The Life and Times of

Conclusion

We have an expression that goes: “All’s well that ends well.” If this is true, all is not well, at least so far as Saul is concerned. Dale Ralph Davis entitles the chapter of his commentary on this text of Scripture, “And It Was Night.”⁵ This title is certainly prompted by the two-fold reference in our text to these events taking place in the darkness of night (28:8, 25). It also seems to be a play on the words of John 13:30, where we are told that Judas left our Lord and the disciples to consummate his betrayal of our Lord. John there very cryptically tells us, “and it was night.”

Without a doubt, this is the darkest day of Saul’s life – so far. The next (and last) day will be even darker. Here is the king of Israel, so weak with hunger and terror he cannot even stand up. He is dressed in a pathetic attempt at disguise, but that also has failed. He is at the house of a medium, seeking to inquire of her. And when he manages to speak with Samuel, the prophet tells him only an ancient version of “I told you so.” He tells Saul further that he and his sons will die in battle the following day. He offers him no encouragement, no hope, no chance to repent. It is simply too late. What a tragic picture of Saul we see here.

Forty years earlier, Saul was a promising young ruler and a marvelous physical specimen, who stood head and shoulders above his fellow-Israelites (9:1-2). He started his military career liberating the people of Jabesh-gilead by decisively defeating the Ammonites (chapter 11). How then did things go so wrong for Saul, so that he ends up trembling mass on the floor of a forbidden medium? The answer according to Samuel is quite simple – disobedience. Saul’s first major failure (so far as the biblical text informs us) is at Gilgal, where he fails to wait for Samuel to offer the sacrifices, as he was instructed to do (see 10:7-8). Rather than wait for Samuel to offer the sacrifices and then tell him what he should do (for divine guidance), Saul had gone ahead and offered the sacrifice⁶ himself.

His second major failure is hardly a straw, but it does so to speak, break the camel’s back. Samuel gives Saul a very clear divine directive. As Israel’s king, it is Saul’s duty to annihilate the Amalekites for the way they have treated Israel at the exodus. Every Amalekite is to be killed, including the king. In fact, Samuel makes it clear that the king is not to be spared (15:1-3). No children or cattle are to be spared, either. In spite of this command, Saul and the people spared King Agag and the best of the cattle. Samuel presses Saul hard to take personal responsibility for his sin. When Saul seeks to minimize his sin by claiming he was saving the best of the Amalekites’ cattle to sacrifice to God, Samuel sets down a principle that will echo throughout the rest of the Old Testament and the New:

22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Saul seems to think men’s sacrifices are what He most values, even if it means disobeying God to do so. Samuel sees it exactly the opposite. God delights in man’s obedience, more than in his sacrifices. Obedience to God is the highest good. Disobedience therefore is the greatest evil. Does Saul suppose God will look favorably on the disobedience which made such sacrifices possible? He will not. In fact, God look upon such rebellion as the sin of divination, and upon insubordination as iniquity and idolatry. Saul thinks God will look with pleasure on what he and the Israelites have done in regard to the Amalekites. Samuel tells Saul that God looks upon his actions as though they are the most wicked thing he could do.

Though I had not thought about it in such terms before, I am now inclined to understand 1 Samuel 15:22-23 in the light of 1 Samuel 28:3. Here, the author tells us that Saul has previously rid the land of Israel of those who are mediums and spiritists. As I now look back on chapter 15, I am inclined to understand it as follows. Saul has already removed the mediums and spiritists from the land. He probably feels pretty good about this, because he has done that which the Law of Moses commanded.⁷ But then some time after he is commanded to rid the land of the Amalekites. This he does only partially, and as suggested earlier, partial obedience is actually disobedience. When God rebukes Saul through Samuel, He tells the king that his disobedience is just as offensive to Him as idolatry and witchcraft. Does Saul feel somewhat smug about removing the mediums and spiritists? Does he agree that these people and their practices are evil? His disobedience is viewed on the same level as witchcraft and idolatry. The magnitude of his sin in partially obeying God regarding the removal of the Amalekites is the same as that of the sin of witchcraft.

I think Samuel’s words of rebuke in chapter 15 go even further. Samuel is inferring that if Saul’s disobedience and rebellion is not repented of it will actually lead to witchcraft and idolatry. In other words, if Saul does not repent of his sin with regard to the Amalekites, Samuel is prophesying that Saul will be guilty of the very “sins” he has just condemned by removing the mediums and spiritists.

