Spiritual IQ
Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 1 Samuel 13:13 NASB
Foolishly – The story of Saul seems confusing and contradictory. He is anointed king at God’s direction, but on coronation day, he hides among the garbage (1 Samuel 10:22). He experiences the power of the Spirit but makes ridiculous vows. He accepts Samuel’s instructions as YHVH’s words but acts without considering the consequences. He makes decisions but blames the people when he is confronted. Eventually the text says that not only did God reject him as king, but YHVH sent an evil spirit to terrorize him (1 Samuel 16:14). It seems as if Saul is almost schizophrenic. At times he appears to be an enthusiastic servant of YHVH. At others times he looks like any other self-concerned ruler. And God’s interaction with him seems to reflect the same double nature. Reading the whole story of Saul is disturbing. We never know what he will do next and we never know what YHVH will do in response.
The Hebrew text uses the verb sakal. Goldberg’s comment is noteworthy. “The verb usually expresses lack in a moral or spiritual sense. Thus Saul acted as a fool when he usurped the Levitical prerogative in offering sacrifices. There is more involved than simply being an intellectual fool—Saul displayed his utter lack of spiritual comprehension (I Sam 13:13).”[1] Because modern English uses the word “foolish” as a cognitive description, we don’t realize that the Hebrew verb sakal is not about intellectual capacity. It is about obedience! The moral and spiritual components of sakal describe someone who ignores YHVH’s instructions, someone who acts on his own without consideration of God’s commands. In Hebrew, a fool is not stupid. He is corrupt.
Now we may understand why Saul’s life seems so aimless. Sometimes he seems to do what God wants, and then he twists or turns to undo what God wants. He is the perfect picture of James’ concept of dipsychos, the double-minded man. Once we realize that “foolish” is a moral category, we discover that Saul is a lot like us. We don’t have much difficulty with knowing what God asks. After all, we have the printed text to read. Our difficulty is doing what God asks, without subjecting it to some cognitive filter. We are just like Saul. “God couldn’t possibly mean, ‘Get rid of all those things.’ Some of them seem good and useful. God wouldn’t want us to destroy the good with the bad, would He?” And so it goes. Half in—half out. We compromise with the words of instruction. We recast YHVH in our image to suit our evaluation. And when things don’t work out so well, then, of course, it really isn’t our fault. Maybe this exasperating story about Saul is part of the biblical account because it points out just how morally schizophrenic we are.
Topical Index: Saul, sakal, foolish, dipsychos, double-minded, 1 Samuel 13:13
[1] Goldberg, L. (1999). 1493 סָכַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.
Sounds like and extended reference forward repeated from Galatians 3 1 oh foolish Galatians who has Bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed Among you clearly as crucify. It continues to ask question. Did you receive the spirit through works of the law or by the hearing through faith? Also Matthew 5 20 -44. Explains that the letter of the law brings death, but the spirit of the law brings life. This is more than just active obedience but a moral conscience. Romans 2. 28 – 29 circumcision of the heart.
Saul was rebellious, and therefore unable to trust anyone, including himself. He may have had shame when he hid in the garbage, but I think about sweet Mary, when confronted with an even greater anointing, who, instead of hiding in the garbage, answered with the trusting, self-denying reply “behold the handmaid of YHVH, be it unto me even according to thy word”. Saul never really got over himself, and trying to protect himself, which is where all rebels are stuck.
I was taught to look for rebellion in my life in the form of self protection. We go into rebellion, typically, when power over us is being abused. Rebellion is what we do to protect ourselves from corrupt authority. (Except that it doesn’t work.) You see, I was confused about authority, starting when my parents discovered their humanity and, basically, resigned from their positions of the moral authority in the family. Us kids became rebels at that point even though we didn’t want to, to survive. I was also taught that the fruit of rebellion was double-mindedness, which many times can manifest biologically as schitzophrenia or bi-polar. I was schitzo (which is a real evil spirit, too, by the way) and was, biologically, an over-dopamined reality, and I knew it. I was extremely oppressed. I had lost my sense of connection with others (which is a seratonin – trust – reality). I remember the year I realized that authority can be corrupt (that was the year the USDA refused to give us quarantine space to import llamas because the agency had been bought out), but that gave me freedom to admit that I did not have to protect or conform to corrupt authority. It liberated me to return to putting myself only under authority that was acting like it. I realized that I was an adult. I, basically, repented then of rebellion, and I felt the schitzo melt away. It took decades longer to lay down my arms of ‘protection’ against heaven, but YHVH is gracious, and quick to forgive and heal.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. Rebellion is as witchcraft (occultism) because it occludes the mind. Rebellion messes with the mind. Many insane or mentally or emotionally disturbed people, I strongly feel, are that way in self defense against what they perceive as corrupt authority. They feel very unsafe. These are, so many times, extremely abused people. Yeshua had pity on such. So should we.
