Reading for the Day: Saul as a Tragic Figure

I did some back reading on Saul and I've come to the conclusion that he is a tragic character, like John the Baptist. Saul does what he thinks is good rather than doing what he is told to do.

It seems his first transgression happens in 1 Samuel 13. Samuel tells Saul to go on ahead somewhere and he'd follow soon after to offer holocausts and to sacrifice peace offerings. (1 Samuel 10: 8) But when Saul sees the Philistines approaching, his soldiers leaving, and Samuel is nowhere in sight, Saul proceeds to make offerings without Samuel in order to prepare for battle. Samuel arrives after the offering and reprimands Saul.

Saul explains "When I saw that the men were slipping away from me, since you had not come by the specified time, and with the Philistines assembled as Michmash, I said to myself, "Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the Lord's blessing." So in my anxiety I offered up the holocaust."

Seems like a reasonable explanation but Samuel gets mad at him and calls him foolish for having disobeyed.

And then there's the episode I talked about here. God orders Saul to remove all traces of the Amaleks but Saul spares the king and also the choicest animals to offer to the Lord as a (pleasing) sacrifice. But Samuel gets mad at Saul for his disobedience.

Here's a guy who thought he was doing what is good but is punished by God for disobeying.

And it's all downhill from there.

Things pivot when he hears the women singing their song. And from there, he proceeds to try to kill David. Along the way, there are opportunities for him to have a change of heart. His son Jonathan talks to him. Samuel talks to him. In today's reading, David spares his life and in a future chapter, David spares his life again. But after the pivot, it was too late.

Saul wanted to please God. But his greatest sin was that he did not listen and obey.