The Fall of Saul

One

The Tragedy of Saul

One of the most tragic figures of the Old Testament is undeniably King Saul, the first King over the people of Israel. Chosen by God’s favor, anointed at the hands of God’s prophet, he starts out so strong! We read that he was tall, handsome, and stalwart. He’s modest and humble, with no ugly ambition. And at the beginning of his kingship, he is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and goes out valiantly to defeat Israel’s enemies.

He’s such a great guy! And then look where he ends up! Emotionally unbalanced, consumed with envy, tormented with fears of the future, and finally, in that last despair, his sons dead all around him, he commits suicide. How could such a good beginning, such a strong start, have such a dismal, tragic finish?

The answer is, that’s what we will all come to if we rely on our own human gifts and keep ourselves far from God.

Two

Lack of Religious Fervor

When you look at the story of King Saul, eventually you notice something that’s not there: prayer. 

King David is constantly praising God, invoking Him, thanking Him, and begging for His forgiveness. King David, for all his many sins, clearly recognizes that God is the most important thing. And he always seeks to remain in communion with Him.

Not King Saul. There’s no indication that Saul was religious in his youth. There’s no indication that he took his faith very seriously after he became king. In fact, as we’ll see, there were several times when Saul showed his utter indifference to God’s will and God’s law.

One time, actually, King Saul got caught up with a group of prophets and started prophesying himself. And it was so out of character for Saul to do anything like that, that the Bible tells us it turned into a kind of a joke: “So, even Saul is among the prophets, eh?”

In other words, Saul was, to put it in today’s phrasing, “Not very religious.” And that turned out to be not very good for his life.

Three

Thinking You Know Better Than God

Saul’s downfall really begins when he twice decides that he’s just going to go ahead and disobey God. Ironically, in one case he offers up a sacrifice when he’s not supposed to. And in the other case, he doesn’t offer up a sacrifice when he’s supposed to. Now here’s the thing: both times Saul had some plausible-sounding arguments for why he did what he did. And even after God’s prophet confronted him about it, Saul was ready with his justification: about how it just seemed to him that what he was doing was really the better move than what God had directed.

Now this is the common feature of everyone who doesn’t pray: eventually, they will just come across some situation where they think they know better than God, than the Scriptures, than the Church. And they will have really plausible-sounding arguments for their position. But again, what their position actually boils down to is, “I know better than God.”

When you say that, you are saying to God, more or less politely, “Thanks God, but I don’t need you. I got this.” And when you say that, God will respect it. He will leave you to handle things on your own. At that point, you will begin to be absolutely consumed by your vices and your life will begin to completely fall apart.

Four

Being Overwhelmed by Your Vices

Well, not long after Saul’s explicit disobedience to God, his character starts to really crack. He has fits of paranoia, sudden explosions of rage, and attacks of insane jealousy. Everybody has different deadly sins that they’re most vulnerable to, and without God’s grace and God’s law, eventually, you won’t be able to keep them at bay.

Saul’s distinctive temptations were apparently temptations to anger and envy. Before you know it, Saul is on a murderous rampage, consumed with envy for David, trying to kill him and anybody connected with him. Occasionally, Saul will suddenly see how unreasonable he’s being and he’ll make a resolution to stop. He decides that from now on, he’s going to do better. But he doesn’t appeal to God. He doesn’t ask for God’s help, God’s pardon, or God’s direction.

So of course his good resolutions continue to fail, and he falls right back into his self-destructive way of life. Until, finally, all that’s left of Saul is a panicked, despairing shell of his former self, plunging a sword into his own heart.

Five

What happens to “good people” without God

Here’s the takeaway from Saul’s story. There are a lot of people who start out with a lot of good qualities. They have a lot of impressive character traits and natural virtues. And even when they leave the faith, or show no interest in it, even then, for a long time, their life still seems to be going just fine.

But, of course, the hidden vices are still there in the soul, just like they are for everyone, only now they don’t have the clarity of prayer, the grace of the sacraments, and the moral teachings of the Church to help keep those vices at bay. And little by little, like slow weeds growing quietly, those vices are getting stronger, and filling up more and more of the soul. Until one day, those vices will own the person, and destroy their life.

So stay close to the Lord by daily Meditation and a resolution. Gather a small group of family and friends with whom you share life and pray. Personally invest one on one in those people.