Rebelliousness in the Bible – Saul vs David
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What does it mean to be rebellious? How is rebelliousness in the Bible defined and how do we know when someone is being rebellious?
King Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel, but he rebelled against God and was ultimately replaced by David. David was also anointed as king, but he always remained faithful to God.
In this post, we’ll explore what it means to be rebellious and examine the story of Saul vs David. We’ll look at their different anointings and see why obedience is so important for a leader and why it is stressed so much in God’s Word.
So read on and learn more about these two very distinct kings with two very distinct anointings.
Rebelliousness in the Bible – Demanding a King
The judge and prophet Samuel was growing old and had appointed his two sons as judges over Israel. But Israel did not trust the sons. They didn’t want them as governing authorities and demanded a King be set over them.
They had just come through war with the Philistines where they both lost and re-gained the Ark and they once again were coming from a cycle of Sin-Judgment-Repentance-Deliverance.
They were experiencing a desire to once more follow the Lord and live lives of obedience to Torah.
Or so it would appear at least.
Israel was still a rebellious people with a stiff neck who still had her idols and was still not walking with the Lord as God’s servants should.
They WANTED to follow the Lord but they wanted to follow the Lord THEIR way.
Holding onto these idols was like some sort of spiritual “backup plan”, as though the God who led them out of the land of Egypt was not enough.
Samuel implored the people to turn away from their idolatry and the rebellious heart that made them demand gods in addition to the one true God, and they listened and finally rid themselves of their idols.
The children of Israel then learned of an impending attack from the Philistines and asked Samuel to pray for them.
Samuel offered up a sacrifice to the Lord and when the Philistines attacked, confusion came over them and they were routed by Israel and their lands reconquered and taken back by Israel.
The Philistines did not attack Israel again during Samuel’s lifetime.
But as I mentioned, now Samuel was old and Israel was faced with these two sons who were crooked and shady characters; rebellious children themselves.
The people of Israel demanded a king be set over them. They saw the other nations of the earth (or what they knew of the earth) being governed as such and wanted a king to do the same for the nation of Israel.
We still do that today!
We see what others have and think that is the very thing WE need instead of seeking what God has planned for us.
As people of God, we shouldn’t seek out the things the world has or be lovers of money, following our own devices and that is exactly what Israel was doing.
So Samuel prayed and asked for words from God for guidance. The word of the Lord to Samuel was to give the people what they asked, to place a king over the people of the land.
God essentially told him that, just as this rebellious generation had forsaken the Lord and turned to idolatry time and again (wasn’t this Moses’ complaint?) they were now doing the same to Samuel by rejecting him and HIS words.
The Lord God told Samuel to tell the people all that this king would do to them.
He was giving them a dire warning about what having this king they coveted would mean for them. But, as was often the case, they failed to heed the prophet’s words and the voice of God revealed to them by him.
So we then meet Saul who was to be king over Israel. I am going to skip over the story of Samuel’s meeting with Saul because it isn’t really the point of this article. But I do recommend reading it in 1 Samuel.
Saul vs David
The Anointing of Saul by the King Maker
Samuel then goes on to anoint Saul.
In 1 Samuel 10:1 we read:
Now, it should be noted that anointing a king was not the same as installing a king. Saul did not assume the role of ruler of Israel for some time after his anointing.
The anointing of someone is the setting apart of them for the Lord. But Saul went back to farming for some time after his anointing until the Ammonites forced his hand and, as 1 Samuel 11:6 tells us:
After leading an attack on the Ammonites, Saul is celebrated by the people and was confirmed King of Israel.
So I want to take a step back here because this is not a post about the kingship of Saul. Rather, I want to go back to the moment of Saul’s anointing and setting apart.
Saul was not God’s choice.
Well, more specifically, Saul as King of Israel was not God’s choice.
In fact, ANY king was not God’s choice at that point in time.
The people demanded a king. This was not what the Lord desired for Israel but they had once again gone their own rebellious way.
Let’s go back to Samuel’s anointing of Saul. The verse I quoted above, 1 Samuel 10:1 tells us that Samuel took a vial or flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head.
The Hebrew word is “pak”.
Keep the words flask or vial in mind because we will come back to that in a moment but for now, let’s jump forward to another king.
The Anointing of God on David, Son of Jesse
King Saul was a man with more issues than Better Homes and Gardens!
He was disobedient, haughty, self-absorbed, narcissistic, and also suffered from a severe case of paranoia and what seems to be severe depression.
He eventually became bound by these chains of gloomy darkness that made him constantly seek David’s life. These chains come from pulling away completely from God’s presence and disobeying God’s commands.
He became a little big for his britches as my mother used to say. He wouldn’t listen to Samuel, again going back to the Lord’s telling Samuel basically “now you know how I feel!”, referring to the open rebellion of the people against the Word of God.
