Saul’s Rise to Power in Ancient Israel

A political need for leadership had existed in ancient Israel and it was felt that the charismatic leadership alone could not fulfill the needs of the day. The Philistine threat and a lack of formal authority to prevent tribes from ganging up against each other had caused the elders of Israel to ask the prophet Samuel, for appointment of a king. Samuel’s own sons who he had appointed to judge over Israel had turned out to be less than pious and thus, God had commanded that Saul ben Kish be appointed the first king of Israel. This brief essay examines Saul’s rise to power in ancient Israel in the light of Biblical evidence, when archeological records do support the existence of king David and his struggles against the descendants of Saul, but very little evidence is available about king Saul from other sources.