Evening star., 1924-03-08
Sunday School Lesson

leader broke down mentally in his ef-
forts to unity the nation. He revealed
the commencement OF his breakdown In
the attitude he took by taking the
place Of the priest and then his attitude
toward Jonathan after the latters sue
cess in chasing the Philistines into the
valley of Ajalon. Saul showed in his
desire to destroy his sons life the seeds
of jealousy that marked his attitude
later toward David. Here we can see
that his pride and his fear of men were
apparent
1t was in his campaigns against the
Amalekites.. the rowing, robbing band
of the southwest, that his disobedience
to God resulted in his losing the king
dom. In the pursuit Of the Amalekites
into the desert, almost to the borders
of Egypt, h e had the opportunity of
fulfilling the old prophetic doom that
Moses had pronounced against them.
He spared all the valuable possessions
of the Amalekites for himself and his
peoples use. Nevertheless when he
met Samuel at Gilgal. although he had
spared Agag and failed to destroy all
the property OF the Amalekites, il is
evident that he expected the aged Judge
to commend his campaign by his osten-
tatious reverence and pretension to
fidelity.
Gilgal. where he had been publicly
set apart. was where Samuel revealed
to Saul his sentence. but not until he
had pointed out to the covetous king
the evidence that condemned him for
being disobedient. While he tried to
shift the responsibility and professed
that his purpose was to make great
in the victory. the sacrifice was a
pretence at devotion: the blood would
be offered to the Lord, but the people
would have enjoyed the feast
Samuel in giving the king the Divine
denunciation Of his conduct, held forth
the principle that ought to have guided
Saul and would have guided him had
he been true to Jehovah.
Doth the Lord delight in sacrifice.
As In obeyns the command of the Lord?
Behold. to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to hearken than the fat Of rams
Of God. 1t discrowned his soul and
resulted in the selection of David tu
succeed Saul. although he did not
assume the throne until after Saul's
death. Possibly the jealousy of David
may have been the final cause OF
in a fit of insanity he took his life
1t does not account for his rejection
by the Lord, which was due to the
fact that Saul had rejected God.
His miserable death is fearful
and faithful commentary upon a life
that failed to meet the opportunities
which God opened for Saul. In the
commencement Of his career he fol-
lowed the sagacfous advice of Sam
uel, who had retained the spiritual
leadership when he retired from the
judgeship. His self-respect was gone
when he applied to a fortune teller
OF Endor for advice rather than
Samuel His stubborn systematic re-
sIstance of Gods leadership and his
unwillingness to do Jehovah's will
made him despise his own son and
his loyal son-inlaw. He refused to
do as Samuel advised. The fruit Of
following his own impulsive ways is
seen in his death, which showed his
weakness and lack of courag geous
character. The man who opposes
God is doomed unless he repents II
Saul had repented and given signs
of true repentance the end of his
days would have been different. Let
US be warned by his failures and
take Gods pathway of obedience to
a life of permanent prosperity and
power.