As U.S. transitions its leadership, King Saul and Moses offer lessons in moral authority
Is the nation in a state of PTSD after what we all witnessed Jan. 6? We watched in real time the actual American carnage from a marauding group of extremists proudly and joyfully trashing the nation’s capital like some sort of frat free for all. Now we are left with the residual fears of what will happen on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., as well as in the state capitals.
Clearly, the president’s impeachment, the possible forthcoming trial in the Senate, and the plethora of indictments being handed down by U.S. Attorneys against the participants in that spectacle are only growing. Who knows whether we have arrived at the beginning of the end of this process of calming the nation and reasserting control of the capital. Or are we at the end of the first phase of violence and now await the next onslaught of political extremism? Either way, America needs leadership now!
The Bible has something to teach us about leadership and tragic flaws of leaders. In 1st Samuel, beginning in chapter 8, we read about the ascendancy and the decline of King Saul, the first king of the Jewish people. Samuel reluctantly anointed him because the people saw in him all the external traits they wanted for their first king. He had the looks of a powerful and strong leader because he was tall and broad shouldered, and his image reflected the people’s ideal of what a king should look like.
After the prophet Samuel installed Saul as king, the Bible tells us that Saul’s political enemies began to grow. Saul does not seem to understand the interrelationship between political power and the moral authority required of an effective monarch. Moreover, he never grasped the roles or the power structure of the prophet-king relationship.
Without consulting Samuel, Saul drags his people into war against the Philistines and the many other tribes in the region. Ultimately the aging Samuel declares that Saul will not remain as king over Israel. He predicts that there is someone else (David) waiting in the wings to replace him.
The tragic episode that led to Saul’s demise was his disobeying Samuel’s instructions to kill King Agag of the Amalekites. Instead, Saul let him live. To add insult to injury, Saul lied to Samuel when he said he followed his orders to kill the king and destroy all the possessions of that king and the Amalekites. Because Saul refused to follow the prophet’s decree and lied about his actions, Samuel declared that he would not be king any more.
Ultimately Saul and his son Jonathan fell in battle at Mount Gilboa against the Philistines, and David was then anointed and tasked with uniting the tribes of Israel, establishing Jerusalem as the unified political capital of the nation, and beginning construction of the religious center with the building of the Holy Temple.
Despite his powerful countenance, Saul was a legend in his own mind. He never had good political skills, and his lying to Samuel about King Agag sealed his political fate.
Politics was just as brutal in biblical times as it is today. Leadership is not just about mounting victories on the battlefield but about using wisdom and sticking to core values that represent the credo of the nation itself. That was part of Saul’s tragic flaw.
Did we forget that leadership of a nation requires the leader to remember the source of their moral authority? The moral foundation of a leader is the most important element of their credibility to govern.
Even Moses, the greatest prophet in the Bible, suffered from tragic flaws. He lost his temper at people and angrily struck a rock (Numbers 20) to produce water for them without invoking God’s name. God punished him by not allowing him to join his people in the Promised Land.
Leadership means striking that tenuous balance between controlling one’s emotions even in the most frustrating of circumstances and taking decisive action. Looking down at and publicly castigating those a leader governs is not a good example of inspired leadership.
We have plenty of examples in the Bible of leaders who were flawed and suffered punishment for their actions. Rebellious leaders like Korach (Numbers 16) and the Prophet Bilam (Numbers 22-24),and their disciples learned the hard way the lessons of rebelling against God and his prophet Moses.
No leader or king was perfect, and the stories in the Bible abound about their mistakes and their achievements. Today’s leaders and the future leaders of our nation would do well to study the Bible for lessons about leading with humility and respect for the people they serve.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge.” Saul’s tragedy is that he could not find that place to stand for the right causes or for the right reasons.
Will God judge our leaders today to see how they stand at this time in our republic? We should not expect perfection, but we can expect integrity and moral clarity. We should expect them to stand for the truth and to put the interests of the nation before themselves.
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 4:30 PM.