Old Testament Characters

Saul

Text:  asked for. 

(1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. 

(2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, 
"asked for"), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first king of the Jewish 
nation. 

The singular providential circumstances connected with his election as 
king are recorded in 1 Sam. 8-10. His father's she-asses had strayed, 
and Saul was sent with a servant to seek for them. Leaving his home at 
Gibeah (10:5, "the hill of God," A.V.; lit., as in R.V. marg., "Gibeah 
of God"), Saul and his servant went toward the north-west over Mount 
Ephraim, and then turning north-east they came to "the land of 
Shalisha," and thence eastward to the land of Shalim, and at length 
came to the district of Zuph, near Samuel's home at Ramah (9:5-10). 

At this point Saul proposed to return from the three days' fruitless 
search, but his servant suggested that they should first consult the 
"seer." Hearing that he was about to offer sacrifice, the two hastened 
into Ramah, and "behold, Samuel came out against them," on his way to 
the "bamah", i.e., the "height", where sacrifice was to be offered; 
and in answer to Saul's question, "Tell me, I pray thee, where the 
seer's house is," Samuel made himself known to him. Samuel had been 
divinely prepared for his coming (9:15-17), and received Saul as his 
guest. He took him with him to the sacrifice, and then after the feast 
"communed with Saul upon the top of the house" of all that was in his 
heart. 

On the morrow Samuel "took a vial of oil and poured it on his head," 
and anointed Saul as king over Israel (9:25-10:8), giving him three 
signs in confirmation of his call to be king. When Saul reached his 
home in Gibeah the last of these signs was fulfilled, and the Sprit of 
God came upon him, and "he was turned into another man." 

The simple countryman was transformed into the king of Israel, a 
remarkable change suddenly took place in his whole demeanour, and the 
people said in their astonishment, as they looked on the stalwart son 
of Kish, "Is Saul also among the prophets?", a saying which passed 
into a "proverb." (Comp. 19:24.) The intercourse between Saul and 
Samuel was as yet unknown to the people. The "anointing" had been in 
secret. 

But now the time had come when the transaction must be confirmed by 
the nation. Samuel accordingly summoned the people to a solemn 
assembly "before the Lord" at Mizpeh. Here the lot was drawn 
(10:1727), and it fell upon Saul, and when he was presented before 
them, the stateliest man in all Israel, the air was rent for the first 
time in Israel by the loud cry, "God save the king!" 

He now returned to his home in Gibeah, attended by a king of 
bodyguard, "a band of men whose hearts God had touched." On reaching 
his home he dismissed them, and resumed the quiet toils of his former 
life. Soon after this, on hearing of the conduct of Nahash the 
Ammonite at Jabeshgilead (q.v.), an army out of all the tribes of 
Israel rallied at his summons to the trysting-place at Bezek, and he 
led them forth a great army to battle, gaining a complete victory over 
the Ammonite invaders at Jabesh (11:1-11).

Amid the universal joy occasioned by this victory he was now fully 
recognized as the king of Israel. At the invitation of Samuel "all the 
people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord 
in Gilgal." Samuel now officially anointed him as king (11:15). 
Although Samuel never ceased to be a judge in Israel, yet now his work 
in that capacity practically came to an end. 

Saul now undertook the great and difficult enterprise of freeing the 
land from its hereditary enemies the Philistines, and for this end he 
gathered together an army of 3,000 men (1 Sam. 13:1, 2). The 
Philistines were encamped at Geba. Saul, with 2,000 men, occupied 
Michmash and Mount Bethel; while his son Jonathan, with 1,000 men, 
occupied Gibeah, to the south of Geba, and seemingly without any 
direction from his father "smote" the Philistines in Geba. 

Thus roused, the Philistines, who gathered an army of 30,000 chariots 
and 6,000 horsemen, and "people as the sand which is on the sea-shore 
in multitude," encamped in Michmash, which Saul had evacuated for 
Gilgal. Saul now tarried for seven days in Gilgal before making any 
movement, as Samuel had appointed (10:8); but becoming impatient on 
the seventh day, as it was drawing to a close, when he had made an end 
of offering the burnt offering, Samuel appeared and warned him of the 
fatal consequences of his act of disobedience, for he had not waited 
long enough (13:13, 14). 

When Saul, after Samuel's departure, went out from Gilgal with his 600 
men, his followers having decreased to that number (13:15), against 
the Philistines at Michmash (q.v.), he had his head-quarters under a 
pomegrante tree at Migron, over against Michmash, the Wady esSuweinit 
alone intervening. Here at Gibeah-Geba Saul and his army rested, 
uncertain what to do. 

Jonathan became impatient, and with his armour-bearer planned an 
assault against the Philistines, unknown to Saul and the army 
(14:1-15). Jonathan and his armour-bearer went down into the wady, and 
on their hands and knees climbed to the top of the narrow rocky ridge 
called Bozez, where was the outpost of the Philistine army. They 
surprised and then slew twenty of the Philistines, and immediately the 
whole host of the Philistines was thrown into disorder and fled in 
great terror. 

