Pity poor Saul ben Kish of Benjamin. Handsome, strong, well-built, from a family of warriors (1 Samuel 9:1-2), Saul was at the wrong place at the wrong time, as events showed; though he certainly thought he had lucked out.
The People of Israel were tired of freedom, tired of liberty, tired of being a chosen people and wanted to be like all the rest of the nations (1 Samuel 8:4-5), and God decided to tell Samuel to let them have what they wanted, but warned them of what they would get together with what they wanted. (1 Samuel 8:11-17)
So God picked Saul. Was it because he knew that Saul, despite his best intentions, would turn out exactly as God had warned the elders of Israel? Or would ANYONE given that position, that authority, turn out to be as bad as Saul? We do not know, now.
Ultimately, Saul rebelled against God, as recorded in 1 Samuel 13: 9 and 1 Samuel 15:1-11. But together with that, he did a large number of foolish things, and his actions led to the virtual collapse of Israel and his own death together with his sons.
Matthew Allen, a gospel preacher, presents an excellent review of Saul's declining leadership. However, looking at this, it is difficult to see if ANY man could do better: proving the Lord's warning to Israel was, if anything, too mild by far.
The first lessons learned?
1. Do not trade your liberty for a little security - or worse, to be like everyone else.
2. Do not expect the best choice for "supreme leader" to be any good at all in the long run.
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