Saul/David: A Tale of Two Kings, part 1/3

A crown can hide a hollow heart, but the Bible has a way of exposing what’s really driving a leader. We tell a tale of two kings by tracing Saul’s story from an unexpected starting point: a search for lost donkeys. What looks like a small errand becomes a window into motive, because Saul quickly shifts from responsibility to self-preservation, even dressing it up with a respectable excuse. From there, we follow the pattern as it grows into fear, image-management, jealousy, and selective obedience. 

We also connect that instinct to the present day with a vivid modern example of leadership that avoids danger while others absorb the risk. The goal is not partisan commentary, but a moral mirror: when pressure hits, do we protect ourselves first, or do we keep faith with what we’ve been entrusted to do? Along the way we linger on 1 Samuel’s sharp line, “to obey is better than sacrifice,” and challenge the way “free will” can become spiritual-sounding cover for plain self-will. 

Then the contrast lands: David enters the royal narrative from the sheepfold. While Saul can’t be trusted to pursue what was lost, David is already guarding what was entrusted to him. That shepherd posture becomes the model of godly leadership and a test for every listener: who is on the throne of your heart right now? If this helped you think clearly about character, obedience, and spiritual priorities, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

A Tale Of Two Kings

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Christians. Good morning on this Lord's Day. Today I want to do this message that I call a tale of two kings. A tale of two kings. And what I'm going to be doing is drawing a comparison between David and Saul. Drawing a comparison between King David and King Saul. And so the verse that I want to use as my reference verse for this message is in 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 3. And it says this, and the asses of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul, his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise and go seek the asses.

A Modern Example Of Self-Preservation

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Before I begin, I want to bring up something that we've seen headlined in the news in the past week or so. The issue to me is not to have a conversation about politics, even though what we're dealing with in this context with Paul or Saul and David is very political. So the reference I want to make is to our president who it became known that he did not get on his airplane, the president's airplane, using it to be a decoy for a potential assassination attempt. So he was able to sneak off the plane into a food cart of some sort and was dragged off into another plane. While the rest of his other staff and press corps remained on the plane that he thought he should get off of because of a potential threat. A threat that, if it happened, it would have been taken out on those who were left on the plane. Something he admitted. This is, in essence, our king hiding in a food truck to leave others to potentially come to a demise which was intended for him. And knowing this was potential, a potential to happen, he decided to leave those people in harm's way. And then even suggested when asked by some of the press corps people, when they asked him about it, he told them, well, maybe, and I'm paraphrasing, they should consider some different, better professions. Now I say that to show, by way of an example, that very often you can tell very early what a leader is going to be like by the way they were before they became rulers and in the place of authority.

Israel Demands A King Like Others

SPEAKER_00 4:11

King Saul became king because the people, the Israelites, wanted to be like the other nations. They did not want the Lord to deal with them directly. They specifically said they wanted to be like other nations. They wanted to have a king so that they could resemble and be like other nations. They did not want God to be their ruler. They didn't want him. And we also know in their future that the Messiah who would come when he came, their attitude about a king had not waned in the least. And we saw what they did to our Lord at Calvary. And they still never stopped wanting a king. So they crucified him. But at this time they wanted, they still were looking for an earthly ruling king. The very thing that they were warned against when they received Saul as a king. So Saul, King Saul, he first enters the biblical narrative in connection. Look how his career begins. His career begins in connection with lost donkeys. Lost donkeys. And we read in the scripture in Psalm, now the asses of kings or of Kish's King Saul's father, they were lost. Saul's father owned donkeys, they were lost. And then he said to Saul, his son, Take the servants with you, arise, go seek the asses. And so at first glance, this circumstance would at first be taken historically. Without assigning too much detail by way of allegory, nevertheless, the placement at Saul's introduction is surprising. Because this is how he begins. This is what is happening when it is, when he is being summoned to become king of Israel. Notice something that Saul was not tending a flock that was entrusted to his continual care. He wasn't entrusted a flock to manage and to be concerned over and to take care for. But he was searching for animals that have wandered away from his father's possession. This is where he was at when he was called to be a king. And the donkeys being elsewhere can represent valuable property, obviously to his father. They can represent labor in the scriptures. They can represent the fact that they are burden-bearing animals. And they are also sometimes represented stubbornness in an animal having an untamed disposition, hard to rule and govern and manage. And yet there is no single symbolic meaning that should be mechanically imposed upon every one of these occurrences. But you get the idea that this is an animal of diverse dispositions. And depending on the biblical scenario, we will assign it that way. But

