And Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah which he kept not, and also for having inquired of the spirit of Python, asking counsel of it;
The chapter tells how Saul died, then stops the story to explain it. Here is God's own account of why a king died and a kingdom changed hands. It raises a hard question, because 1 Samuel 28 says Saul did ask the LORD.
Chronicles skips Saul's reign. It gives his family line, then his death, then this verdict. One commentator explains why.
1 Chronicles 10 seems to begin abruptly; it brings us at once into the closing scenes of Saul's life. No record of his life in Chronicles, only God's summary of it — a summary that covers his life, death and judgment in a few words... Saul passes before us like a ghostly vision, except for the reality of God's judgment upon him. David comes into view as abruptly as Saul, with no record of his previous life; only his lineage, as with Saul. And surely the reason is plain. These men are not so prominent for their own sake. The kingdom is in the mind of God, and the Holy Spirit hurries to present it.
Scripture uses the same word for a whole class of sins. One commentator lists them.
A wife guilty of unfaithfulness to her husband committed a trespass (Num. 5:27). Aaron and Moses sinned this way at Meribah Kadesh (Deut. 32:51). Achan, the troubler of Israel, trespassed in the devoted thing (Joshua 7:1). Scripture describes Saul, too, as a trespasser, when he disobeyed about Amalek (1 Chron. 10:13)... In all these cases we can trace the special mark of the sin that needed a trespass offering. In one way or another, the sin cheated God, or man, of what was their due.
Which command did Saul break? One commentator names it. He quotes an older translation, which says "Jehovah" for "the LORD" and "the spirit of Python" for "a medium."
Saul did "not listen to the voice of Jehovah" nor "carry out His fierce anger against Amalek" (v. 18). Moreover, besides not keeping "the word of Jehovah," he had "inquired of the spirit of Python, asking counsel of it, and he did not ask counsel of Jehovah" (1 Chr. 10:13). Disobedience and independence mark man without God. Despite all appearances, Saul was one of these.
Saul knew what he was doing when he consulted a medium. He had once driven such people out of the land himself.
He well knew it was an unholy source, and one forbidden by God; for he himself had at one time driven out of the land those who consulted spirits of the dead and those who practised sorcery. The witch at Endor reminded him of this. It was a last warning, if he would have taken it, to stop in his downward course. Death was the penalty attached to the sin of consulting such people (Lev. 20:6). In Saul's case that penalty fell on him (1 Chron. 10:13).
1 Samuel 28:6 says Saul inquired of the LORD. Chronicles says he did not. The two books describe different things.
Samuel records the outward act; the Holy Spirit in Chronicles pronounces the judgment of God upon the inward condition of his soul. The pressure of despair wrung a useless cry to the Lord out of his heart. But there was no real turning to Him — and He never shuts out the most despairing cry from a soul that is truly broken. All help was gone, and in his fear he inquires of the Lord whom he had habitually disobeyed and neglected.
Saul's death is not the end of the account. The throne changes hands.
There was both the disobedience to God's word, and the seeking of a word that was not from God, but from the devil. "And did not inquire of Jehovah: therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse." But Chronicles leaves out all the events in between. It is the purpose of God that is the point here — not history, not responsibility, but purpose, divine purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.
Even at the end, Saul's case was not closed.
It shows us that even at the very last, he might have turned to Him whom he had so deeply dishonoured. How much better it would have been if he had died saying with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust," or with Esther, "If I perish, I perish."
- Unfaithful. Scripture names Saul's sin a trespass — the class of sin that cheats God or a neighbour of what is rightly theirs.
- Unlistening. The command he broke was the word about Amalek. Disobedience and independence marked him, whatever the outward appearance.
- Unlawful. He consulted the very mediums he had once driven out, and the law's death penalty fell on him.
- Unturned. He cried to God in panic, yet Chronicles reads his heart and says he did not inquire. Fear is not repentance. The door to real turning stood open to the end.
- Unstoppable. Behind the ruin, God's purpose moves: the kingdom passes to David, and Chronicles hurries past the man to get to the throne.
and he asked not counsel of Jehovah; therefore he slew him, and transferred the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
This verse is God's verdict on the king Israel had asked for, and it ends with the crown passing to David. Two questions hang over it: why it names a medium beside his disobedience, and why it says he never sought guidance when Samuel says he asked.
The missing years are not an oversight; God's own summary stands in their place.
1 Chronicles 10 opens abruptly. It takes us straight into the closing scenes of Saul's life. Chronicles keeps no record of his life — only God's summary of it, which covers his life, death and judgment in a few words... Saul passes before us like a ghost, except for the reality of God's judgment upon him.
The man himself explains the silence.
Saul was the man of the people's choice, but he was a dreadful disappointment... In all his life he never seems to have truly come into the presence of God. Everything he did came from the flesh, and he saw things only as man sees them.
The verse names a failure and a substitute for it — what he refused, and where he went instead.
There was both the disobedience to God's word, and the seeking of the word that was not of God, but of the devil. But all the circumstances in between are left out. What matters here is the purpose of God — not history, not responsibility, but purpose, divine purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.
One writer finds these same two charges laid against every sinner in the New Testament.
Here God gives the reason for His final judgment on Saul. It is the same reason as for every sinful man: disobedience and departure from God. And it is striking that these are the very words we meet again in Ephesians 2, the chapter that proclaims the sinner's condition of death: "sons of disobedience" and "without God in the world."
Samuel records that Saul did inquire of the Lord. Chronicles says he did not. The two books look at different things.
Samuel records the outward act. The Holy Spirit in Chronicles gives God's judgment on the inward condition of his soul. Despair squeezed a useless cry out of his heart, but there was no real turning to Him. And He never shuts out the most desperate cry from a soul that is truly broken.
Faith can be imitated, but only up to a point.
He had no faith in God, but in the witch of Endor; therefore he did not inquire of the Lord. In earlier days he had clothed himself with zeal as with a garment. Extreme danger strips him of his borrowed robe, and he appears in his own naked unbelief.
Saul had once obeyed God's word on this very subject.
Saul acknowledged Jehovah, but persecuted the chosen of the Lord. At one time he tried to rid the country of the mediums of that day, as the word of the Lord commanded. Yet when a time of testing fell on him, he turned to spiritism for help. So he asked for punishment to match his own dealings with others.
Saul's case was not hopeless until it was over.
Saul's end shows us that even at the very last, he might have turned to Him whom he had so deeply dishonoured. How much better if he had died saying with Job, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him"; or with Esther, "If I perish, I perish."
The second half of the verse is not an afterthought. Israel had asked for a king and got one; his fall clears the way for God's own choice.
God had given Saul to Israel in the flesh, just as they had asked. That kingship could only end in complete failure. From then on God would act according to the counsels of His sovereign grace. He "turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse."
The change, once it came, came fast — and points forward.
The Lord turned the kingdom over to David. It was a wonderful turning. As soon as the one who stood in the way was removed, all Israel sought David and said, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh," and the blessing came... Something brighter still will come when Israel, after a deeper fall, rises to a higher position of glory.
- Word kept, or not. The first charge is the plainest: God's word came to Saul and he did not keep it. Everything else in the verse grows out of that.
- Inquiry misdirected. Having refused God's word, he sought a word elsewhere — not from God, but from the devil.
- Heart exposed. Samuel records that he asked; Chronicles records that he never really turned. God's verdict reads the inward condition, not the outward act.
- Judgment fell. His death was God's own act, and yet to the last moment he could still have turned back.
- Kingdom transferred. The man Israel chose fails. The throne passes to God's own choice — and a brighter day still waits for Israel.