Saul

Saul (1878) by Ernst Josephson.

Saul was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh century BCE, according to the Bible, marked the transition of the Israelites from a scattered tribal society ruled by various judges to organized statehood.

Quotes

• (To Jonathan) Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”
  • 1 Samuel 20:30-31 (NKJV).

• (To David) And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore swear now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”

So David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

• • 1 Samuel 24:18-21 (NKJV).

• (To his armorbearer) “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.”
  • 1 Samuel 31,4

Quotes about

• So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. 14 But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
  • 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 (NKJV).

• This is the tragedy of Saul's reign: he saved his people (1 Samuel 11 and 14), yet he was rejected by Yahweh (13 and 15). From the preference given to Jacob over Esau [...] to the calling of the apostles [...] the whole of sacred history proclaims the gratuitousness of divine choices. It also proclaims that the permanence of grace depends on the fidelity of the chosen one: Saul proved unfaithful to his vocation. Saul acted in good faith, and therein lies the drama: his fault lies in having chosen, in order to please the people, a different way of honouring God. Between Yahweh, who chose him, and the people, who acclaimed and recognised him, Saul sought a compromise; he did not commit himself exclusively to Yahweh.
  • È il dramma del regno di Saul: egli ha salvato il suo popolo (1 Samuele cc 11 e 14), nondimeno è ripudiato da Jahve (cc 13 e 15). Dalla preferenza accordata a Giacobbe su Esaù [...] fino alla chiamata degli apostoli [...] tutta la storia santa proclama la gratuità delle scelte divine. Essa proclama pure che il perdurare della grazia dipende dalla fedeltà dell'eletto: Saul si è dimostrato infedele alla sua vocazione. Saul si è comportato in buona fede e qui sta il dramma: la sua colpa sta nel fatto di avere scelto, per fare piacere al popolo, una maniera diversa di onorare Dio. Tra Jahve che l'ha eletto e il popolo che l'ha acclamato e riconosciuto, Saul ha cercato un compromesso, egli non si è impegnato esclusivamente per Jahve.
    • Jerusalem Bible. La Bibbia di Gerusalemme, Edizioni Dehoniane, Bologna, 1999. ISBN 88-10-80526-7, p. 527

Books of Samuel

• There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish [...]. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
  • 1 Samuel 9:1-2 (NKJV)

• Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people. [...]

And Saul answered and said, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the [c]tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?”

• • 1 Samuel 9:15-17;21 (NKJV).

• And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.

• • 1 Samuel 15:7-11 (NKJV).

• For rebellion is as the sin of [a]witchcraft,

And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He also has rejected you from being king.

• • 1 Samuel 15:23 (NKJV).

• However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.

Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon.

• • 2 Samuel 2:23-24 (NKJV).

See also

• Kish
• Samuel

External links

Media related to Saul on Wikimedia Commons