“Sh’mu’el went to Sha’ul; Sha’ul said to him, ‘May Adonai bless you! I have done what Adonai ordered.’ But Sh’mu’el answered, ‘If so, why do I hear sheep bleating and cows mooing?’ Sha’ul said, ‘They brought them from the ‘Amaleki, because the people spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to Adonai your God. But we completely destroyed the rest.'”-1 Samuel 15:13-15
Let’s explore some more of King Saul’s anti-King attributes.
So, Samuel goes to Gilgal and finds Saul there after he returns from the monument ceremony at Karmel.
Upon seeing Samuel, Saul welcomes him with great enthusiasm and joy.
But Samuel rejects his greeting.
Right here, we encounter our first anti-King attribute:
Saul was living in his own made-up world and had no idea how much trouble he was in.
He boasts to Samuel he did everything the Lord asked him to do in his dealings with Amalek.
But Samuel wasn’t buying any of it.
He responds by saying “If so, why do I hear sheep bleating and cows mooing?”
Saul knew he was busted but still tried to act like he didn’t know any better.
He tries to explain himself by saying, “My soldiers brought the animals from the Amalekites.”
This brings us to the second anti-King attribute:
“Pointing the finger at others”
Saul blames “the people” for keeping the best animals.
He says they did it because they wanted to offer them as a sacrifice to God.
Boy, Saul doesn’t know when to shut up, does he?
Every word coming out of his mouth at this point is worsening his attempts to defend himself before Samuel.
This brings us to the third anti-King attribute:
Notice King Saul referred to Adonai as “your God,” meaning Samuel’s God.
This wasn’t just a random phrase.
The word “your” shows how Saul saw himself in relation to the Lord.
It’s not that Saul didn’t believe in God.
It’s that he didn’t identify with God like we’d expect the King of Israel should.
I’m talking about the difference between mere intellectual knowledge of your Creator and possessing a personal relationship with Him.
It’s clear which category Saul fell under.
So there you have three more ungodly traits that characterize the anti-king.
The first one is being oblivious to one’s sin…
Thinking everything’s cool with God when it really isn’t…
The second one is blaming others for your faults.
A king possessing this trait is particularly disgraceful I would say.
The third ungodly trait is essentially not having a personal relationship with God.
King Saul referred to Yehovah as “your God”.
That little phrase says it all.
Saul was like those demons whom Yeshua sent into the herd of pigs.
Before being cast out, the demons said:
“What business do You
have with us, Son of God?
Have You come here to
torment us before the time?”
See, the demons knew Yeshua’s true identity.
But they were aligned against him.
You could say the same thing about Saul.
For every ungodly trait that Saul possessed…
Yeshua possessed the exact opposite!
Yeshua was perfectly obedient to the Torah.
He never sinned (the opposite of the second attribute).
And his relationship with God was so close, that he referred to Him as Abba (Father) and declared “I and the Father are one”.
See ya all next time.
Hi Rich,
Really enjoyed your article on King Saul and how you compared him to Jesus. It’s nice how you dug into Saul’s character, pointing out where he went wrong and then flipped it to show how Jesus did things the right way. It’s a great way to understand these biblical figures better and think about what we can learn from them.
I especially liked your points about Saul not owning up to his mistakes and not really having that personal connection with God. It’s a good reminder of how important it is to be honest with ourselves and to work on our relationship with God. And then seeing how Jesus got these things right just puts it all into perspective.
By the way, I was curious about the part where you quoted Jesus saying, “I and the Father are one and the same.” In most Bibles I’ve seen, it just says “are one” without the “and the same.” This additional phrase tends to lead to various online debates about whether Jesus was simply saying he was in unity/harmony with his Father or something else.
Hey Steve,
Nice catch. It looks like “and the same” bit isn’t in the original text.
Here’s an answer I got courtesy of chatGTP:
“The specific verse in the New Testament where Jesus says, “I and the Father are one” is from the book of John, chapter 10, verse 30 in most English translations of the Bible. The Greek text for this verse uses the phrase “ἕν ἐσμεν” (hen esmen), which translates to “are one.”
The phrase “and the same” isn’t explicitly included in this verse in the original Greek. However, the concept of unity and oneness between Jesus and the Father is strongly implied in this statement. Different translations might slightly vary in their wording to convey the meaning, but the essence of the verse emphasizes the unity or oneness between Jesus and God the Father.
The idea conveyed by Jesus in this verse is the unity of purpose, essence, and divine nature between himself and the Father rather than a strict assertion of being identical in every aspect. The phrase “are one” reflects this unity and is a key point in understanding the nature of Jesus in Christian theology.”
As we discussed on our last call, of course, I believe the verse “I and the Father are one” is a statement of mission, not biology.
Be blessed!