judges. Their argument (perhaps a valid one) was that a king could establish and maintain a standing national army to protect them from their enemies. The judges, on the other hand, had to muster a local militia and garner support from neighboring tribes every time a crisis erupted. . . . It is possible that if Samuel’s sons had been righteous and wise judges, the history of Israel might have taken a very different path.

God becomes directly involved in the king-making process and sends Samuel to Saul, who is searching for donkeys and stops by Zuph, where Samuel has come to make a sacrifice and eat with the people. When they meet, Samuel invites Saul to join him for the feast. He first eases Saul’s mind by telling him—before Saul has even inquired—that the donkeys have already been found. Then, without so much as a segue, he drops the bombshell: “At this moment, Israel’s future is in your hands.”[3]

Is Samuel for real? Saul is no ruler. He is out searching for runaway donkeys. He’s never enrolled in even one seminar on leadership training, nor has he any administrative experience. To his credit, he protests. But Samuel piles it on, taking him into the private dining hall, where some thirty others are seated. There he requests the best steak and fixings to be served to the honored guest. Samuel then invites the by-now-giddy Saul to spend the night at his own house. The next day he anoints him king in a private ceremony. Samuel then sends him on the road toward home, where he is told he will notice very specific details of various people he will meet along the way—all signs confirming that his anointing is from God.

Sometime later Samuel calls the Israelites together at Mizpah and delivers a message from God, reminding them of how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and how he has led them ever since. If they do not trust God to continue to lead them, well, then they can just have the king they are demanding. He lines up all the tribes as though he is searching for the right king. He narrows his search down to the tribe of Benjamin and finally picks Saul, the onlookers knowing nothing about the previous anointing. After a short delay, Samuel introduces Saul to the crowd. Before dismissing the tribes, he spells out the rules of this new system of government and puts it in writing as well.

In his old age, Samuel addresses the people again, this time seeking to assure them of his legitimate authority:

I’ve led you faithfully from my youth until this very day. Look at me! Do you have any complaints to bring before GODand his anointed? Have I ever stolen so much as an ox or a donkey? Have I ever taken advantage of you or exploited you? Have I ever taken a bribe or played fast and loose with the law? Bring your complaint and I’ll make it right.[4]

The people insist that they have no complaints against him. Then he harangues them about the wrong they have done in demanding a king. This after Saul returns from the battlefield with his first great victory. The Israelites, Samuel insists, should have remembered their past and should have been willing to let God lead them as God led Moses and the patriarchs before him. It was simply wrong, he tells them, to demand a king. Indeed, to prove it God answers his prayer and sends a thunderstorm on that very day, long after the rainy season had ended.

In his old age Samuel might have hied himself away to a hermitage and stayed far from the battlefront. But one of his final acts is to meet Saul in Gilgal after Saul’s decisive battle over the Amalekites. After informing Saul that his kingship is over, he orders the swaggering King Agag of the Amalekites be brought before him, and pronounces this sentence on him: “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.”[5] With those words, the old prophet takes out his sword and kills Agag.

Returning to his home in Ramah, Samuel has nothing more to do with Saul, though he can’t stop grieving for him. Then one day God speaks to him out of the blue: “So, how long are you going to mope over Saul? You know I’ve rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going. I’m sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I’ve spotted the very king I want among his sons.”[6] As Samuel protests, fearing Saul will kill him, God continues his instructions and summons him forth.

Tomb and mosque of the prophet Samuel

Samuel travels to Bethlehem to make a sacrifice, inviting all the people, including Jesse and his sons, who are all brought before him. None of them suit God. Turns out Jesse had left his youngest son home to tend the flock. Samuel asks for him. Soon David is brought before Samuel, who anoints the boy with oil before returning to his home. When he dies sometime later, all the people of Israel come out for his funeral and bury him in his hometown of Ramah. They grieve the death of this beloved and righteous man.

Saul: A Wasted Life

The Israelites cry out, Long live the king. They now have what they want—a king to rule them just like their pagan neighbors have. Not everyone is excited about Saul, but he is the man God has chosen.

So how does he begin his rule as Israel’s first king? Where is he when the enemy is threatening to gouge the eyes out of his people? Is he sitting on his throne consulting with his military advisors, ready to send his troops into action? Hardly. When messengers bring the news to the town folks in Gibeah, the people weep and wail. Saul is nowhere to be found. Then he’s spotted heading home from the field where he has been plowing with his team of oxen.

