1 Samuel 13

Although Saul reigned for 42 years, what some historians estimate to be just two years into his reign, his arrogance and lack of regard for God's sacred instructions, he lost his reign as he faced the Amalekites.

This raises the question of why God made him king? As we read further, God even expresses regret in having appointed him (which by the way is a source for a theological perspective called Open Theism which I do not support as I have written before, God's expression of regret does not give question to His foreknowledge but rather speaks to His passion, even in knowing, He still emotionally responds as if He did not, a deep, deep heart, a heart we should expect in divinity) as king.

I believe because God is seldom meeting the need of today but rather propelling history forward toward the culmination of His grand plan, a New Heaven and a New Earth where we will live with Him forever. We must not lose site of the eternal in understanding the temporal. Saul met a momentary need Israel had for courage, so they would not perish at the hands of their enemy who was committed to their destruction. This nation was destined to survive, as Paul says of his own ethnic origin, in Romans 3:2, "entrusted with the oracles of God." The Words of God needed to be preserved for each successive generation. An not only so, but to also give the Universe our blessed Savior!

Pastor Fred