Observations about King Saul's Leadership

In our study of 1 Samuel getting ready for the Bible Bowl, there are several observations on King Saul that give us illustrations of the difficulties of leadership. Saul did not handle these difficulties well:

He was a reluctant leader (10:21-23)-When it came time to officially recognize Saul as king, he runs and hides. Saul knew the lot would fall on him, and he got scared. All of us want to be chosen or to do something great-until we are asked or commanded to. Gideon kept asking God for signs. Moses kept giving excuses at the burning bush. Barak would not fight against the Israelite enemies unless Deborah went with him. Jonah ran the other way because he hated the people the God was going to save. Yet God chose Saul. And in the case of all the others, God accomplished his will using the very people who were afraid. Sometimes we think we want leadership, but when the light is shining on us, it is a completely different story. Having some sense of fear is not entirely bad. It may mean we understand the scope of the responsibility. But do we react by stepping up and trusting the Lord who put us there, or do we run and hide and hope someone else will do it. Saul was scared of being the king, and he hid.

He was impatient (13:8-12)-Saul is to wait for Samuel to offer a sacrifice. But as Saul looked around, saw the Philistines assembling, his own people scattering, and Samuel nowhere in sight. Saul took things into his own hand and offered the sacrifice even though he had an express command to wait for Samuel. Saul led from fear, and that led to his impatience, which then led to his disobedience. Sure enough, just as he is finishing offering the sacrifice Samuel shows up. If you want the favor of the Lord, obey Him at all costs. The costs of obedience are much, much cheaper than the costs of disobedience in the long run. Saul focused on what was just around him, lost his trust in God, and took things into his own hands. Much like the 10 spies who forgot what the Lord had done and only saw large people that they felt like they could not defeat, Saul saw his own people scattering and forgot the Lord was still fighting for him.

He made rash decisions (14:24)-In the middle of a strenuous pursuit of the Philistines Saul makes his soldiers take the vow that they would not eat before evening and the enemies are gone. Now he has tired starving soldiers trying to fight. This falls under the category of stupid oaths. There is nothing to indicate that God would not have given the victory had Saul not made an oath, and the oath he made made it almost impossible to accomplish his goal. Saul is blamed for the sin when his men start eating raw meat. His own son Jonathan, who knew nothing of the vow, broke it and caused Israel to sin. When Jonathan’s life was threatened, the people basically said it was a stupid vow, and Saul released them from it.

He was afraid of the people (15:20-24)-It was Saul’s job to stand up and tell the people to follow the command of God and destroy everything. But some of the people took some of the spoil for themselves, and Saul let it happen. He even participated by keeping some of the spoils to sacrifice to the Lord. I get the impression that this is Saul’s excuse to cover for himself. Saul was more afraid of the people than he was of the Lord. Good leadership will stand up for what is right even when the people they are leading will not obey. Saul listened to the people and forgot the voice of God.

He was concerned about losing his position (chapters 18-31)-Even though God already told Saul that his family would not longer reign, Saul will stop at nothing to try to keep his position. He stopped leading and started protecting, and his kingdom fell apart because of it. David was already going to be the next king, but he was not trying to take it by force. Jonathan, his son, was fine with not being the king, but Saul would stop at nothing to keep his position. He tries to get David out of the picture several ways, but David always succeeds and this drives Saul even crazier. Saul’s life finally ends when he has his own armor bearer to take his life after Saul is injured in battle. Saul wasted his last years as king trying to take out a perceived threat on his position instead of leading and making the most of his kingship. When leaders protect instead of lead, they have forsaken their task.

It is challenging to me as a leader to see these, because I can have the same tendencies. I can listen too much to the people I’m serving and leading and stop listening to the Lord. I can become impatient and not wait on the Lord’s timing. We can all fall into these leadership traps. But as I said before, the cost of obedience to the Lord is much, much cheaper than the cost of disobedience. This list is challenging to me.

-Bulletin article for the 2-17