Saul’s Story Starts With Lost Donkeys

SPEAKER_00 8:35

what is significant in Saul's case is the way this narrative about Saul moves. He goes out seeking his father's lost animals. He's told to go find these lost donkeys. And Saul fails to find them. And in God's providence, he ends up being led instead to Samuel, who announces that the kingdom is to be given to him. So what I want you to do is to, as I go through this, I want you to look at this thing not only in terms of Saul himself, but look at it also in terms of God and your own soul. What kind of king governs the throne in your heart? If it is not God, who is this king that governs your soul? But bear with me as I go through this. You see, because Saul begins as a seeker of that which was lost, these donkeys. But he will ultimately prove that he is incapable of faithfully shepherding what God has placed under his authority. This is what is going to be easily discovered. There is also a revealing contrast between Saul's concern for the donkeys and his later conduct toward Israel. You will find out in short order when you read about Saul that he had never changed. His mishandling of the donkeys, his mishandling of the asses, was no different than how he handled Israel, those of whom he was put over their care. We're going to see this.

Saul’s Excuses Reveal His Heart

SPEAKER_00 11:14

And so, when the donkeys could not be found, Saul eventually proposes returning home because he fears that his father will not cease from worrying about him because of the animals. So he made it about him. When he couldn't find the animals that his father sent him out to look for, when he couldn't find the donkeys, he decides, let me go back home because my father is going to be too worried about me. He made it all about him. And we see this in 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 5. Look what it says here. And when they were come off the land of Zuf, Saul said to his servants that were with him, Come, let us return, lest my father leave carrying for the asses and take thought for us. He was told to go and find those donkeys. His father's donkeys. He goes, looks for them, and then he decides he doesn't want to look for them anymore. And the reasoning, the reasoning that he comes up with is that I'm not going to look for them anymore because my father is going to be worried sick about me. So I'm going to not do what he said to do, and I'm going to go back, and my excuse is going to be that I know you were worried about me. You see, this is Saul's mentality. And Saul's mentality never changes. But I can't wait till we get to David so you see the difference. And so we need to see these things. There is something natural, human, and commendable in Saul's pretended, dutiful concern. My father's going to be worried about me. He's going to be worried about me. He's going to sit worried about me. This is the man who's going to become king. This is the man who was good looking and head and shoulders above everyone. He looked like a king. He looked kingly. And it seems that he finds a great plausible excuse to cover up his lack of concern for others. See, this is a king that does not care about others. He does not care about obedience. He didn't care about his father worrying for him. He needed a plausible excuse that could be rationalized for him to go contrary to what he was told to do. This was King Saul. And so his rule as a king, when he became king, would eventually demonstrate natural virtues are not equivalent to spiritual qualifications. And these are the things that God requires of an anointed ruler. Spiritual qualifications, not earthly qualifications. And

