1 Samuel 26

Well, good morning, everyone. Andy, will you open us up with a word of prayer, sir? First Samuel. Eight of us stuck together. Chapter 26, and we'll read the whole chapter. David was staying in the wilderness, and when he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies, and he knew that Saul was definitely coming.

David Spares Saul in the Camp

David then arose. He came to the place where Saul had camped, and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Admir, the son of Near, the commander of his army, and Saul was lying in the circle of the camp, and the people were encamped around him, and David said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zeriah, Joab's brother, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul into the camp?

And Abishai said, I will go down with you. So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lying asleep inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head, and Admir and the people were lying around him.

Abishai said to David, Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and I will not have to strike him a second time.

And David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt? And David also said, As the Lord lives, surely the Lord, he will strike him, or his day will come when he dies, or he will go down into battle, and then he will perish.

The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but now please take the spear that is at his head and a jug of water, and let us go. So David took the spear, the jug of water, from beside Saul's head, and he went away, but no one saw or knew it, nor did anyone awake, for they were all asleep, because a sound sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.

Then David crossed over to the other side, and he stood on the top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them. And David called to the people and to Abner, the son of Nir, saying, Will you not answer, Abner?

Then Abner replied, Who are you who calls out to the king? So David said to Abner, Are you not a man? And who is like you in all of Israel? Why then have you not guarded your Lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king, your Lord, and this thing you have done is not good.

And as the Lord lives, all of you must surely die, because you did not guard your Lord, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the jug of water that was at his head. Then Saul recognized David's voice, and he said, Is this your voice, my son David?

And David said, It is my voice, my Lord the king. He also said, Why then is my Lord pursuing his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please let the Lord, my king, listen to the words of your servant.

If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is men, cursed are they before the Lord. For they have driven me out today, so that I would have no attachment with the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods.

Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground away from the presence of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, just as one hunts as a partridge in the mountains.

Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return my son David, for I will not harm you. And again, because my life was precious in your sight. Behold, I have played the fool. I have committed a serious error. And David replied, Behold the spear of the king.

Now let one of the young men come over and take it. And the Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I refuse to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed.

Now behold, as your life has highly been valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord. And may he deliver me from all distress. Then Saul said to David, Blessed are you, my son David.

You will both accomplish much, and you will surely prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. This is the second time that the Ziphites have turned, basically they have betrayed David.

Back just a couple of chapters back, the same thing happened, if you remember, as we read this, it sounds very similar to the last time that David had this situation where Saul went in to use the restroom inside the cave, and David's men were in there.

But this is a different occasion, we don't know how much time has passed, but we know this, that the people of the Ziphites, which were in the land of Judah, once again ratted out David. Or as one says, the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, is David hiding in the hill of Ilkai, Jashmon, so Saul arose and he went down.

So once again, remember, the last time we saw Saul, he was, hey, I'm done with you David, you're right, I was wrong, you spared my life, blessed be you, I know that you're going to be king. So we would think at that point, it's over between Saul pursuing David, would we not?

All right, well, once again, we see that Saul cannot control his anger or hostility for trying to put his hand against David, whether it's jealousy, whether it's just, one, we know it's because the Lord was with him and he had a despise and hatred toward the people of God.

He did not protect the people of God, he protected his own interest. And it says, so Saul arose and he went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and having with him 3 ,000 chosen men, he searched for David in the wilderness of Ziph, Saul, and camped in the hill of Ilkaila, which is before Jashmon, beside the road.

David was in the wilderness. So it says that David saw him, obviously, it's kind of hard to hide 3 ,000 men. Imagine, it's not just 3 ,000 riffraff. This is the king coming with all of his entourage, all of the banners and standards and everything else that is going before him to make a pursuit for war.

And they're in all their pomp and circumstance for war. They're in their war of battle, their array. And David sees them, says David sent out spies. So once they see them coming, David wants to know where are they going.

So David sends out spies. That's a pretty smart idea. Let me find out where they're going, what they're doing, and if we need to relocate our position, David was going to do that. What has David's plan been from the beginning to dealing with Saul?

Stay away from him. So wherever Saul was, he would move. If Saul's coming this way, I'm going to go this way. Look, when he came, when David was in the cave, David wasn't looking and searching out to kill Saul.

