Why Was King Saul Such a Failure?
An overview of King Saul's reign.
King Saul is one of the most tragic characters in all of Scripture. All the characteristics for his success as king were there, yet he was a resounding failure as Israel’s king.
He was a man of large physique and attractive appearance…When he first appeared he was modest and humble. He did not seek the office and apparently was not eager to serve. In the beginning his humility and obedience to God were very commendable…He was an able military leader as indicated by his decisive victories early in his career.1
Saul had pretty much everything going for him: he looked the part of a king, had a good attitude, was willing to serve and lead from the front, and submitted to God.
So why was Saul such a failure as king?
This overview of Saul’s reign (1 Samuel 9-31) will explore why he failed as king and leader of Israel. We will also observe several important principles for leadership today from Saul’s reign.
How Saul Became Israel’s King.
After the children of Israel demanded a king like the other nations, God gave them what they wanted. The king God chose was a Benjamite named Saul
Samuel Anoints Saul as King.
We are introduced to Saul as “a choice and handsome son” of Kish. Apparently, Saul could have won “Mr. Israel” because “there was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel” (1 Samuel 9:2).
Saul was sent by his father to look for some lost donkeys, and he eventually went to Samuel to ask for help in finding the lost donkeys (1 Samuel 9:5-13). Unknown to Saul, the Lord told Samuel to be expecting a man from the tribe of Benjamin who He would set up as the commander over Israel to save them from the Philistines (1 Samuel 9:15-16). So when Saul arrives, Samuel treats him as the guest of honor, and then the next day, before sending him away, Samuel anoints Saul privately and tells him the Lord’s plan.
On Saul’s way home, he came across a group of prophets, and when the Spirit of God came upon him, Saul himself prophesied among them (1 Samuel 10:9-11). This demonstrated that the Lord was with him and that God had chosen him for a special purpose.
But once he arrived home, Saul kept everything Samuel had told him to himself (1 Samuel 10:15-16).
Samuel Announces Saul as King.
Samuel called the nation together before the Lord at Mizpah and reminded them how God brought them out of Egypt and delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies. But they rejected God and demanded a king (1 Samuel 10:17-19).
Then, Samuel called the tribe of Benjamin forward and chose the family of Saul. But Saul was missing. So they asked the Lord where he was, and God said, “He’s over there, hidden in the equipment” (1 Samuel 10:20-22). You can’t help but notice the irony: “Look - your big, mighty king is hiding!”
When they brought Saul before all the people, they saw how handsome and tall he was and shouted, “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:24). Then Samuel explained how the government would work with a king over them, recorded it in a book, and sent everyone home.
Some brave fighting men followed Saul to his home, but not everyone was convinced Saul was right for the job. Some “rebels” and “good-for-nothing” people asked, “How can this fellow save us?” They even refused to give him presents as their king (1 Samuel 10:25-27).
But Saul “held his peace.” Rather than turn his fellow countrymen into his enemy, he focuses on the real enemy - which wins the doubters and rebels over to his side in the following chapter.
Saul Proves Himself as King.
It wasn’t long after Saul was announced as Israel’s king that the Ammonites came against the city of Jabesh Gilead. The Ammonites insulted the Israelites by telling the men of Jabesh that they would let them be their slaves if they put out all of their right eyes. The leaders of Jabesh negotiated a seven-day waiting period to send messengers to see if anyone would help them. If not, they would agree to what the Ammonites proposed (1 Samuel 11:1-3).
When Saul found out what was happening, he was furious. He cut his own oxen in pieces and sent them throughout all of Israel with a threatening message: “If you don’t go to battle with Saul and Samuel, this will happen to your oxen.” Israel got the message and showed up for battle. When Saul numbered his troops, there were 330,000 soldiers (1 Samuel 11:6-8).
Saul sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead with the good news that he would be there with help by midday. So the men of Jabesh tricked the Ammonites and told them they would come out to them - letting the Ammonites think they were surrendering (1 Samuel 11:9-10). The Ammonites were completely surprised by Saul’s arrival the next day and were routed so badly that “no two of them were left together” (1 Samuel 11:11).
