Understanding King Saul's Complex Character and Our Personal Insecurities

Join Preston as he dives into First Samuel chapter 15 and discusses the complex character of King Saul, Israel's first king. Explore the highs and lows of Saul's journey, his disobedience, and ultimate downfall. Preston draws comparisons between Saul and David, highlighting David's qualities and the reasons for his success. Learn valuable lessons about personal insecurity, the dangers of comparison, and the importance of humility through this compelling biblical narrative.

00:00 Introduction and Context
01:12 Saul's Disobedience and Downfall
04:54 David vs. Saul: A Comparison
14:34 Saul's Insecurities and Obsession
27:18 Lessons from Jonathan's Humility
29:38 Conclusion: Embracing Humility and Following Christ

Transcript

If you would go and turn your Bibles to First Samuel chapter 15 tonight. As a lot of, you know, if you're visiting with us and you don't know we've been doing a lot of readings in first and second Samuel and now we're into Kings.

And some of the readings we did a couple weeks ago kind of sparked a thought of a sermon that I had that I wanted to end up. Now getting to preach. I probably should have preached it or pro to use the past tense. Should have probably preached it a few, few weeks ago to be more in line with our readings.

But I thought it was something that I don't know, thought it'd be good and helpful. And I wanted to backtrack a couple of weeks of our reading back to Kings Saw. Kings Saw is a character in the Bible that I particularly love reading about because he's so complex, he's a character that. He's a mighty man of war.

He's he's the first king of Israel, but at the same time, he's so deeply insecure. He's this biblical character that I feel like I read his story and I'm Simon. I'm just, I'm rooting for him the whole time that he would do well. But then I turn around and you just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, say, what is wrong with you?

Because Saul, he just can't ever seem to get outta his own way. And I think we can all definitely relate with that at some points, but. First thing, chapter 15. We're gonna start where our title of our is gonna come. I'll reveal in just a moment. Saul's history is, it's, it's, it's a story of really a slow decline that really kind of, hits a very low point here in chapter 15, as many of us have read in recent weeks.

But this is one of my probably favorite interactions within the, the Old Testament, particularly because how vivid this scene is between Saul and Samuel and how painful it is. But to give you a little bit of background before we get start, we'll start in verse 24 in just a second. But to give you a little bit of background, Saul is being sent to go and, and destroy the amite.

God is judging them for how they had treated Israel when they were in a vulnerable state having left Egypt and exile or out of slavery, excuse me. And they, Saul Israel's weak and they tried to take advantage of them and they went to war with them. And God ultimately vindicates his people. And so now he's coming in judging the AILITEs, and Saul is gonna be the one who's sent to do that.

And Saul ultimately is victorious, but he disobeys God's command. He doesn't destroy all the people, doesn't destroy all the possessions but he ends up sparing King Agag and then taking the best of the spools of war. And so when Samuel the prophet, hears about Saul's disobedience, he comes to confront him.

And he has this great speech. We won't have time to read but Sagans making excuses and we get this powerful exchange here in one Samuel 15 verses 24 through 29. If few would read with me, says Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned for, I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice now therefore, please pardon my sin and, and return with me that I may bow before the Lord and Samuel said to Saul.

I will not return with you for you've rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. As Samuel turned to go away, this is my favorite part, Saul sees the skirt of his robe and it tore, and Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret. You know, up to now, Samuel, or excuse me, Saul's story has really been a story about success at different times, but successes that are often marred because of his impatience, because of his fear and his disobedience.

And at this low point here in chapter 15, he's promised that his kingdom's gonna be ripped away from him and given to this one who is better? Than him. And this will only end up as we're gonna kind of see, we're gonna lead and kind of conclude our sermon tonight. In, in chapter 18, we're gonna see how this this instance kind of adds to Saul's insecurity and has him constantly looking over his shoulder.

As he sets himself on this path of self-destruction. And so tonight I really, I want us to put ourselves in Saul's shoes. Maybe when we read First and Second Samuel, we'd like to more see ourselves in David, but I want to, I wanna see ourselves in Saul tonight. And I wanna firstly, kind of look at the different high points of comparison that First Samuel makes between David and Saul showing how David consistently is this better one.

