King Saul: From Promise to Disobedience
Saul began as a king God had chosen and equipped, and he died after repeatedly refusing God’s Word. I don’t think we should explain that decline by pretending his early promise was a fraud. He delivered Israel, showed restraint toward his critics, and received real help from the Lord. Those beginnings make his later choices more sobering. We need to follow how he responded when obeying God threatened his plans, reputation, and control of the kingdom.
A Promising King Still Had to Obey
Israel’s elders brought Samuel a legitimate concern: he was growing old, and his sons were not following his example. But their proposed remedy went beyond addressing unfaithful judges. They wanted a king like the surrounding nations, a visible ruler who would lead them into battle. God explained what that demand said about their confidence in Him:
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day–with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods–so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them." So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, "This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day." Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. So the LORD said to Samuel, "Heed their voice, and make them a king." And Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Every man go to his city."
Samuel described the cost of the security they wanted. Their sons would serve the king’s army and work his land; their daughters would supply his household. He would take fields, produce, servants, and flocks to maintain his government. The people heard those demands and insisted on a king anyway. Their desire to resemble the nations outweighed the warning God had given them.
Kingship itself was not forbidden. Deuteronomy had anticipated a king, and Jacob’s blessing had connected rule with Judah. The sin here was Israel’s rejection of the Lord as their King while demanding the arrangement they thought would make them secure. God granted their request without giving either the king or his subjects independence from His commands. Israel’s Kings and the Word examines the responsibility that came with the office.
Saul was Kish’s son, a Benjamite from a tribe that had suffered terribly in the civil war at the end of Judges. He was handsome and stood taller than the people from his shoulders upward. He looked impressive, but his appearance could not establish whether he would obey God. The Lord would later correct Samuel himself for judging a prospective king by stature.
When we first meet Saul, he is looking for his father’s lost donkeys. After a prolonged search, he worries that Kish will become more concerned about his son than about the animals. His servant suggests consulting Samuel. God had already told Samuel that the man He had chosen was coming, so the search brought Saul to a meeting whose purpose he did not yet know.
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: "Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance? When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, 'The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"' Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do." So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Samuel privately anointed Saul as commander over the Lord’s inheritance. The signs that followed confirmed Samuel’s message: the donkeys had been found, the predicted encounters occurred, and the Spirit of God came upon Saul as he prophesied. God gave him another heart for the responsibility ahead. His eventual rebellion does not make those acts of God unreal, or mean that he had never been called to serve.
At his public selection, Saul was found hiding among the equipment. Humility, reluctance, or fear may have contributed; Scripture does not explain his motive. I would not turn that unexplained moment into a diagnosis that makes all his later wickedness inevitable. His actions as king must be judged by what he actually did.
The first major rescue of his reign gave Israel reason to recognize the help God had provided through him:
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you." And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, "On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring reproach on all Israel." Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, "Hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you." So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices and wept. Now there was Saul, coming behind the herd from the field; and Saul said, "What troubles the people, that they weep?" And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, "Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen." And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. When he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said to the messengers who came, "Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.'" Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do with us whatever seems good to you." So it was, on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and killed Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it happened that those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. Then the people said to Samuel, "Who is he who said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring the men, that we may put them to death." But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has accomplished salvation in Israel." Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there." So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
Nahash offered Jabesh-gilead a cruel choice: submit to the loss of every man’s right eye or face the besieging Ammonites. Saul heard the news while returning from the field. The Spirit of God came upon him, his anger was aroused, and he gathered Israel to relieve the city. His forces attacked in three companies and scattered the enemy.
Some people then wanted to execute the men who had opposed Saul’s appointment. Saul refused and credited the Lord with Israel’s deliverance. He could have used the victory to settle a personal score, but instead showed mercy. That courage and restraint belong in an honest account of his reign alongside the failures that followed.
Pressure Exposed Saul’s Self-Rule
When the kingdom was renewed at Gilgal, Samuel made clear that receiving a king had not changed Israel’s obligation to the Lord:
"Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers. "Now therefore, stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes: Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for yourselves." So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves." Then Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king."
The thunder and rain during wheat harvest exposed the wickedness of Israel’s demand, and the people asked Samuel to pray for them. He did not tell them their past sin made further obedience pointless. He urged them to serve the Lord with all their hearts and promised to keep praying and teaching them. God’s faithfulness to His great name gave them reason to return to Him, while Samuel’s warning made clear that persistent rebellion would bring judgment on both king and people.
Saul would soon have to decide whether that authority governed him when the army was frightened and Samuel had not yet arrived:
Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."
The Philistine force was enormous. Israelites hid in caves and other shelters, some crossed the Jordan, and the troops remaining with Saul were trembling. He waited seven days, but before Samuel arrived he presented the burnt offering himself. Samuel came just as he finished.
