1 Chronicles 10

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Chapter 10 tells in the language of the last chapter of 1St Samuel of the ruin of Saul's house. It is in a scene of ruin that God acts in grace. When our first parents sinned, God appeared, both to announce the fruit and penalty of sin, and to speak of a Deliverer (Genesis 3:15-1915And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:15‑19)), and when all the race was in irretrievable ruin,—the guilt of the murder of the Son of God resting upon that people which, almost alone as a nation, had any knowledge of the true God, then it was that God announced justification by His grace, redemption in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:10-2610As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:10‑26)).
The day had been not long past, when Saul was the people's pride. A choice young man and a goodly; there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people (1 Samuel 9:22And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. (1 Samuel 9:2)), and the people had shouted when he was presented as their king. But now the Philistines, old time enemies within Israel's border, whom Saul should have destroyed, had become strong enough to defeat the men of Israel in battle; Saul was dead and all his sons, and the army he had gathered had fled. The disaster was most serious; the enemies of God and of His people were left in undisputed possession of the battle field, and they made much of their triumph for the honor of their gods and their nation.
We may be tempted to say that God was not in all this; but He was; it was a sorrowful scene, humbling in the extreme from whatever angle we may consider it, but the closing verses tell us that the unseen, but by no means indifferent. God, had brought this defeat and ruin upon Israel, and in particular, upon Israel's king. Saul died for his transgression (verse 13).
As early as 1 Samuel 13:13, 14,13And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. 14But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. (1 Samuel 13:13‑14) when Saul had been king but two years, he was told that his kingdom would not be continued because of his disobedience to God's Word. In the fifteenth chapter again (verse 23) he was told that because lie had rejected the word of the Lord, He had rejected him from being king. Nevertheless Saul was allowed to continue as the ruler over Israel until he had reigned forty years.
Forty is a number in Scripture often connected with testing or trial, whether forty days, or forty years, and Saul's forty years only brought out more and more the wretchedness of the unregenerate heart; from hatred of David and seeking to accomplish his murder, he turned to Satan as his last resource (verse 13, and 1 Samuel 28:7-197Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. 8And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. 9And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 10And Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. 11Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 12And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. 13And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. 15And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. 16Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? 17And the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David: 18Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. 19Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:7‑19)). He was removed from the scene in which he had so utterly failed, and David, until now without a possession, a wanderer, while the people's choice occupied the throne, was to take the dominion as the man of God's purpose.