And then secondly, I wanna turn to chapter 18 and really see where all of these chapters are pointing towards, where it kind of comes to a head and, and see how Saul's insecurities really get the best of him there. And hopefully make some applications for for us from the text. And so. Let's go and begin, and we're just gonna again, we're looking at chapters nine through 17.

Don't worry, we're not gonna read them. But I want to kind of look at this kind of game of comparison that, that First Samuel is kind of making between David and Saul in from the beginning of Samuel chapter nine. When Saul appears, he, he definitely looks like the king that Israel wanted. If you remember earlier in Samuel chapter eight.

But when David appears in chapter 16, it's clear that God later on is anoint the king that Israel actually needed. David, as we're gonna see in all these comparisons, he is everything that Saul is not. In these chapters of nine through 17 and one Samuel, there's this kind of comparison that plays out in some really obvious, but also some really subtle ways.

And so one of the most obvious ones is the first one that Saul their, both of their descriptions are given, and Saul is this handsome and tall man. He's described kind of like a giant himself. He looks like the enemies that Israel had been afraid to conquer when they had come to the promised land.

Back in numbers and God's basically tells the people, Hey, if you wanna be like all the other nations, if you want a king like all the other nations, well I'm gonna give you a king. Just like the nations have. Later on when it's time to pick the right king. If we fast forward a little bit to First Samuel chapter 16 right before David is gonna be anointed after we've read Saul's denunciation.

Well, it's time to pick the right king. And even, even at this point appearance kind of enters in to, david's introduction because Samuel, he's, he's looking, he's trying to figure out in his head, okay, which one of these sons of Jesse from Bethlehem is gonna be the anointed one. And even God has to direct the pro, redirect the prophet because he's trying to get him to see, look, we're not going on appearances this time.

It's. We're not gonna do a repeat of Saul. And he says in verse six Samuel, he says, when they came, he looked on a alive and thought, surely the Lord's anointed us before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature. Again, he's looking just like Saul. He is the height.

Elia, the older brother. He is the height like Saul, but God says, I have, but but do not look on him because I have rejected him. The Lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And so when David enters in, in just a few moments, David has described he's ruddy.

He's handsome. But he has these beautiful eyes and the word ruddy there, it kind of, it's the same word used of Esau when he's born in Genesis. And so the idea is this redness of complexion, I'm not really sure to make of it, but the, the way I like to think about it is you read this story, David's it's emphasized over and over again that he's youthful.

I like to think of it. Maybe David had some rosy cheeks or something like that in kind of comparison to, to sa as described as this giant, he's this, this man of war, this kind of Manish appearance. But the point really in their description, the descriptions, the comparison is really to highlight that David is not the obvious choice to be a king.

He's the youngest of his brothers. He's not present immediately because he's tending to the sheep. And there's another comparison here between so and David. This one may be more subtle, but I think this is really important because the saw, when he comes onto the scene, he's looking for some lost donkeys.

His donkeys are nowhere to be found. They got outta the pen and he can't find them. And his lost donkeys ultimately, I think, are foreshadowing the failure of his leadership because he doesn't tend to Israel as he ought to. But David, he can't initially be found among his brothers because he's keeping the sheep.

He's in the field, he's shepherding the flock. It's a job that, as he says in chapter 17, it required him to act really valia valiantly At times. He had to kill a bear. He had to kill a lion to be able to protect the sheep. And David was the responsible and the fearless leader that Israel needed because he tended the sheep.

And I think what you see, I've got a couple extra scripture references in two Samuel and Psalms, and there's definitely more. I think the reference to him being a shepherd is so, it's so much more than just some background history because this is how he's characterized. And this metaphor of a shepherd is use of him over and over again in characterizing.

His rule and his protection of God's people over and over again. And so it isn't something that's just a matter of his past, but it's, it's looking forward to the type of ruler that David is gonna be in contrast to Saul. But Saul, he's, he's a fearful guy again when we see him. Before he's hailed his king a lot.