He wasn't looking to go clash with his men. They were in there, 600 men in a cave, and here comes Saul to relieve himself. And they had the opportunity then, and it specifically said, David, here's your chance to kill him.

And remember that we need to remember that David, he said, David, your hand is to be put against him at this time, Abishai and the men that were with him. Because something different is said by Abishai this time.

It says that David sent those spies and he knew that Saul was definitely coming. So David arose and went and came to the place where Saul had camped. David saw the place where Saul was laying. So how they would protect the king is he would be in the middle and then basically every other ring would be an outer ring of another person all the way around for 3 ,000.

That thing's not writing good on that. So you got the 3 ,000 men surrounding the king. What was the purpose of putting the king in the middle? Protect him. So if somebody's coming, you've got multiple rings to get through before you get to the king.

That's the point. So that he could rest, he could sleep. These men, obviously, they were supposed to have men on the perimeter, staying awake, making sure that nothing comes in. Not always just intruders coming to hurt someone, but man, you got bears, you got lions.

You know, in that particular time, man, lions killed people on a regular basis. I mean, you even have in the Prophets in 1 Kings where a lion came out and ate a prophet. So it wasn't uncommon for lions to eat people.

I mean, even with Samson, what jumped out after him? Certainly, it was a lion. What came after David in the wilderness? A lion and a bear. And it seems pretty common that that's what would take place.

So it wasn't just to keep him from the enemies, from trying to get him from the Philistines, or even from David's people. We know that David's people were not pursuing them. But he did send out spies and men to say, okay, what's Saul doing?

Remember, the last conversation that they had, hey, this is over. It's squashed. Well, in this case, they know that they're obviously in pursuit of David because they're in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul would have had no business being in the wilderness of Ziph because there was no Philistines there.

If he was going to be pursuing anybody, he wouldn't be down here. He should be going that way, not down here in the land of Judah where David was hiding, per se. It says that Saul lay, Abner the son of Near, the commander of his army.

And Saul was laying in the circle and all the men around him. David said to Ahimelech the Hittite. What do we know about Ahimelech? What did Ahimelech do? Do we know anything about him? Anybody? Anybody?

We don't know nothing. This is all we know about the dude. This is the only time this man's name's ever mentioned in scripture. And he missed out on a good opportunity. He's the one that says, hey, David, the king's coming after you.

He said to David, Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai the son of Zerah, Joab's brother, said, will you go down with me to Saul to the camp? Look, he had the opportunity to be famous. And who goes instead?

Abishai. That's all. This is the first, last time we ever hear anything of Ahimelech the Hittite. He was obviously with David's men. He had probably been either one of the 200 that attached himself after they left the cave of Abdullah.

Remember, 400 men, the distressed, the indebted, the discontented, all those 400 came to him at Abdullam. It says that Abishai, who will go down into the camp to see Saul? And Abishai said, I will go.

So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul was laying sleeping inside the circle of the camp with the spear stuck in the ground next to his head. What was the significance of his spear?

Yeah, different. You've seen a different angle of the spear this time. But it was a weapon of war. It was his protection. There's two things that we're seeing here that are laying there that by the providence of God, David and Abishai are going to take.

One, the protection and provisions that are there. One's going to be the spear. His spear was, instead of him having a scepter, because he was a man of war, he didn't carry a scepter. He carried a spear.

Remember, a spear was probably, I mean, he was a big man, head and shoulders above everybody. So his spear was probably seven feet, and it was a king's spear. It was not just that of one that had ablated in history, okay, more four-pronged, more fancy-schmancy.

And it was the sign of his prestige, his honor, and his power. And it was laying there by his head, and his spear in the ground, and Abner and the people lying around him. What was Abner's job? Guard the king at whatever the cost, whatever the cost.

And he was his bodyguard. He was his right-hand man. He was also the commander of all the armies. Hey, and on top of that, who else, what was Abner in relation to Saul? Who's that? He was. Yeah, he was related.

He was actually a family member. So, hey, he should even double down on all things and say, hey, man, I should protect this guy. One, I've been put in this position to protect him because he's king, and I'm a protector of the army.

Then on top of that, man, this is my actual blood relative. All the more reason to protect him. And Abner's laying there asleep, all these other men around him, 3 ,000 of them around him asleep. And Abishai said to David, is this a true statement?

