The Space Between Leadership and Title
There is a space between actual leadership and perceived leadership. Saul demonstrates that a leader’s position can be empty when his heart is not full of God-ordained purpose. And I believe this applies to leaders in the church, the marketplace and government. God uses leadership (even secular leaders) for His purpose.
Saul is a case study of bad leadership. He leads with fear and intimidation. And people will follow fear and intimidation to an extent. But without substance and conviction, it’s just white-washing. Take for instance what happens in 1 Samuel 14. As Israel pursues the Philistines, Saul institutes a rash and even dangerous vow.
1 Samuel 14:24 (ESV) And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food.
Saul uses the national conflict to pursue personal vendettas. Instead of carrying for the army, he makes the war some kind of validation of his importance and depletes their strength. When later in the story the men are overcome with hunger and begin to eat meat with the blood (forbidden for Jews), Saul feigns religious piety:
1 Samuel 14:34–35 (ESV) And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there. 35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.
Note that this is the first altar of Saul’s life. He only made it in order to coercively establish himself as a leader while the army was falling over in hunger and hastily eating meat with the blood in it. Terrible leadership will leverage religious piety at important moments to manipulate the circumstances.
One of the other hallmarks of Saul’s leadership is the repeated lip service the people offer him. On two occasions the people say to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.” First the people okay Saul’s military campaign in pursuit of the plunder of the Philistines. Then when Saul decides to smoke out the vow-breaker and threaten the culprit with death, the people say okay to that too! All the while, they do things contrary to Saul’s authority. First Jonathan rejects the vow and chastises his father for it. Then the people step in for Jonathan when Saul threatens to carry out his death sentence upon him. The narrative is clearly showing a man who is only a visual leader, not the real leader.
So what is the substance Saul lacks? The text hints at it midway through the chapter. When Saul decides in favor of an aggressive advance against the Philistines, a nameless priest steps in with a simple challenge:
1 Samuel 14:36–37 (ESV) Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.” 37 And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.
The substance Saul lacked was something you don’t get from a momentary need for God’s intervention as we can clearly see from this text. Saul had every chance to develope a depth of relationship with the Lord following his anointing. He even became filled with the Spirit and prophesied. But that neglect of spiritual life was his ultimate undoing in the long run of his legacy. Yes, Saul will have a long and quite favorable reign over Israel, but it will be continually tumultuous.
There’s no substitute in life for a relationship with the Lord developed over time by making His word and presence a priority in your life. There will be man coming on the scene shortly who will show us exactly what that’s like.
Saul is a case study of bad leadership. He leads with fear and intimidation. And people will follow fear and intimidation to an extent. But without substance and conviction, it’s just white-washing. Take for instance what happens in 1 Samuel 14. As Israel pursues the Philistines, Saul institutes a rash and even dangerous vow.
1 Samuel 14:24 (ESV) And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food.
Saul uses the national conflict to pursue personal vendettas. Instead of carrying for the army, he makes the war some kind of validation of his importance and depletes their strength. When later in the story the men are overcome with hunger and begin to eat meat with the blood (forbidden for Jews), Saul feigns religious piety:
1 Samuel 14:34–35 (ESV) And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there. 35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.
One of the other hallmarks of Saul’s leadership is the repeated lip service the people offer him. On two occasions the people say to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.” First the people okay Saul’s military campaign in pursuit of the plunder of the Philistines. Then when Saul decides to smoke out the vow-breaker and threaten the culprit with death, the people say okay to that too! All the while, they do things contrary to Saul’s authority. First Jonathan rejects the vow and chastises his father for it. Then the people step in for Jonathan when Saul threatens to carry out his death sentence upon him. The narrative is clearly showing a man who is only a visual leader, not the real leader.
So what is the substance Saul lacks? The text hints at it midway through the chapter. When Saul decides in favor of an aggressive advance against the Philistines, a nameless priest steps in with a simple challenge:
1 Samuel 14:36–37 (ESV) Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.” 37 And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.
The substance Saul lacked was something you don’t get from a momentary need for God’s intervention as we can clearly see from this text. Saul had every chance to develope a depth of relationship with the Lord following his anointing. He even became filled with the Spirit and prophesied. But that neglect of spiritual life was his ultimate undoing in the long run of his legacy. Yes, Saul will have a long and quite favorable reign over Israel, but it will be continually tumultuous.
There’s no substitute in life for a relationship with the Lord developed over time by making His word and presence a priority in your life. There will be man coming on the scene shortly who will show us exactly what that’s like.
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