I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 11-13.

    In today’s passage we see how the same qualities which make someone a good leader can turn them into a bad leader over time. In yesterday’s passage, we read that a segment of the people of Israel rejected Saul as king when he was first crowned. To begin with, Saul chose to take no action against them, and for that matter to do nothing with his new authority. A short time later, the King of the Ammonites attacked the city of Jabesh, east of the Jordan. (This was the same area where Jephthah had defended the Israelites against an attempt by an earlier Ammonite king to take control of the area.) Saul raised an army and defeated the Ammonites. After the victory, some of Saul’s followers wanted to kill those who had initially rejected his kingship. Saul however recognized that doing so would lead to division and partisanship in his new kingdom. Instead, Saul took the opportunity of this moment of unity to have himself re-crowned with unanimous support.

    However, a short time later when war had broken out with the Philistines, this same political pragmatism led Saul to take the role of priest and offer sacrifices to God in Samuel’s place instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive as he had been instructed. This is the first time where Saul chose to do what seemed right from a politically pragmatic standpoint rather than doing as God had instructed. When Saul first became king his sense of politics led him to unify the tribes of Israel into a single kingdom. However, once his power was established that same sense of politics led him to seek to consolidate his power rather than trusting God to do so for him. When Saul found himself in a bad situation, he chose the course of action he believed best, rather than trust that God would see him through.