The story of Saul is in a book called 1st Samuel, chapters eight through thirty-one. Israel had been ruled by “judges” ever since they had entered the “Promised Land”. They were a theocracy mediated through the Judges who were basically “Seers” or prophets who allegedly had access to a higher level of awareness that I propose to be the multidimensional mind as discussed in previous essays.

The idea of a theocracy was despised by the founding fathers of America as the ruinous combination of kings and religion in the history of Europe demonstrated. A king is basically a form of theocracy in that kings are supposedly placed there by God and they all claimed to be so! Caesar claimed not only to be placed by God but he was an embodiment of God. But, Jesus said, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar and give unto God what is God’s”. (Luke 20:22-25) This was a clear rejection by Jesus of the general concept. Emperors and kings are, usually, just another delusional, narcissistic psychopath. This is why America was founded, to get away from all that stuff. The great experiment of democracy! Yet, there are even now strong forces to try and get us back to this very state of feudalistic oligarchy. (Baigent) However, a little perusal of the lengthy fine print of the Old Testament will show that every single one of the real prophets and righteous people were constantly fighting against the misuse of the power of self-appointed theocrats to take away the rights and freedom and wealth of the “common class” which in these days of flourishing inequality we call “the ninety-nine percent”. Yet, the most corrupt politicians delight in quoting the Bible (in one form or other) and hugging their flag. Amazing how it works.

In the recorded story of Saul, the masses demanded a king so they would be like the rest of the nations. Samuel was the head prophet at the time and warned them of their folly yet the masses persisted and he relented: “Okay fine. God will give you what you want.” We all get what we want because we create our own reality. Beware of what you ask for, as they say.

In the history of Israel the time of the judges wasn’t pretty. In fact, Israel demanded a king because Samuel’s sons became the next generation of judges and they were corrupt. (1 Samuel 8:1-5) Israel wanted a change but the time of the kings was absolutely disastrous and resulted in the loss of almost all of the tribes of Israel to oblivion. Ever heard of the “lost tribes of Israel?” It was ten out of twelve of them and it was all because Israel demanded a king so they would be like the other nations. It took a few generations for things to come unraveled but it resulted in the entire destruction of Jerusalem and the rest of Israel being hauled off to Assyria. (2 Kings 17:6) This is what the majority of the Old Testament is about, Israel and its wayward ways which is actually the way of all wayward people. This is what bad choices in politics and government will get you and is happening to this very day. When fools get elected to government, the very system falls apart. Of all the things the Old Testament warns about most it is fools elected to government and the results thereof. The Old Testament is a veritable field guide to egomaniacs and kleptocrats who want political power.

This may be the reason that literal fundamentalists despise the function of a secular government of the people by the people. They want a theocracy but it is a misunderstood concept. A government by the people for the people is the real “theocracy”. Any other theocracy is nothing less than a bunch of psychopaths that wants to kill everybody that doesn’t agree with them or bow down to them.

Parenthetically, I have to ask, were the people who wrote these books of the Bible absolutely crazy? Who ever wrote a book about being completely powerless with no superman to save them? There was no cover up about super perfect leaders that had no faults. Even David was a disaster and Solomon was about as good as it got but then it was downhill from there into complete annihilation. (1 Kings 11:11-12, 31) Whoever wrote those books were not crazy but absolutely honest about human character and behavior. They understood their own unconscious mind and what lurks in it. This is very unusual and quite remarkable. We also have to keep in mind they did not write their books for the Bible, as such, but the books were scooped up to be compiled into it by the “Church”. According to Spinoza, all the first five books of the Torah were written by Ezra and for such conclusions he was excoriated and excommunicated from his own society. (Spinoza)

So, the people demanded a king and Samuel was dismayed but the Lord told Samuel to give them what they wanted. (1 Sam 8:7) Samuel told them a king will take their sons to be warriors and laborers, their daughters to be cooks and concubines, and their land to pay for all their wars for fun and sport. Israel said, “Yeah! That’s great! We’ll take it!”.

Samuel was then directed to find a certain Saul of a family of the tribe of Benjamin who was out trying to find his father’s lost donkeys. Actually, they weren’t donkeys. There are mules and asses. Donkeys and asses are the same thing and a species in their own right. A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey (or ass) which can not reproduce because of genetic reasons. A female ass is called a jenny, and, you guessed it, a male ass is called a “jack”. Now you know the real meaning of, “Jack Ass”! I don’t make this stuff up!

So there was the future king of Israel wandering around the wilderness looking for a bunch of lost jennys and jack asses and he couldn’t find them. (1 Sam 9:1-17) I love this stuff! Samuel finally found Saul in the wilderness looking for lost asses and explained the whole goings on to Saul who reluctantly agreed. But when the time came to anoint him king, Saul was not to be found because he was hiding among the baggage. (1 Sam 10:22)

After dragging him out of his hiding place he was presented to Israel who leaped for joy. Why? Because he was much taller than anyone else and he was handsome. (1 Sam 10:23-24) Tall and handsome! These are the same qualifications required by the masses to this day! No qualifications and no experience?–no problem. You’re tall and handsome! Humans are a very visual species as most predatory animals are. We need to see our food from along way off before we maim it and eat it alive. Human behavior is not the result of original sin but the result of the original reptile!

