The Downfall of the King

Narrator: Ivona Gentwo
Duration: 1min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 12
Saul acquitted himself creditably in the matter of the Ammonite invasion; but the real test, whether or not he could walk with God in his new position of exaltation, was yet to come, and it came very soon. After the victory at Jabesh-gilead he dismissed his huge army of 330,000 men, but two years later he established a small standing army of 3,000. Two thousand of these formed his own personal bodyguard in Michmash, and the remaining 1,000 were with Jonathan his son in Gibeah of Benjamin (1 Sam. 13:1-21Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. (1 Samuel 13:1‑2)). We discern prudence in this arrangement certainly, but scarcely faith, for as Jonathan said a little later “there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:66And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. (1 Samuel 14:6)). Faith needs no guards.
The real test for Saul developed when the Philistines again got the upper hand of the people of Israel. It was especially for the overcoming of these enemies that Saul was anointed king. But in this connection Saul was a miserable failure, and in the sequel, the Philistines cut off his head, and fastened his dishonored body to the wall of Bethshan (1 Sam. 31).