The text tells us that Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years, 1 Samuel 13:1 / Acts 13:21. However, the translation may be misleading.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The text of this verse, omitted by the Septuagint, is held to be corrupt, and the numerals denoting Saul’s age at his accession as well as the duration of his reign are thought to be omitted or faulty. Saul may have been about 30 at his accession, and have reigned some 32 years, since we know that his grandson Mephibosheth was five years old at Saul’s death, 2 Samuel 4:4, and 32 added to the seven and a half years between the death of Saul and that of Ishbosheth, makes up the 40 years assigned to Saul’s dynasty in Acts 13:21. Neither is there any clue to the interval of time between the events recorded in the preceding chapter, and those which follow in this and succeeding chapters. But the appearance of Jonathan as a warrior, 1 Samuel 13:2, compared with the mention of Saul as ‘a young man’, 1 Samuel 9:2, implies an interval of not less than ten or fifteen years, perhaps more. The object of the historian is to prepare the way for the history of David’s reign. He therefore passes at once to that incident in Saul’s reign, which led to his rejection by God, as recorded in 1 Samuel 13:13-14.’
Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin and the rest of the men he sent back to their homes, 1 Samuel 13:2.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Saul, no doubt, meditated the redemption of his country from the Philistines and having chosen three thousand men, he thought best to divide them into companies, and send one against the Philistine garrison at Michmash, another against that at Beth-el, and the third against that at Gibeah, he perhaps hoped, by surprising these garrisons, to get swords and spears for his men, of which we find, 1 Samuel 13:22, they were entirely destitute.’
Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it, 1 Samuel 13:3, and so after the trumpet was blown throughout the land, Saul said, ‘let the Hebrews hear!’ 1 Samuel 13:4.
Although the Philistines used the name Hebrew as a derogatory term, 1 Samuel 4:6, Saul uses the word to describe God’s people, Genesis 14:13 / Genesis 40:15. The Israelites were ‘obnoxious’, 1 Samuel 13:4, which is offensive to the Philistines. This is because they were so different from the Philistines, both culturally and religiously.
Saul gathered everyone at Gilgal, 1 Samuel 13:4. This was important strategically because Gilgal was filled with caves, holes, rocks, tombs and cisterns, Judges 6:2 / Judges 6:11 / Jeremiah 40:11-12.
It was the perfect place to hide from the enemy. When Israel saw the Philistine’s army as numerous as the sand of the seashore, 1 Samuel 13:5, it’s not surprising they were afraid and hid in the caves, 1 Samuel 13:5-6.
After all, the Philistines were trained warriors with chariots, whereas the Israelites were basically just farmers who only fought when someone was attacking them.
We are told that some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, but Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear, 1 Samuel 13:7.
Saul waited seven days for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice to the Lord, but Samuel didn’t come and so, some of Saul’s men scattered, 1 Samuel 13:8. Saul felt compelled to offer a burnt offering and so, he decided to take matters into his own hands and offered a sacrifice because the people were all over the place, 1 Samuel 13:9.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There is a difference of opinion among commentators whether Saul himself offered the sacrifices prepared for Samuel, thus encroaching upon the priest’s office; or whether he ordered the priests to sacrifice, as Solomon did. In the latter case, his sin consisted in disobeying the word of God, who had bidden him wait until Samuel came. And this is, on the whole, the more probable; since Samuel’s rebuke says nothing of any assumption of priesthood, such as we read in the case of Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:18.’
When Samuel finally arrives, 1 Samuel 13:10, he wasn’t happy and Saul gave some excuses for his actions.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Samuel was punctual to his appointment; one hour longer of delay would have prevented every evil, and by it no good would have been lost. How often are the effects of precipitation fatal!’
1. Saul said his army was dwindling because people were leaving him, and he felt he must do something to stop it, 1 Samuel 13:11.
2. Saul said that Samuel didn’t come as soon as he expected him, 1 Samuel 13:11.
3. Saul said the gathering of the Philistines at Michmash was a threat, 1 Samuel 13:11.
4. Saul said he didn’t wish to go into battle without asking the Lord, 1 Samuel 13:12.
5. Saul said he ‘felt compelled to offer the burnt offering’,1 Samuel 13:12, which basically means that he acted reluctantly.
