Quotes About Leadership

Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him.

So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.

Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

Then Samuel explained to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home.

Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.

But some worthless men said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him and brought him no gifts; but Saul remained silent about it.

When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and relayed these words in the hearing of the people, they all wept aloud.

Just then Saul was returning from the field, behind his oxen. “What troubles the people?” asked Saul. “Why are they weeping?” And they relayed to him the words of the men from Jabesh.

When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he burned with great anger.

He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march behind Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the LORD fell upon the people, and they turned out as one man.

And when Saul numbered them at Bezek, there were 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 men of Judah.

The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

Then the people said to Samuel, “Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Bring those men here so we can kill them!”

But Saul ordered, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”

Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”

Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king.

Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.”

“You have not wronged us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.”

Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied.

Then Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the One who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

When Jacob went to Egypt, your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.

So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely.