Gleaning from the Lives of Saul and Samuel

There are characters in the Bible to whom you may be able to relate, and they might have even significantly impacted your life. You may be impressed by the zeal of David or the sacrifice of Abraham. Perhaps you can relate to the pain of Job. Here I would like you to think, mourn, laugh, and praise God with these two characters in the Bible: Saul and Samuel.

When I think about these two characters, Saul and Samuel, I am greatly challenged. These two people lived in the same time period but had different purposes, focuses, and graces given to them by the Lord. God recorded different aspects of their lives for us to learn and grow. The apostle Paul says that “whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Let us see each of their lives and what God would have us know about them in the light of the Scriptures.

First, consider the life of Saul. We should not only shake our heads at his fallenness in smugness and judge him. We can also mourn him and learn lessons from his life, demeanor, and character. The focus right now is not only Saul, but you and, ultimately, Jesus as the antithesis of Saul.

The first king of Israel was a highly blessed and privileged man. He was good-looking, tall, and handsome, but most of all, God blessed him to be the anointed ruler of His chosen people. Saul had authority, power, and privileges that many of us will never have.

Many might think that his greatest problem was Goliath, or the Philistines, or perhaps the other multitude of enemies that Israel had at the time. Yet his most significant problem came from his sin, and that is a battle we all have. Saul himself, and his sinful and depraved heart, were his most significant problems. His downfall as a king and a leader of Israel began when he first made sacrifices by himself when he was not supposed to perform them. Samuel was the one chosen by God to make the sacrifice.

This narrative is written in 1 Samuel 13. The passage notes that Samuel had informed Saul that he was going to come to meet him after seven days. When Samuel did not arrive on time, Saul saw his men scattering; he became worried, took the situation into his own hands, and made sacrifices himself. Saul was rebuked sharply by Samuel, who had arrived as soon as the burnt offering was finished, and the end of his reign was announced to him. His impatience and lack of trust were his downfall. He thought that he could hastily be half-obedient to God and that God would be pleased by his half-obedience and would grant him victory.

The sight of the king was veiled by fear of the great multitude of his enemies that he confronted, which made him grow impatient. Fear breeds impatience. This sin is not exclusive to Saul but resides in all fallen humanity and remains a battle for those who have been reborn in Christ. We have often feared men and hastily tried to take situations into our own hands instead of being patient and seeking the will of God. We fear, we grow impatient, and we fall, and in smugness, we say like some spiritual giants that we fear none but God, which many times is proven to be false. This is our sad reality.

Moreover, we are told in 1 Samuel 15 that God commanded Saul to kill all the Amalekites, which included men and women, children and infants, cattle, sheep, and camels. Saul was meant to be the instrument of God for justice. He was supposed to carry out judgment on a stiff-necked, wretched nation. Saul again chose here to be only partly obedient to God.

When observed closely, you might notice that Saul might have developed this habit of half-obedience. He kills everyone, but he does not put to death the king of the Amalekites and the cattle of the enemy nation. When Samuel came to Saul, he confronted him with the question of why he heard the noise of animals bleating and lowing. Saul, even at that time, shifted the blame to his subordinates, insisting that they were the ones who spared the cattle of the Amalekites for sacrifice to the Lord.

Again, did God desire their sacrifice? Yes, He did, but not at the altar of half-hearted obedience. God wanted worship, which included sacrifice as well, but not of the cattle of the Amalekites, which he commanded them to obliterate. Saul at that time, once again, did not repent in ashes and sackcloth, like David did when he was rebuked for his sin. He instead chose the way of hypocrisy and face-keeping, which is why he asked Samuel to come with him and to bow down at the altar. He did not want to be known as a king who did not keep the commandments of God. He wanted Samuel to support his hypocrisy. He loved his office more than the living God.

Many times in our lives, we have hypocritically acted in this way, trying to hide our sin, and when confronted on account of our rebellion, we have been unwilling to repent. We have hardened our hearts to rebuke and correction. We have feared man rather than God. There are times in our lives when we act more spiritually than we are and hide our sins. We are ashamed to confess our sins and fearful of losing the trust of others by revealing our wretchedness. We were not like David, showing true repentance, but like Saul in hiding our sins to the best of our wretched abilities.

The other sins of Saul were his jealousy and hunger for power. when he heard the people singing at the top of their voices, “Saul has struck his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). He started dreading at that point the fact that David may very well take his beloved authority and leadership from him. He became exceedingly jealous and started plotting against him, even when David had become his son-in-law. His thoughts were so set on retaining his power as a king that he did not even care about his daughter, whose husband he was scheming to murder. We might not have tried to kill somebody out of jealousy and anger, but perhaps we have opposed someone in jealousy, so fearing the fact that they can usurp our position and state of authority we have tried to put hurdles in their way.

Here I would like to add that the children of God cannot stop being His children. The child of God is a person who believes in Christ and has repented from his sin, unlike Saul, who was an unregenerate man even though the Bible calls him “anointed.” He was an unsaved man. Many people like to point out Saul as evidence that one can certainly lose his salvation, yet this is an unfounded view. Two realities need to be made clear here: that a believer cannot lose his salvation according to Scriptures like (Rom. 8:28-39, John 6:37-47), and that Saul was never saved (1 John 2:19). For one, his life and actions testified to the fact that he was unsaved. For another, an evil spirit possessed him. We know that the person indwelt by the Holy Spirit cannot be possessed by any kind of evil Spirit.

There was another person in the time of Saul who had great authority as the judge and prophet of God for Israel. His name was Samuel. He was the much-awaited son, trained by Eli, and he became known by the entire nation. He was the man in authority, but he was different from Saul. He feared God and did not seek human validation. He spoke the truth and lived accordingly. He was not a person who would partake in hypocrisy, and Samuel did not take joy in the downfall of others as well. When he came to meet Saul after his victory over the Amalekites, he made known to Saul his sin and did not show any diplomacy. When the king told him to come with him to bow down, Samuel did not partake of hypocrisy by acting like nothing had happened.

Contrary to the desire of Saul, Samuel decided to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites. When God called him to anoint the king of Israel, Samuel did not even once try to keep the authority to himself as the judge of Israel. He gave up his authority, and even when God rejected Saul, Samuel did not try to take the kingship from Saul. He went to do what God told him, which was to anoint David as the next king. His character is one of humility. When Samuel learned about Saul and his sin, he did not laugh or take the matter lightly.

Contrary to this, Samuel cried out to the Lord for the whole night. He was sad and angry at the sin of his king. Samuel did not jest at Saul mockingly or self-righteously tell God that he would have never sinned in such a way if he were in charge.

We are often pleased to see other people fall and would rather have them suffer than repent of their sins. Samuel took the view of God toward sin and did not seek ways around His commandments. We need to have this kind of attitude bent on surrender and a humility that obeys without flinching. Such humility is very rare, and this humility is the secret to the ultimate statement Samuel makes about himself: “Here I am; bear witness against me before Yahweh and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you” (1 Sam. 12:3).

The response from the people to his words is delightful: “And they said, ‘You have not extorted us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand’” (1 Sam. 12:4). Samuel had a clear conscience before God and man. God used him mightily to bless the kings and people of Israel. He was a useful instrument in the hand of the Lord.

Samuel was a blameless man, a status for which we should all aim. His statement echoes what Paul said: “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to those who were with me” (Acts 20:33-34). Power did not blind Samuel. He did not use his position to harm the people under his authority, but he was willing to give up power as soon as God called on him.

Many leaders and kings came after Samuel and none of them was perfect. Christ is the only perfect leader. Not even Samuel was perfect, even though we can learn some vital lessons from his life and look to him as an example. As we see Paul saying: “Brothers, join in following my example, and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us” (Phil. 3:17). But Christ is the ultimate and only picture of complete righteousness. We are studying these Biblical characters, to the end of progressing toward Christlikeness, who is our greatest role model.

Such were the lives of these two men. Both were powerful; both had authority, but one had the sanctifying grace of God working in his life, while the other was left by God to do what seemed right in his own eyes. Saul was blinded by his hunger for power, his desire to be esteemed, and his faithlessness. Samuel sought God and His will throughout his life, and by the will of God, he kept a blameless life.

Now, my beloved readers, I entreat you to scrutinize your lives and see all of your Saul-like tendencies. We must strive to be Samuel-like in our character as we ultimately strive to be like Christ, who is the perfect image of God. I pray for us all to have Christlikeness, humility, and obedience in all that we do. Amen.

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