the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, the first king of the
Israelites, 1 Sam. ix, 1, 2, &c. Saul’s fruitless journey when seeking
his father’s asses; (See _Ass_;) his meeting the Prophet Samuel; the
particulars foretold to him, with his being anointed as king, about A.
M. 2909; his prophesying along with the young prophets; his appointment
by the lot; his modesty in hiding himself; his first victory over the
Ammonites; his rash sacrifice in the absence of Samuel; his equally rash
curse; his victories over the Philistines and Amalekites; his sparing of
King Agag with the judgment denounced against him for it; his jealousy
and persecution of David; his barbarous massacre of the priests and
people of Nob; his repeated confessions of his injustice to David, &c,
are recorded in 1 Sam. ix-xxxi. He reigned forty years, but exhibited to
posterity a melancholy example of a monarch, elevated to the summit of
worldly grandeur, who, having cast off the fear of God, gradually became
the slave of jealousy, duplicity, treachery, and the most malignant and
diabolical tempers. His behaviour toward David shows him to have been
destitute of every generous and noble sentiment that can dignify human
nature; and it is not an easy task to speak with any moderation of the
atrocity and baseness which uniformly mark it. His character is that of
a wicked man, “waxing worse and worse;” but while we are shocked at its
deformity, it should be our study to profit by it, which we can only do
by using it as a beacon to warn us, “lest we also be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin.”
Israelites, 1 Sam. ix, 1, 2, &c. Saul’s fruitless journey when seeking
his father’s asses; (See _Ass_;) his meeting the Prophet Samuel; the
particulars foretold to him, with his being anointed as king, about A.
M. 2909; his prophesying along with the young prophets; his appointment
by the lot; his modesty in hiding himself; his first victory over the
Ammonites; his rash sacrifice in the absence of Samuel; his equally rash
curse; his victories over the Philistines and Amalekites; his sparing of
King Agag with the judgment denounced against him for it; his jealousy
and persecution of David; his barbarous massacre of the priests and
people of Nob; his repeated confessions of his injustice to David, &c,
are recorded in 1 Sam. ix-xxxi. He reigned forty years, but exhibited to
posterity a melancholy example of a monarch, elevated to the summit of
worldly grandeur, who, having cast off the fear of God, gradually became
the slave of jealousy, duplicity, treachery, and the most malignant and
diabolical tempers. His behaviour toward David shows him to have been
destitute of every generous and noble sentiment that can dignify human
nature; and it is not an easy task to speak with any moderation of the
atrocity and baseness which uniformly mark it. His character is that of
a wicked man, “waxing worse and worse;” but while we are shocked at its
deformity, it should be our study to profit by it, which we can only do
by using it as a beacon to warn us, “lest we also be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin.”