Self-Will Disguised As Religion

SPEAKER_00 15:16

so Paul, Paul, Saul becomes repeatedly governed by circumstances that prevailed. He was governed by appearances, putting on a show. He was governed by popular pressure. And the pressure to be popular. This was Saul. He was governed by fear. He was governed by jealousy. We see this a lot with David. His jealousy controlled him. But his ultimate, his ultimate fault, his ultimate sin was seeing everything through the lens of self and self-preservation. Self-willed. And you have a brand of Christianity today that thrives on self-will as being the governing principle of what they believe is their spiritual life when it is actually just their natural life screaming out. Self-will. And I call these folks unbelieving Christians. Unbelieving Christians. In 1 Samuel 15, he preserves what God commanded him to destroy. God tells Saul to go and destroy a people, their king, burn everything, destroy everything. Saul goes over there and decides to bring the best of everything back. Even the king, Agag, he was told to go and do a job. Wipe everybody out, destroy that enemy. Destroy that enemy and take no prisoners and burn everything. Don't even bring back the booty. Whatever valuables they have, leave it there, burn it all. Get rid of it all. What does he do? He brings back valuables, he brings back the sheep, he brings back Agag, and when the sheep are first heard bleeding in the distance, he then lies to Samuel. We also see in chapters 18 through 26 that he expends an enormous amount of energy pursuing David, another man that God had chosen. God had chosen David to be king, Saul's successor, and Saul seeks to undo what God had anointed to be done to David. Keep in mind that there is a throne in our own hearts. Who sits on that throne? Because if it is anyone but the Lord Himself, it is Saul. And if it is Saul, it's you. Self-will and preservation. And we live in a day where Christians brag about it. Not only do they brag about it, they say that God gave me this free will to do what I want to do. Is this not the doctrine that King Saul held to? And think about what he says to his father, what he said to his friends about his father. Let me stop going after these donkeys because my father is going to be more worried about me. This is what we tell ourselves. This is what sinful men tell themselves. I need to look out for number one. But I'm a believer. I'm a believer. I need to do this because my father wants me to have this. And so the man who was once who once searched the countryside for his father's wandering donkeys, he would eventually begin to be a man who himself wanders spiritually. He became the very ass that he was told to go look for. He himself became a lost, wandering, spiritual soul. This is what he became. In 1 Samuel 15, verse 22, it says, To obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. And Saul possesses the outward office of a king while increasingly resisting the word of the king, who he has to answer to. His authority went to his head in such a way that he forgot who it was he was supposed to be rendering homage to and taking orders from. The Lord God of heaven. So these donkeys that King Saul started off his ministry, if you want to call it that, the donkeys therefore provide this backdrop to Saul's entire history. If you want to know about him, you see it in his conduct with related to these donkeys. His story begins with his father's possessions being lost, and his kingship ends with his father's house losing the kingdom entirely. Losing it entirely. And so even the beginning, even the beginning contains a series of providential ironies. There are so many ironic things that take place in his lives that we that we can see when we look at King Saul. There was nothing good about this man. He wasn't a believer. He wasn't a saint. He wasn't a real king. All he cared about was himself. And while Saul is preoccupied at the early parts with trying to find the donkeys, God has actually directed him toward a throne. And remember, this was not something God wanted to do. He did not want to put a king over his people. He wanted to continue dealing with them in the way that he had been doing. And when they begged for a king, he gave them exactly what they wanted. And Saul was exactly what they wanted. So in verse, in Samuel 9, verse 20, we see that the animals had already been found. And they are found before Saul even knows it. He has no idea, but they are eventually found. And so the earthly object of his search has effectively become irrelevant. Why? Because divine providence had another purpose for him. Yet Saul never learns consistently to prioritize the invisible over the visible. Even when he becomes king, he shows no concern for his father's losses. No concern at all for his father's losses. No concern for his father's house.