To make a long story short, Saul messed up and the Lord rejected him and sent an evil spirt to torment him. (1 Sam 16:14) Then the Lord told Samuel to go find a real king which was David and then the real psychopathy of Saul was manifested. Basically, Saul became jealous of David because the people loved David and sang songs about him. Saul rose up with rage and hurled a spear at David on several occasions even when David played music and sang to calm the evil spirit sent by God afflicting Saul. (1 Sam 18:10-11)

What does it mean that the Lord sent an evil spirit to torment Saul? We’ve kind of gotten over the superstitious connection between plagues and diseases caused by demons per se. On the other hand, it seems the majority of famines and plaques and diseases are still caused by human greed and stupidity. Are these not the real “demons”? These are the “demons” of brainwashing, fake news, and the up and coming AI produced “deep videos” which is part of our near future.

My interpretation of most of the Bible is allegorical. When it says the the Lord sent Saul a tormenting spirit, what does that mean in real terms? The same thing happened to Cain as discussed in the essay on Adam and Eve–A New Vision, Part 3. Well, when we sink deeper into the fractals of darkness and misbehavior; when we cut off our connections to other people and nature by doing stupid, greedy, vindictive acts, we are cutting ourselves of from the deeper parts of our most important selves. The result is psychological repression and all the anxiety, paranoia, and depression that is the result. This is what drives psychopathic politicians and their minions to go deeper and deeper into more and more abuse of other people, nature, and women. Wonder why there is so much use of antidepressants and other drugs? It’s because we are killing nature and each other as urged on by the psychopaths who are beyond the capability to feel any pain.

David was always willing to forgive Saul and kept putting himself back in harms way. However, David was not a fawning sycophant. He respected the position and the office of the king. He could have easily turned the people against Saul but David was not a conniver or a two-faced hypocrite which was one of his better traits. When he realized how bad it was he left town and wandered in the wilderness to hide and Saul hunted him down. On two occasions David could have killed Saul but he did not out of respect for the office of king. Saul got all weepy eyed and hugged David and then continued to pursue him to kill him.

Saul is the hallmark of a psychopath and all abusive people. They are not only abusive, they play people like fish. Physically abusive people say, “I’m so sorry I beat the crap out of you. Please forgive me. I will change any day. I love you so much!” Then they beat the crap out of them again. Mentally abusive people say, “You have the face of a hog-nosed snake but I really think your cool and I would like to hang out with you.” These are the passive aggressive people and they are even worse, in some ways, than the physically abusive ones. They both slack their drag and fight their fish and when they pull them in they say, “Nice fish! Now go back out and let me hook you again!” This whole thing was a major learning process for David and he learned all their tricks. This is why he became so brutal at the end of his reign when he got old.

The main point is that this is not the result of original sin and the alleged fall of Adam as the churches have preached for the last two thousand years. It is not even the result of our reptilian brain that evolved to survive at any cost. All of this is the result of some poor little boy or some little girl getting abused or traumatized and then they carry this forward in their own defense mechanism. The state of the world is not because of evil, it is because of emotional and psychological trauma that needs to be healed. Some psychopathic leaders seek to solve some social issues by traumatizing children and locking them up in cages not realizing this will only make society worse. Such craven politicians are only projecting and sublimating their own pathetic childhood.

Saul continues to stagger down the highway to hell and screws up a major engagement (battle) with the Philistines. In spite of the fact he had instigated a “war against witches” he seeks out a witch in desperation because he realizes those Philistines are going to kill him. Here is another symptom of a psychopath and that is “cognitive dissonance” and their complaining about witch hunts. Saul tried to get rid of all the witches and the first things he does is consult one! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ring any bells? All those politicians that raise their fist against various classes or groups are doing those same things as the hunted down groups! This was written about four thousand years ago. Greedy, stupid, power hungry politicians haven’t changed a bit. Paul said those who accuse others are guilty of the same things. (Rom 2:1) It’s called projection and sublimation in modern terms.

A bit further in the story, Saul asks the witch to call up Samuel who was dead by that time. The witch calls up Samuel and then she realizes that the inquirer is Saul in spite of his disguise. Saul says, “don’t worry about it, I’ll fix it and you won’t be stoned to death.” Anything contemporary going on here? Corrupt politicians always need a “fixer” to cover up their corrupt acts.

Samuel shows up as conjured by the witch and Samuel’s quaky voice shrieks and tells Saul he is a pathetic mess and will be dead in less than twenty-four hours. Bad day at the witch house! (1 Sam 28:7-20) Saul turns into a loaf of bread, eats himself, and the next day he falls on his sword so the Philistines can’t slice him up for sandwiches. Saul fell down the fractal of darkness and it wasn’t pretty. (1 Sam 31:2-6)

This is the same tragic story of all contemporary suicidal murderers. All these people that get turned inside out are a tragedy. Those that get emotionally traumatized, physically injured, or murdered by such psychopaths are tragedy of the highest level. This is a major symptom of a defective society and government as the result of bribe seeking politicians. The same end result happens to any person or nation that prances around boasting of its monopoly on God and then worships idols of silver and gold while sending its children into the fire of wars for profit.

