July 14: 1Sa 28 | Jeremiah 4 | Matthew 15

Reading 1 - 1Sa 28

"The man [Saul, whom] David honoured as 'Yahweh's Anointed' had a vacillating life, reaching great heights and depths in his pitiful path of duty. But now Saul's experiences provide a closing tragic chapter in a life of failure. It is the rush of a desperate man unable to see the way to redeem himself, and to obtain the divine blessing. He becomes clouded in personal despondency, and seeks the folly of a witch's deception. Having by his own confession 'played the fool' (1Sa 26:21), Saul now reaps the result of such actions. It is against the background of national distress. So: