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God's Anger at Saul and David's Anointing

God's anger at Saul led to his rejection as king and the anointing of David in his place, a pivotal moment in Israelite history. The prophet Samuel mourned for Saul, but God commanded him to cease his lament and proceed to anoint a new king from the house of Jesse [12, 15]. This divine directive came after Saul's repeated disobedience, particularly concerning the Amalekites [5, 8].

Saul's transgressions included preserving Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and seizing cattle for spoil, contrary to God's explicit instructions [5]. Josephus records that God was "grieved" by these actions, viewing them as an "intolerable thing" that they were done without His permission [5]. Following this, Saul became aware that he had made God his enemy and no longer came into Samuel's presence [4]. Samuel, though personally attached to Saul, was also concerned for the future of God's people and kingdom, which contributed to his mourning [12]. God's rejection of Saul was irreversible, even though Saul continued to reign for the remainder of his life [15].

The anointing of David by Samuel was a private affair, as God commanded Samuel to take holy oil and go to Bethlehem [4, 8]. This event marked the divine selection of David, even while Saul still occupied the throne. David's subsequent rise to prominence, including his success in battles, was attributed to God's assistance [6].

The concept of God's anger is also evident in later events involving David. For instance, 2 Samuel 24:1 states, "Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, 'Go and take a census of Israel and Judah'" [2]. Other translations render "he moved David" or "it incited David" [1, 3]. John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, suggests that the "he" who moved David was not the Lord, but Satan, as indicated in 1 Chronicles 21:1, or that the anger was due to "secret sins committed" or the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba [14]. Augustine, a Patristic writer, interprets David's numbering of the people as an act of "sinful pride" that God punished by diminishing the population, thereby curing David's "vainglory" [13].

Rabbinic tradition, specifically the Babylonian Talmud, offers an interesting interpretation of David's census. It connects David's statement to Saul, "If it be the Lord that has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering" (1 Samuel 26:19), with the later census [9, 10, 11]. Rabbi Elazar suggests that God responded to David's implication that He was an "inciter" by causing David to fail in a matter known even to schoolchildren: the requirement to pay a ransom for each person counted in a census to prevent a plague (Exodus 30:12) [9, 10, 11]. This tradition implies a divine retribution for David's earlier words, leading to the plague that followed the census.

The anger of God is consistently portrayed in scripture as righteous and just [7]. While God's anger is slow, it is also manifested in judgments and terrors [7]. The justice of God's anger is not to be questioned [7]. The anointing of David, therefore, was not merely a consequence of Saul's failure but also an act of divine sovereignty in establishing a new king according to God's will, even as God's anger continued to manifest in the lives of His people.