Saul offered these excuses to Samuel, but Samuel told him he had sinned, 1 Samuel 13:13, for it wasn’t his job to offer sacrifices, 1 Samuel 15:17-23. Saul plainly disobeyed Samuel, and he was a king, not a priest, and only priests were to offer sacrifices, 2 Chronicles 26:1-21. He did a foolish thing in breaking the commandment of the Lord, Romans 1:22.
Because of this foolish act, Samuel tells him that there will be no more kings from his lineage, 1 Samuel 13:14. This would include Jonathon never becoming a king and following in his father’s footsteps.
We must remember that although God rejected Saul, He didn’t reject Israel, and because God loved Israel, He would raise up a king, a man after His own heart. Saul was a man after Israel’s heart; he was all about image, prestige, and the things people look at, but God will now give Israel a man after His own heart and raise that man up to be the next king, 1 Samuel 13:14, that is, David, 2 Samuel 12:13.
To try and understand why David was a man ‘after God’s own heart’, we need to contrast the character of Saul, who was Israel’s first king, with the character of David, their second king.
It wasn’t long after Saul had become king that we began to see what was really going on in his heart. If you remember, Saul and his army were about to go into battle against the Philistines, and he wanted God’s blessings to be with him and his army.
I guess there was nothing wrong with wanting God’s blessings before going into a war. However, the problem came because he became impatient; he was told to wait seven days for the prophet Samuel to arrive, but his patience ran out. So, he decided to go ahead and present a burnt offering to the Lord himself, 1 Samuel 13:1-9.
Like most of us who are impatient, he came out with an excuse when Samuel finally arrived and asked him what he had done. Saul’s excuse was that he ‘felt compelled’ to offer the burnt offering, when in fact he deliberately chose to offer the sacrifice knowing that this could only be done by the priests, 1 Samuel 13:12.
Saul was then told by Samuel that he would no longer be king and his kingdom would be taken from him because of his actions. Saul was a character who only thought about himself; he totally ignored God’s commandments and God’s direction.
He totally disobeyed God, and as a result, this demonstrated that he certainly wasn’t a man after God’s own heart, 1 Samuel 13:13-14. Notice that Samuel mentions that God was looking for a man after His own heart, a man who would become the new leader of Israel.
A little later, God sent Samuel to Jesse the Bethlehemite to find the next king from among his sons, 1 Samuel 16:1. When Samuel arrived, he was impressed with several of the sons of Jesse, but God didn’t want them, and so He helped Samuel to choose the right person.
We read here that God doesn’t judge people on their external appearance, but He looks at their hearts, 1 Samuel 16:7. In other words, God doesn’t fall for the façade that many people have today, with their false words and actions. God knew Saul’s heart and rejected him, and then He looked at David’s heart and chose him, 1 Samuel 16:10-13.
1. God chose David because He knew David would obey Him and do what God commands.
Saul did his own thing, what he wanted to do, Jeremiah 7:21-23, but David was obedient to God and His commands, Acts 13:21-22. Notice that God says that David, ‘will do everything I want him to do’, this implies obedience.
Saul did his own thing and didn’t want to obey God because he wanted to please himself, but David felt compelled to obey God in order to please God. In other words, David cared about what God cared about, he desired what God desired, and his heart sought after the things that God sought after.
This is exactly what we see in Christ when He lived His life, Luke 2:49 / Luke 22:42. No one can have the heart of God if they don’t obey God and carry out His commands.
2. God chose David because He knew David would love Him more than anything else.
This was something else which Saul lacked. We can’t tell God that we love Him if we’re not willing to obey Him, John 14:15. These simple words of Jesus are very clear, but many people struggle to keep His commands.
Many people claim that they love God but totally ignore His commandments. Maybe the reason they struggle to keep His commands is simply that they struggle to truly love God in the first place.
David loved Saul but he loved God more, hence why he obeyed God rather than obeying Saul. We only have to turn to the Psalms to find that many of them were written by David, not Saul.
Many of the Psalms which David wrote were all about God; there are many which are love songs, which reveal his heart’s desire and love for God. Many of the Psalms were written by David, and they reveal that David had a real passion for God; he really wanted to know God, Psalm 42:1-2. It’s clear that David only wanted to worship God, whilst Saul just wanted to worship himself, 1 Samuel 18:8.