At this point, the people were convinced Saul was the right man for the job of king, and they wanted to execute the ones who doubted him. But Saul prevented that from taking place. It was a time to rejoice in God’s salvation. Samuel invited the people to Gilgal where the kingdom was renewed before the Lord. It was a time of great rejoicing in Israel (1 Samuel 11:12-15).
At this point, everything is going great for Saul. He’s proven himself as the leader of the nation. The people are fully behind him - if approval ratings had been a thing at this point, Saul’s approval rating in Israel would have been off the charts.
But things are about to change due to a series of terrible decisions by Saul.
The Turning Point of Saul’s Reign as King.
I wish the first part of this article was all we knew about King Saul. But sadly, the story continues, and not much of it is good for Saul from here on out.
As Samuel concluded his farewell address to the nation, he said something that would end up haunting Saul and the nation.
Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers. (1 Samuel 12:13-15)
Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice.
During Saul’s second year as king, the Philistines gathered 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen (military units Israel did not have), and a vast host of soldiers to fight against Israel. The Israelites were terrified - many of them hid wherever they could, and even the brave warriors who followed Saul were “trembling” (1 Samuel 13:1-7).
Samuel was scheduled to arrive and offer a sacrifice before battle, but Samuel didn’t show up. So because the people were “scattered from him” and afraid, Saul decided to offer the sacrifice himself. But this was something only a priest was allowed to do.
Samuel showed up as soon as the sacrifice was finished and asked Saul, “What have you done?” Saul replied that the people were afraid, and Samuel didn’t show up when he said he would, and he didn’t want to go into battle with the Philistines without making an offering to God, so he “forced himself” to offer the sacrifice (1 Samuel 13:8-11).
Samuel replied that Saul had done “foolishly” and had not obeyed the Lord God. As a result of Saul’s disobedience, his family would not continue to reign over Israel. God would choose “a man after His own heart” to be the commander of His people (1 Samuel 13:13-14).
Saul’s Foolish Oath.
As the battle progressed, Saul’s son Jonathan decided to take only his young armor-bearer to go check out the Philistine garrison. Jonathan was a man of great faith and trust in the Lord. He told his armor-bearer:
"Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6).
When these two young Israelites showed themselves to the Philistine garrison, the Philistines attacked. But Jonathan had positioned himself in a narrow place and every Philistine that tried to get to Jonathan and his armor-bearer was killed (1 Samuel 14:7-13). This sent the Philistines into a panic, thinking they were surrounded by a large fighting force.
When Saul and his troops heard the noise and entered the battle they discovered the confused Philistines fighting themselves. The Israelites poured into the battle and drove the Philistines to Beth Aven (1 Samuel 14:20-23). Once more, the Lord saved Israel from their enemies.
But what should have been a day of rejoicing was distressing for Israel because Saul had made a vow that anyone who ate food until he took vengeance on his enemies would be cursed (1 Samuel 14:24). Jonathan was not aware of this oath, and ate some honeycomb as they passed through a forest. When someone told him what his father had said, Jonathan commented on how foolish his father had been and how he had “troubled the land” (1 Samuel 14:27-30).
Later, when Saul consulted God about whether he should pursue the Philistines, God did not answer him. Saul immediately assumed this meant someone had violated the vow, and upon investigating, discovered Jonathan was the culprit. When Saul said Jonathan must die, the people intervened and would not allow Jonathan to be put to death, saying, “he has worked with God this day” (1 Samuel 14:36-46).
We see in this event some troubling behavior from Saul. The vow he forced upon all of Israel was selfish and not at all in the best interests of the people. Even the people thought it was so absurd, that when Saul found out his son Jonathan broke the vow, they protected Jonathan from Saul.
Not only has Saul shown disregard for God and His commandments, but now he is beginning to lose the trust and confidence of the people. And it only gets worse.
Saul Rejects God’s Word.
Samuel came to Saul with a message from the Lord: the Amalekites must be punished for what they did to Israel when God brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 17:8-16). Saul was commanded to annihilate them (1 Samuel 15:1-3).
So Saul took 210,000 soldiers and attacked the Amalekites, but he spared Agag the king, as well as the best of the livestock. Saul and the people were unwilling to destroy “all that was good” while they utterly destroyed what was despised and worthless (1 Samuel 15:4-9).