"It was a very great trembling;" a supernatural panic seized the host. 
Saul and his 600 men, a band which speedily increased to 10,000, 
perceiving the confusion, pursued the army of the Philistines, and the 
tide of battle rolled on as far as to Bethaven, halfway between 
Michmash and Bethel. The Philistines were totally routed. "So the Lord 
saved Israel that day." 

While pursuing the Philistines, Saul rashly adjured the people, 
saying, "Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening." But 
though faint and weary, the Israelites "smote the Philistines that day 
from Michmash to Aijalon" (a distance of from 15 to 20 miles). 
Jonathan had, while passing through the wood in pursuit of the 
Philistines, tasted a little of the honeycomb which was abundant there 
(14:27). This was afterwards discovered by Saul (ver. 42), and he 
threatened to put his son to death. The people, however, interposed, 
saying, "There shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground." He 
whom God had so signally owned, who had "wrought this great salvation 
in Israel," must not die. 

"Then Saul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines 
went to their own place" (1 Sam. 14:24-46); and thus the campaign 
against the Philistines came to an end. This was Saul's second great 
military success. 

Saul's reign, however, continued to be one of almost constant war 
against his enemies round about (14:47, 48), in all of which he proved 
victorious. The war against the Amalekites is the only one which is 
recorded at length (1 Sam. 15). These oldest and hereditary (Ex. 17:8; 
Num. 14:43-45) enemies of Israel occupied the territory to the south 
and south-west of Palestine. Samuel summoned Saul to execute the "ban" 
which God had pronounced (Deut. 25:17-19) on this cruel and relentless 
foe of Israel. The cup of their iniquity was now full. 

This command was "the test of his moral qualification for being king." 
Saul proceeded to execute the divine command; and gathering the people 
together, marched from Telaim (1 Sam. 15:4) against the Amalekites, 
whom he smote "from Havilah until thou comest to Shur," utterly 
destroying "all the people with the edge of the sword", i.e., all that 
fell into his hands. He was, however, guilty of rebellion and 
disobedience in sparing Agag their king, and in conniving at his 
soldiers' sparing the best of the sheep and cattle; and Samuel, 
following Saul to Gilgal, in the Jordan valley, said unto him, 
"Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he also hath 
rejected thee from being king" (15:23). 

The kingdom was rent from Saul and was given to another, even to 
David, whom the Lord chose to be Saul's successor, and whom Samuel 
anointed (16:1-13). From that day "the spirit of the Lord departed 
from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." He and 
Samuel parted only to meet once again at one of the schools of the 
prophets. 

David was now sent for as a "cunning player on an harp" (1 Sam. 16:16, 
18), to play before Saul when the evil spirit troubled him, and thus 
was introduced to the court of Saul. He became a great favourite with 
the king. At length David returned to his father's house and to his 
wonted avocation as a shepherd for perhaps some three years. 

The Philistines once more invaded the land, and gathered their army 
between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim, on the southern slope of 
the valley of Elah. Saul and the men of Israel went forth to meet 
them, and encamped on the northern slope of the same valley which lay 
between the two armies. It was here that David slew Goliath of Gath, 
the champion of the Philistines (17:4-54), an exploit which led to the 
flight and utter defeat of the Philistine army.

Saul now took David permanently into his service (18:2); but he became 
jealous of him (ver. 9), and on many occasions showed his enmity 
toward him (ver. 10, 11), his enmity ripening into a purpose of murder 
which at different times he tried in vain to carry out. After some 
time the Philistines "gathered themselves together" in the plain of 
Esdraelon, and pitched their camp at Shunem, on the slope of Little 
Hermon; and Saul "gathered all Israel together," and "pitched in 
Gilboa" (1 Sam. 28:3-14). 

Being unable to discover the mind of the Lord, Saul, accompanied by 
two of his retinue, betook himself to the "witch of Endor," some 7 or 
8 miles distant. Here he was overwhelmed by the startling 
communication that was mysteriously made to him by Samuel (ver. 
16-19), who appeared to him. "He fell straightway all along on the 
earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel" (ver. 20). 
The Philistine host "fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled 
before the Philistines, and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa" (31: 1). 

In his despair at the disaster that had befallen his army, Saul "took 
a sword and fell upon it." And the Philistines on the morrow "found 
Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa." Having cut off his 
head, they sent it with his weapons to Philistia, and hung up the 
skull in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod. They suspended his headless 
body, with that of Jonathan, from the walls of Bethshan. The men of 
Jabesh-gilead afterwards removed the bodies from this position; and 
having burnt the flesh, they buried the bodies under a tree at Jabesh. 
The remains were, however, afterwards removed to the family sepulchre 
at Zelah (2 Sam. 21:13, 14). (See DAVID.) 

(3.) "Who is also called Paul" (q.v.), the circumcision name of the 
apostle, given to him, perhaps, in memory of King Saul (Acts 7:58; 
8:1; 9:1).