King Saul 扫罗王
07 Dec 2019 | 6 min readsermon2019singapore | saul
We are familiar with how Saul was anointed as king and his eventual end. This sermon will draw teachings from the story of king Saul.
Who was king Saul?
1 Sam 9:1-2 tells us the background of Saul and which household he came from - a household of mighty men. He himself was a mighty man. In terms of battle skills, he was quite powerful. Other characteristics: he was a ‘choice’ man, handsome and taller than the rest of the people by a head. We can also infer from the Bible he comes from quite a well off family. Tall, handsome, rich man. An ideal spouse for sisters lol
While he’s a man ideal to women, how was he in the eyes of God? A person may look good outwardly but may not be good inside. Nonetheless, let’s not determine Saul was a bad man all the way just because he was bad in the end.
1 Sam 9:3-5
Saul’s father had asked him to look for the lost donkeys. He personally went through many places to accomplish the task - land of Ephraim, Shalisha, Shaalim, Benjamites.
They had taken a long journey and taken a long time. “Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.” This shows Saul was obedient to the instructions of his father. Further, Saul was likely not a youth anymore but a grown man. It’s less likely for a grown man to listen to his father. Saul could’ve just ‘outsourced’ the work and said that the servants could do it. But he personally went. The fact that his father gave him this task also shows his father trusted him. Saul was also mindful that his father may be worried that he had been gone long. Many of us may obey our parents but may not think how much they worry for us. They may just do the requested task but don’t take a step further to consider our parents’ worry. We should adopt the attitude Saul had towards parents. True filial piety is showing concern.
Perhaps we think: I’m not so close to my family. My relationship with my parents are not too good. Therefore it’s hard to adopt the attitude of showing concern for my parents because they don’t care about me. Even they say they’re concerned about me, they’re always not at home.
This is a point to consider for parents. Saul was able to treat his father in such manner because that’s how his father treated him.
1 Sam 10:2
Men sent a message to Saul that his father had ceased worrying about the donkeys and was worrying about him. Because there’s care and concern in the household, Saul grew up having care and concern too.
When we set up our families, this is something to be mindful of. If we lack showing concern to our children, they may end up hating us. But as children, we also shouldn’t hate our parents because Christians should not hate their enemies.
1 Sam 9:20-21
Samuel knew Saul would be anointed king but had not told Saul yet. “And in whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father’s house?” Saul becoming kind would make his father’s house royalty, something desirable to everyone. But Saul’s response was that he was a Benjamite, the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and his family the least of all the families in the tribe. Saul knew himself. Here we see him display humility.
1 Sam 10:21-22
It wasn’t Saul who came forth wanting to be king. It was by the ‘sieving’ selection of God. Recall Saul was a head taller than the people. So he purposely hid among the equipment. Saul was not a proud man, he can be considered a man of humility.
1 Sam 10:27
Saul then became king. Some rebels despised and didn’t acknowledge nor bring presents before him. Saul was made king before men yet not all honoured him. As king Saul could’ve used his authority to handle the rebels, but he didn’t abuse his authority to coerce these people to recognise him as king. At this point in time he was humble and willing to accept the opinions of others.
Saul was filial and humble.
1 Sam 11:1-7
The men of Jabesh didn’t seek for King Saul’s help until they were ridiculed by the enemy. When Saul heard of this, his anger was greatly aroused. Why was Saul angry? Because he was indignant that the men of Jabesh didn’t seek help from him and only did so as a last resort? No, because his/God’s people were ridiculed. That’s why the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news and his anger was greatly aroused. His action was one submissive towards God as a king is supposed to fight not for his own cause but for his people. He did his kingly responsibilities.
At this point, we see from the many aforementioned examples that Saul was a good man and king. What caused him to become the bad mad man we know who pursued David?
1 Sam 13:6-14
Saul had been reigned for 2 years (v1), a short period of time. Nothing was spoken of his first year but in his second year, this incident was recorded. They were fighting in a battle but were unable to proceed because Samuel had told him to wait for him to arrive to conduct an offering. The enemy was nearby and the people started scattering because they were afraid. Taking all this into account, Saul decided to go ahead and do the offering himself. And as soon as the offering was offered, Samuel came. He explained himself as follows:
- The people were scattered from me
- You didn’t come within the days appointed
- Philistines were already gathered together at Michmash
- The Philistines will come down and I have not made supplication to the Lord and felt compelled
Were all these reasons true? 1 and 3 were factual. But 2 wasn’t. Because just after he finished the offering, Samuel arrived. Could he not wait one more hour? When pressed, we can see that Saul takes things into his own hands. He no longer put his trust in God.
1 Sam 15
The Lord had commanded him to annihilate the Amalekites; to spare no people or animals. But Saul spared the king and the best of the animals. When Samuel questioned why the animals were spared, Saul’s reason was that they were to be sacrificed to God. Saul took things into his own hands and made decisions on his own.
1 Sam 15:12
“Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument FOR HIMSELF”
Not a monument for God, but for himself. Saul was no longer fighting a battle for God but for himself. That’s why Saul made his own decisions; the commandment of the Lord was ‘just a suggestion’. That’s why Samuel rebuked Saul and said his kingdom would be taken away from him and given to another.
1 Sam 15:30
“I have sinned…”
These words of Saul makes it seem like he had humbled his heart once again.
“…yet honour me now, please, and before Israel”
But he hadn’t, he just wanted honour in before the people.
He was initially a humble man but after reigning for a while, his true colours came out. He seemed to be repentant but actually all he wanted was honour.
Are we like Saul? Initially we may be quite good but as we are in church for a period of time and do some work; or now have more status in society, do we come to church as if we’re high and mighty? “People know me in church”
All of us have some form of pride. There’re some able to nurture themselves and be humble, hence not manifesting their pride. But not all are like that. We hence ought to examine ourselves. Is the position we are in today achieved by our own hands? Saul felt so; he felt his position was gained by his own hands and that he didn’t need to consider God’s command. Will we end up like such a Christian? When people tell you you’re rather proud, will you at that point in time tell the person off, “Who do you think you are to tell me this?” Or perhaps not through words but expressed through our body language and gestures. We ought to be watchful over this matter. As Christians we ought to be humble to serve God. When people give us feedback, we should be humble to receive them. There are some people where it’s pointless to give feedback to because they don’t take it well and even think you’re hurting them. There’re some people whom there’s no need to give feedback any further. If he doesn’t have the mind to change, even if God talks to him, he won’t change. But let’s not be concerned with such people but focus on ourselves. God has blessed us much. Therefore we have to honour Him, humble ourselves and submit to Him. Let us not be like king Saul who became proud.
Related Sermons
1 Thess 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
The purpose of the comments section below is for us to share our thoughts and experiences with God and His words. It is meant to spur each other toward God.
Let us be kind in the use of words and providing suggestions to improve these sermon notes. Ultimately, it is for the edification and building up the body of Christ.
Comments that are continuously being flagged as inappropriate will automatically removed from the discussion thread.