Saul explained that the people were scattering, Samuel had not arrived within the expected time, and an attack seemed imminent. He wanted to make supplication before the battle and said he felt compelled to act. Those pressures were real, but they did not authorize him to replace the instruction he had received. Samuel had told him to wait until he came and showed him what to do.
Some explanations make Saul’s failure simply a question of offering a sacrifice without being a priest. Samuel’s stated charge is that he had not kept the Lord’s command. Saul had decided that the emergency justified going ahead without Samuel. A religious act became the means by which he disregarded a specific instruction from God.
The judgment concerned the future of Saul’s dynasty: his kingdom would not continue, and the Lord had sought a man after His own heart. Saul did not immediately cease to be king. He would remain in office for years, but he could no longer expect the throne to remain in his family.
As the fighting continued, Saul’s determination to impose his own judgment created danger for the very army he was leading:
And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, "Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies." So none of the people tasted food. Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground. And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his countenance brightened. Then one of the people said, "Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats food this day.'" And the people were faint. But Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?" Now they had driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint. And the people rushed on the spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, saying, "Look, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood!" So he said, "You have dealt treacherously; roll a large stone to me this day." Then Saul said, "Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, 'Bring me here every man's ox and every man's sheep, slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.'" So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there. Then Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD. Now Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them." And they said, "Do whatever seems good to you." Then the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here." So Saul asked counsel of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?" But He did not answer him that day. And Saul said, "Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today. For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But not a man among all the people answered him. Then he said to all Israel, "You be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side." And the people said to Saul, "Do what seems good to you." Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, "Give a perfect lot." So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. And Saul said, "Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me." So Jonathan was taken. Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." And Jonathan told him, and said, "I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!" Saul answered, "God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan." But the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die. Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.
Jonathan had acted in faith against the Philistines, but Saul bound the soldiers to an oath forbidding food until evening. Fighting and pursuing the enemy left them faint. Jonathan had not heard the prohibition, and the honey he ate restored his strength. He could see how much his father’s demand had hindered the men.
When the famished soldiers reached the spoil, they slaughtered animals and ate meat with its blood. Their hunger did not make that lawful, and Saul arranged for proper slaughter when he heard what they were doing. Yet his own rash oath had helped create the desperate conditions. He needed to account for the effect of his command as well as correct the soldiers’ conduct.
After God gave no answer about further pursuit, Saul insisted that the offender must die, even if it proved to be Jonathan. He was prepared to execute his son for tasting honey without knowing the oath, although Jonathan had worked with God to deliver Israel that day. The people intervened and rescued him. The king’s determination to enforce his words could not make a reckless demand righteous.
Rebellion Hid Behind Religious Words
The command concerning Amalek brought Saul’s selective obedience into full view:
Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
I find this one of the hardest commands in Saul’s life to read. Amalek had attacked Israel on the journey out of Egypt, targeting the vulnerable rear of the people. The Lord had announced judgment, and through Samuel He now commissioned Saul to carry it out. The Hebrew term herem describes what is devoted to God for destruction under that judgment.
The passage presents the Lord judging a nation and directing Israel’s king to execute this particular sentence. It does not authorize private hatred, an ordinary war for territory, or a modern campaign of ethnic violence. Saul’s commission was specific, and he had no authority to decide which portions of it were worth obeying.
He correctly warned the Kenites to leave because of their kindness to Israel. But he spared Agag and the valuable livestock while destroying what he and the people considered worthless. The distinction he made was not the one God commanded. He kept what seemed useful and then claimed to have fulfilled the mission.
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal." Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" And Saul said, "They have 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 we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak on." So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal." So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king." Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent."
Before Samuel reached Saul, he learned that the king had erected a monument for himself at Carmel. At Gilgal, Saul greeted him with a blessing and a claim of obedience. The bleating sheep and lowing oxen contradicted that claim before Samuel had to argue about it. The animals were alive because Saul and the people had refused to destroy them.
Saul blamed the people and said the best livestock had been kept for sacrifice to “the Lord your God.” Samuel would not allow him to turn disobedience into an offering. Sacrifices God commanded were good, but an intention to worship did not excuse keeping what God had ordered destroyed. Obedience was better than a sacrifice devised to explain away rebellion.
Samuel’s comparison with witchcraft and idolatry was a severe rebuke. Divination seeks guidance outside the means God has authorized, and stubborn self-rule places our judgment above His Word. Saul was acting as though he could choose a better course and still require God to accept it. Religious language did not change whose instruction he had followed.
Saul finally confessed that he had feared the people and obeyed their voice. When Samuel turned to leave, Saul seized his robe and it tore. Samuel explained the torn robe as a sign that God had torn the kingdom from Saul and given it to a better neighbor. Saul could not bargain away that judgment.
