Saul, the first king of Israel had a great opportunity. Alas, he squandered it and became a great failure because he would not obey God.



Preface
The length of this book on Saul may be surprising to the reader. But there is much more about Saul in the Scripture than about most other Bible characters. One reason we do not perceive the great amount about Saul in Scripture is that much that is written about Saul is tied into the life of David, and studies on the life of David cover all of this material. The material that speaks only of Saul is limited which causes one to think there is not much material about Saul in Scripture.

Saul was the first king to reign over Israel. He reigned for forty years (Acts 13:21) as did David and Solomon, the first two successors of him as king. Being the first king of Israel marked a great change in Israel's government. Israel was a theocracy; that is, they were ruled by God through His agents such as Moses, Joshua, and the judges. Unfortunately for Israel, the change in government to a monarchy under King Saul was disastrous for Israel. While it began rather glamorously with Saul defending the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, Saul made Israel a weaker nation; and so his reign and life ended in a losing battle with the Philistines.

Saul was not inclined to obey God as he ought and this resulted in God rejecting Saul's dynasty. That is, no descendent of Saul would become king. His family would not continue to be the royal family. His replacement was David.

Saul's decline in character got worse and worse after his initial rebellion against the Lord. Much of the last days of his life was taken up with an earnest attempt to killl David, who would succeed him on the throne. Saul's life finally ended in a battle against the Philistines, after he had seen a witch to tell him the future when Saul no longer could get an answer from God. Saul's life is a tragedy and warns us what can happen when we reject God's Word and will.