1 Samuel 13
Saul was king from the age of 30 till the age of 72, a period of 42 years,
I does not say how long Saul had been king when things started to go wrong for him, but it started with attacks that Saul made against the Philistines with a relatively small army, which afterwards he sent as messangers to rally the rest of Israel to fend off the retaliation of the Philastines.
The Philistine army was very powerful - 3000 chariots each with 2 men, and foot soldiers too numerous to count.
The Israelite army saw this and promptly hid in caves, bushes, anywhere they could find cover and some even ran away completely as Saul waited a full week before committing to battle.
Saul had arranged for Samuel to come and carry out sacrifices to God but the arranged day had come and there was no sign of Samuel, so Saul took matters into his own hands and conducted the sacrifice to God himself rather than more of his soldiers go AWOL.
Just as he finished, Samuel turned up and demanded what Saul had done.
Saul pointed out that Samuel was late, his army was fast deserting and he had not sought God's favour before the battle and felt compelled to make the sacrifices himself.
Samuel told Saul that his kingdom would not stand, he had crossed a line between the faith and the state and that his line would not endure. Remember that it is the job of the priest to offer sacrifices.
It is interesting at this stage that Israel was quite behind in the technology of warfare, Israel had no blacksmiths and they had to get farm implements repaired and sharpened in a Philistine smithy, and only Saul and his son Jonathan had a proper spear or sword
Saul was king from the age of 30 till the age of 72, a period of 42 years,
I does not say how long Saul had been king when things started to go wrong for him, but it started with attacks that Saul made against the Philistines with a relatively small army, which afterwards he sent as messangers to rally the rest of Israel to fend off the retaliation of the Philastines.
The Philistine army was very powerful - 3000 chariots each with 2 men, and foot soldiers too numerous to count.
The Israelite army saw this and promptly hid in caves, bushes, anywhere they could find cover and some even ran away completely as Saul waited a full week before committing to battle.
Saul had arranged for Samuel to come and carry out sacrifices to God but the arranged day had come and there was no sign of Samuel, so Saul took matters into his own hands and conducted the sacrifice to God himself rather than more of his soldiers go AWOL.
Just as he finished, Samuel turned up and demanded what Saul had done.
Saul pointed out that Samuel was late, his army was fast deserting and he had not sought God's favour before the battle and felt compelled to make the sacrifices himself.
Samuel told Saul that his kingdom would not stand, he had crossed a line between the faith and the state and that his line would not endure. Remember that it is the job of the priest to offer sacrifices.
It is interesting at this stage that Israel was quite behind in the technology of warfare, Israel had no blacksmiths and they had to get farm implements repaired and sharpened in a Philistine smithy, and only Saul and his son Jonathan had a proper spear or sword
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