Lesson 2 Period of Kings - : Saul and David

Lesson 2

PERIOD OF KINGS - SAUL AND DAVID

Portion to read : 1 Sam. 8 - 31, 2 SamCh 1 - 24 ; 1 Kings Ch 1-2, 1 Chro Ch 1 - 29

Memory verse : 1 Chro. 29: 11 ,12

Objective:  To know that God is the King of Kings and that honor and riches come from him. Therefore we should serve His in all circumstances with humility and faithfulness.

INTRODUCTION: God's will was that Israel should be His own people and Himself should be their King. God himself led them in the wilderness and in the conquest of Canaan. After settling in Canaan, Israel had to face the attacks of neighboring Kings. God raised Judges to help Israel. In the time of the last judge, Samuel, the period of Kings started, and it continued for about 500 years (1095-586 BC). The First King of Israel was Saul, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. 

1. Saul 

Israel asked Samuel to appoint a King for them when they were in their backsliding state. But Samuel was reluctant, and he explained to them the effects of a monarchy. But the people never gave heed to his word but persisted in their request for a king. God didn't like it, but because of Israel's persistence. He allowed Samuel to appoint a king. Saul went out in search of his father's donkey, reached Samuels place, and there Samuel anointed Saul as the king. Later, Samuel gathered all the Israel in Mizpah and declared Saul as their ing. In the war that followed this, God's Spirit came down on Saul and defeated the Ammonites. After this, Saul became famous, and Israelites gathered at Gilgal and officially accepted Saul as their king. Samuel strongly spoke to the king and the people to fear God and obey Him in that meeting.

Saul's failure 

Saul defeated Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites, But his life was a failure. Samuel was always grieved over Saul, and he warned Saul, again and again. But it was all in vain.

REASONS FOR FAILURE 

1. Pride: - Saul was humble in the beginning. But became proud after becoming the King. He could not wait for Samuel at Gilgal, and he offered a burnt offering for God, which was not permitted for him to do. 

2. Jealousy: -  Saul became jealous of David when his fame spread. So saul considered David as his enemy and tried to kill him on many occasions. 

3. Cruelty: - Saul was very cruel to David. The incidents where he commanded that his soldiers should not eat food before dusk while they were fighting against Philistines and his judgment that his son Jonathan should die for tasting a little honey, all these things clearly illustrate how cruel Saul was. 

4. Disobedience:-  God had commanded Saul through Samuel that Amalekites' belongings should be completely destroyed after the war. But Saul did not kill king Agag and the best of Cattle but killed only the worst of the cattle. 

5. Consulted medium: -  When he couldn't hear the message from God, Saul went to a woman who was a medium in Endor to receive direction.

Thus Saul, who was once filled with the spirit of God, later became a slave to the above sins, which he had considered very silly and had a pathetic downfall. His end was terrible; Saul and his three sons were killed on Mount of Gilboa. 

II. David 

David's life history is given in the following sections. 1 Sam ch 16 to 31, 2 Sam and 1 King ch 1 -2. David was the greatest of Kings who ruled Israel. He ruled Israel for forty years. The major incidents in his life. He was not worthy in many aspects.

1. David was a good shepherd. He wrestled and killed a lion and bear for saving his lamb.

2. He was the sweet singer of Israel. He could play the harp, and he wrote many songs.

3. He was a faithful friend of Jonathan as his own life 

4. He was a great success as a king, commander, and warrior. The boy David killed Goliath and defeated the Philistines.

5. He ruled in Hebron for 7 years and in Jerusalem for thirty years. He defeated his enemies and expanded the boundary of his country. 

6. He was a loving father. It is wonderful that David laments at the death of Absalom, his son who rebelled against his father. 

7. He was humble and ready for repenting. David was always ready to acknowledge his sins and repented about is wholehearted. Psalm 51 was written on repentance for one of his worst sins. 