3. God chose David because He knew David would lead people and not follow people as Saul did.
We can always tell what kind of relationship a person has with God by the way they interact with others around them. We see this difference in the character of Saul and David, Saul wanted nothing more than to be praised by those around him, and as a result, he ended up following people, rather than leading them, he ended up obeying people rather than obeying God, 1 Samuel 15:24.
While Saul desired the praise of men, David was the absolute opposite, he successfully led people because he was following God’s lead and was obedient to Him. As a result of following and obeying God, he successfully encouraged people to do what was good and right in the eyes of God.
We see this on one occasion when he had an opportunity to kill Saul because His men were encouraging him to do so, but David encouraged them not to do so because he wanted to please God instead, 1 Samuel 24:4-7.
It’s in these verses that we see that David ‘persuaded his men’ while Saul was persuaded by men. We see that Saul wanted to carry out his own vengeance, but David left the matter in God’s hands, 1 Samuel 24:12.
David never tries to win the hearts of people; he only wants to win the heart of God and as a result, he became a great leader because he not only loved God more than anything else, but he also fully obeyed Him.
4. God chose David because He knew David would come to hate sin as He hates sin.
People often wonder how David could be a ‘man after God’s own heart’ when he sinned many times against the Lord. The two most memorable sins were when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, murdered on the battlefield, 2 Samuel 11:1-16.
David didn’t live a sinless life, but as His love for God grew stronger, he came to hate sin as God hates sin. Psalm 32 tells us of David’s repentance and sorrow over his sin.
We see this especially in Psalm 51, after the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 12:1-23, David is clearly repenting of his sin with Bathsheba.
While being a man after God’s own heart is about obeying God, having the same desires as God’s heart, and seeking to please God rather than people, a man after God’s own heart also repents deeply when he knows he’s failed.
David deeply loved God more than anything else, and he obeyed His commands, Jeremiah 9:23-24. He learned to hate sin as God hates sin, Romans 6:23; he grieved over his sin as God grieves when we sin, Genesis 6:6. He wanted to lead people in the ways of God, rather than allowing people to lead him into sin.
God knows that none of us can live a perfect life like His Son Jesus did, 1 Peter 2:22-24, but He still desires that His people will have hearts ‘after His own heart’. He still desires that we love God more than anything else, 1 John 5:3. He still desires that we obey His commands, John 14:21.
He still desires that we hate sin and refrain from sinning, Romans 6:1-14. He still desires that we lead people to Him and encourage them to obey His commands, Matthew 28:18-20. He still desires that we live a holy life because He is a holy God, 1 Peter 1:15-16. The question is, do you desire what God desires? Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Earlier, Saul had about three thousand in his regular army, 1 Samuel 13:2, but now he is down to six hundred, 1 Samuel 13:15, because many soldiers scattered while Saul waited for Samuel. The loss of so many men was probably the reason why Saul offered the sacrifice without Samuel, and it displayed a heart of distrust and disobedience to God.
Whilst Saul, Johnathon and the other men were at Gibeah, 1 Samuel 13:16, the Philistines just went on the rampage, 1 Samuel 13:17-18. With such a large army, they could go wherever they wanted, as no one could stop them. They were a fearless and fearsome army against Saul and Israel.
These verses explain the sad state that Israel was in during the oppression of the Philistines. The Philistines had all the best weapons, and they wanted to make sure Israel didn’t have any means of obtaining and making their own, 1 Samuel 13:19.
We can imagine the Philistine blacksmiths, even though they charged each Israelite a small amount of money to sharpen the plough points, mattocks, axes, forks, and sickles, would never sharpen them too much so they could be used as a weapon, 1 Samuel 13:20-21.
There were so few iron weapons available that only Saul and Jonathon possessed one, 1 Samuel 13:22. The other Israelites would have to use whatever was available to them, Judges 20:16.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It is very likely that in the former wars the Philistines carried away all the smiths from Israel.’
As we shall see in the next chapter, it was because of this oppression from the Philistines that Jonathan initiated a personal attack against the Philistines, 1 Samuel 13:23.