The Unseen Versus The Visible

SPEAKER_00 24:06

My favorite verse in all the Bible is Luke 249. When it is assumed by Mary and Joseph and the rest of their family that the Lord himself, when he was twelve years old, was lost. And after a day's journey, after figuring this out, they come back and they find him in the temple having discussions with religious leaders. And when they come back to him and they find him there, they start coming to him saying, Well, why have you done this to us? And then he said to them, this 12-year-old little boy, Don't you know that I must be about my father's business? Don't you know that I must be about my father's house? Saul was not a man about his father's house. David was, the Lord Jesus was, Saul was not about his father's house. If you are governing your own life's management, calling yourself a Christian, but you are the one that's on the throne, or perhaps sharing the throne of your own heart with God, you are not looking out for our father's house. You're looking out for you. You're looking out for you. The donkeys are found, and Saul knows nothing about it. Because his eyes are not set on the unseen. He is always focusing on what's in front of him. He was a greedy man. He was focused on the visible things, the material things, not the invisible things, which is where life is, which is where true understanding exists, in the invisible. The unseen things are the real things that we are to be looking forward to. And the invisible things are those things which are only seen with the eyes of faith, and through the eyes of faith. And so the divine command, he rejects in lieu of the temporal. God gives him a command, he ignores it, pursues the temporal. So he brings the goods and the sheep and King Agag back to camp. And God told him to go and destroy everything. To obey is better than sacrifice. He prefers the opinion and the perspective of man and not God's word. This is King Saul. He does what he wants. He becomes the donkey that he was supposed to go and find. King Saul. He repeatedly opens his hands to grasp what God tells him to relinquish. And he attempts to preserve everything God has determined to remove. This is his nature. This is the king that Israel wanted. And see, they wanted a king because they were just like him. They did not want a king. When Christ came, what did men say? Shall this man rule over us? Don't say that he is king, but say that he says that he was a king. This was what they wanted. And God gave it to them. And for lack of a better expression, he says, I'm going to give you what you asked for. I'm going to give you the very thing your free will, free will, desires. And you're going to chick on it. And you're going to see how he leads. And so Saul's tragedy is consequently one of possession, having no faithful stewardship at all. None. He receives a kingdom, but he behaves increasingly as though it were his possession and not something that was put to his trust by God. He believed that everything, when he was made king, everything belonged to him, everything was for him, everything was about him. And he was mistaken. He did not understand that he was in service to the greater king, entrusted to serve under the king as a king to the people. But that's not what he was. And so the last donkeys, they introduce a man who was searching for his father's property, and his later history would reveal a king that was desperately trying to retain a kingdom that his heavenly sovereign had declared to be forfeited. And then that kingdom that Saul forfeited was given to another. And that king would be David. It would be David. We remember we open up the talk about Saul being told by his father to go look and find the donkeys. Which, after a period of time of looking, he decided he doesn't want to look anymore. I'm going to go back because my father's going to be worry sick about me. Forget what I was told to do. I'm going to go back and I'm going to make the excuse that I came back because my father's going to be worried about me.

David The Shepherd King Begins

SPEAKER_00 31:10

David, his career as a king begins very differently. David was a man, he was an ignominious figure. Nobody knew who David was. David was not around people all the time. Because in contrast to Saul, who was supposed to be finding these donkeys, David enters the royal narrative from among the sheep. He was among the sheep. David was already, he was found with them. If you remember, when Samuel came to anoint David king, David had six other brothers. And starting from the oldest one, Jesse brought each one of his sons to Saul. Or to Samuel. And Samuel said, Nope, that's not him. They bring the next one. Lord, nope, that's not him. And so on. You know where David is? David is with the sheep. Like my brother Eric says, he was a ruddy boy. He was a kid. He was young. Nothing special. You would not look at David and think, this is a warrior. But he was with the sheep. And when the brothers were summoned, I don't know where David was, but he I don't know if you heard the summons or not. He wasn't leaving the sheep. There was no sheep to go look for because they were already with him. And so when Samuel comes to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons, David is initially absent because in 1 Samuel 16, verse 11, it says this. When he was asked, Where is David? It says, He keeps the sheep. You know what keeping means? He guards them. He tends to them. He supports them. He cares for them. He tends the sheep. He guards them. He protects them. He looks out for their welfare, their well-being. Sister Hannah says it. He safeguards them. David's vision was protection of his sheep. The sheep that were entrusted to him. His occupation is not some incidental detail. Because it is this that when you look at, you understand, this boy, this young ruddy boy, had the heart of a true king. Scripture repeatedly uses the shepherd as an image of a godly government. A sheepherder is the model of a godly ruler. Why do you think Christ is called our shepherd? It's in his name, it's in his title, Shepherd. What does a shepherd do? Takes care of the sheep. And in David's childhood, there was never a time where the sheep went outside his protection. And when they wandered off, we see what David does, and we'll get to that. But the point that I want you to recognize is this David never stopped shepherding his sheep even when he became king. Even when he became king. David's preparation for kingship occurs precisely in the obscurity of his pastoral.