Even after hearing this, he asked Samuel to honor him before the elders. His public standing remained a concern, and his subsequent conduct would show that admitting sin had not brought a lasting willingness to turn from it.
God’s statement that He regretted appointing Saul and Samuel’s declaration that He would not relent both belong to this chapter. God genuinely grieved over Saul’s rebellion; He had not discovered an unforeseen fact or made a mistake. His settled decision about the kingship would not be reversed as though His word were unreliable.
David Received the Anointing Saul Lost
Samuel mourned Saul’s rejection, but the Lord sent him to anoint the king He had chosen from Jesse’s family:
Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons." And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." But the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you." So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him!" But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here." So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.
Samuel initially expected Eliab to be the chosen man because of his appearance. God corrected him: a man’s stature did not reveal his heart. Jesse’s youngest son David was still caring for the sheep when Samuel asked that he be brought in. The Lord identified him, Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit came upon David from that day forward.
The Spirit’s departure from Saul belongs to this transfer of royal empowerment. Saul had been equipped for a calling from which God now rejected him. I do not make the loss of that office a pattern for the Holy Spirit abandoning a born-again believer whom He has sealed. Nor does Saul’s earlier experience settle his eternal state. Scripture tells us what happened to his kingship without answering that separate question.
A distressing spirit from the Lord troubled Saul, and David’s music brought relief. I understand the spirit as subject to God’s judgment and rule: God could govern a created spirit and give Saul over to distress without Himself becoming evil or tempting Saul to sin. The passage tells us specifically that a spirit troubled this man. It gives us no basis for assuming that every person experiencing distress has the same cause.
David’s anointing did not immediately remove Saul from office or authorize David to seize the throne. David entered Saul’s service and, after defeating Goliath, became the object of the king’s jealousy. When women celebrated David’s victories, Saul began watching him as a rival. The faithful service that benefited Israel became, in Saul’s mind, a threat to his own position.
Saul threw spears at David, placed him in military danger, and hoped the Philistines would kill him in the arrangements surrounding his marriage. He later ordered his servants to kill David and repeatedly pursued him himself. At times he acknowledged that David was more righteous, but the admissions did not bring the violence to an end.
Jonathan responded differently. As Saul’s son, he had an obvious interest in the succession, yet he recognized God’s work in David and kept his covenant with him. His loyalty exposes the injustice of Saul’s hostility. Protecting a place in the royal family did not require treating David as an enemy. The study on Jonathan follows that friendship and faithfulness more fully.
Saul’s pursuit eventually reached people who had helped David without knowing that the king was hunting him:
So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. And Saul said, "Hear now, son of Ahitub!" He answered, "Here I am, my lord." Then Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?" So Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much." And the king said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house!" Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me." But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD. And the king said to Doeg, "You turn and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep–with the edge of the sword. Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD's priests. So David said to Abiathar, "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe."
David had presented his visit to Ahimelech as the king’s business. The priest knew him as Saul’s faithful servant and son-in-law, and he did not know about the conflict behind the visit. Saul nevertheless accused him of conspiracy. When the guards refused to kill the Lord’s priests, Doeg carried out the order. Eighty-five priests died, and the inhabitants and animals of Nob were also put to the sword.
The comparison with Amalek is dreadful. Saul had protected a king and valuable animals that God placed under judgment; now, for his own cause, he ordered the killing of innocent priests. His will had become the standard by which he decided whom to spare and whom to destroy. The charge of treason did not make the people he killed guilty.
Abiathar escaped and reported the massacre to David. David acknowledged his own part in what had happened: he had seen Doeg at Nob and knew he would report the encounter. He accepted responsibility for the consequences of his earlier actions and offered Abiathar protection. Saul destroyed people he regarded as threats; David received the surviving priest rather than making him bear the cost of his failure alone.
Twice David later had the opportunity to kill Saul and refused to strike the Lord’s anointed. He still confronted Saul, showed evidence of his innocence, and kept a safe distance. Respect for the royal office did not require him to pretend the king was behaving rightly or remain within reach of his spear. The phrase “Touch not My anointed” cannot give a dangerous leader immunity from scrutiny, correction, or removal. King David examines David’s conduct during those years in more detail.
Saul Seeks a Medium and Dies on Gilboa
By the final Philistine campaign, Samuel had died. Saul could no longer summon the prophet, and the Lord was not answering him through the means by which he sought direction:
Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you." Then the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth." So he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. Now Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do." Then Samuel said: "So why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day or all night.
The sight of the Philistine army terrified Saul. He had expelled mediums and spiritists from the land, yet now asked his servants to find one. Disguised and accompanied by two men, he went to En Dor at night and asked the woman to bring up Samuel. He even swore by the Lord that she would suffer no punishment for the forbidden practice. God’s name was again being used to support a course contrary to His command.
