“May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.”
Jonathan, son of Israel’s first king, said these words to
David, who would become Israel’s second king. If you know the story, it may
initially appear he was laying on the irony so thick it required a backhoe, or
at least a team of oxen. His father Saul had a history we might optimistically
describe as checkered: initially anointed and blessed by God, but characterized
by rebellion and self-will. Told that he was to be rejected from being king, he fought God all the way.
He never seemed to realize he was fighting a losing
battle. That tells you everything you need to know about Saul.