The life of Saul has all the elements of a Shakespearian tragedy which consists of the tragic hero (only great men are heroes), the tragic flaw, the tragic story, the supernatural fate, and the irony.
Saul is described in 1 Samuel as this distinctive, handsome man that becomes the first king of Israel. His military prowess reflects his courage and leadership. A great man and a great hero.
As with any tragic hero, he had flaws that caused his downfall. His stubbornness, his poor judgement and his manic jealousy of David caused him to lose the kingship and his life.
This drives Saul to endeavour to eliminate the illusionary threat to his royal crown by any means. After David killed Goliath and brought his head to Saul, he spent the remainder of his life pursuing David. Despite the two opportunities where David spares Saul’s life, he refused to let go of his pursuit, or perhaps he was so consumed that he COULD not let go.
When he is faced with the challenge to prove his military excellence as in the beginning of his life, he has disintegrated into a fearful man who had to find solutions from the supernatural.
Maybe partially influenced by the words of the image of Samuel that the witch of Endor called from the dead or on account of his fear and pride, Saul commits suicide by falling on his own sword when he realised that lost the battle against the Philistines.
His tragic life comes to an end and the enemy fastened his body to a wall at Beth- Shan.
The place Beth-shan only appears three times in the Bible and all three times in connection with Saul’s conclusion of the battle against the Philistines.
The irony of the life of Saul is captured in this name. The word beth in Hebrew means house, and the word sha’an means “of the undisturbed”. The place where Saul’s body was hung speaks of the contradiction in terms that is captured in the account of his visit to the witch of Endor.
On his request, the witch calls Samuel. The very first words that the man who was supposedly Samuel says are : “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up.”
The narrative of Saul’s life depicts as is the case with all tragedies, that the tragic flaw causes the hero in most cases to die, as is the case here.
Tragedies are epic stories that aim to bring across a critical message. This was no different in Saul’s case. The underpinning principal in this narrative is the importance of obedience to God. Saul’s life took a turning point when he disobeyed the word the Lord as brought by Samuel and spared the life Agag and the booty. He was instructed to destroy the Amalekites. When confronted with this, Saul resorts to lying to Samuel and excused his disobedience by the fact that the livestock was taken to offer to the Lord.
This is what Samuel says to Saul:
Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice
Behold to obey is better sacrifice and to listen as the fat of rams
For rebellion is as the sin of divination
And presumption is as iniquity and idolatry
Because you have rejected the Lord
He has also rejected you.
1 Samuel 15 : 22
In his letter to the Ephesians Paul in the New Testament addresses the issue of envy.
Therefor let us put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander, and be kind to one another, tender hearted and forgiving (Ephesians 4:31). This is the message that Saul should have heeded to avoid his tragic life, tragic story and tragic end.
