Alrighty...

not only did I not post on tuesday, but I haven't posted all week or all month for that matter... and there isn't much to say. Exegesis proceeds slowly, and I doubt that it will turn out well, but I'm beginning to not listen to that doubt. I just need to write it, there is no time to lament the weeks of prep work that could have been which went to another paper. Fortunately historical books has caught up with my exegesis paper, so I have tons of background information on the passage. Unfortunately, or making this more difficult to write is that I feel sorry for Saul. He was terrified and God wasn't answering... And I can't find a particular instance of actions that in and of themselves were wrong, at least not initially - trying to kill people is another story, but that's not the reason given for God rejecting him as king, that followed two episodes in which scant amounts of Saul's intentions are recorded, yet the actions on their own don't seem to merit utter rejection. In the first case, he waited as long as Samuel had told him to and then offered the sacrifices without waiting anymore. Now one could say that for a Benjamite to offer sacrifices was wrong, and going with the letter of the law they would be right. However, this isn't what Saul is reprimanded for. He's reprimanded for not waiting for Samuel. I suppose this is important for setting precedent for kings not being priests and being under the authority of prophets. (yeah, I need to get to breakfast. If any of you would like to read the rest of my exegesis paper, leave a comment and I'll let you know when it's done... But, I think I will stop writing it as a blog post.)