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1 Chronicles Chapter 10 (ESV)
1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died…
13 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. 14 He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
REFLECTION:
- Saul was unfaithful to God both actively and passively. Not only did he make mistakes but he also did not do the things he ought to do. He purposely chased after David to try to kill him. He actively disobeyed God by ignoring God’s command and even seeking the guidance of a witch. Saul passively went against God by not seeking for God’s guidance when he ruled as king.
- 1 Sam 28 records that Saul asked for Jehovah’s guidance but God did not respond. V14 says the reason for Saul’s death was that “he did not seek guidance from the Lord.” It seemed contradictory but the problem was actually with the motive and occasion of his seeking God. Saul did not seek for God first. He always tried his own way first and he would only seek for God after he exhausted all methods in vain. God did not answer Saul because he asked God the last. He only sought for God at his convenience, and God rejected his requests because of his continuous stubbornness and rebellion. Reflect on what you could learn from Saul’s tragedy, seek for God’s will with the right attitude.
PRAYER:
With humility, ask God for His will in your life. Ask God to keep you alerted not to repeat the stubbornness and rebellion of Saul. Guide us to walk to His path and pleasing to Him in all we do.
