Saul was dealt a good hand in life: he was tall, dark and handsome — a natural born leader who was chosen to be king by the people of Israel. David, on the other hand, wasn’t dealt a very good hand by life’s circumstances. He was the youngest son of eight boys, a shepherd who spent long, cold nights and hot summer days tending the sheep alone and fighting off lions and bears.

He was obviously gifted, but when recruited to Saul’s court, he was persecuted and hounded by the king and ended up liv­ing in the wilderness, on the run for years. David’s early career was not exactly what many of us would label the “good life.” But in time he became Israel’s greatest leader and Saul’s life ended in disgrace and disaster.

So what was it that David had and Saul lacked? What was it that enabled David to win at life despite his disadvantages and why did Saul, despite all his advantages, fail to do the same? The answer to those questions comes to us in the stories that cover chapters 27-30 of I Samuel. The stories have been arranged by the author in such way that they provide a comparison and contrast of the two men and, most importantly, they reveal what made David a success and Saul a failure. Let’s begin by looking at King Saul’s actions as recorded in chapter 28.

Self-Reliance Leads to Spiritual Ruin

Here we find Saul preparing to fight the Philistines but his end is drawing near.

The Philistines had gathered together an enormous fighting force of thousands of men — an ancient version of “Shock and Awe” — and they had invaded the northern part of Israel. They had more men than the Hebrews but, of greater importance, they had iron weapons and chariots and Israel didn’t have much of either. In contemporary terms, it would be like going into battle against a massive army of tanks and armored personal carri­ers when you only had small, hand held weapons. You’re not only outmanned, you’re also outgunned. And according to vv. 4-5, when Saul sees the size and strength of the army that he has to fight, it utterly terrorizes him.

If we were in King Saul’s position and understandably afraid because we had to fight an enormous army with better weapons than ours, what would we do? My guess is that most of us would pray to God for His help. As the old saying goes, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” and that’s exactly what happens. Saul goes to the Lord but look at what happens: “He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her’” (vv. 6-7).