King Saul

King Saul

Kind Saul serves as a mirror for uncovering our faults by emphasizing on need for reconciliation. Early Christians persecuted King Saul who was chosen by Jesus Christ to be his evangelist to the Gentiles. The God favored Saul until he obeyed him and lost it the moment he disobeyed. Kind Saul made a fatal mistake by failing to fulfill God’s order of destroying Amalekites and their possessions. The favor was gone and God appointed prophet anoint David as a king. The story of Saul serves as a guideline for Christians of all generations to follow Lord’s order and refrain from neglecting their duties towards God.

The model of King Saul transmits the themes of obedience, dependence, punishment and reconciliation. The story of Saul sets a practical example that God is the one who control the universe and humans. It is thus obligatory to fulfill his orders. The story also sets the theme for transmitting the theme that God is capable of punishing those who fail to accept his orders. ‘Reconciliation’ is the image of salvation which explains the self-righteous state of man. Bible stresses on reconciliation for revealing the depth of human fall and recovery CITATION Sau89 \l 1033 (Vetus, 1989). Reconciliation as image of salvation addresses the problem of sin by encouraging humans to accept their evil and accept Jesus’s teachings. This is a stage when Christians realize that Jesus Lord was the savior of humans and died due to Christians sins. Salvation addresses the problem of human sins as the concept of salvation is viewed through liberation, existential, secular, contemporary Roman and evangelism theologies. Salvation is important for the Christians because it saves the people as christens claims “we have been saved”. Obedience is linked to the themes of justification, sanctification, and glorification. It highlights the prevalence of worldly curse that threatens the lives of the people. The journey of the temporary world will last. The philosophy relies on the notion of influencing people to stay good to others and not only care about this world but also remember the concept of punishment.

The story of Saul tells not only about his failure of acting according to God’s will but is also explains the deeds of David. The story of King Saul exhibits the theme of punishment. Saul later explains that he carried the cattle to sacrifice for god. But this didn’t removed his sin of disobeying God. David acted in a different way by leaving the decision power with God. The conversation between two of them depicts, “but God forbid that I should lay a finger on God’s anointed. Now, grab the spear at his head and the water jug and let’s get out of here” (1 Samuel 26:10-11). This indicates that even when David gets the opportunity of killing Saul he controls his desire because he is focusing in fulfilling God’s will. The act of David reflects that he fear God and punishment.

The character of King Saul depicts that humans are sinful which exhibits the need for controlling themselves. This implies that human nature is sinful but they attain completeness of recovery. Theologian and biblical definitions imply that human beings encounter the problem of reconnecting to God and reestablishing their broken relationship. Bible defines reconciliation as, "for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10). The traditional theologian view reflects that humans are deficient in though, due to their separation from God CITATION Sau89 \l 1033 (Vetus, 1989)The secondary view presents the horizontal problem explaining that individual adjustments are deficient to others due to the lack of fundamental harmony within the society and as a whole. The concept of reconciliation also indicates removal of the ruptures from the society and healing of the personal and social relationships. According to this view, it is crucial for humans to accept the status of Jesus and his teachings. It reflects relevance with the last judgment used as a theme for effectively displaying the elements of justice and punishment suffered by the predators CITATION Har041 \l 1033 (Harrison, 2004).

The story of Kind Saul addresses the problem of sin by encouraging humans to fulfil their duty by accepting obedience which leads to the right path. The notion states that the prevalence of evilness in the surroundings influence the nature of humans and also causes them to take certain actions. To improve the actions of humans, it is important to change their behavior by emphasizing on their duties towards the nature. There is another approach that stresses the conversion because it relies on the premise that the prevalence of evil in society is due to the existence of evil individuals CITATION Sau89 \l 1033 (Vetus, 1989). To eliminate social ills from society, it is important to remove the evilness of the people. The biblical views associate obedience with the connectivity of humans with God. Without changing the attitudes and nature of the people, it is not possible to attain a better and positive society. People, when accepting that everything belongs to God and that they have a moral and religious responsibility, they avoid sin. Everything belongs to God and he is capable of taking it back. The kingship of Saul was also taken back when he disobeyed God.

Kind Saul his kingship when he displeased God. This depicts that the most important duty of human beings is to please God by fulfilling his orders. Any human who acts against God’s will under influence of their wisdom or desire will face consequences. The themes of the story also reveals the idea that only God has the wisdom which indicated that knowledge of humans is limited. Human beings, however powerful must not rely on their self knowledge or wisdom. The strategy of Saul in the destroying Amalekites and their possessions was influenced by his wisdom. This was against God’s order of killing them and resulted in his demise CITATION Sau89 \l 1033 (Vetus, 1989). Through King Saul Christianity promotes the belief that anyone who stands against God’s decision will be damaged and destroyed.

It is stated that "God will restore all humans to the relationship with him for which they were originally intended” (MacArthur 1985, 110). Having belief on reconciliation I would be able to refrain from doing wrong. Saul’s story help Christians to focus on optimistic approach also known as particularism, claiming that the reward or punishment relies on an individual's responses to God. The view draws a line between reward and punishment like the good receive reward from Jesus and the bad receive punishments.

The analysis of biblical and theologian views confirms that there is relationship between human sinful nature and reconciliation as image of salvation because it brings them to a state of realizing that Jesus is savior. It is crucial for maintaining one's relationship with God, and the most common method is by following the teachings orders of Lord. Saul serves as an example for the Christians to refrain from disobeying God. People who act according to the orders of God for pleasing him are more likely to receive his favors and blessings.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Copeland, C. C. (2012). Creation Stories: Stanley Hauerwas, Same-Sex Marriage, and Narrative in Law and Theology . Law and Contemporary Problems .

Harrison, N. V. (2004). GREEK PATRISTIC FOUNDATIONS OF TRINITARIAN ANTHROPOLOGY. PRO ECCLESIA , 15 (4).

Vetus, S. Z. (1989). The Purpose of the Story of the Death of Saul in 1 Chronicles X . Vetus Testamentum , 39, 449-467.