The events of chapter 28 come to pass, with uncanny certainty because Saul fails to take his own sin and Samuel’s rebuke seriously enough. I find a significant similarity between chapters 13 and 15. In both chapters, Saul sins by willfully disobeying God’s command. In both cases, when Samuel confronts Saul, he tries to lay the blame off (at least in part) on someone else. In chapter 13, Saul pardons himself by claiming that Samuel is late (it is his fault), and the people are leaving him (it is their fault). In chapter 15, Saul again seeks to duck his personal responsibility. He first claims to have fully obeyed God; Samuel makes short work of this claim. Then he blames the people, as though they alone kept back the good cattle. Eventually, Saul admits to being afraid of the people, but he still does not assume the responsibility that is his as king. In both chapters 13 and 15, Saul sees his actions as required by an emergency situation. He has mentally declared a “state of emergency” in which his own form of “martial law” sets aside the laws of God. Finally, after all of Saul’s flimsy excuses are set aside, his “repentance” barely meets the standard for “regret.”

Thus we see why things must happen as they do in chapter 28. Saul started out all right, but very quickly became careless about obeying God’s commandments. Even when rebuked for his sins, he does not fully repent, and thus a repetition of his sins is inevitable. Given Samuel’s prophetic declaration in chapter 15, we should hardly be surprised to find Saul seeking divine guidance by means of a medium. If a person finds God’s commands repulsive, he also finds them easy to cast aside. Is it any wonder that such a person eventually turns to witches, mediums (or any number of other means of obtaining guidance), when such people “direct” them in the way they really wish to go in the first place (compare 2 Timothy 4:3-4)? We see that the end of Saul’s life is tragic, but it should not be surprising. It is the logical outcome of the path he has chosen to walk.

As we read this story of Saul’s humiliation in the home of the medium of En-dor, we would like to comfort ourselves by thinking this is a strange, bizarre situation, a fluke. I strongly maintain it is no fluke at all. Indeed, I believe what we see here is the norm. Saul is a living demonstration of “the rule,” rather than “the exception.” Saul is a kind of prototype of the nation Israel.⁸ We see, in the life (and death) of Saul, a microcosm, a miniature version of Israel’s history. Israel, like Saul, was not chosen because of his high standing, but in spite of the fact that he was of less than noble stock (compare Deuteronomy 7:7-8; 1 Samuel 9:21; 10:22; 15:17). Like the nation Israel, God raised up Samuel to “utterly destroy” the Canaanite nations (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-2; 1 Samuel 15:1-3). Samuel, like the nation Israel, was to trust in God and keep His commandments, and not to imitate the heathen (compare Deuteronomy 7:2-5, 9-16; 1 Samuel 15:20-23). And, like Israel, God would destroy Saul for his flagrant, consistent rebellion (compare Deuteronomy 7:4; 1 Chronicles 10:13-14). Notice how these two themes are intertwined in chapter 12:

14 “If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God. 15 “And if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers. 16 “Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes. 17 “Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the LORD by asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. 19 Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 “And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. 22 “For the LORD will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. 23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. 24 “Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 25 “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away” (1 Samuel 12:14-25).

Finally, the nation Israel was chosen by God to be a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), but their rule as God’s “sons” did not last long, due to their disobedience (see Exodus 4:23). Then it was Israel’s kings who were to be God’s “sons,” ruling over the nation (see 2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:4-9). Ultimately, there is only one good and perfect “King,” one “Son of God,” in whom we can be saved from our sins, and in whom we can reign (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-25).

Saul is not only a prototype of the nation Israel, he is a tragic example of what can happen to each and every one of us. Those who desire to know and do the will of God will know it, for God will reveal it to them (see John 7:17). But if we stubbornly rebel against God, He will not listen to our prayers, and He will cease disclosing Himself and His will to us (He will not “cast His pearls before swine;” see also Psalm 68:18; John 2:23-25; Mark 4:20-25). Eventually, those who resist and disobey God’s will and His Word (which can hardly be distinguished) begin to look elsewhere for teaching which is still represented as “Christian,” though it is not (see 2 Timothy 3:1-13; 4:1-4).

There is, I believe, a “point of no return” in a person’s life. There is a point in time where God ceases to convict the sinner, but rather hardens their heart, due to persistent rejection of the gospel. There is a point in time when it is, humanly speaking, too late. Those who foolishly suppose they can continue to live in sin and reject the gospel, thinking God will always “be there for them,” are wrong.

1 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain – 2 for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU”; behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

I believe there is also a “point of no return” for a Christian who is living in constant, willful rebellion. It is not that this person will lose their salvation, but they will lose the “joy” of their salvation. They may very well lose the assurance of their salvation. They certainly will lose the sense of intimacy and fellowship they could and should have with Christ and His church. They may even lose their lives, even as Saul did (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 1 John 5:13-17).

Though it may not be a comforting thought, we are more like Saul than we would like to believe. There is a lot of “Saul” in every one of us. This is why we must abide in Christ and in His Word. This is why we must pray for strength, and that we will not fall into temptation. This is why we need “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves” and the encouragement of Christian brothers and sisters, and we must beware of persistent, willful sin (Hebrews 10:19-31).

It is very clear that our text is no fairy tale. Saul does not live “happily ever after,” as fairy tale people do. Neither does anyone who fails to trust and obey God. Let us be sobered and humbled by Saul, and let us acknowledge our weaknesses, and rely wholly on His strength.