8. He loved God with a full heart. So God called him, " The man according to my own heart"

9. He as a prophet ( Act 2. 30: Psa 116, 110:1)

10. David was full of peace and hope in the midst of his trials.

A Comparative Study of King Saul and King David

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. -Psalm 51:11

Have you ever seen a leader fall from a high position? King David did. By witnessing what happened to King Saul, he saw firsthand what would occur if the Holy Spirit’s anointing left a man. King David had to have been thinking of King Saul when he penned those famous words in Psalm 51:11.

In Psalm 51 David is repenting over a massive sin he committed with Bathsheba. Just like King Saul, King David rebelled against God at certain times in his life. The Holy Spirit’s anointing, however, left King Saul and remained on King David. Why was one able to recover from rebellion while the other couldn’t? What’s the difference between King David and King Saul?

King David Repented and Followed God. King Saul Turned and Never Came Back

1 Samuel 16:1 explains, “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

King David prayed that God would not remove the Holy Spirit from him because he knew God was the reason he was able to serve God so well. He knew his failures were not so different than King Saul’s. But King David also knew the difference between them was not that one failed and the other didn’t, it was that one lost God’s favor while the other didn’t. 1 Samuel 18:12-14 states, “Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul . . . And David had success in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him.”

David and Saul were both anointed to be king of Israel; the Spirit of the Lord came upon them both, enabling them to do great things for the Lord. Why, though, did Saul falter while David flourished? There are so many answers we could give, but God makes it crystal clear for us, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments” (1 Samuel 15:11).

When King Saul sinned, he “turned back from following” God. When King David sinned, he turned his back on his sin and followed the Lord.

King David Worshiped God. King Saul Worshiped the People

What’s the difference between King David and King Saul? Saul got lost in all the power and stopped following God. He forgot the main thing and started idolizing the lesser things. He forsook the Giver of the gifts and started worshipping the gifts themselves.

When King Saul disobeyed God and did not utterly destroy the wicked cities and plunder, “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24). And then when David started becoming successful and the women started singing a song honoring him, Saul states, “They have ascribed to David ten thousand, and to me, they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:8).

It’s safe to conclude that King Saul really loved the praise of the people. King David was different than King Saul because King David loved God above everyone and everything.

King David wrote the Book of Psalm. King Saul Didn’t

What’s the difference between King David and King Saul? King Saul lost sight of God and started seeking the fame that God gave him, which he was supposed to use to honor and glorify the Lord, not himself. The main difference between Saul and David was that David did not lose his first love.

comparison between King David and King Saul BibleWhen all the success and fame started coming David’s way, his main desire was still to please the Lord. When he sinned, once he came to his senses, he always repented and sought the Lord above all other things. He was not crushed by the weight of blessings nor by the removal of blessings when God disciplined him. King David sought the Giver over the gifts. Because he sought God over the blessings, unlike King Saul, despite his many failures, King David was still blessed in the end.

God had plans to use Saul in mighty ways too. Saul lost out because he sought his own fame over God’s. I find it interesting that it was King David, not King Saul, who wrote the majority of the psalms.

Passionate love poems declaring supreme devotion to God alone came out of the heart of King David, not King Saul. And it was on King David, not King Saul, whom God lavished everlasting favor.

To Be Like King David and Not King Saul, God Must Be Our Heart’s Greatest Desire

So with every degree of success and blessing God gives us, may our journals and hearts multiply lines of praise and adoration for God alone. If we want to be like King David and not King Saul, then God and not his external blessings must hold the affections of our hearts.

In the midst of being king over a nation, living in a palace, and having people idolize him for all his great feats, King David wrote, “I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (Psalm 16:2). Notice King David made it personal. He said to “the Lord” that God was “my Lord.” Our personal relationship with God must be our highest aim.

So what’s the difference between King David and King Saul? King Saul didn’t have the heart of a worshipper, a psalmist, and wanted to be worshipped himself. He did not want to write songs about God, he wanted the songs to be written about him.

May our hearts seek God, like King David, so we too will be men and women after God’s own heart.

We should be mindful of the sons of Saul and keep ourselves safe from them. We can also learn from David, about how to be victorious in our life. We should be content where God has put us and serve Him faithfully.