Hello 👋 friends, it’s always good to see you and in this post, we will take a look at THE STORY OF KING SAUL.
King Saul was the son of a wealthy and influential man Kish from Gibeah in the Tribe of Benjamin and he was the first monarch in Israel and he reigned from Gibeah. Saul married Ahinoam and they had (sons) Jonathan, Ishvi, Malchishua (daughters) Merab and Michal. Saul was a handsome young man and a foot taller than everyone in Israel. He was anointed by Prophet Samuel who was instrumental in the transition from “Judges to Kingship” in the kingdom of Israel. When the Israelites requested for a king and God revealed to Samuel that He had chosen Saul to be king of Israel.
(1 Samuel 9) Kish’s donkeys was missing and he sent his son Saul and a servant to search for it and they searched through the hill country of Ephraim and Shalishah without finding the donkeys, they continued to the territory of Benjamin and reaching Zuph, Saul said to the servant, it’s better we returned home before my father started to worry about us instead of the missing donkeys. The servant recommend they meet a seer in that city (a seer is used as a prophet in the ancient days) who might tell them the whereabouts of the donkeys.
They were on their way to meet Samuel while Samuel was on his way to offer a sacrifice at the hillside. When they encountered, the spirit of the Lord, administered to Samuel to anoint Saul as a king of Israel, who will rescue the Israelites from the bondage of the Philistines. When Saul approached Samuel, asking him “please, tell us, where does the seer lives” and Samuel replied “I am the seer” and he invited them to the sacrifice. Samuel made mention of the missing donkeys to them and at the worship, they were served the best portion.
They spent a night and the next day on their way back, the servant was instructed to move ahead and Samuel were left alone with Saul, then Samuel reached out the jar of olive oil and poured in on Saul’s head and informed him the Lord had chosen him to be king in Israel and you will protect the people from their enemies. Samuel gave illustrations to him that approaching “Rachel tomb” at Zelzah territory of Benjamin, he will meet two men and they will inform him that the missing donkeys have been found and Kish is worried about Saul and the servant.
Reaching Tabor, you will meet three men going to Bethel to offer sacrifices and they will offer you two loaves of bread and you must accept. At the entrance of Gibeah, you will meet a group of prophets playing harps, drums, flutes and lyrics. When you see them dancing and shouting, the spirit of the Lord will take control of you and you will become a different person and join them, in these moments, do whatever God leads you to do. Wait there seven days, until I come and tell you what to do, Samuel instructed.
Samuel invited the people of Israel for a religious gathered in the city of Mizpah and instruct them to gathered together in tribes and clan, he uses the Urim and Thummim to select. The Tribe of Benjamin was selected, they gathered in families, and the family of Matri was selected, and as the men of the family of Matri approaches, Saul the son of Kish was selected. Saul was hiding and the people ran and brought him and Samuel presents him to the people of Israel as their king and they shouted “long live the king”. Saul returned home after his coronation and was accompanied by some powerful men.
One month later, king Nahash of Ammonites besieged the city of Jabesh in the province of Gilead and threatened to pluck out everyone’s right eyes which will be a disgrace to Israel when Saul heard it, he was furious, cutting two oxen into pieces and declared warnings to Israel that anyone who stayed back will be slaughtered like the oxen. Saul gather about 330,000 men from both Israel and Judah and they camped at Bezek. He divided his men into three groups and at dawn, they attacked the Ammonites camp and slaughtered them before noon. The people was so happy with Saul and wanted to kill those who sabotaged his reign. But Saul declined and declared it to be a day of celebration because God had rescued Israel from the hands of their enemies.
They all returned to Gilgal in the house of the Lord and proclaimed Saul as king and offered fellowship sacrifices and the people and the king celebrated.
Now there was a battle between the Philistines and Saul had chosen 3000 men out of two hundred thousand which stayed in the cities of Bethel and Michash. Jonathan (Saul’s son) was assigned with one thousand men to secure the territory of Gibeah in Benjamin and the rest was sent home. Saul was in Gilgal with his men patiently waiting for the arrival of the delayed Samuel to offer the fellowship sacrifice because the armies of the Philistines had gathered in the territory of Michmash and they are ready to attack Israel. There were treble fear among the Israelites and they were all hiding. The men with Saul were trembling and deserted Saul and he was pushed to offer the fellowship sacrifice himself and Samuel arrived immediately. Samuel was displeased with Saul’s inability to obey God’s commandments and said to him “that’s a foolish thing to do” “if you had obeyed, you and your descendants would have ruled Israel forever” “the Lord will find the kind of man He wants and make him ruler of His people”. God gave Israel victory over the Philistines and Saul defeated all his enemies, from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zobah, Amalek and the Philistines.
The Lord commanded Saul through Samuel to utterly destroyed the Amalekites for the sins they committed against Israel when they came out of Egypt. He was instructed to kill men, women, children, babies, oxen, cattle, sheep, and Carmel without sparing anything. He gathered his men and attacked the Amalekites and defeated them but they spared the king Agag and healthiest livestock. His actions displeased God and regretted choosing him as king of Israel. Samuel was disappointed when he met Saul, because of his disobedient to God’s command. Saul claimed his men brought back the livestock as sacrifice and offering to the Lord, Samuel replied, “which does the Lord prefer, obedience or offerings and sacrifice”. “It is better to obey Him than to sacrifice the best sheep to Him” “because you rejected His commands, the Lord had rejected you as king “.
