{"id":57394,"date":"2019-06-14T15:03:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T12:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57394"},"modified":"2023-01-08T14:12:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T12:12:24","slug":"the-saul-who-might-have-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-saul-who-might-have-been\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saul Who Might Have Been"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[643,503,885],"acf":{"old_id":"57394","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":57387,"related_cahpter":"241","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"He teaches us that we are our best selves when we are committed to those we love; not seeking out the grandeur of power","content":"

In I Samuel 9 we first meet Saul, Israel\u2019s first king. Saul\u2019s first appearance might be his best, as he is briefly an exemplar of the humility and commitment to others necessary for true leadership. It is complicated to look to Saul, whose failure defines him much more than success, as a positive example; however, the Saul of this chapter is the Saul who might have been, the Saul who had the potential to be a great leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the prophet Samuel informs Saul that he will rule the Israelites, he responds, \u201cBut I am only a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my clan is the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin! Why do you say such things to me?\u201d (9:21).<\/span><\/p>\n

This reaction recalls Moses\u2019 response to God upon hearing that he is to lead the Israelites out of Egypt: \u201cWho am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?\u201d (Ex. 3:11). Moreover, God says to both Moses and Samuel that \u201c<\/span>tza\u2019akat b\u2019nei Yisrael ba\u2019ah elai<\/span><\/em>\u201d (Ex. 3:9) \/ \u201c<\/span>ba\u2019ah tza\u2019akato elai<\/span><\/em>\u201d (I Sam. 9:16)\u2014\u201cIsrael\u2019s cry has come to Me.\u201d God hears the cry of the enslaved Israelites and enlists Moses to free them, and hears the cry of the Israelites suffering under poor leadership and, through Samuel, enlists Saul to become king. Only a leader with the capacity for greatness would so resemble Moses and his characteristic humility.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the words of humility that Moses and Saul utter are powerful, what most strongly characterizes these interactions with God\u2019s will is that they occur at mundane moments, in which Moses tends his father-in-law\u2019s sheep and Saul travels the region searching for his father\u2019s missing donkeys. Moses and Saul encounter destiny while serving their families\u2019 day-to-day needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saul\u2019s descent into paranoia and madness in later chapters proves God\u2019s warning at the end of chapter 8, that any king would abuse his power. The rhetorical power of Saul\u2019s character development relies on this first encounter with the Saul who searches the land for three days to find his father\u2019s animals and belittles himself rather than leaping at the opportunity to wield great power. This Saul is one who teaches us that we are our best selves when we are committed to those we love, and not when we seek out the grandeur of power. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Saul Who Might Have Been","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"He teaches us that we are our best selves when we are committed to those we love; not seeking out the grandeur of power","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":57395,"id":57395,"title":"isam9-donkeys","filename":"isam9-donkeys.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-saul-who-might-have-been\/isam9-donkeys\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam9-donkeys","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57394,"date":"2019-06-14 12:03:30","modified":"2019-06-14 12:03:33","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam9-donkeys-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111274,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394\/revisions\/111274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}