The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1952-08-16

the Ql11erenC0 be- DR. Foreman
tween failure and
success for an entire nation. Their
tragedy or triumph is their nation S
tragedy or triumph. Suppose Ma
poleon and Hitler had been at last
successful? Suppose Alfred the
Great and Abraham Lincoln had
failed?
A Double Minded Man
CAUL, first king of Israel, is a
~ tragic illustration of all this. He
was a big handsome man with
8 creditable war-record; so the peo-
pie elected him as their first king.
1t was not the first time, nor the
last. that a mans military record
has misled people to believe that he
was good in other respects as a
leader.
Saul had some serious defects
In his character, so serious that
they led 90 his personal failure.
One Of these faults was a general
instability. He would make
promises and not keep them.
You could not be sure whether he
was friend or foe. He turned against
members Of his own family. He pro-
fessed to want to know Gods will
and yet he would not do it. He Of
ficially stamped out witchcraft and
yet he consulted a witch when in
trouble. He would make vows and
then back down from them. "A
double-minded man is unstable in
all his ways" 1t would be written
many centuries later. Such a man
makes a poor follower, and IA
tally bad leader.
A Jealous Man
JEALOUSY is a word too often
limited. 1t should not be confined
to the way boy feels when another
one is stealing his girl, or vice
versa. 1t refers to the mean feeling
people have about any one who in
any way, as they think. is out to do
them in"
Now this King Saul was a jealous
man, as most dictators are. One OF
the great kings of Egypt could not
bear to think of any other king as
having built better buildings than
he; so he employed the royal chisel-
ers to remove from every public
building the name of any other
Pharaoh and replace 1t with his
own.
King Saul could mot be jeal-
Gus Of the kings before him; for
there were none. But he could
be insanely Jealous OF any one
he thought might be more pop
ular than himself.
So we find him pursuing David
vindictively. relentlessly. first max
ing an outlaw Of him, then a fugi-
tive among IsraePs enemies.
A Superstitious Man
srHE FAMOUS STORY (Chap. 2s)
L Of Saul and the witch at En.Dor
raises a number of questions to
which nobody has the guaranteed
answers. One thing, however, is
clear from that story: Saul was a
superstitious man. He thought that
the dead could be conjured right out
Of the ground.
Whether the woman OF En-
Dor actually coD5ured Samuel
up, or only induced Saul to
think she did, the reader must
Judge for himself. The point Is
that Saul, who paid small atten-
ton to Samuel living, was very
eager to talk with his ghost.
Superstition marks a man as full
of fears, FOR fear is the food of SUI.
perstitions. Fear also was the root
of Sauls Jealousy; and fear at last
drove him to suicide. True leaders
must be made of sterner stuff.
A Disloyal Man
CAUL FAILED not only because he
~ was sbifty, Jealous and a COW.
ard. He failed because he was dis
loyal to God.
His public career began by his
recognizing In Samuel a prophet of
God, and In SamuePs instructions
the will Of God. But as time went
on he took counsel only with him.
self; ne listened to Samuel only
when it was convenient. And so God
rejected him.
Whatever a mans qualifications
may be. II he compromises his own
ideals. II he will not live UP to
what he recognizes to be best, II
he will not listen to men OF God, II
he sets his own will above the will
of the people, even above the will
OF God, then ne is not only not o
wise leader, he is very bad one.
Copyright 1881 b.. tbe Division Of
Christian Educaponl National CeHnoB
Of the Churches Of Christ 81 the United
states 81 Amertes Released ~ WNU
Feasures.l
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