In a moment of impatience while at war with the Philistines and feeling like Samuel was taking far too long to arrive, Saul took it upon himself to offer the sacrifices, thus assuming a role that was not his to assume.
As this happened, Samuel arrives on the scene.
Samuel then informs Saul that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to a man after God’s own heart. Assuming a priestly role that was not his to assume was the very definition of the word rebellion against God and God’s authority.
After a series of mistakes and more disobedient acts, Samuel finally departs from Saul and refused to ever speak to him again.
Samuel then embarks on a quest to find the new king of Israel and finds himself at the home of Jesse.
After a series of events and going through all of Jesse’s sons in a Cinderella-type fashion to see if any of them “fit”, he eventually meets young David.
Ok, so all of this VERY quick Reader’s Digest-type backdrop is to get to this point.
Samuel anoints David as king of Israel, even though it would be several years before David assumes the actual role of king.
But here is what I want to present to you.
In 1 Samuel:16:1, before heading to the home of Jesse, we read:
Fill your horn with oil and go. The Lord said I am sending you to Jesse for I have selected for Myself a king among his sons.
Fill your horn.
The Hebrew word here for horn is “qeren” and this is the same word used in Genesis 22:13:
So here we have a horn of pure oil versus a flask or vial of pure oil.
One is man-made and one, the horn, is created by God.
One is a king for the people and one is a king “for Myself” says the Lord.
Rebelliousness in the Bible – Do We Anoint a Saul or a David?
Saul was chosen because the people demanded a king. He was a man-made king, given despite god’s voice through the prophet Samuel. But David was chosen by God to be king.
We become lovers of self when we seek our own gain. We want something when we want it.
We don’t trust God’s timing so we pull out our flask and anoint a Saul instead of waiting for the Lord to do what He will do in our lives and anoint for us a David.
We become lovers of self when we seek our own gain. We want something when we want it. We don't trust God's timing so we pull out our flask and anoint a Saul instead of waiting for the Lord to anoint for us a David. Click To TweetThe anointing of God in our lives cannot happen if we keep putting the deeds of the flesh before the knowledge of God.
God has a distinct purpose and plan for your life.
Your purpose is not the same as my purpose or the purpose of your friend, your spouse, or your neighbor. When we try to force an anointing onto God, we are anointing a Saul.
We are anointing with a flask; something man-made. The anointing of God is not on us, the anointing of the world is.
We are forcing our demands onto God in open resistance to His Word and His will instead of letting God be God.
But when we let God work His will in our lives, when we are patient and obedient (the two things Saul was NOT), the anointing of God will flow into our lives and we will be right where He wants us, not operating in the deeds of the flesh but under the anointing of the Lord.
Do we always get it right? Of course not! But there is a distinct difference between trying to be obedient and making mistakes and just plain disobedience, rebellion, and pushing our own will forward ahead of God’s.
This is why, in spite of all the mistakes David made in his life (and he made some doozies), he was still called a man after God’s own heart.
Rebelliousness in the Bible – Acts of the Flesh Lead to a Lack of Peace
Saul lived a life where he was disobedient and obstinate and he had no peace.
In fact, David used to have to play the lyre for Saul because his spirit was so afflicted!
He lived a life of looking over his shoulder, being suspicious, living in fear, and lacking peace.
He was the wrong person, at the wrong time, and lacked the proper anointing and the sincerity of heart.
He became a rebellious son with a carnal mind, ignoring the words of Samuel (and thereby ignoring the Word and commandment of the Lord) and ultimately causing Samuel to withdraw and leave him completely.
When Samuel left him, so did the Word of God.
When we are where we are not supposed to be, we too feel a lack of peace. We know we don’t belong there, or at least will know that eventually.
Even when we are completely in rebellion, the acts of the flesh will always leave us with that feeling of missing something – that “God-sized hole in the heart”.
The anointing of God will give us a sense of peace and of being at the right place at the right moment in time.
Next time you need to make a move, wait for the horn of oil and the anointing of God on what you are undertaking rather than the vial of oil and the desires of the human heart!
David was a man after God’s whole heart and we need to seek His heart as David did.
The good news is that the Lord has a plan for your life and if you will wait for Him, He will anoint you for your special plan and purpose.
You may not be a king (or queen) in the making! That’s ok!
Remember, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, took on the status of a servant, not a Saul, and there was no greater than He.
He said in Matthew 20:26
Be sure to read more about the incredible story of Saul vs David, their personal conflicts, and their different rules and kingdoms in 1 Samuel!
David is a wonderful, imperfect, fascinating man of God and one of my favorite Biblical figures with all his flaws.
And to help you in your studies, be sure to grab your FREE SOAP Bible Study Method Workbook below as my gift to you!
It is full of great information and study tools to get you started in studying the Word with confidence!
CJB – Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.