Day 12: 1 Samuel 10:17–27

Some wicked men said, “How can this guy save us?” They despised him and did not bring a gift, but Saul said nothing (v. 27).

Samuel summoned all of Israel and led them through a dramatic selection process to reveal their king. Only two people knew the eventual outcome: Samuel and Saul. From all the tribes, Samuel selected Benjamin. From all the clans of Benjamin, he chose Matri. From all the families of Matri, the family of Kish. When the big moment arrived—no Saul.

Again we get a glimpse of Saul’s root problem: Saul was hiding among the baggage. Self-consciousness constitutes the opposite of God-consciousness. Rather than gratefully rejoicing in the privilege God was freely extending to him, Saul’s concern ran to himself and what others would think of him.

Once messengers had retrieved Saul from hiding, Samuel presented the new king and explained to the people the regulations of their new form of government. That’s when we immediately get another hint of Saul’s deficiency. Most of the people shouted for joy at the stature of the new king, but a few troublemakers reacted differently. They despised Saul and publicly insulted him. Another characteristic of Saul’s self-consciousness appeared: he kept silent. Possibly he wanted everybody to like him. Another Saul wrote a prescription this one could have used:

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10).

Saul, like all people pleasers, had difficulty standing up for right or righteousness because he desired the approval of men. Instead of confrontation, he looked for the easy way out. Saul didn’t deal with the problem before him; maybe he hoped it would go away. However, the greater problem lay in himself: he prioritized self over the God who had chosen him.

We are about to see Saul at his best, but like a mighty oak with a fatal infestation of insects, his blight would continue to eat away at his soul. We soon see quite a different portrait of the man who might have been a great king had he consistently placed himself under the authority of God.

Saul returned to his father’s farm. Events didn’t leave him there long. Nahash the Ammonite attacked Jabesh Gilead, a city of Israel about twenty-five miles south of the Sea of Galilee. The leaders knew they could not hold out against his superior force, so they began to bargain. Nahash agreed to let them live, but at an awful price. He said, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel” (1 Sam. 11:2). The people agreed on the condition that they have one week for their fellow Israelites to come to their rescue.

What happened next revealed some important things about the new king. The messenger from Jabesh Gilead found Saul returning with his oxen after plowing a field. I am encouraged that Saul was touched by the tears of “his” people. Scripture tells us that “the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger” (1 Sam. 11:6). The Israelites were about to receive a “special delivery” from their new king.

Saul took a pair of oxen, cut them to pieces, and sent the pieces throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel” (1 Sam. 11:7). Samuel had warned the people that a king would mean forced servitude. Hello selective service!

His approach worked. Verse 7 ends, “Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they turned out as one man.” Saul marched his army to Jabesh Gilead and relieved the siege. In the process he won two mighty victories: one over the Ammonites and one over his detractors. The victorious Israelites gathered those who had slighted Saul and . . .

The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring these men to us and we will put them to death.” But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel” (1 Sam. 11:12–13).

For Saul’s sake I wish I could report that Saul was simply a compassionate king, but something else may have been going on. If indeed he felt compassion, in the days ahead we will see him lose it. Rather, his actions seem to be the cry of a people pleaser, desiring to be liked rather than demanding to be respected.