Regarding Toxic Leadership - Lessons from King Saul, Part 2
14th October 2005
Earlier, I looked at Saul as an example of toxic leadership noting that Saul exhibited all the qualities of a charismatic leader. In fact, the Scriptures are very clear: he was anointed by the Lord to be the king of Israel. Even though people were skeptical about his pedigree for kingship, God reaffirmed his anointing by a special visitation. He was transformed when the Lord came upon Him in power and he prophesied with the prophets, yet all the time he remained humble. In fact, when the nation gathered together to appoint their king, Saul demonstrated his an almost total lack of arrogance (although some commentators accused him of having a poor self image). Whatever he had (humility or poor self image), he seemed a reluctant leader, although as I pointed out in my earlier post, he seemed well qualified on all counts.
Soon, he had a chance to prove to all Israel his righful claim to monarchy. When Israel was threatened by enemies, Saul demonstrated his charismatic leadership qualities by winning a decisive battle and the fickle people were moved to follow him. He also showed that his heart was in the right place, to give the rightful glory to the LORD for the victory. He was re-affirmed as the rightful king over the nation amidst much celebration and festivity (I Samuel 11).
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