Principle
After Saul repeatedly disobeyed crucial instructions from GOD given through Samuel, GOD rejected Saul as Israel’s king.
Explanation
Things were going well for Saul at first, because GOD was with him. Saul succeeded in battles with the Ammonites and Philistines.
But Saul did not heed all of the words of Samuel nor the instructions GOD gave through Samuel. Failure in back-to-back character tests doomed Saul as Israel’s king.
It started with Samuel’s instructions to Saul at his anointing:
7 And when these signs shall come to pass for you, do all the many things your hand finds to do, because God is with you. 8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal, and I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. You shall wait for seven days, till I come to you and show you what to do.”
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 10:7-8 OSB
The Philistines were gathered at Michmash and Israel saw they were greatly outnumbered, an army described as “as many troops as the sand on the seashore” (see 1 Kingdoms 13:4 OSB). The Israelite army hid, some even retreating far from the battle line.
Feeling anxious, Saul eventually took matters into his own hands:
6 … Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people standing with him were confused. 7 Then Saul waited, as Samuel had said, for seven days for a testimony. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and his people scattered from him. 8 So Saul said, “Bring me a sacrifice so I may offer the whole burnt offering and peace offering”; and he offered the whole burnt offering.
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 13:6b-8 OSB
Samuel rebuked Saul for his faithless disobedience:
9 And it came to pass, when he finished presenting the burnt offering, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him so that Samuel might bless him. 10 Then Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw the people scatter from me, and you did not come within the days of testimony as you arranged, and the Philistines gathered at Michmash, 11 then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not prayed in the presence of the Lord.’ Therefore I forced myself, and I offered a burnt offering.” 12 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have rendered it vain because you did not keep my commandments which the Lord commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 13 But now your kingdom shall not stand. The Lord will seek a man for Himself after His own heart, and the Lord will appoint him to be ruler for His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 13:9-13 OSB
After the Philistines’ defeat in this conflict, GOD sent word to Saul through Samuel for a second mission: utterly destroy the Amalekites.
1 Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord Sabaoth, ‘I will exact vengeance for what Amalek did to Israel when he met Israel on his journey coming out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike down Amalek and Jerim and all of his things, and take nothing from him. You shall utterly destroy him. You shall curse him and everything that is his. You shall not spare anything of his. And you shall slay both man and woman, infant and nursing child, calf and sheep, and camel and donkey.’” 4 So Saul told the people and numbered them in Gilgal, four hundred thousand troops, and from Judah thirty thousand troops. 5 And Saul came to the cities of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go and depart from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed mercy to the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from the midst of Amalek.
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 15:1-6 OSB
GOD had previously sworn that He would destroy the Amalekites because they had attacked Israel during Israel’s journey to Canaan. (This was the famous battle where Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands so that Israel would be victorious.)
GOD was going to use Saul to complete the mission of eliminating the Amalekites. But what did Saul do? He partially obeyed but decided to adjust the plan a bit from GOD’s instructions:
7 Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is before Egypt. 8 He took captive Agag king of the Amalekites, and he killed all the people of Jerim with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and all the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the vineyards, and everything good. They had no desire to utterly destroy them—only every despised and worthless thing; these they destroyed.
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 15:7-9 OSB
Saul’s rebellion angered GOD, so GOD spoke to Samuel:
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I deeply regret I set up Saul to reign as king, for he turned back from following Me and has not kept My words.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 15:10-11 OSB
Samuel obeyed GOD’s voice and confronted Saul. This was the beginning of the end of Saul’s kingdom in Israel.
12 Samuel rose early and journeyed to a meeting with Israel in the early morning. Then it was reported to Samuel, saying, “Saul has been in Carmel to gather help to himself.” Samuel turned the chariot and went down to Saul in Gilgal. And behold, Saul offered the whole burnt offering to the Lord, the first of the plunder brought out of Amalek. 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you by the Lord! I established all the many things the Lord said.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is the sound of the flock in my ears, and the sound of oxen which I hear?” 15 And Saul said, “I brought them from Amalek; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, in order that they may be sacrificed to the Lord your God. The rest I utterly destroyed.” 16 But Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And Saul said to him, “Speak on.”
17 So Samuel said to Saul, “Were you not small before Him, you who with a sceptre lead all the families of the tribes of Israel? Even so, the Lord still anointed you king over Israel. 18 Now the Lord sent you off on a mission and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners for me, the Amalekites, and fight against them until you consume them.’ 19 Why did you not heed the voice of the Lord, but rushed down on the spoils and did evil before the Lord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “For the sake of the people, I listened to their voice, but I also went in the ways the Lord sent me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, the sheep and the oxen, the best of what should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice before the Lord our God in Gilgal.” 22 Then Samuel said, “If only the desired whole burnt offerings and desired sacrifices were equal to the Lord, as compared to one who heeds the voice of the Lord! Behold! Hearing is better than a good sacrifice and obedience than the fat of rams. 23 That sin is one and the same as divination. Idols bring grief and pain. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord rejects you from remaining king over Israel.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I sinned because I transgressed the word of the Lord and your word; for I feared the people and heeded their voice. 25 Now therefore, take away my sin and return with me, so that I can worship the Lord your God.” 26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord rejects you from remaining king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned his face to go away, Saul grasped the edge of his robe and tore it. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from your hand today, and He will give it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 29 And Israel will be divided in two, and God shall not turn back nor repent. For He is not like a man that He should repent.” 30 Then Saul said, “I have sinned, but indeed honor me before the elders of Israel and my people. Return with me, and I will worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and he worshiped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of Amalek.” So Agag came to him trembling. And Agag said, “Surely this is the bitter death.” 33 And Samuel said to Agag, “As your sword made women childless, so shall your mother be made childless among women.” So before the Lord, Samuel put Agag to death in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah. 35 And Samuel did not go to see Saul again until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that Saul reigned over Israel.
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel] 15:12-35 OSB
Leave a Reply