A lot is cast. They go all they look at all the people of Israel. It gets narrowed down to Benjamin, to that tribe, and then to the family of Kish, Saul's family. And then they find out, okay, Saul's gonna be the one that's gonna be anointed. Well, where is he? He's not anywhere to be found because he's afraid and he find he's found among the baggage.

And this isn't really a great look for, you know, a guy who's about to be king. But David talk about courage. His story when he, when he really kind of appears before the people in chapter 17. He shows undeniable courage when he comes in the face comes to in defiance against the, the giant Goliath.

And unlike Saul, his courage really stem not from his own power. He's just a youth. That's what people keep telling him in the face of this, this great battle he's about to engage in. But his, his strength really rested in God and his trust in him and his power. And because of that, because that trust and that faith, he was able to take on a photo so much bigger than him that nobody else, none of the mighty warriors of Israel, not even Saul himself, the giant Israelite, the one that was head and shoulders taller than everybody.

If anybody was supposed to fight Goliath, it should have been Saul. But yet it was a lowly small little rosy cheek shepherd boy who stood up to fight this giant. Of course, as we read a moment ago, one of Saul's probably major issues is that he's consistently disobedient to God over and over again.

And, and this is his real problem. He's driven by fear. He is driven by impatience and pride, and Saul ruin so many opportunities that God intended for blessings. And in chapter 13. Similar to chapter 15. As we read earlier, he's made an unlawful sacrifice because Samuel hasn't come in time. There's a Philistine army approaching.

He gets fearful and and so he makes this unlawful sacrifice. And Samuel comes onto the scene and this is what he says. He, and this is the first time, so is told his kingdom's gonna be taken. He says in verse 13, and Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly, you have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.

For then the Lord would've established your kingdom of Israel. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Yeah, but David, on the other hand, you know, he's obedient.

He's one at least in terms of one Samuel, we'll talk about Second Samuel in a few moments here. 'Cause David is not a perfect man by any means. But in the comparison here he is consistently seen as showing the proper fear of the Lord and the trust in God's power. And he's this man of, of first Samuel 13, the man after God's own heart.

That Samuel, you'll prophesied of. And as you see on the screen, most importantly, the biggest distinction between Saul and David is, is the, the longevity of their throne and that Saul's throne is taken and falls, but David has given an everlasting throne and from all these different things, and we could probably point out some more, it appears that, you know, first Samuel's trying to tell us.

Saul's rule is kind of doomed from the beginning almost. But David is this better one spoken of in chapter 15. He receives this everlasting covenant in which his offspring in his throne will be established forever. And it's kind of interesting, even in this, this special promise in Second Samuel chapter seven, as we read a few weeks ago I think it's kind of interesting that in this really positive promise we're getting, we're reminded and, and David is.

With Saul here again. And so he look in one Samuel chapter seven, verse 12. He says he pro God promises David, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom bumped down to verse 15, he says, but my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you and your house.

And your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established. Forever. And so we think about all these different comparisons the first Samuel's been making over and over again. David is that guy. He, he's, he's not all about style. He really has the character and the substance to back up back up his kingship.

He's the guy who's responsible from the beginning. He's, he's faithful and little, and so God gives him gives him more because he knows he'll be faithful in much. He's, he's the one that's courageous because his power rests not in himself. But in the Lord God, and he's consistently obedient to God, showing the proper fear in contrast to Saul.

And that is why he gets the everlasting throne. He is the one that is better than Saul. Time and time again. But again, this lesson isn't really about David, it's about right, and, and these games of comparison that the text are playing. I want to kind of turn now to chapter 18 where all of these, these things.

Come to a head for Saul personally again, put yourself, excuse me, put yourself in Saul's shoes again. You've just failed. As we read in chapter 15, you've been denounced as a king for the second time, and all of a sudden there's this new kid on the block. His name's David, and he is everything, or not everything that you're somewhat good at.

