(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 14:47–52, “So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them. And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchishua: and the names of his two daughters were these; the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal: And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz: and the name of the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.”
After these convincing victories, Saul established himself as the anointed king of Israel. He knew the warnings that Samuel gave the people when they first asked for a king and claimed his rights. (1 Sam 8:11–18, “And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”) Saul conscripted any likely looking man into his armies and went to war. He had previously had a victory against Nahash, the Ammonite, but now went over the Jordan River and invaded Ammon, he also invaded Edom, Zobah and the Philistines. He would come to regret the fact that he hadn’t finished the Philistines after the great victory that Jonathan inspired because he had to keep fighting them as they were Israel’s sworn enemies and extremely warlike. Saul was also married, as was required for a king who wanted to develop succession plans, in spite of the Lord’s promise. He had three sons and two daughters. His uncle was the senior commander of his armies but they had to battle with the Philistines all the time that Saul was king.
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