1Sa 13:1 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter Saul is put to the test. gives a translation difficulty. In the first part of the verse the number [thirty] is not in the original, which is indicated by the square brackets, as is also the case with the number [forty]. Both numbers are added by the translators. Literally it says: ”Saul was … years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel.” That he reigned two years over Israel, means that he is in government for two years when what is then described takes place. It is God’s purpose to deliver His people from the power of the Philistines through Saul. The test is whether Saul wants to do this in dependence on Him. The point is not so much whether he can do it, but whether he will do it the right way. Why is he tested? To show what is in him: faith or self-enforcement. This is often the reason why we are tested. Why do not all the servants of the Lord fall? Because in those who remain standing the second man, Christ, is seen. Those who fall live after the first man, Adam, who felt in sin. Saul falls because he lives after the first man. He falls because he has no real faith in God and therefore comes under the power of circumstances.

‏ 1 Samuel 13:1

Saul Reigns

In this chapter Saul is put to the test. 1Sam 13:1 gives a translation difficulty. In the first part of the verse the number [thirty] is not in the original, which is indicated by the square brackets, as is also the case with the number [forty]. Both numbers are added by the translators. Literally it says: ”Saul was … years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel.” That he reigned two years over Israel, means that he is in government for two years when what is then described takes place.

It is God’s purpose to deliver His people from the power of the Philistines through Saul. The test is whether Saul wants to do this in dependence on Him. The point is not so much whether he can do it, but whether he will do it the right way. Why is he tested? To show what is in him: faith or self-enforcement.

This is often the reason why we are tested. Why do not all the servants of the Lord fall? Because in those who remain standing the second man, Christ, is seen. Those who fall live after the first man, Adam, who felt in sin. Saul falls because he lives after the first man. He falls because he has no real faith in God and therefore comes under the power of circumstances.