Greg Chandler
03/11/18
Many are longing for spring, with mental preparations well underway to enjoy warm afternoons, blooming flowers, cookouts, and all of the accoutrements of this season of renewal. With all the good, however, there also comes the bad. Inevitably, weather patterns will produce violent spring storms that will leave paths of destruction in their wake. The same can be said of the angry man.
King Saul began his royal career with a great promise from God: “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies” (I Samuel 10:1b ESV). At first, Saul acted as a faithful monarch; however, this changed when his plans began to differ from the commands of God. Because of his disobedience, the Lord told Saul the kingdom would be taken from him and given to a man after God’s own heart. While returning from battle with his trusted soldier David, Saul realized that the plan of God was being put in motion. Commemorating the great victory that Israel had accomplished, the women of Israel sang a song to the triumphant king and his trusted companion: “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (I Samuel 18:7). As the singers vocalized their shocking lack of discretion in celebratory song, the king “changed his tune” with David, with the text recording that “Saul eyed David from that day on” (I Samuel 18:9). Like a summer storm, this angry man left a wake of destruction in his path. Consider the following people who were hurt because of the king’s out of control emotion:
-David: a faithful servant who was unwilling to hurt the king even when given the opportunity
-Merab: Saul’s older daughter who was used as a potential pawn to trap David
-Michal: Saul’s younger daughter who was used as a pawn to trap David
-Jonathan: Saul’s son who became a target for his father’s spear due to his friendship with David
-Jesse and wife: David’s parents who became refugees in Moab to stay out of Saul’s grasp
-Ahimelech: the priest who was murdered for helping David while thinking he was helping Saul
-The priests of Nob: innocent men killed because of Saul’s angry tirade against Ahimelech
-Women and children of Nob: families of the priests who were also slaughtered in his wrath
-Samuel: a faithful old man who anointed Saul and watched his sinful demise
-People of Israel: citizens left in harm’s way as their king focused military attention on David
-Abinadab and Malchi-shua: sons of Saul who were killed with their father and Jonathan
Others could perhaps be included on this list; yet, note the destruction caused by sin and a refusal to repent. Angrily, Saul let no one stand in the way of his attempt to kill David. Sadly, his own family and numerous innocent souls were hurt or killed in the storm. It is no surprise that the wise man Solomon stated, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). If only Saul had demonstrated this self-control.
An important lesson learned from the life of Saul is the danger that anger poses to a family. While God provided little information on Saul’s wife, it surely must have been devastating to watch a husband’s fall into paranoia that led to the manipulation of two daughters and the deaths of three sons. From a son’s perspective, Jonathan was forced to side against his father and with David (actually with God) to the point of having a nearly fatal experience as his father threw a spear to kill him. Anger destroys families. This is why the apostle Paul admonished fathers to maintain control: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). A parent’s wrath begets a child’s anger, leading all involved into a spiritual downward spiral. Whether one is a mother, father, husband, wife, or child, anger must not be allowed to erode the foundation of love within a home.
Another important lesson learned from Saul is that destructive anger can wreak havoc on those seeking to do what is right. In seeking to aid the cause of the king, Ahimelech unselfishly aided David. This resulted not only in his own death, but also the deaths of all the citizens of the priestly city Nob. Sadly, the history of Christianity has demonstrated the same type of spiritual destruction. Disagreements in local churches have resulted in angry men leaving wakes of destruction within their path. Such problems can only be avoided when the inspired message of the apostle Paul is meticulously followed: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4:26). While both personal and doctrinal disagreements will arise among the people of Christ, anger should never be the tool used to address these problems. The negative results of such an approach could prove eternal in consequence.
Ultimately, King Saul teaches the danger of demonstrating anger towards God. Though many suffered at his hand, it was God who had angered the king. Unable to directly challenge Him, the king’s anger was vented on those who he saw as players on the Lord’s side. What a different outcome could have been possible had Saul only repented of his rebellion against the Lord. Though the kingdom might have still been stripped from him, he could have spent his remaining days as a better and wiser man, seeking to help others avoid his mistakes. Sadly, Saul’s life teaches that anger blinds one to the ways of godliness. Christians do well to heed the admonition written by James: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (1:19-20). A wise man allows nothing to blind him to the path of God.
In learning from King Saul, the tired old anecdote of history teachers rings true: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” May every child of God pay careful attention to the dangers of out-of-control anger. May every child of God remain fully in control of his or her emotions and never allow actions to leave a wake of destruction. May the history of angry King Saul not have been recorded in vain.