Do you have your Sauls?

I have the books of Samuel in mp3 form. Been listening to them here and there over the last few weeks as I drive to and from work. Quite the drama of Saul versus David.

Saul is King. Saul is really bent on killing David, running Saul's men all over the place in pursuit of this dog David.

David is on the run. There's a time when he's living in one of the cities of his enemies, having convinced the enemy he's now on their side. At other times, he's living in various caves. Yep, he's not safe at home; there's not really a home for him.

At some of David's actions, I stare blankly with eyebrows raised, uncertain what to make of them (killing this person, that person, wiping out someone's flocks). If some of those details weren't there, I'd more readily side with David. But overall, when I compare the lives of Saul and David as conveyed in the scriptures, I'm rooting for David, flaws and all. His having God's blessing or approval or annointing is a key part of that. His being the underdog is a key part of that. (His father Jesse went through all of his other sons first as likely choices when Samuel went looking for God's next annointed king. His response strikes me like this: "Do I have another son? Yeah, if you must know, there's David. He's... he's out there with the sheep. Seriously? David?")

On two different occasions, Saul has camped with his men while in pursuit of David, and David has snuck in and taken something and then alerted Saul from a safe distance that he was right there and could've taken his life, but far be it from him to touch God's annointed. And, one of those beautiful things about Saul, Saul has a reality check and responds with some humility, responds with kindness to David for David's kindness. Things are all better, well, at least till the next day or so when Saul is back to hating and pursuing David.

Quite a band of men has joined David. Men in flight themselves because they're not in the best place in their lives; they're in debt or are criminals or something; they don't fit in back home, etc. Strikes me they're a bunch of guys who aren't keen on answering to authority. I suspect they're also well aware that David has won several victories on Saul's behalf yet Saul now chases David in order to kill him--they have to be aware of this unfairness. I would think that that partly motivates them to side with the underdog. (And they all go off together and kill sheep and stuff.) They're on David's side, they don't like Saul, they know Saul's after their Main Man David, they've witnessed firsthand how David has spared Saul's life. These are all reasons that they should want to destroy Saul, I think. They are specifically aligned with David who is most certainly specifically being pursued by Saul.

Saul dies, commits suicide rather than be killed by the enemy. Along comes some enemy of Saul's who takes his body, cuts off his head, and sticks his body up on some wall for all to see. Accordingly, the pursuit of David is over. Someone comes to David with this report, no doubt wanting to be the bringer of news that would bring some relief to David (and some reward for the messenger?).

I'd be thinking that David and his band of debtors and rebels would let out a huge cheer. David started his flight from Saul alone, I think. Later, folks started coming alongside him. He now has this big group of guys following him around, fighting various tribes, and they have families back home somewhere. Certainly, it's settling in for them that there will a new form of rest (between flock slaughters), that this mean King Saul is no longer pursuing them. What a relief!

Yet what is their response? David goes into mourning. His men go into mourning. At the heart of their mourning: King Saul has been God's annointed, and now he was dead. There isn't mention of parties. The text is about them mourning. ("What...?")

That's been a fascinating thing to ponder. I have Sauls in my life. What can I learn from this? Am I supposed to learn something from this?

King Saul was a fascinating character. Throughout his life, he prayed to God, asked God for direction, praised God for outcomes, etc. Though I wouldn't consider him a godly figure, I still see those earmarks of God awareness, of not forgetting God. I see that in my Sauls as well: folks who go to church, talk to God, do beautiful things in other places. Of course: I'm not fond of any unresolved issues or injustice, any unrelenting opposition, any false claims against me, any withholding of love. Yet, there's an example here via David. Mourning, of all things; mourning that one who God had annointed had died. I guess David's focus was not on the interpersonal nastiness but rather on God--ala, "May YOUR name be set apart as holy. May YOUR will be done, here on earth just like it is in your heavenly dwelling." That's not my natural perspective, not my automatic response. I need reminders like this to correct my course.

I was out for a walk the other day, having just had a Saul nipping at my heels. I took verses with me to steer my thinking, the verses mentioned in the blog post just before this one. Those verses helped me again to strain to look the right direction: to God. I say strain because it is most definitely not a single moment where I just look toward God and am smiley and all's fixed and I've already forgotten what got me out on the walk. No, it's strain because it may only be 30 seconds before I'm back fomenting about whatever grievance and I have to shake my mental head to attempt to regrasp Who it is that I need to be looking to for my help, for my care, for my defense. I am to rest. I am to trust.

I doubt that David and his men mourned that the mean Saul guy was gone. I'm thinking that their mourning was over the tragedy of God's annointed gone bad. This world has gone bad. This isn't the best that God meant for. Mankind screwed it up. It's sad to lose loved ones. It's sad to lose enemies and never see resolution of losses. I don't know what all their mourning was about, but I think that a key part of it was out of respect for God, out of honoring God, out of conveying to God that they understood that things weren't the best that they should've been, and that the ideal was for all to follow God. They were God-centered in that gesture. That suprised me.