1 Samuel 15
The instructions were clear. Israel
had been commanded to do this sort of thing before and Saul is commanded to do
it again to the Amalekites. Destroy everything; leave nothing alive, man or
beast. Saul rallies an impressive fighting force, goes to battle, and then
spares the king and the best of the sheep, cattle etc. He kills everything
else, but takes the best. Wouldn’t God rather Saul be happy? He is king after all
and this is what the other kings do so shouldn’t he get to enjoy at least some
of the benefits of being king? Practically he “destroyed” it all right?
God is
angry and lets Samuel know what’s happened. As Samuel attempts to confront Saul
about the matter (he can even hear the animals in the background), Saul tries
to play it off like he was going to give them to God. Samuel knows better, God
had already given him the scoop. When Saul realizes Samuel isn’t going to play
his game then he tries to blame the rest of the army, nice leadership move by
the way. Samuel has already told Saul that the kingdom won’t remain in his
family because of previous disobedience but this time it seems even more sharp
than before.
Here we get the famous quote “to obey is better than
sacrifice”.
A couple of cool things that round out the chapter:
-
Old man Samuel hacks king Agag to pieces with a
sword.
-
Saul panics (as well he should because if the
people saw that God had rejected him he might not live to see the night)
-
Samuel still lets Saul worship God with him,
probably to help prevent all out national panic.
Lessons: God wants us to worship and follow him on his
terms, not ours. We don’t get to figure out what we do or don’t want to do and
then tell God that we are worshiping, or sacrificing for Him. He has given us
the Bible. He expects us to know it and follow what it says. Just like Saul we
have been given clear instructions and have no excuse for not following them.
The consequences could be drastic. What excuse do you have for not knowing what
the Bible says?
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