He is 10 times better than you, and now you've become paranoid because all of the things that you've worked for now feel like they might be slipping away. And so I wanna make three observations as we go through chapter 18 about Saul's insecurities, about the one who is better than him and how they ultimately lead to his destruction.

And this is kind of the beginning of that, but Saul's case, it might seem really dramatic. You know, we're talking about kingdoms and kings and things like that. But, but these are things I think that we really excuse me. Things we really fall into as well, ourselves. Gotta get some water. Hmm.

Not a choke. Hmm. Sorry about that. So let's talk about rejecting the game. These games we talk about the games we're talking about the games of comparison that we play with people that we perceive to be better than us. Those Davids in our lives that we look at and their betterness kind of confronts us just like it did Saul.

I think one thing that Saul didn't do is that he didn't reject the noise of the crowds. Look in chapter 18 verse six. It says, as they were coming home, and this is after, you know, chapter 17 with David and Goliath. When David returned from striking down the Philistine, the woman came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with songs of joy and with musical instruments, and the women sang to one another as they celebrated.

Solace struck down his thousands and David his 10 thousands. And Saul was very angry and this saying displeased him, he said they have ascribed to David 10 thousands and to me they have ascribed thousands and what more can he have but the kingdom. And alongside all of David's successes, chapter 17 you know, he'd been, it, it talks about how David had been in the service of Saul.

Saul had he had loved David. David had found favor in Saul's eye sight. David's music was something that it refreshed Saul, it kept his his harmful spirit at Bay. And David had won battles that Saul should have won himself. Things kind of start out good between Saul and David. It wasn't, it wasn't always bad between them.

There wasn't always bad blood, but after Saul hears the noise of the crowd here in chapter 18, there's kind of a flip that switches in his mind and now the people have put David alongside or even exalted him above King Saul. And these words, they really make Saul unsettled. They make him displease and angry.

And now Saul is seeing David because of the noise of the crowd as this kind of ambitious young man who might be a challenge to his throne. And I think for us, when we kind of, we look and try to apply this passage to ourself, we think about. All the games of comparisons that overcome us. When we allow that kind of noise of insecurities from things outside of us, we allow to kind of take up rent in our minds.

And when I was putting this sermon together, what I was really thinking about initially was how much of a problem this is for young people, especially high schoolers and college aged kids, middle school. And, and I was thinking specifically about the, what's the noise today? What's the real crowd that's, that's trying to.

You know, begging you to kind of compare yourself to others. Well, I know it's the common thing to bring up, but social media is one of those things that, that's the noise of the crowd. It's, it's only intensified the insecurity among our young people and, and among pretty much everybody. 'cause now you're not just comparing yourself with the kid in your, you know, middle school class who's, you know, a little bit faster than you when you.

You know, run the mile or something like that. Now you're looking, you're encountering people all over the world who are better than you or who, who you perceive to be better than you, and in all aspects of life, whether it be how you think about yourself in, in terms of physical appearance your material possessions, or a specific lifestyle that you're trying to live, or maybe just parenting.

People online seem to think they have it all figured out or, or the talents that you might have that this other person has more of, or the knowledge. I mean, you could list a million different things. Everything about ourselves can now be put online and then compared against other people. But whether the noise of the crowd for you is, is something like social media for it's something else, whatever it might be, whatever these voices are that we hear, if we start fixating on what other people have that I don't.

Then I've just kind of entered into this game of self comparison, and if I find myself listening to a crowd this, this noise around me. Well, I've gotta, I've gotta begin blocking it out because if I don't, then the switch is gonna flip in my head just like it did for Saul. And his acceptance of the noise, allowing that to take up root in his mind is something that resulted in an unhealthy obsession for Saul.

Look in verse nine, as we continue on, says in Saul, I, David, from that day on. Verse 10. He says, the next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he raved within his house while David was playing the liar, as he did day by day, Saul had his spirit in his hand and Saul hurled the spear for, he thought, I will pin David to the wall, but David evaded him twice.

