Articles
"I Have Played the Fool"
What an admission! It is one we seldom make, yet one that in an occasional introspective moment we surely admit is so. Who said this? What prompted him to say it? What can we learn from it?
King Saul is the speaker. The setting is a wilderness night. Saul had been hunting David as though he were a vicious threat. David slipped into Saul’s camp and took the king’s spear and water jug. Then from a safe distance David awakened Saul and his men. Surely they could now see that David was no threat. Would they not give up their tireless pursuit?
“Then Saul said, ‘Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again because my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have committed a serious error’” (1 Samuel 26:21).
Saul played the fool by letting his imagination run wild. When the crowds acclaimed David for his early successes in battle, Saul just imagined that David had become a threat. “Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on” (1 Samuel 18:9). Suspicion became dread (v. 15), then fear (v. 29).
Saul played the fool by becoming obsessed with his worry. He made several attempts to take David’s life, in some cases involving his own children in his plots. His bitterness strained relations with his son Jonathan, who loved David. Even when David finally fled to the wilderness, “Saul sought him every day” (1 Samuel 23:14). He had no rest, no peace.
Saul played the fool by not listening to reason. More than once, Jonathan interceded for David, reminding Saul that David’s actions showed him to be a friend, not a foe (1 Samuel 19:4-5). Any positive effect was short-lived. Saul may have let himself be egged on by some of his close associates (26:19).
Saul played the fool by not learning from experience. This was not the first time David spared Saul’s life. A similar incident is recorded in 1 Samuel 24. Saul’s reaction then was similar, yet he did not change.
Saul’s foolishness brought nothing but misery—to himself and to everyone around him. Let’s learn from his mistakes. Don’t let imagination and speculation get the best of you; keep them in check. Don’t let any problem, imaginary or real, become the overriding force in your life. Listen to those who are trying to help you. Learn from your experience, both yours and others’. Commit to changes you need to make.
Saul’s fundamental problem was that he lacked trust in God. That is the ultimate foolishness. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
