Many people doubted Saul’s choice as a king. He was not given any chance to succeed and the people did not pretend about it. When he was announced as king, they did not bring him presents. However, he soon had the chance to prove his mettle when he led the people of Israel to battle. Our text was his battle cry. He succeeded in rallying the people together towards a common cause. Of particular interest was how he hitched himself to Samuel.  He mustered the people by asking them to come after “Saul and Samuel”.  By this, Saul recognised that there are two sides to every battle – the physical and spiritual. The call to all Israelites was that they should come after Saul and Samuel. Saul represented the physical or military aspect of the battle, while Samuel was for the spiritual. It is dangerous to choose one and leave the other.

Under Moses, the children of Israel were plunged into an unprovoked battle. Joshua led the men of war to battle in the valley, but Moses was on the Mount holding up the rod of God. It happened that when the rod was up straight to heaven, Joshua had the victory; but every time his hand dropped, Amalek prevailed. This further proves the two-sided nature of life’s battles. Don’t think life is all physical and abandon the spiritual, and don’t take all life as spiritual to abandon the physical. Balance is the key.