The major problem with Saul as King was his tendency to ?do as he wanted, or as he felt in his heart!?? With the bad situation in Israel with the idolatry on the rise and the depletion of the prophets except Samuel, Saul would have been the very replacement needed to buffer the waning love that should have been shown Jehovah God.? Saul was a bitter disappointment.? When David came on the scene, a ?man after God?s own heart,? obstinate Saul furthered his contempt for the plan of God by trying to stop the plan God had in mind from the beginning of what we know as ?time.?? This plan was the sending of His only begotten Son to reign over His people.? David was the next step in that plan.?
???? In 1 Samuel 3:1 we learn that the word of God was rare in the days when Samuel was a child.? The rise of the companies of prophets during his tenure as ?the? prophet and the designation employed in 1 Samuel 19:20 for Samuel teach us that Samuel was self appointed over them.? Again, with the downfall of the sanctuary at Shiloh and the Ark of the Covenant being taken away by the Philistines, the presence of God in the midst of His people was not existent.? (Shiloh, a city in the tribe of Ephraim about 13 miles North and east of Bethel, was the city with the isolated hill which could easily be defended either against the Canaanites or the Philistines.? Here, the children of Israel under Joshua assembled after the first phase of the conquest of Canaan and set up the tabernacle, thus making Shiloh the capital city of Canaan under the theocracy.? Here, it remained till the days of Samuel, about 400 years later, when the Ark of the Covenant was removed in a battle with the Philistines as mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:3.? From here the Ark of the Covenant wandered until the days of Solomon?s Temple.? From the time of the removal of the Ark, Shiloh gradually lost its importance, and especially when David made Jerusalem the capital of the kingdom.? This loss of importance was principally because God ?forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men.? Psalms 78:60? ?In the days of Jeremiah, Shiloh was in ruins. Jeremiah 7:12,14)
???? After the death of Samuel the prophetical bodies seem to have died out, not to re-appear until the time of Elijah and Elisha (and then only in the northern tribes).? There were no hereditary demands on these groups in any period.? Furthermore, they then received a new designation, namely, ?sons of the prophets.?? ?Much has been studied about this group, the word ?son? did not intend to express actual son-ship but a close association such as might be understood by a term like discipleship. When the great writing prophets appeared on the scene, the ?sons of the prophets? disappeared.?? ??????????????
???? ?When Saul went to ?arrest? David, he found himself, again, ?fighting against God.?? God had moved on, Saul was king in name, only (as some congregations, some in their marriages), waiting the appointed time so all would know just who are the dead!! ?The Spirit had already LEFT Saul, saints/men who are alive in Christ and continue to be unequally yoked with the dead (those who have turned away from God and denied the Christ who bought them) CAN be destroyed IN THIS false association!! ?The living church/saint sometimes gives up in despair, spiritually and changes the message or leaves the church.? God had had enough of Saul. ?God?s heart was with the king who would bring righteousness physically and spiritually to this world.? What are we to learn from this example of 1 Samuel 19:19-24, but another great truth-?if God can give up on someone, should not His children do the same??? Some eldership can not see or ?mark? the true sinner, but they can ?mark? the innocent who the guilty destroy along with their saints/children who have to live in that mess.? Our faith must be in God!!