Saul is a farmer, not a warrior. He is the son of Kish, who has a sterling pedigree from the line of Benjamin and is settled on a farm with his family and livestock. Saul had grown up a farm boy of no apparent distinction among his neighbors, apart from the fact that he is exceptionally handsome. Indeed, he’s a stud who stands head and shoulders above the rest.

He might have simply settled down and farmed the land for the rest of his life had God not handpicked him as king. The backdrop for his royal appointment is most unusual. He is roaming the region with his servant, looking for stray donkeys. Three days on the trail, sweaty and dirty, he’s ready to call it quits. But his servant suggests they go into the town of Zuph and consult a holy man who, by his reputation, might be able to help them.

They encounter some local girls at the town well and ask where they can find the seer. The girls tell them the seer just arrived to make a sacrifice. Almost immediately they meet Samuel, not knowing it is he, and ask him where the seer lives. Samuel responds: I am that man.

Samuel forthwith invites Saul to a feast and tells him his stray donkeys have been located and that he, Saul, will lead the Israelites. Saul is incredulous. He’s out looking for lost donkeys, not a job—surely not the job of ruling Israel. Why him? He is from Benjamin, the least of the tribes, and the least of the clans in that tribe. Why on earth would this holy man be singling him out? Samuel ignores his protests and takes Saul to the dinner, where Saul is served up the best portion in front of all the guests.

Saul spends the night, and the next day Samuel privately anoints him king. Then he specifies three encounters with people that Saul will have on his way home. These encounters will serve as signs that God himself is behind this king-making business. Samuel leaves and Saul heads for home, meeting people along the way just as Samuel had prophesied. At the final encounter he meets an orchestra of prophets making music with their flutes, tambourines, harps, and drums. Here God’s Spirit falls upon Saul, and he joins this parade of prophets and begins prophesying himself. Everyone is shocked that this farm boy has suddenly gotten the Spirit.

When he arrives home, Saul doesn’t mention anything about being anointed king. Sometime later, however, his tribe, along with all the other tribes, is called before Samuel for the announcement of a king. When Samuel finally whittles the choice down to the correct tribe and clan and person, Saul is nowhere to be found. Turns out Saul, knowing what is coming, sneaks away from the crowd and hides under a pile of sacks. He is discovered, and the people hail him as king.

Israel’s second king, David, will commit what looks like far greater wrong than anything done by God’s first choice, King Saul. But David proves much the superior leader. Why might God have given up so quickly on Saul, and what does this intimate about God’s reversal of choice in favor of David? Possible answers begin to emerge with the narrator’s presentation of Saul’s three anointings and paralleled wrongdoing, the latter sandwiching a picture of Jonathan, who is everything good that Saul isn’t. With Saul we find an anatomy of failure that goes beyond mere wrongdoing. Something within Saul is tragically lacking, a flaw that will prove definitive as a contrast with David.

Saul’s first act as ruler of the Israelites (after he is located back on the farm with his team of oxen) is to slaughter his oxen in a rage. He has just heard the news that makes his blood boil. The Ammonites, under King Nahash, have laid siege to Jabesh Gilead and are threatening to gouge out the right eyes of all the men and make them slaves. The besieged men send messengers to Saul explaining their dire straits.

Saul is irate. But will all the Israelites accept him as commander-in-chief? Maybe not. Some even despise him. Nevertheless, Saul acts boldly. As a sign of his leadership, he cuts the oxen into pieces and sends messengers with blood-soaked hunks of meat to distribute among all the people of Israel with this ominous message: “Anyone who refuses to join up with Saul and Samuel, let this be the fate of his oxen!”[7] The people respond in droves, and Saul takes command of an army numbering more than three hundred thousand, which soundly defeats the Ammonite enemy and rescues the city of Jabesh Gilead.

At this point Saul’s loyal followers are prepared to take revenge on those who had earlier insisted he was not fit to rule. But Saul wants no part of it. Instead he and the troops go to Gilgal to renew his kingly status and worship God.