Sources

  1. 2 Samuel “2 Samuel 24:1 (NASB) — Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah."”
  2. II Samuel “II Samuel 24:1 (BSB) — Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.””
  3. King James Version “[KJV] 2 Kings 24:1 — And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.”
  4. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 1: . How, Upon Saul's Transgression Of The Prophet's Commands, Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was David, As God Commanded Him. 1. Now Saul being sensible of the miserable condition he had brought himself into, and that he had made God to be his enemy, he went up to his royal palace at Gibeah, which name denotes a hill, and after that day he came no more into the presence of the prophet. And when Samuel mourned for him, God bid him leave off his concern for him, and to take the holy oil, and go to Bet”
  5. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 7, section 3: home with joy, for the glorious things he had done, and for the conquest of his enemies, as though he had not neglected any thing which the prophet had enjoined him to do when he was going to make war with the Amalekites, and as though he had exactly observed all that he ought to have done. But God was grieved that the king of the Amalekites was preserved alive, and that the multitude had seized on the cattle for a prey, because these things were done without his permission; for he thought it an intolerable thing that they should”
  6. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 11, section 4: do not suppose that thou wast so zealous to kill thy enemy, as thou wast that I should be saved." Accordingly Saul forgave the damsel; but David, when he had escaped this danger, came to the prophet Samuel to Ramah, and told him what snares the king had laid for him, and how he was very near to death by Saul's throwing a spear at him, although he had been no way guilty with relation to him, nor had he been cowardly in his battles with his enemies, but had succeeded well in them all, by God's assistance; which thing was indeed th”
  7. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Anger of God, The — Averted by Christ -- Lu 2:11,14; Ro 5:9; 2Co 5:18,19; Eph 2:14,17; Col 1:20; 1Th 1:10. Is averted from them that believe -- Joh 3:14-18; Ro 3:25; 5:1. Is averted upon confession of sin and repentance -- Job 33:27,28; Ps 106:43-45; Jer 3:12,13; 18:7,8; 31:18-20; Joe 2:12-14; Lu 15:18-20. Is slow -- Ps 103:8; Isa 48:9; Jon 4:2; Na 1:3. Is righteous -- Ps 58:10,11; La 1:18; Ro 2:6,8; 3:5,6; Re 16:6,7. The justice of, not to be questioned -- Ro 9:18,20,22. Manifested in terrors -- Ex 14:24; Ps 76:6-8; Jer 10:10; La 2:20-22. Manifested in judgments and”
  8. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 1: . How, Upon Saul's Transgression Of The Prophet's Commands, Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was David, As God Commanded Him.”
  9. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 128b.124:11: As for David’s statement to Saul: “If it be the Lord that has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering” (I Samuel 26:19), Rabbi Elazar said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to David: Do you call Me an inciter? In retribution, I will cause you to fail in a matter that even schoolchildren know, as it is written: “When you take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them” (Exodu”
  10. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 128a.124:11: As for David’s statement to Saul: “If it be the Lord that has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering” (I Samuel 26:19), Rabbi Elazar said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to David: Do you call Me an inciter? In retribution, I will cause you to fail in a matter that even schoolchildren know, as it is written: “When you take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them” (Exodu”
  11. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 62b.11: As for David’s statement to Saul: “If it be the Lord that has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering” (I Samuel 26:19), Rabbi Elazar said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to David: Do you call Me an inciter? In retribution, I will cause you to fail in a matter that even schoolchildren know, as it is written: “When you take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them” (Exodus 30:”
  12. 1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 16:1: Anointing of David. - Sa1 16:1. The words in which God summoned Samuel to proceed to the anointing of another king, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected, that he may not be king over Israel?" show that the prophet had not yet been able to reconcile himself to the hidden ways of the Lord; that he was still afraid that the people and kingdom of God would suffer from the rejection of Saul; and that he continued to mourn for Saul, not merely from his own personal attachment to the fallen king, but also, or perhaps still more, from anxiety for ”
  13. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 4: Augustine — Anti-Manichaean, Anti-Donatist — BOOK XXII. (part 58): to die for them, when, after he had numbered the people, God saw good to punish his sinful pride by lessening the number he boasted of. In this destruction, God, with whom there is no iniquity, in His secret judgment, both took away the lives of those whom He knew to be unworthy of life, and by this diminution cured the vainglory which had prided itself on the number of the people. They will read of that scrupulous fear of God in his regard for the emblem of Christ in the sacred anointing, which made David's heart ”
  14. 2 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Samuel 24:1: And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,.... It had been kindled, and appeared before in sending a three years' famine among them for Saul's ill usage of the Gibeonites, Sa2 21:1; and now it broke forth again, either for some secret sins committed, as Kimchi suggests, or for the rebellion of Absalom, and the insurrection of Sheba, in which multitudes of them joined; so Abarbinel; no doubt there was cause for it, though it is not expressed: and he moved David against them; not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from Ch1 21:1; or "it moved hi”
  15. 1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:1: And the Lord said unto Samuel,.... In a vision or dream, or by an articulate voice: how long wilt thou mourn for Saul? he does not blame him for mourning, but for mourning so long; but how long that was cannot be said; and though his affection for him might cause him to indulge to it, yet it was in vain, seeing the sentence was irreversible: seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? that is, his posterity; for he himself reigned as long as he lived, though in a very inglorious manner: fill thine horn with oil; with common oil; for that this was the h”
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