King Sual becomes king...

[Greektim]

Why is it that I hear so many people give the reason that Saul was chosen to be king was that he was good looking and taller than everyone else?

Did not God choose Saul? Saul was presented as king before the people even saw him. Why do people keep pushing this agenda?

 

[Amy.G]

It's both. The people wanted Saul because he looked kingly. He was tall and good looking. He came from money and stature.

God appointed Saul, but he was not God's real choice. God's choice of king of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah. God gave the people what they wanted, but with a warning. So once again, they turned their backs on God in favor of a man and to be like the pagan nations around them.

 

[Greektim]

It's both. The people wanted Saul because he looked kingly. He was tall and good looking. He came from money and stature.

God appointed Saul, but he was not God's real choice. God's choice of king of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah. God gave the people what they wanted, but with a warning. So once again, they turned their backs on God in favor of a man and to be like the pagan nations around them.

Where does it say that the people chose Saul and chose him b/c he was tall and good looking no less?

 

[Jerome]

Why do you think his physical stature was highlighted in Scripture?

 

[Iconoclast]

19Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

20That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

22And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

1Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

2And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

 

[Greektim]

19Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

20That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

22And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

AGain... this does not say what has long been proposed. If anything, the people chose to have a king besides God. So God gave them a king they deserved. But it never said that Saul was chosen by the people nor did it say that they chose him based on his looks or stature.

 

[Greektim]

Why do you think his physical stature was highlighted in Scripture?

Considering the way David treated Saul as presented in Samuel (benevolent), it should not surprise us that the political motive behind it was to show that Saul was never mistreated or ill-conceived nor was he ousted from his throne by David. The negative picture of Saul was of his own actions and words. The writer of Samuel had a clear motive behind mentioning certain things, even mentioning similar stories often (David sparing Saul's life 2 x's). Read in that light, in it is no wonder why David's claim to the throne of Israel was left w/ little doubt. He never once usurped. And the one chronicling Saul in the book of Samuel was clearly unbiased in his presentation of Saul. That is very important politically and theologically.

I think interpretations that jump to the conclusion that Saul was chosen by the people for his looks and stature is not only short-sighted (cause its not in the text) but misses the point of the book of Samuel.

 

[Greektim]

bump? _