Saul jumps to center stage this week. He is a conflicting character. He is offered everything he needed for kingship, but throws it all away. Every time he does something wonderfully courageous, he does something equally stupid.
hmm. Sounds like I'm describing myself, perhaps.
God tells Saul, "You'll be a new person." He offered Saul the same clean slate David wrote about, create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Saul went among the prophets. The reaction of his friends shows Saul wasn't the kind of man one would associate with prophesy.
Samuel gave Saul a heads up that God had chosen him to be the king. When his name came up in the lottery, God gave his hidey-hole among the bags.
Not kingly at all.
Enemies threaten to gouge out the right eyes of an entire town in Israel. Saul flew into a rage and God brought great victory.
Later that kingly rage turned on David.
He couldn't move forward without falling back.
Thankfully for Saul, God moved "true and brave" men to join him. They kept the cogs of the kingdom going.
Of course God knew David would be king, and the line of the Messiah would be the line of the king. But I believe Saul had a real chance.
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