Today, God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Is that a true statement, or is that just the perspective of Abishai? It's true. Yeah, it's true. It's very true. Once again, we're seeing David being tested.

What is David gonna do? Remember the last time he got angry, and someone who was just last week, he had the opportunity to get to one who was actually an enemy of him, who did not want to give him any food.

He did not want to help him in a time of festivalness, of the shearing of the sheep. What did he want to do to Nabal? He wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him. And if God hadn't providentially intervened through Abigail, what was he fixing to do?

He was going to slaughter man, boy. He was going to go in there, and he was going to clean house. And Abigail said, don't do that, because if you do do that, what's gonna happen? You remember what she told him?

You're going to scar your conscience when you take the kingdom. Don't do this, because you're going to shed innocent blood. So now, he has the opportunity to a person that has actually tried to kill him five times, right?

At least we know of. Five times. And he's been given into his hand, and he doesn't kill him. He says, now therefore, what, hey, here's what Abishai said. First time they says, hey, when he came into the cave, what did they tell David?

All right, here's the deal. Here's your chance. Here's your chance for you to kill the king. He knows David ain't gonna do it. So Abishai says, hey, man, God's delivered it into your hand, but check this out.

I'll do it for you. I know you little man be paying me towards him. I know you care about him and love him, but you just let me do it. Let me deal with the bad conscience. He said, hey, I will run that spear through him so good, I'll pin him to the ground, and I won't have to do it a second time.

And Abishai has every intentions of doing so. And he says, but David said to him, do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt? Had Abishai done that, would he have been guilty of killing the king and murder?

Yeah, certainly. And why? Was the king deserving of death at this point? No, the king was not deserving of death. He had not done anything that had been deserving of death, and even if that was the case, he was to be taken before the priest, the high priest, the prophet, and let that be worked out under the Mosaic legislation.

So, as Abishai looking out for the best interest of David, he is thinking one-sided. He's thinking about David and only David. Who is David thinking about? David's thinking about honoring the Lord. Look, if I killed this man who has rightfully tried to take my life, I would be sinning against God.

Why would he be sinning against God? He's the Lord's anointed, but the Lord's anointed to do what? To be the king. Yeah, to be the king. You were saying something? God did not tell David, hey, when I went out there and I had Samuel anoint you with oil, I didn't tell you.

He didn't give him words from the prophet to kill Saul. He did not. Matter of fact, he actually went into Saul's court to be, Saul pulled him in, put him into service before the age of war. We know that because he was a boy when he fought Goliath.

He put him in his court to come alongside of him, and not one time did he get instructions from God to strike the king, and he's going to elaborate on that. He says, you don't stretch your hand against the king, or the Lord's anointed, and be without guilt.

David also said, so as the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him, and his day will come that he dies. Now, imagine this conversation that they're having as they're, I mean, these guys, it's almost like they're arguing a little bit.

Hey, all right, they've gotten to the point to where they can get their hands on Abner and the king. They're going back and forth of, hey man, I want to do this. No, no, no, don't do it, and I just go, well, man, wow.

Yeah, not only that, but what told David that, hey, this is going to be a smart thing to do. Let's walk down into the camp, just me and, and that nobody's going to see him. Nobody, yeah, I mean, what told David, hey, this is a great idea.

Let's just go down there, walk over there, and right where he's laying, and then they get there instead of sneak it up in there while they were still asleep, and just scoping it out. Doing, I do believe that, that David had an intention of taking the jug in the water.

I believe that was the intention from the beginning. Don't have, only reason why I say that is because he says, I want to go down there to where Saul is. Well, and he said his jug and his spear is there, so David had an intention to make an object lesson.

Did God give him information to say, hey, these guys are going to stay asleep, and you go down there, and you will have safe travel? I have no idea, but he says, hey, just me and two guys, just me and another guy are going to go down there.

So, he gets down there, and they're having this conversation about how God's going to kill or get rid of Saul. He says, as the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him. Okay, did he just not see in the previous chapter what God will do with David's enemies?

