Saul's failure? in Samuel 10 and his son's success in 11

[Eoghan]

[BIBLE]1 Samuel 10:5-7[/BIBLE]

Was there an expectation that Samuel would attack the garrison? I find it ironic that his son accomplishes single-handed what (assuming he was intended to attack the garrison) Saul did not.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

Was there an expectation that Samuel would attack the garrison? I find it ironic that his son accomplishes single-handed what (assuming he was intended to attack the garrison) Saul did not.

Yes. This was Saul's commission. But he fails to obey. And you are right to see the irony in Jonathan's fulfillment of this task. It highlights Saul's moral and spiritual deficiencies. Jonathan was everything his father wasn't. And yet, the kingdom would be taken from Saul; He would be rejected as king; and sadly for that reason, from Jonathan as well.

 

[Jash Comstock]

In the course of this narrative, the writer pauses to take note that God gave Saul "another heart" (v9). If Saul so blatantly disobeyed God directly after his new heart transplant, wouldn't the writer have made more note of it? Yet the writer seems to continue the narrative in positive light, almost as if at this point Saul is still in good favor with God.