Saul: A Tale of Self-Deception

King Saul was technically Israel’s first king. He came to power after a bloody and tumultuous period in Israel’s history, when the people were governed by various tribal chieftains, called “Judges.” An account of this period can be found in the book of Judges, which tracks the progressive moral corruption of the Israelites and their leaders after the death of Joshua. With no centralized government and two hundred years of poor leadership, this was a period of political and social upheaval. The Israelite people were looking for a savior who could end the strife that had marred their nation’s landscape for generations. They needed a king, but what kind?

This should bother us, because Israel had a king already, named Yahweh (remember Exodus 15). He was trying to teach the Israelites how to become different from the other nations in order to become a blessing to those same nations. But the cultural pressures to have a leader like the Canaanites proved more powerful. Their hearts were not aligned to Yahweh, so He honored their request.

Samuel’s Warning

Next, Samuel delivers a famous warning to the Israelite people (1 Samuel 8:11-22), giving the Israelites what they desired.

Saul was not a great king, nor was he even a good man. He was deeply flawed. The entire first half of Samuel is dedicated to a character study about his failures. When reading through Samuel, you might have a tendency to become critical or judgemental of Saul at times; you’ll probably feel sorry for him at times too. But slow down and be honest with yourself. If you’re open-minded, you’ll realize you likely have more in common with Saul than you’d care to admit. The whole point of exploring Saul’s failures is to warn us so we don’t repeat his mistakes.

First Samuel offers up a number of vignettes, some seemingly small, some big, that examine Saul’s missteps (see 1 Samuel 13-15). You might wonder if God being overly hard on Saul is just an intentional creation of sympathy by the narrator. Well, yes. He wants us to feel sorry for him, so that we begin to see ourselves in him and learn our lesson through him.

In essence, Saul’s root character flaw is self-exaltation and self-deception. He thinks he knows better than everyone else, including God. The biggest tragedy is that he’s not even aware of it. The story shows he is completely blind to his arrogance and always believes he’s in the right.

Saul can’t get it together

As Saul’s story progresses, the mistakes get bigger and the stakes get higher. Somehow, he is never able to own what wrong he has done when it’s pointed out to him. For example, in 1 Samuel 13, he was told to wait for Samuel before offering sacrifices to God and initiating a battle with the Philistines. He didn’t listen, however, and he bulldozed ahead impatiently. Even though Saul eventually wins the battle, he did it on his own terms instead of God’s, a point that he seems to never grasp.

Saul is still unable to see his mistake:

Look inside your heart

Saul’s failures hit close to home, if we’re willing to let this story shine a spotlight onto our own hearts and minds.

Saul valued the opinion of the people over God’s wisdom. He feared people when he should have feared God. Moreover, he continued to worry about one thing in light of correction—his own reputation and honor. Saul is perpetually downplaying his role in the bad decisions he makes. He keeps bringing in other people as if they are responsible for his mistakes.

The remainder of 1 Samuel recounts Saul’s further slide into moral and spiritual decay. His descent provides a strong contrast with David’s rise to a role of influence. At the end of the day, Saul placed his real trust in himself, his plan, and other’s opinions of him. When convicted of this sin, his response is less than admirable. He never actually changes, and he perpetuates these behaviors until the end as he continues down a self-centered and prideful path. Contrast this with David, who is characterized in these same chapters as radically obedient and trusting of Yahweh, which eventually leads to his rise as king and solidifies his lineage.

These two characters provide us an opportunity for self-reflection so that we might find the blind-spots where our pride may be getting the best of us. We justify our poor decisions and try to negotiate with God. We let our cultural river sweep us away. All of this forces the reader to ponder if we are more similar to Saul than different. In what ways do we elevate the opinions of other people above the wisdom and love of God? In what ways do we blameshift in order to avoid truly owning our failures?