So far, in our study of King Saul’s early days, Saul has been doing well. He “held his peace” when internal enemies despised him, and he “went to war” when external enemies threatened him — always doing whatever the Spirit of God led him to in the given situation. But, today, we shake our heads sadly as we see him “messing up.”
Saul was outnumbered. According to 1 Samuel 13:2, he had 3,000 soldiers; in 1 Samuel 13:5, the Philistines came against him with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and “people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude” (an army with too many foot-soldiers to count). The Spirit of God wasn’t moving fast enough for him, so he went and offered a sacrifice himself rather than waiting for Samuel to show up. It was against God’s Law for him (as a non-priest) to do that.
The result was disaster for Saul, although God intervened (through Saul’s son, Jonathan) to rescue the people of Israel from that crisis. But, Saul lost God’s blessing on his government (and even Jonathan lost his opportunity to succeed Saul as the next king).
When your enemies outnumber you, don’t give in to fear. Continue to trust in God. He has delivered his people before, and he can do it again, if you’ll trust him.
John H. Roller
Extended Scripture: 1 Samuel 13–14
