King Saul

Saul was the first king of Israel. He was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin and was described as “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people” (1 Samuel 9:2). At the people’s request, Jehovah God had the prophet Samuel anoint Saul as king, bringing an end to the era of the judges, which was based on a tribal system (1 Samuel 10).

King Saul gathered the forces of Israel and defeated the Ammonites at Jabesh-Gilead, east of the Jordan River. He won the hearts of all Israel and was formally accepted as king. “And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly” (1 Samuel 11:15).

Two years later, while fighting the Philistines, Saul did not wait for Samuel. Instead, he overstepped his authority as king and offered the burnt offering and peace offerings himself. Even worse, he wanted to win the people’s favor more than he wanted to obey God’s will. After defeating the Amalekites, he again disobeyed God’s command (1 Samuel 13:8-14, 15:22-23). Because of this, God rejected Saul and sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David as the new king (1 Samuel 16).

Although Saul continued to reign with the support of the people, he was terrified of losing his throne. He could not accept that God had chosen a new successor and tried to murder David multiple times (1 Samuel 18:9-25, 19:1, 19:10, 19:15). After failing to get an answer from God, he even violated his own command against consulting mediums (1 Samuel 28:3-19), but still could not change his fate.

Saul and his three sons were killed in a battle with the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. Unwilling to be captured, Saul took his own life. The Philistines “put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan” (1 Samuel 31:10). “But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days” (1 Samuel 31:11-13).

Edited and compiled based on the Chinese Union Version Bible and Comprehensive Biblical Interpretation.