Did Saul, I mean, did David have to, to go strike Nabal? No, no. Who did he, who, who did, who, who struck Nabal? The Lord did. Matter of fact, when he was not drunk, Abigail, his wife, told him about what was, had transpired, and basically said, hey, man, David was going to come kill you, and was going to kill everybody here.

He was struck, whether he was struck with fear or the losing of his things, whatever, it says he became like stone. And what happened ten days later? Said the Lord struck him. So, did, maybe David learned from the situation with, with Nabal, because he says here, the Lord may strike him, or his day will come that he'll die.

And what does he mean by that? Old, sure, old age, just life in general. I mean, if we're, if we look at the time frame right now, if we, if we just went from here to the end of the book, we're going, Saul may be between 70 and 72 years old.

If he, remember we had that kind of textual variant when he took the throne around for 40 years. He was probably around 30. So, when he dies, he had reigned for 40 years. If he took it at 30, what, how old does that make him?

70, but then you go back a little bit, and it says he, before they gave us the, the 40 years, they said for two years, he didn't do anything. So, he could be around 70 to 72 years old. Man, he was a valiant man at 72 years old.

And he says, hey, and we're going to see in just a few weeks, he's going to go right into battle again. And he says, he'll, maybe he'll die of natural causes, or he will go down into battle and he will perish.

And that is what will happen. He will go down into battle, and that's where Saul will die. In verse 12, I'm sorry, and the Lord forbid that I should, in 11, should stretch my hand out against him, but please take the spear that is by his head and the jug of water.

Now, if I was David, I don't know if I would have trusted Abishai to do that. I mean, here it is. He's already said, hey, let me whack him. I thought you said kill him. He said, man, if I would have known I was coming down here to just get a jug and a spear, I'd have let him elect a Hittite come down here and do it.

He thought he was going down there to strike David's enemy. So, he takes his spear and his jug and says, so David took that spear, he took the jug, it was Abishai's head, and they went their way, but no one saw or knew it, nor did anyone awake.

Once again, man, imagine the tiptoe. Remember, every other space had a person in there with all their junk. I mean, just tiptoeing all the way through there. Nobody wakes up. They get the saw. They have this exchange of who's going to do what and why and how he's going to die.

He ain't going to die here, and then now they're going to grab the jug and they're going to grab the spear, which is a symbol of his protection and authority, and then he's going to grab the king's provisions.

Remember, what were the very two things that he killed the 85 priests for doing? He gave David sword, protection, and provision. Now, David goes in here and he takes the very same things from him that he slaughtered a whole city and 85 priests for doing.

He takes it. He says, no one awoke. Why did they not awake? Because the Lord is the most perfect anesthesiologist. He's good at putting people to sleep and them not waking up. I mean, think about Adam, Abraham, and he walked through the covenant by himself, putting all the weight and all the stuff on his own.

That's right. It said in verse 13, David then crossed over to the other side, and he stood on the mountain at a distance with a large area between them. So, most likely, they were up high enough. David begins to wail that they can hear, and it says, David called to the people and to Abner, the son of Nir.

Will you not answer, Abner? I can imagine Abner hearing David bark out whatever he was saying, wakey, wakey, time for eggs and bakey, or whatever he was saying, and him going, hey man, who are you to scream while the king is sleeping?

You know that the king is here. He's calling Abner by his name. So, Abner knows that this man certainly knows who he is, but Abner doesn't know who this man is. And he's calling out to the people and to Abner, the son of Nir.

He said, will you not answer me, Abner? And Abner replied, who are you who calls to the king? That's a good question. Who does David think he is? King. That's exactly right. That's what I would have said.

Yeah. David says, I am the next king, and hey, he could have said, yeah, I'm the next king, and your king now has already affirmed that I'm the next guy, so shut your mouth and wake up the old man so I can talk to him.

But that's not what he does. David said to Abner, are you not a man? That's a rhetorical question. Is he? Yep. He's a man. And who is like you in all of Israel? No one. There was nobody in all of Israel like Abner.

What was Abner's primary job? He was the bodyguard of the king. He was put in place for one purpose solely to protect the king. Now, he had all the men to do that. He had 3 ,000 chosen men that could come alongside and help him, but his primary job was to see to it that nobody got close to the king.

Certainly, his enemy was David, Saul's enemy. Yeah. David wasn't Saul's enemy. Saul was David's enemy, and he saw David as a threat. When David and Abishai tiptoed in here, at any point, was Saul's life weighing into balance?

