Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 89: Saul's Foolishness

Good evening, everyone.

Today I read 1 Samuel 13-14.

I feel like I might have been "hating on" Saul a little too much yesterday, and I wanted to tone it down today.

So, Saul is God's chosen king. He is a mighty warrior. And he fights a lot of Philistines.

Which is a good thing.

But then Saul messes up. Big time.

See, Saul is a people-pleaser. He and his armies are about to go out against the Philistines, and Samuel is late. The people are freaking out and running away. So, Saul takes it upon himself to offer the burnt offerings to God.

And that's a big no-no. Only the priest was allowed to make offerings to God on behalf of the people. If a person brought their offerings, a priest had to be present.

This was a big deal.

Saul cared more about pleasing the people, than pleasing God. He was moved by the number of people he could see running away, rather than by the might of God.

And when Samuel arrives, he has to tell Saul that what he did was foolish, and because of it, his kingdom will not endure, but God will appoint a new king, "a man after His own heart."

But it gets worse.

So, Saul is fighting the Philistines, and his son Jonathan is with him. Jonathan and his servant go off on their own for a bit, and, with God's help, win a great victory over the Philistines. 

And Saul says this: "Cursed be the man who eats food before evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies" (1 Samuel 14:24).

Oh, Saul. What's wrong with you?

So, Jonathan doesn't hear this command, and eats honey from the land (the spoils of war). And the Bible says his "eyes were brightened" because he ate some of the food from the land they'd won from their enemies.

I think this means that not only did the honey nourish him, but it also solidified his victory and gave him more hope and courage.

But then, Saul finds out that Jonathan ate the honey. And he says that Jonathan must surely die, because of the oath Saul made.

But the people intervened because they did not want to see their beloved prince die.

Now, this brings me back to something I talked about in one of my previous posts: we must be very careful with our words; even more so with our vows, and the kinds of curses we can put on ourselves or other people.

Saul almost lost his son Jonathan because he made a reckless and foolish declaration in the heat of the moment.

Okay, so maybe I was a little harsh on Saul again today, but sometimes it's hard not to be. So many people in the Bible are great role models, even though they are flawed. I feel like there's a lot we can learn from Saul, but I wouldn't personally call him a great role model.

Do you have any thoughts about Saul? Do you see something that I'm missing? Let me know in the comments.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read 1 Samuel 15-17!