Unfortunately for Saul, such great victories do not continue. On one occasion when his army is far outnumbered by the Philistines and many of his soldiers have gone AWOL, he is overly anxious to attack. Samuel sends word that he should wait until he, Samuel, can arrive and make a sacrifice. Samuel is late in coming, so Saul sacrifices the burnt offering himself. Why not? It turns out to be a fatal mistake. Samuel tells him that this act has jeopardized his kingly reign.

From that point on things begin to fall apart. Nevertheless, Saul marches forward with his son Jonathan and six hundred soldiers, all of whom are armed only with sharpened farm tools. Despite being vastly outnumbered, he wins the battle, thanks to his son’s unusual tactics. More victories follow. But then for no good reason he flagrantly disobeys God. Samuel had clearly set forth God’s plan to totally destroy the Amalekites, including civilians and property, but Saul ignores the directive and keeps some of the best of the flocks and herds—for a sacrifice to God, he insists. Samuel castigates him for his disobedience and tells him he’s fired. Saul begs God’s forgiveness, but Samuel adamantly asserts God’s word is final.

David playing the harp for Saul

Unbeknownst to Saul, Samuel travels to Bethlehem to anoint David as king. At the very moment he does, Saul becomes seriously depressed. His aides suggest they can help bring him out of this depth of darkness by bringing in some good entertainment. They know just the musician, none other than David son of Jesse, who plays a harp. David is sent for and comes to live in Saul’s house as court musician and assistant.

Saul continues to lead his troops, ever ready for action with the Philistines, who are now threatening Israel again, egging for a face-off. The armies are positioned on opposite hills with a valley below them. Before any actual fighting begins, however, a huge man, some nine feet tall, struts down into the valley from the Philistine side. He is covered from head to toe in heavy armor. This is certainly a strange turn of events.

As it turns out the man is Goliath, and he’s taunting the Israelites. They cannot help gaping at him. They’ve never seen such a giant before. He wants to go one-on-one with an Israelite soldier. The Philistines are making a wager. If any one of you can defeat him, we’ll become your slaves, and vice versa if he defeats his Israelite opponent. But this is no matchup at all. There is no one among Saul’s men who can possibly take on this giant. Goliath continues his taunts for forty days.

Only then does David, who had returned home from serving Saul, appear on the scene. Saul is skeptical about the boy. But his own troops are scared silly, and he has no other option. David takes down the giant with a slingshot and stone, and once again Israel is saved. After the deed is done, Saul calls David in and questions him, apparently not recognizing him. David is again invited to live in Saul’s household.

Although I know nothing of the details, I was later to find out that Samuel had snuck off to Bethlehem to anoint another king. He was literally going to follow through with the last detail as kingmaker. I honestly believe that his whole goal in life was to see me deposed before he died. . . . As I was to find out, on the very day that my replacement had been anointed something bizarre happened to me. It seemed that there was this evil spirit that harassed me until it drove me insane. It seemed that the only thing that helped was music. So we attempted to find somebody that was a skilled musician to soothe me when the foul air was upon me. As it would turn out, it was none other than David ben-Jesse—the very one Samuel had appointed to replace me. If only I’d known!

But Saul is conflicted. On the one hand he needs David; on the other, he hates him and does whatever he can to be rid of this boy who has become a popular folk hero. He sends him into perilous battles, even promising David his daughter Michal in marriage if David risks his life against the Philistines. David prevails and becomes Saul’s son-in-law. But still Saul goes after him, even going so far as to order his son Jonathan to murder him. Later he tries unsuccessfully to kill him himself. When he sends his guards to kill him, Michal warns him and he escapes.

Saul is making a crazy fool of himself in his desperate efforts to kill David. When he learns that David has gone to consult with Samuel, he sends his men after him. They find Samuel with a group of prophets all possessed of God’s Spirit, prophesying up a storm. It is contagious. Before they know it, Saul’s men have joined in. Saul gets the news and sends men again, and still again. All three times the men fall under the Spirit of prophecy. So Saul heads out to kill David himself, but what should happen when he arrives? “The Spirit of God was on him, too. . . . He was caught up in a babbling trance! He ripped off his clothes and lay there rambling gibberish before Samuel for a day and a night, stretched out naked. People are still talking about it: ‘Saul among the prophets! Who would have guessed?’”[8]

But Saul will not give up his desperate efforts to kill David. When he hears that David has consulted with Abimelech, the priest, he orders Doeg, an Edomite, to kill not only Abimelech and more than eighty other priests but also everyone in the town. Saul has simply gone mad. Only one priest, Abiathar, survives the slaughter, and he joins with David and his men.