So, what was it? What made Saul such a psychopath? First of all, he was unqualified and he was chosen only because of he was tall and his looks which appeased the masses. Yet, he had no “backstory”, no experience, or inherent capability. Such people basically manufacture lies about their real background and history.

As usually happens, Saul’s ego became addicted to power. Incompetent people are invariably insecure because they know they are incompetent and they over-compensate. This is especially manifest in men who have had a bad father or no father at all in their life. Carl Jung referred to this as a “Father Complex” and the source of a great deal of dysfunctional behavior in the world. (Jung)

Once Saul got the job as king, he indulged his ego and made decisions that even the masses could see through and rejected. Saul even threatened to kill his own son as the result of a rash oath but the crowd shut him down and saved his son. There was no click-bait internet and fake news shows at the time, but there were the usual “yahoos” (children of Belial (evil)) who spread rumors and slander in service of the current king. Yet, the people saw through this dysfunctional administration. This seems to be a skill we are forgetting.

When David showed up, Saul could have searched his soul and said, “You know what? I never wanted to be here in the first place and I should resign. I only did this because my family wanted prestige.” But, for whatever reason, these people get stuck into the pull of the current and can’t resist it. This is the story of the world today and all incompetent leaders and people in all and every field of human endeavor! The qualified people are always fought and destroyed by the incompetent leaders. We are seeing this almost everywhere in the world at our present time .

One thing becomes apparent after a comprehensive review of 1 Samuel through 2 Chronicles is that the Lord is with those that he blesses such as David and against those that he does not bless such as Saul who he rejects. This is also true of Exodus where the heart of Pharaoh is hardened by God so God can show his power. I know this concept is contrary to the “Nice God” of fundamentalism who say, “Just do this and do that and you will be fine”. They say this just to fill their halls for profit. The doctrine of election is discussed in Romans 9, as well as the fallacy of free will, at least, as we usually think about it. In my interpretation, all these concepts relates to the higher levels of our own mind which we all have and can access. Dualism, as the result of literalism, however, makes us all confused.

Ultimately, the nation of Israel tumbled into the same fractal of darkness as Saul did and for the same reason. They fought over everything and the nation was divided into two identities. A nation divided cannot stand (which, by the way, is allegorical for cognitive dissidence). There was Judah which was the tribe from which David came and the tribe of Benjamin from which Saul came but Benjamin kind of gets lost in the haze of story in First and Second Kings. Israel is the other ten tribes that felt rejected and formed its own confederacy and were lost as stated above.

Judah and Israel fought each other over trivial matters and eventually they were ground down to such a weak point that Babylon came along and swallowed them up and carried them away to a strange land. There is a mountain of allegory here related to the psychological state of mind of every person and every country. It also demonstrates that politics and religion are always tightly intertwined as Harari clearly shows. When Jesus said a nation divided can not stand, I suspect he was thinking of Israel’s actual history. (Mt 12:25) When reading the story of Jesus and the gospels we usually assume that all of Israel was present. This is not the case. Ninety percent of Israel had gone extinct, or at least lost. Is this a lesson?

The writer of these books says the downfall of Israel was the result of the people burning incense in high places and worshipping idols and even making their children “pass through the fire” which means they sacrificed their own children by burning them alive. Doing this was obviously a heinous thing but I ask “is America any different these days?” The American leadership consists mostly of billionaires who have bought off self-seeking politicians who then betray their oath to protect the constitution. Then they start wars for profit using blustery self-righteous arguments and send millions of people into the fire while the psychopathically greedy pile up the molten gold from the burning dead’s teeth. Am I some ranting lunatic and making this stuff up? Read 1st Samuel through 2nd Chronicles and see for yourself. Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles have a lot of overlap but they provide different details. This discussion isn’t merely “partisan”. This same power struggle has been going for over ten thousand years. It’s the war of evil against good.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The Lord sent lying prophets with lying spirits to deceive the foolish people to seal them in their doom. (1 Kings 22:22-23 ) It’s going on again now and the same demented masses that support the gold worshipping and child sacrificing leaders are heaping praise on the same demented leaders with the same demented result.

The reality is, in my interpretation, the God of Nature and Nature’s God controls everything including our contemporary and eternal, personal destiny. The corollary is that when there rises up a people, a generation of souls, that is fed up with the greed and the stupidity of bribe seeking politicians, a critical mass can happen and they will break off the yoke of tyrants and despots. As God said to Elijah, “I have reserved for myself seven thousand souls which have not bowed the knee to Baal.” (I kings 19:18, Rom. 11:3-4)

References
Baigent, Michael; Racing Toward Armageddon-The Three Great Religions and the plot to End the World; Harper One; 2009.

Harari, Yuval Noah; Sapiens–A Brief History of Humankind; Vintage Books; 2011.

Jung, C.G; Modern Man in Search of a Soul.

Spinoza, B; A Theologico-Political Treatise; A Political Treatise; Dover Publications; 1951.