No, because David had no intentions of killing him. David never had any intentions of killing Saul. What did he say? He even said, hey, man, I've not done anything wrong to you, and he's going to plead the same thing again.

What evil have I done? So, Abner replied, and he said, are you a man? Who is like you in all of Israel? Why then have you guarded not the Lord your king? For one of the people came to destroy the king your lord, and that's true.

He says, one. Who had the intention of killing the king? Abishai. Abishai. I do think that it's interesting that all those men were bloodthirsty, and they are. They were men of war, and Zariah, I don't know if I've said this or if y 'all remember a few weeks ago.

It's probably been four or five weeks ago. Zariah was actually David's sister, and it's interesting that when you hear Joab, Asahel, and Abishai, you hear their name. It's son of Zariah, and normally when you hear a person's name, and it says son of so-and-so, it's normally the father's name that comes after.

David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, or Solomon, the son of David. That's not what's done here. So, it says up here that they were the son of Zariah. Zariah was David's sister, and the only explanation that I have for that is that David obviously was close to his sister, and that they make a distinguishment of how close he was because he always held her in high esteem because it was always the sons of Zariah, not the dad.

Even when the dad dies, they still say son of so-and-so, and it'd be the man. In this case, it was always the sons of Zariah. So, David was their uncle, and Abishai had every intentions of killing the king, and so, yeah, there was one that did, and he says here, the thing that you have done is not good.

Saul's Failure as King and the Meaning of the Lord's Anointed

In verse 16, this thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, all of you must surely die. Hey, does anybody's translation say anything other than all of you? Yeah, and honestly, I think that's probably the better translation because he's talking to Abner, and in mine, it's in italics.

Andy, is yours in italics? All of yours say you. That's a better translation because he's talking to Abner. Abner should have been put to death for what had happened. That was legitimate. You've allowed the enemy to come into the camp to put his hands on her, although it didn't happen.

He was now deserving of death for not protecting him. It says, and now you see the king's spear, where this king's spear is, and the jug of water that was at his head. Imagine him right now, all of a sudden, he's looking around.

Oh, wow, where's the jug of water? I can't imagine Saul waking up, and the first thing he didn't do was want to reach over and grab his jug, and it ain't there, or the first thing he wants to grab ahold of to get his hind end off the ground is to put his hand on the spear to pull himself up, and oh my goodness, where is it?

You would imagine him, and Abner, bring me something to drink. Give me a hand to get up off the ground, and then Saul recognized that this was David's voice, and he says, listen how he addresses him. He doesn't say, is this your voice, old son of Jesse?

Remember, every time he hated David's name, but the two times that David has come and could have taken his life, how does he address him? As his son. Yeah, is this my son David? David said, it is my voice, my lord the king, and once again, he addresses him in submission and a man of authority over him as his lord the king.

He said, why then is my lord pursuing his servant? For what, and once again, here we go, what have I done, and what evil is in my hand? What has David done? He should have said, you know what David, once again, you saved my life, and he will say that, but that should have been immediately, it should have been, you know what David, you spared my life.

Why am I pursuing you again? He has an opportunity, once again, to reflect and go, what am I doing? Why am I acting the way that I'm acting? And he says, and David said, it's my voice, the king, what evil is in my hand?

Therefore, please let the lord the king listen to the words of his servant. So he is pleading to Saul, listen to what I have to say. Has the lord stirred you up against me? Had the lord stirred Saul up against David?

No. What stirred Saul up against David? Envy, hatred, hostility, jealousy, greed. I mean, just a list of things that we could go on. The desire to save his own kingdom. The desire to save his own dynasty.

Remember, the dynasty had already been told, hey, it's over here. Jonathan ain't going to be the crown prince anymore. It's going to be gone on to someone else, and what does he continue to do? He continually tries to find ways to thwart God's purposes after the judgment had come against the kingship from the dynasty and having it taken from him.

He said, if the lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept an offering. But if it is men, cursed are they before the lord, for they have driven me out today so that I would not be able to have an attachment with the inheritance of the lord.

Okay, what David is saying is partially true, and we're going to see it next week how true it is. He has put David on the run all through here. David ran all the way here and went to Gath, remember, with Achish.