Still Saul will not give up. He is hot on David’s trail, except when he must abandon the pursuit to fight off enemy troops from across the borders. On one occasion, after he has entered a cave to relieve himself, who should appear from deep inside the cave, but David himself. David bows before him, pledging his loyalty and pleading with him to stop his terrorizing pursuit. Saul, his bipolar personality disorder intact, begins to weep. “Can this be the voice of my son David?” he sobs. “You’ve heaped good on me; I’ve dumped evil on you.”[9] He blesses David, for he knows for certain that David will be king, and begs him not to wipe out his family or erase his name from the record books.

Saul’s sweet spirit, however, never lasts. He goes back and forth between repentance and rage. He will track David down and kill him one way or another. But Saul has real enemies to worry about as well. The Philistines are again on the attack. Their forces are frightening. What can he do but reach out to God for help? But God has deserted him. He makes no sound or sign, and Saul feels helpless. If only Samuel were still alive.

Then he has an idea. He sends one of his lackeys out to find a psychic—someone who can bring a spirit back from the grave. His men tell him about a witch living in Endor. So Saul, convinced this is his only hope, goes undercover and tells her he wants to talk with the deceased Samuel. When she brings back the spirit of Samuel, she immediately recognizes Saul and fears he will have her put to death as a witch. But he assures her he will do her no wrong, so she continues.

The witch, now in a trance, sees old Samuel in priestly robes. He is irritated that his final rest has been interrupted. Saul explains the danger he faces with the Philistines, pointing out that God is no longer responsive to his entreaties. Samuel reproves him and tells him what he certainly doesn’t want to hear: Israel will be soundly defeated by the Philistines. But then comes the real bombshell: “Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.”[10] That means nothing other than death. Saul faints. The witch revives him. He hasn’t eaten all day, but he still refuses her provisions. Finally, he is persuaded by his servants to take part in a feast she prepares—his final meal.

The next day Saul and his men are in full retreat, with the Philistine army breathing heavily down their necks. Saul is hit by an enemy arrow. Fatally wounded and fearing the enemy will come upon him and finish him off, he commands his armor bearer to kill him with his sword. The man refuses. In his final moments, Saul grabs for his sword and falls on it. With the enemy surrounding him, he commits suicide. But he is not the only one who dies that day—his three sons, including Jonathan, perish also at the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines. The men of Jabesh Gilead retrieve Saul’s body and give him a proper burial.

So the downward spiral is complete. Death has visited the one who abandons God and whom God has abandoned.

Concluding Observations

The story of the boy Samuel is one of the most beloved children’s Bible stories of all time. But if a child is listening closely, the seeming abandonment by his mother might bring more fear than comfort. In many respects, the accounts of Samuel and Saul raise more questions than they answer. Samuel brought back from the dead to speak to Saul? What a strange biblical episode that is. How is it that a witch is permitted to serve as medium, bringing God’s message through Samuel? And what is going on with Samuel in his later years? Throughout his life Samuel appears to be a gentle man. He’s a prophet, not a cold-blooded killer. So he surely must have surprised onlookers when in old age he pulls out his sword (who knew he even carried one?) and slays Agag.

Saul is another species altogether. He seems like such a normal kid, helping his father find the donkeys. He plows the fields with the family oxen—just a regular guy. So if God knows how this will turn out, someone might wonder, why does he choose Saul in the first place? Why doesn’t he leave Saul alone to plow in his father’s field? Saul surely didn’t want the job. But God’s ways are beyond our ways. So Saul becomes the crazy king. The story is just plain sad.

But if the reader fails to see humor in this account of Saul, there is a major disconnect between reader and text. Saul is sneaking away to hide under a pile of grain sacks at the very moment his royal status is being announced. Saul is running here and there after David as in a game of cat and mouse. Saul gets caught up in the Pentecostal praise meeting, speaking in tongues and getting naked. Saul goes into a cave because there is no outhouse nearby, and who should be inside and follow him out of the cave but David. If this is not knee-slapping hilarity, nothing is.