King Saul—A Bungler from the Beginning

When creating the first woman, God says, “I will make [the man] a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18).¹

Emphasizing the words “for him,” the famous 11th-century Jewish exegete known as Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac) commented on this verse: “If he is worthy—a help; if he is not worthy—against him, for strife.” Rashi’s suggestion is that a man will get the spouse he deserves.

The same can be said, I will argue, for a people and its leader: The people will get the kind of leader they deserve. That, at least, is the seldom-noticed meaning of the appointment of Israel’s first king, Saul.

Saul was made king in response to popular demand: “Give us a king over us to judge us like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:19–20), the Israelites ordered Samuel. The people were thus rejecting God’s more direct leadership through charismatic judges who arose from time to time in response to God’s call. They were also rejecting the leadership of God’s prophet and judge, Samuel. In effect, they were inviting God to designate a king fit for an ungrateful, rebellious people.

When God reluctantly consented, he instructed Samuel to “make for them a king” (1 Samuel 8:22). The stress is on “for them,” that is, a king fit not for me (God) but a king fit for them. As Rashi might have phrased it, “a king against them, for strife.”