So when he says, look, you're pursuing me in such a way that you're removing me from the inheritance that God has given me. He is running David by his pursuit into the place of the Philistines, and he even goes on to say, and we'll see in a second, you're leading me into idolatry.

What did people wind up doing when they went off into other lands? They worshiped their gods, and that's what he's saying. Look, I have an inheritance, but what was David's inheritance? What's that? Well, yes, ultimately it would be the kingdom, but his inheritance was given from this line down.

He was part of the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah had all of this just below Mizpah and Michmash, all that. So he's running him out of his own land. Gibeah is in the land of Benjamin. Saul is leaving the land of Benjamin, his tribe.

He was a Benjamite, son of Kish, and he is pursuing David in his own territory land that had been lauded out to him by Joshua when they came into the land, and he's running him out of his land. He said, you're telling me to go and serve other gods.

In verse 20, now then do not let my blood fall to the ground from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, just as one would hunt a partridge in a mountain.

Look, David said, look, you have left all of those things. You're pursuing me, and I am as small as a flea and as harmless as a flea. Has David had any intention, I know I've said this again, had any intentions of hurting Saul?

Never. He never had any intentions of hurting Saul. Saul said, here it is, I have sinned. No kidding. That's a profound statement. I have sinned. Return my son David, and I will not harm you again, because my life was precious in your sight in this day, and behold, I played a fool and have committed a serious error.

Okay, didn't he say this once before? Had David returned and put himself close to Saul, what do you think would have happened based on this scenario? He'd have killed him. Yeah, he would have killed him.

So he says, behold, I have played a fool, and then David replies, behold, the spear of the king. Here let one of those young men come over here and take it. The Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I refuse to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, and that is true.

The Lord delivered Saul into his hand. David had the opportunity to kill him, to usurp the throne on his own volition, and to be disobedient to God, and what did David do? He remained faithful. He remained faithful.

Do you remember the words of God? Understand this time, David didn't need providential prevention as he did the last chapter. He had a different disposition towards Saul, no doubt, than he had towards Saul than he did Nabal.

Nabal wasn't the anointed king, was he? Nabal was the anointed jerk, or the anointed fool, and his intentions was to squash that fool, but that still would have been wrong. So now what he did in previous chapters is that David then entrusted himself unto the Lord who would judge righteously, and what does he say?

He already said, how's Saul going to go down? I don't know. God may strike him. He may die of old age, or he'll go to battle, but it ain't going to be by my hand, and God's, and he says here, and God will repay each man his righteousness and his faithfulness.

That should have rung a bell in the mind of Saul. Has God repaid Saul for his righteousness and faithfulness? He did, and it was unrighteousness and unfaithfulness. He was not a righteous king. He was an unrighteous king.

He was not a faithful king. He was an unfaithful king, although he was a very successful king on humanly speaking. He was unfaithful to the commands of God. Where, at what point did Saul do all that God required of him?

One time, the pinnacle of his kingship back in chapter 11 when he went and he delivered the men from the Ammonites at Nahash. Remember, that was the pinnacle way back in chapter 11, the pinnacle. He saw someone coming in to hurt God's people.

His job was to protect. He left the field. He went. He delivered those men at Jabesh Gilead, and then that was the pinnacle. Everything else was downhill from there, disobedience. He was supposed to wait to make a sacrifice, and what did he do?

He waited to the seventh day. He had up until sundown, and he didn't wait. He did it anyway, and why did he do it? Because he saw the armies coming up against him. He says, I had to entreat the Lord of myself so that they wouldn't come against me and so that I would have favor with the Lord in the battle, so I did it on my own.

God said, took the honesty away. Then when he gave him clear instructions, not just go into Amalek and the Amalekites and kill them, he gave him clear, concise instructions, and what did he do? I'll do it my way, and then halfway back, leaving down here, he stops in Carmel, and what did he make for himself?

Monument to who, though? Himself. If anything, he should have stopped and made a monument to the Lord for the great slaughter, and he did not because he's a disobedient, self-serving king. He's the people's king.

Remember that. Who wanted Saul? The people. The people. Who wanted David? God. Remember, better understood is David was a man after God's own choosing. There was nothing in David's heart that made David better than anybody.