And what should have been a time of a lot of rejoicing for Saul as king and for his people it should, it, it turned into a really unhealthy obsession. Not even David's music could start calming Psalms, harmful spirit down, and Saul's fixation. It, it grew to the point where now he was actually intending to do violence against David, and not even once, but twice.

And David, I mean, David hadn't done anything wrong. Like we said, he had been helping Saul and his kingship, but his jealousy was allowed to grow so much that ended up resulting in violence. And we kind of turn this back to ourselves and think about the games of comparison. I think the older that I become, the more, I'm just more fully aware of how many people there are out there that are so much better than me in every aspect of my life.

There. And you know, that's a really hard reality to kind of face. 'Cause you know, especially when you grow up like me, you're in a small town, you got 40 people in your classroom and you know, I have a, a 3.9 GPA or something, or I can run this fast to 40 and you think, well, I'm doing pretty good in comparison to the people in my high school.

But then you get out and you're like, whoa, I'm not at all what I thought I was. I'm actually really slow and really dumb. But I think that's really hard reality to face. But it's one that we have to learn to accept at times. I have to be content with my own personal limitations. If not, you know, my, my insecurities are gonna produce these unhealthy obsessions within me that are not only gonna.

Dictate how I view myself, but how IV how I view other people as well. And maybe think about an example maybe is in terms of, you know, spiritual growth. Maybe you're, you're confronted by the betterness, the perceived or real bitterness of of the spiritual growth of a brother or a sister in Christ.

And you see their walk, maybe you see their knowledge and it's something that challenges you. And you, you're, you're. Maybe produces a jealousy within you because you may not be the place that they're in. And so maybe to make yourself feel better, you may, maybe you nitpick different things that they do, or say you're looking for little slip ups to kind of, write them off maybe in some way because they're a hypocrite and Well, that makes me feel better now because they're not as righteous as they thought they were.

Or maybe, you know, they have spiritual knowledge that you might not have and that might be frustrating to you. And so well, maybe you tell yourself, well, that person's conceded, or that person's a know-it-all. We can do that in a multitude of different ways, but I think if we let our obsessions grow, whatever it might be, well, I may, I might start making judgements about people like Saul did that aren't even true.

Like Saul, I might suspect something about another person's motive that it doesn't even have basis in reality. If that noise turns to an obsession, well then the game of self comparison, it's starting to take control over us. And when I start seeing other people as threats to me, I. Well, I need to start taking a step back because my jealousy or my obsessions are probably really close to consuming me and potentially harming other people.

Thirdly, solve practices some serious isolation from David here in verse 12, looking chapter, chapter eight two, verse 12, where it says, now from his his noise and the obsession, he's turned to isolation. It says, Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him. But had departed from Saul.

So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people and David had success and all his undertakings for the Lord was with him. And the Lord saw that he had great success. He stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel and Judah love David for he went out and came in before them.

And you see that in the text how many times, it's kind of emphasized over and over again how, how David is being exalted over, over Saul, not even by just the crowds, but by the writer here. Look at what so many times it says, and if we look in the, the whole chapter, it says twice here in just this section that the Lord was with David, whereas the Lord had left Saul.

It says four times that David is successful. It's successful at times in all that he does three times. David is said to be the object of somebody's love. Jonathan Saul's son loves him. All of Israel and Judah, they love David. And then Michael later on, Saul's daughter loves David. It says she loves him twice.

So Saul or Saul just really can't handle David's betterness. And so he's gotta go. And granted, he does put him in, you know, charge of some commanders. He doesn't, you know, totally get around him in a bad situation. He still sees him as having value, but not in his immediate vicinity because he just can't handle it.

And as we said before, you know, before David has come on the scene, Saul, he's already been told that his kingdom's gonna be ripped away from him. But the thing about how his reign possibly could have ended in dignity if he would've aligned himself more closely with David rather than trying to compete with him over and over again.