The Lord told Samuel that He regretted setting up Saul as king because he had turned back from following Him and had disobeyed. So Samuel went to meet Saul and questioned him about all the animals. When Saul made excuses for why the animals were still alive, Samuel tells him to “shut up and listen.”
He reminded Saul how he used to be “little” in his own eyes, and that the Lord has chosen him to be king. The Lord gave Saul clear commands to follow and Saul had not done what the Lord said. When Saul attempted to excuse his failure by blaming the people for taking the animals for sacrifices, Samuel responded.
Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of 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 15:22-23)
Saul tried to save face by admitting his sin to get Samuel to go worship with him in the sight of the people. When Samuel refused and turned away, Saul grabbed the edge of his robe, tearing it. Samuel said in the same way that Saul had torn his robe, so the Lord had torn the kingdom of Israel from Saul and given it to someone better than him (1 Samuel 15:24-28).
Samuel eventually did go worship with Saul and he executed King Agag as Saul should have done. After this, Samuel went home and never saw Saul again until his death (1 Samuel 15:34-35).
Although Saul had such a great beginning as king, he undid all of that by his selfish, stubborn disobedience of God’s commandments. Hestor concluded on Saul’s reign, “The secret of his tragic failure at the end was his refusal to be obedient to God.”2
Saul’s humility quickly disappeared and was replaced by pride in his early accomplishments as king.
His desire to do whatever the people wanted was also part of his downfall - he became an unprincipled ruler, giving in to the whims of the people. It’s as if he was paranoid that unless he did whatever the people wanted, he would be replaced. His paranoia would only increase in the remaining years of his reign.
Saul’s Downfall as Israel’s King.
Things get worse and worse for Saul after Samuel said the Lord had torn away the kingdom from Saul and given it to another.
A Distressing Spirit from God.
Immediately after we read of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon David (1 Samuel 16:13), we read of the Spirit of the Lord departing from Saul and being replaced by a distressing or “harmful” (ESV) spirit from the Lord which tormented and terrified him (1 Samuel 16:14).
His servants searched for a skilled musician to relieve Saul’s distress and found David - who refreshed Saul by playing the harp whenever the distressing spirit came upon the king (1 Samuel 16:18-23).
This series of events illustrates that Saul was no longer the “chosen one” of God. His stubborn rebellion against God “soiled” his heart. Saul was experiencing what David would dread years later after his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.
Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. (Psalm 51:9-12)
While David humbled himself and repented of his sin - which you can see expressed in Psalm 51 - Saul never truly repented by humbling his stubborn pride. It appears his “repentance” was merely outward and was motivated by a desire to “save face” with the people (1 Samuel 15:24-25, 30).
David Overshadows Saul.
Throughout the rest of 1 Samuel, David overtakes Saul as the main character and overshadows Saul in the nation as well.
David’s popularity begins when he kills the Philistine giant, Goliath (1 Samuel 17). In this, David does what Saul should have done as king. He is shown to be the only man of Israel who trusted God’s promise to deliver their enemies into their hands (1 Samuel 17:45-46). David’s great faith in the Lord is demonstrated while Saul is shown to be fearful and faithless (1 Samuel 17:33).
David becomes Jonathan’s best friend (1 Samuel 18:1) and Saul sets David over his men of war (1 Samuel 18:5). But when the women praise David upon his return from slaughtering the Philistines by singing: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands,” Saul becomes angry and no longer trusts David (1 Samuel 18:7-9).
The next several chapters describe Saul’s repeated efforts to kill David.
Saul throws his spear at David (1 Samuel 18:10-11).
Saul offers his daughter for David to marry if he would kill 100 Philistines. He hoped David would be killed (1 Samuel 18:25-27).
Saul tried to kill David with his spear again (1 Samuel 19:9-10).
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to kill him (1 Samuel 19:11-18).
Saul tried to kill his son Jonathan for protecting David (1 Samuel 20:30-33).
Saul murders the priests of the Lord because they helped David (1 Samuel 22:6-19).
David lives on the run - sometimes among foreign nations like the Philistines, and sometimes in caves. Several times Saul hunts David in the wilderness and nearly catches him.
