Biblical Parallels, Aaron and King Saul

Regular readers and neighbors who attend Torah/Bible classes with me are well aware of how little regard I have for King Saul, the first king of the Jewish Nation.  Numerous times I've written about his great sin of allowing Agag, the Amalek king to live and making an uncalled for ceremony to G-d with his livestock, instead of following G-d's instructions to execute Agag and kill the livestock.  For this sin, he was severely punished; his right to rule was taken from him.  Simply put, G-d fired him; he was no longer allowed to be king.

Yesterday, Shabbat, as I read the Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the week, Ki Tisa, I was hit by the parallels in the story of Aaron, the "Golden Calf" and King Saul and his illegal religious ceremony.

In this week's Bible Portion, the people began to panic because they had expected Moses to return from his meeting with G-d.  They pressured Aaron to assist them in constructing a "golden calf" to worship.  Aaron's delaying tactics were ineffective, and G-d was furious with the people, as was Moses when he was greeted by the sight of the subsequent ceremony.  Moses mediated between G-d and the people, defending them, and no real immediate punishment was meted to Aaron.  It's very possible that the death of his sons, Nadav and Avihu for the "strange fire" while worshipping G-d was his punishment.

When Samuel the Prophet confronted King Saul over his disobeying G-d by leaving Agag and the livestock alive and uncalled for ceremony, Saul's excuse was that "the people pressured him."  Nothing of that sort is recorded in the Bible.  Of course, the Bible isn't a minute by minute record.  Could it have been that King Saul thought that he'd be excused, just like Aaron the Priest was?

Now this is all my opinion, my guess-work.  When I mentioned it at our שיעור נשים women's Study Class yesterday, the Bible teacher who was giving it had never heard these parallels mentioned before.

A simple reading of the Bible makes it very obvious that G-d doesn't accept Saul's excuse, whether true or fabricated.  Considering that there is no textual back-up for it and G-d's anger and subsequent punishment of Saul, the chances are that King Saul lied.

Saul was supposed to be a leader, to propagate G-d's commandments to the Jewish People.  Aaron's role was spokesperson and assistant to Moses.  G-d expected, demanded more of Saul; therefore this sin lost him his position.

It could also be said that a more expanded comparison of the two Biblical stories would make Samuel, the Prophet the parallel of Moses, because Samuel brought G-d's instructions to Saul.  King Saul was never the true leader of the Jewish People, but that's for another post.