The narrator repeatedly identifies the appearing person as Samuel, and the woman cried out when she saw him. I therefore understand this as Samuel himself appearing through an exceptional act God permitted. It did not establish that the medium could command the dead or that her practice provided an authorized way to seek God’s guidance.
Samuel offered no new means of avoiding the verdict Saul had already heard. The kingdom was being given to David because Saul had disobeyed the Lord, and Israel would be defeated. Saul and his sons would be with Samuel the next day, entering the realm of the dead. Those words announce their approaching death; they do not, by themselves, settle the eternal state of everyone mentioned.
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armorbearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me." But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day. And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
The Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, and their archers severely wounded Saul. Fearing abuse at the enemy’s hands, he asked his armorbearer to kill him. When the man refused, Saul fell on his own sword. The armorbearer then took his own life as well. Scripture records the king’s decision without commending suicide as an escape from humiliation.
The defeat displaced Israelites from their towns, and the Philistines displayed Saul’s body at Beth-shan. Men from Jabesh-gilead traveled through the night to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons. Their courage repaid the help Saul had given their city at the beginning of his reign. Even here, his earlier deliverance of them had not been forgotten.
In 2 Samuel 1, an Amalekite claimed that he had killed the wounded king. His claim conflicts with the direct account of Saul’s death in 1 Samuel and was probably an attempt to gain David’s favor. David ordered judgment instead of giving him a reward. First Chronicles 10 then explains Saul’s death as the Lord’s judgment for his unfaithfulness, including his failure to keep God’s Word and his consultation of a medium. God’s judgment and Saul’s act of falling on his sword describe the same death from different directions.
David mourned Saul and Jonathan and honored them as mighty men. He also told Judah’s children to learn his lament. He did not need to deny Saul’s rebellion in order to grieve the loss Israel had suffered. I think we need that honesty when we speak about the dead: a funeral should not become an occasion for vengeance, but neither does grief require us to rewrite a life.
Saul’s Rejection Points Us to the Faithful King
Samuel’s conscious speech after death does not support soul sleep. Yet it does not establish that a human soul possesses immortality in itself or prove endless conscious torment. God alone has immortality in Himself. Scripture teaches a future resurrection and the final, irreversible destruction of the unbeliever’s body and soul in the Lake of Fire. The passage at En Dor must be read alongside that wider teaching, rather than made to answer every question about the dead.
Saul’s visit to En Dor requires us to reject the practice he sought, even though I understand the appearing person to be Samuel. An exceptional act of God did not authorize necromancy, which means seeking contact with the dead. Mediums, divination, and attempts to obtain occult guidance remain forbidden. Someone involved needs to stop, confess the sin, and seek the Lord through Scripture and prayer. Christ is our mediator; no contact with a departed person provides another way to God.
Throughout his reign, Saul retained religious words and practices while repeatedly letting fear, appetite, and reputation determine how far he would obey. His failures injured soldiers, faithful servants, priests, and families. Past victories and spiritual experiences could not make his present disobedience acceptable. The rejection of his dynasty and royal office warns us against rebellion without proving that a regenerated Christian can lose eternal life.
Our hope is in the promised Son of David, the King who is faithful. Jesus is fully God and became fully man, born of a virgin and completely without sin. Wicked men physically tortured and punished Him before killing Him. He willingly bore that real punishment for our sins in His innocent body. Through His voluntarily shed blood and death, He completed His saving work before His bodily resurrection. He was buried and rose bodily from the grave. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus.
Christ died for the whole world, and God’s offer of salvation is genuine to every person, although people can resist His grace and reject Him. Whoever repents and believes is forgiven and born again. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals that believer, who remains eternally secure in Christ. Security gives no permission to imitate Saul’s rebellion. A shallow profession without evidence of new life does not prove that someone has been born again; obedience is evidence of salvation, not the means of earning it or keeping ourselves saved.
Saul’s excuses require me to examine how I respond to pressure. A deadline does not change God’s command, and an act of worship does not buy permission to disregard it. If I have sinned, I need to name it and turn from it instead of blaming the people whose approval I wanted. Asking first that my reputation be protected would repeat the concern that compromised Saul’s confession.
Leaders need to welcome accountability while there is still an opportunity to respond. Their gifts and past service cannot establish their present faithfulness, and their office gives them no right to silence Scripture’s correction. Those under them may honor lawful authority while refusing a sinful demand, confronting wrongdoing, and protecting people from harm.
My Final Thoughts
Saul’s early promise makes his end painful to read. God really chose and equipped him, but he kept treating obedience as something he could adjust to protect his own interests. I want to take that warning seriously without confusing his lost royal calling with the Spirit abandoning a believer He has sealed. Jesus, the faithful King, has completed the saving work on which our hope rests. Following Him requires an honest response to His Word, especially when obedience threatens the comfort or approval I would like to keep.