David's presence had already been a benefit to Saul personally, and it was benefiting Israel corporately as well, but Saul chose to push him away. And I think that's one of the probably most harmful things that we, we do when it comes to games of comparison we might play with other people, is that we allow insecurities to kind of produce anger within us or whatever kind of emotion that, that starts to push people that are better than us, who are truly better than us, away from us.

And you know, if we're never around people who are better than us around people who are ch who challenge us in some way. Well, then we're only gonna, we're always gonna be toeing the line of complacency, whether that be physically in our secular work or relationships or spiritually as well. And if we keep practicing isolation consistently, we're gonna start pushing all those people out of our lives.

The people that have, make us better friends, the people that make us better coworkers, better parents, Christians, and the list goes on and on. And I need to, I need to embrace those people who are better than me. Those people who initially, maybe when I'm around, I'm like, man, I'm they, this person makes me feel so dumb.

Or, you know, whatever it may be. That, initially that's hard, a hard reality to accept. But then when you accept that, it's like, okay, I don't need to distance myself from this person. I need to come and learn, see, and see what this person can teach me. That's really uncomfortable at times. It's not fun to do, to be stretched and to to be caused to grow by others.

But ultimately it's necessary. And we think about all three of these different things that Saul was struggling with. I think that the thread that runs through every single one of them is that it's, it, the root of it, it's Saul's pride. But if we rewind to the beginning of chapter 18, we get a short but ideal example of how Saul should have acted towards the, that was, that was better than him, his son, Jonathan.

I mean, he, he'd seen all the things that his dad had seen, he'd seen everything SA had seen about David. And yet he reacted completely different towards David. He, he chose humility instead of pride. Look in verse one, we'll read one through four, it says, as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor, and even his sword, and his bow and his belt. And so in contrast to Sam or Saul, after all the things that he had seen, Jonathan was only trying to rejoice in the successes of David, the one who was better.

He loved David and really he didn't spend all of his time obsessing over what David had and what he didn't. But he did everything to make a deep connection with David without trying to compete with him. And to Jonathan. David wasn't somebody to demonize, he wasn't somebody to overcome, but he was just somebody that needed to be loved.

And Jonathan was the example, is the example for us on how humility leads, not only on the one hand to personal security and how we can feel more confident about ourselves in relation to others. But also about self-giving love of how he was willing to divest himself of all of his, his robes and garments and in a, and he's able to actually clothe David in a way that Saul was unable to.

If you remember in chapter 17 when you know, David has no armor and Saul tries to give him his armor and it is not tested, he can't wear it, but now Jonathan is able to clothe him properly. But Jonathan teaches us here in relation to rejecting these games of comparison, that humility, choosing humility is the answer to rejecting the game.

And so tonight we talked about how David, over and over again, David, is this better one. In relation to Saul, he definitely was, but as we've been reading over the last several weeks, it's, it's pretty clear that David became pretty pretty flawed as well. That verse and two, Samuel and Kings really kind of tell a story of two major kings that really fail in the end and how Israel needs and even greater King.

And in the end, David wasn't that king, but his descendant, Jesus was. And Jesus ultimately is the one who is better, not not just in David, but he's better than all of us. And, and his betterness, or probably a better word, his holiness well confronts each and every one of us. It confronts all of our sinful pride, and we're left with a choice just like Jonathan, just like Saul.

Are you gonna humble yourself before Jesus or are you gonna try and push him away? And, you know, we all play these games of comparison to different differing degrees. But if we're willing to come and humbly submit ourselves to Christ, if we're willing to be called his child or to be called a child of God by.

Coming expressing faith in that he is the true king. He is the true and holy one. That's better than all of us if we're willing to, to come and confess our sins, to repent and turn for them, and to follow him into baptism for the forgiveness of our sins. Well. Then we're gonna experience a, a piece personal security and the opportunity to, to give of ourselves as Jonathan did.

We're gonna have, we're gonna have security that Saul never was able to achieve ourselves and that so many in our world today. Don't experience themselves either. So if that's your desire tonight, if you want to come and bow your knee before the one who is better, more holy than all of us, well then we want to give you that opportunity tonight.

If you will come now as we stand and as we sing.