I Chronicles 10:10 And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.
When I was just a kid, my best friend was a dead-ringer for his dad. He had a lot of characteristics like his dad and he looked a lot like his dad. This is true with many of us. We look like a dad or mom, or sometimes a grandparent. I remember oftentimes someone asking my friend, “Is your dad…?” and they would name his dad. And he would reply, “Well, I plead guilty.” As a seven-year-old I never knew what “pleading guilty” meant, but now I do. It means that he could not deny who he belonged to.
Jesus said to some religious Christ-rejecters, “You are of your father the devil.” Elsewhere the Bible says, “Glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We are going to give credit to somebody in this world and through our life, whether it is the devil or whether it is the Lord.
First Chronicles 10 tells us the tragic story of how King Saul died. The general context for the genealogies and this narrative itself are the Davidic kingdom, and that is because of the larger design God had for that kingdom and how it related to the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
In any event, verse 13 summarizes the story that precedes it by saying, “So Saul died for his transgression.” Who killed Saul? If you look at the first three verses, the Bible says, “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.” The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons and “the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.” Verse 6 says, “So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.”
In that sense, the Philistines killed Saul, but the Bible says in verse 14 that Saul did not inquire of the Lord. He did not follow or obey God; therefore, God slew him and “turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” That is the whole point. The whole point was that God was seeking a man after His own heart. Although David was far from perfect, he was a man who frequently inquired of the Lord, confessed his sins, and had a heart for God. On the other hand, Saul did not.
So, who slew Saul? The answer is that God did because Saul did not obey God, ask God, or seek God. The Bible says that he committed a sin “against the Lord, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD.” He asked of a devil and he did not ask of God. The result was that when Saul was dead and gone, God did not get the credit for Saul’s life because God had not been animating Saul’s life.
God’s answers were not the answers that guided Saul’s life. God’s commands were not the commands that guided Saul’s life. God’s power was not the power that empowered Saul’s life. For their part, the Philistines carried tidings of Saul’s death to their idols and their people. Verse 10 says, “And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.” They thought their god had given them triumph over Saul!
Nothing could be further from the truth. Yet how could the Philistines have possibly known the truth? When God’s people don’t live for God, they glorify those who oppose Him. Saul’s life seemed to indicate that Israel’s God was weak.
What we learn from Saul is that you will give credit to the one who animates your life. If some form of selfishness or idolatry is driving me then my life gives no credit to God. When I seek God and allow God’s Spirit to guide me, to provide for me, and to give me direction, then I glorify God.
The Philistines hung what was left of Saul and his armor in the house of their pagan god. Their idols got credit for Saul because God had not been enabling Saul. You will give credit to the one who animates your life. Today, seek to glorify God, not merely by being religious. You will glorify God when you ask His counsel, follow His direction, accept His enabling, and obey his commands.