So the Jews got the king they wanted--a king to look at and be proud
of. Saul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest of the
people, and very handsome to look at. And he was brave enough, too,
in mere fighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to act now and
then; but there was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God in him.
He took God for an idol, like the heathens' false gods, which had to
be pleased and kept in good humour by the smell of burnt sacrifices;
and not for a living, righteous Person, who had to be obeyed. We
read of Saul's misconduct in these respects, in the thirteenth and
fifteenth chapters of the First Book of Samuel. That was only the
beginning of his wickedness. The worst points in his character, as I
shall show in my next sermon, came out afterwards. But still, his
disobedience was enough to make God cast him off, and leave him to go
his own way to ruin.
But God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. He deals
not with mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according to
their iniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own
heart--a true king of God's making, not a mere sham one of man's
making. You may think it strange why God should have given them a
second king; why, as soon as Saul died, He did not let them return
back to their old freedom.
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