Yes I have sinned against the Lord and disobey your instructions because I was afraid of my men and did what they wanted. Please go back with me so I can worship the Lord God of Israel, and Samuel refused. Samuel turning back to leave, Saul caught hold of his cloak and it tore, “the Lord had torn away the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to someone who is a better man than you”, said Samuel. Finally Samuel accepted to go back to Gilgal with him to worship God after he demanded for respect.
Saul been tormented by evil spirit sent by the Lord and David was brought to him to play harps and sings to the king. David was later Saul’s weapon bearer because he likes David so much and he sent a message to David’s father Jesse to allow David stay with him.
There was a battle between Israel and the Philistines, Saul and his men camped in “Elah Valley”. The Philistines had a warrior named Goliath and the Israelites were afraid to face him, he challenges the Israelites and curse them and when he approaches the camp of Israel, they flew in terror. David was sent to the camp to check the welfare of his elder brothers who was in the battle with king Saul and bring news to Jesse.
David heard the uncircumcised Philistine defile the army of the living God, he accepted to challenge Goliath and Eliab was displeased with David and asked him to go home, but David was determined to take away the reproach of Israel. He faced Goliath and defeated him and the Philistines ran away and the Israelites pursued them. The news of David was all over Israel and they women welcomed the Israeli soldiers with joyful singing and dancing “Saul has killed thousands but David ten of thousands”, and their song was a displeasure to Saul, and he began to hate David and seek to kill him.
Saul use Michal his daughter as a trap to David but he didn’t realize Michal loved David and refused to play the game. Saul requested for a 100 fore-skins of the Philistines as a bride price and David brought 200 foreskins of the Philistines to the king. Saul cannot hide his feelings of killing David anymore, so he told his officials and Jonathan but his son loves David so much and informed him of the king’s secret plan.
David went to Ramah to meet Samuel telling him everything Saul was doing and they both stayed in “Naioth” and king Saul heard it and sent people to arrest David, when the men sent by king Saul saw some prophets dancing and shouting with Samuel being their leader, the spirit of the Lord overpowered Saul’s men and they joined the prophets in dancing and shouting. When king Saul was told about what happened to the men he sent, he send the second batch of men and the third batches and they all joined the prophets in dancing and shouting. He had no option than to journey to Ramah himself, reaching there, the spirit of the Lord took him and he joined the prophets in dancing and shouting.
Saul was determined to kill David because of the kingship knowing that David will become the king of Israel someday. When the king returned from his battle against the Philistines and he heard that David was in the wilderness of Engedi and he took his best soldiers to search for David. There was a rock named “Wild Goats Rocks” where David and his men was hiding in the cave. The king was tired and fall asleep with his soldiers and David approached them, cutting off a piece of the the king’s robe without hurting him. When the king had finished relaxing and set to leave, David calls his attention and bowed down to him, showing him a piece of his robe in his hand.
King Saul heard David was hiding in Mount Hachilah, very close to the wilderness of Judean in Ziph, he hastened with three thousand soldiers to search for David. During the night when the king had fallen asleep and was surrounded by his soldiers, David went to his camp, and struck his spear near the king’s head and David took his water jar and the king’s spear and leave. Then on a safer place on top of the hill, David called the commander of the Israeli army Abner asking him why he could not protect the king, showing them the king’s spear and water jar. The king confessed of doing something wrong and wanted David to come back and I will never harm you again. David left the king’s spear and water jar and leave with his men while the king returned home.
After the death of Samuel, and there was a battle against the Philistines. Saul had already ordered all the fortunetellers and mediums to leave Israel. Saul been terrified by the Philistines seek help from God but there were no response, so he decided to use a medium. There was a woman at Endor and Saul disguised himself to meet her. Saul said to the woman, consult and call up the spirit of the man I name! The woman not knowing he was the king, was afraid and asked, do you want me to be killed, haven’t you heard the king asked all the fortunetellers and mediums to depart Israel? The king made a solemn promise to the woman and promised her she won’t be punished.
When the woman called up the spirit of Samuel, she realized the person with her is the king, and she asked the king “why did you trick me”, you are king Saul. Samuel asked Saul “why are you disturbing me”. King Saul cried for help and complained that the Lord had abandoned him and does not answer him anymore even through the prophets. Samuel informed him the battle against the Philistines tomorrow would be his last because he will die including your sons. The kingdom of Israel had already been given to David, Samuel said to king Saul. The king was terrified and fall to the ground because he was weak and he had not eaten anything. The woman prepared something for them and they ate and left.
The battle against the Philistines was fought at Mount Gilboa and many Israeli soldiers were killed and the rest fled including the king and his sons but the Philistines caught and killed Saul’s three sons. Saul was hit by the enemies arrows and he was badly wounded, he said to the young man carrying his weapons to kill him, but the young man refused. Saul took his own life because he didn’t want to be killed by the godless Philistines.
The Philistine made a spectacular of the king’s body and his sons, cutting of the king’s head and hanging it and nailed it on the wall in the city of Beth Shan. The men of the city of Gilead recovered the body and burned it at Jabesh, and their bones was buried.
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