On one occasion, David and his men were on the other side of a mountain from Saul and were nearly trapped when a messenger arrived and told Saul the Philistines had invaded (1 Samuel 23:25-28).
Another time Saul entered the cave David and his men were hiding in, but David would not allow anyone to "stretch out their hand” against the Lord’s anointed one (1 Samuel 24:6-7). When David confronted Saul and told him that he could have killed him but chose not to, Saul broke down in tears and went home after getting David to swear not to destroy his family when David came to the throne (1 Samuel 24:16-22).
But a couple of chapters later, Saul’s back to hunting David again. Once more, David spares his life (1 Samuel 26:1-12). When David confronts Saul and asks why he is still doing this, Saul relents.
I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. (1 Samuel 26:21)
David still doesn’t trust Saul and ends up fleeing to the Philistines for protection knowing Saul wouldn’t follow him into Philistine territory (1 Samuel 27:1-4).
We see Saul as the man who was once God’s anointed to fight against the enemies of God’s people and is now the enemy of God’s anointed.
Saul’s Sad End.
The end of Saul’s life is one of the saddest, most tragic pictures in all of Scripture.
The Philistine armies gather together against Saul’s army, and Saul is “afraid, and his heart trembled greatly” when he saw the enemy (1 Samuel 28:5). And so, because the Lord did not answer him, Saul disguises himself and turns to a medium and asks her to call up the spirit of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:7-11). This sort of thing was opposed to God’s law (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31).
The woman is surprised when Samuel’s spirit appears, and she realizes her visitor is actually King Saul. When Saul asks Samuel what he should do, Samuel’s response causes Saul to fall to the ground in terror.
So why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:16-19)
The next day, it happened just as Samuel said. Saul’s sons - Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua - fell in battle against the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:1-2). When Saul becomes seriously wounded, he tells his armor-bearer to kill him so he won’t be tortured by the Philistines. But the armor-bearer is too afraid to do it, so Saul falls on a sword and kills himself (1 Samuel 31:3-6).
The following day, the Philistines find the bodies of Saul and his three sons. They cut off Saul’s head, took off all his armor, and put his body on the wall of Beth Shan - one of the Philistine cities (1 Samuel 31:8-10).
However, some brave men from Jabesh Gilead - the city Saul had saved at the very beginning of his reign - come at night and take down the bodies and Saul and his sons. They took their bodies to Jabesh, burned them, and buried them there (1 Samuel 31:11-13).
And so Saul’s life and reign as Israel’s king comes to a sad end.
Crowning Principles.
The danger of arrogant self-will and “people pleasers” among leadership.
Saul provides a poor example of leadership by showing himself to be a leader who arrogantly did what he wanted, regardless of whether or not it was good for the people. He also had a problem with going along with whatever his people wanted, even if it wasn’t right.
Leaders who impose their own will without concern for the welfare of others end up doing far more harm than good. Peter reminded the elders of the church that they were not to “lord” themselves over the flock, but were to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). Leaders must be more concerned about the needs of those they are leading than in getting what they want.
Leaders who are more focused on making people happy than doing what’s right will inevitably make compromises they shouldn’t make. Those who preach God’s word must be willing to do so even when people don’t want to hear it (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Leaders must stand for the truth - even if it’s unpopular with the people.
The kind of leader people want is often very different from the kind of leader God wants.
The children of Israel asked Samuel for a king like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5). Saul represents the kind of leader the people wanted. Outwardly, Saul was everything the people thought a king should be. But he quickly showed what was on the inside of his heart.
So God chose a new king - “a better” man than Saul (1 Samuel 15:28), a man “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). David represents the leader God wanted. While both men were far from being sinlessly perfect in their lives, David showed that his heart was “after” God’s own heart while Saul’s heart was not.
Today, we tend to gravitate toward leaders who look a certain way, who are great public speakers, or who are friendly and likable to be around. But just because we think someone is a great leader doesn’t mean God thinks the same - because God sees the heart.
We would do well to weigh the qualities of our leaders by God’s standard, and not our own.
H.I. Hester, The Heart of Hebrew History: A Study of the Old Testament, 170
Same as above, 171
A good overview.