Why did God Reject King Saul?
Why did God Reject King Saul?
King Saul, the first Israelite king, fought many wars against the surrounding nations. However, he seemed to have an attitude problem. This page looks at the question: why did God reject King Saul? It also brings up the mirror principle in that God was trying to show Saul what was in his own heart to help him change his ways.
There is already a page on this site and a video discussing why the command might have been given to also kill the women, children and animals in the war with Amalek. However, it does not include discussion of how this story relates to the mirror principle. That will be touched on here. See The Biblical Mirror Principle for how that works.
We read this verse that sounds like God expressing his will regarding the Amalekites:
“Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (1 Samuel 15:3)
Saul was willing to commit genocide against the Amalekites but we get an insight into his state of mind when we see that he was even willing to kill his own son, Jonathan:
“And Saul answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.” (1 Samuel 14:44)
Why did God Reject King Saul? – Mental Stability
We could wonder if he was even mentally stable. He wanted to prove himself after being upstaged by his son, who along with only his armorbearer won a victory over the Philistines. So, Saul set about to bring some glory to himself through military victories:
“So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them. And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.” (1 Samuel 14:47-48)
But then we have the later verse (1 Samuel 15:3) telling Saul to smite Amalek.
Literal Translations
That verse reads quite differently in some literal translations:
“Now go, and you have struck Amalek, and devoted all that he has, and you have no pity on him, and have put to death from man to woman, from infant to suckling, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3, Literal Standard Version)
“Now, go, and thou hast smitten Amalek, and devoted all that it hath, and thou hast no pity on it, and hast put to death from man unto woman, from infant unto suckling, from ox unto sheep, from camel unto ass.” (1 Samuel 15:3, Young’s Literal Translation)
Here, again, is the KJV:
“Now go and smite H5221 (8689) Amalek,
and utterly destroy H2763 (8689)
all that they have, and spare them not;
but slay H4191 (8689)
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
(1 Samuel 15:3)
The number 8689 after the Strong’s number in each case designates the Hiphil verb form and the perfect tense in the Hebrew. “The perfect expresses a completed action” indicating that 1 Samuel 15:3 is not a command to carry out an act in the future, but a recounting of what Saul had already done in the past. More evidence from the verse just before:
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember H6485 (8804) that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.” (1 Samuel 15:2)
“‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, I have looked after that which Amalek did to Israel, that which he laid for him in the way in his going up out of Egypt. ” (1Samuel 15:2, Young’s Literal Translation)
Once again, the word “remember” is in the perfect verb form indicating a completed action.
The interesting thing here is that the word “remember” is the only time out of 305 verses where the original Hebrew word “paqad” is thus translated. Most commonly it is as “number” and often as “visit” as in:
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:7)
God will often “punish” a nation by not preventing their enemies from smiting them. The Bible expresses this as to visit them – to allow the natural consequences of their actions to take place.
It could be understood as God saying:
- I remember what Amalek did,
- now go and smite them.
as two separate actions.
However, “remember” is in the past tense but it is not “I remembered,” it is “I visited,” again, in the past tense. But the action of visiting is allowing “punishment” to come upon Amalek. God “did” it (allowed it to happen) through the action of Israel. If it was to be a future action, it would be I will “visit.”
Why did God Reject King Saul? – Child Sacrifice
That Saul was willing to sacrifice/kill his own son certainly says something about his fitness as king. It also shows how his thinking was very different than that of the God he professed to serve who said:
“They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:” (Jer 19:5)
Why did God Reject King Saul? – Pride
In all of this, God was reminding Saul of what he had done, but not done correctly in that it was done in a wrong spirit to bring glory to himself. We can see that from the context where Saul was fighting wars on every side (1 Sam 14:47) and showing off the spoils of war (for example taking king Agag captive, 1 Sam 15:8-9). Those are clues that Saul might have been thinking something like this:
The conclusion was that God deemed Saul to be unfit to continue as king and chose a replacement for him:
“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.” (1 Samuel 16:1)
While David, who God saw as a man after His own heart, was not perfect he did not exhibit the pride and ambition that Saul did.
Why did God Reject King Saul? – Summary
While this and other pages on this site give insights into the situation with King Saul and the Amalekites, it remains a difficult portion of scripture for our minds to grasp. I would encourage further study, prayer and contemplation. Whatever our understanding of the details, the story has to correspond to the true character of our non-violent God who did not want Israel to even see war in the first place (Exo 13:17). While God did work with Israel in their spiritually immature state and accommodated their various situations, remember, the story does not say that God killed anyone.
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