I came out of rebellion when I felt safe, for rebellion is about safety (lack of). My mind cleared up then of occlusion, for when we reject authority, we reject the authority of our own self, too. Double-minded people have a hard time telling themselves what to do, and following through. They second guess themselves, too. This manifests as instability in all dimensions (surprise), and they lose the ability to trust. What we perceive about local authority gets transferred over to heaven, too, and we no longer trust YHVH to take care of us. Rebellion is going to be the foundation of all attempts to protect ourselves, but when we do that, we lose our ability to trust. Repentance for rebellion, once I identified it in my life, however, restored me to being able to trust again in all my dimensions, including my Father in heaven. Halleluah!
Laurita, Your insight on the roots of rebellion were particularly insightful for me. Rebellion was my middle name. Now I understand why. As always, I appreciate your presence, presents and persistent prophetic voice.
Paul’s options multiplied with the influences that were around him. Really of mixed up boy undisciplined in his thoughts which led him to forgetting God’s will which caused Rebellion.
Just to remind us that this is still happening in the church today people. Of God are surrounded with inadequate translations especially influenced through music twitch causes blindness misdirection Ho Hey from being obedient to God and I see the the influence of what is known as Hyper Grace using grace outside of the boundaries of what it was meant to be God sees the actions of mankind and responding accordingly.
I am uncertain what you mean by this comment. Can you elaborate?
If I recall correctly Francis Schaeffer talked. on the emergent Church and explained where the Bible began to lose its original importance and other writings were added in.
We could also go back to satanic utterances from 11 8th 2014
Hello Skip and others,
Sakal, a fool is not stupid, moral schizophrenia, twist, and iniquity are words that come to mind from this word study. I know, iniquity is not mentioned directly.. But, In fact, iniquity is what began my journey into learning about Jewish Roots via a phone study with the late Messianic Rabbi, Stan Greene, back in 2006. Today, I also ponder Psalm 51, where YHVH desires to establish truth and integrity in this “moral schizophrenic’s” inward parts.
When I want to deviate and ignore YHVH, I now tell Yeshua, We have a problem. I want to indulge in this … and would you tell Satan to get the hell out of my life so we can remain cool together?”
My regret is that I did not start doing this sooner, but thankfully stopped the addictive lust-filled behavior before my life and others were destroyed..
I fear the adage is true even for ourselves, Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we set out but to deceive.
May we stay close to our loving Father, Adonai this hour and this day!
David Russell
Thank you Dave for sharing some pearls that caused real friction in there making. I too went through some very dramatic and traumatic things in my life where the person who was used actually was able to see it as Deliverance in the truest sense of the meaning and there were several entities trying to destroy me and confuse me and steal from me. I do not want people to go overboard but we all need this in some fashion or another it’s I think part of the new birth casting down evil imaginations that exalt themselves above the word of God. Sometimes they work their way into our lives. This might even relate to what Saul was going through.
I think scripture makes it clear about clean and unclean common and uncommon maybe this is your reference to iniquity that needs some connecting PA
Skip, first you say, “It is about obedience! The moral and spiritual components of sakal describe someone who ignores YHVH’s instructions, someone who acts on his own without consideration of God’s COMMANDS.” And then you say, “We don’t have much difficulty with knowing what God ASKS. Our difficulty is doing what God ASKS…”
You are brilliant in your understanding of the critical significance and tenacity of seeking the truth by searching out the true meaning of words. So I’m wondering, do you believe God merely “asks” us to do His will? I know He is humble and merciful, and I’m very grateful He is. I also know He gives us the freedom to choose, but that just sounds like the common, faulty Christian view of His authority and His grace, and one of the reasons we can become foolishly double-minded. Don’t you agree?
Thanks for your love of the truth and your labor to make it known. I really appreciate you, your personality, your gifting, and your character. More power to you!