SERIES I --- THE NATION UNITES --- LESSON 16

SAUL REJECTED

SOMETHING BETTER THAN SACRIFICE

From 1 Samuel 15

One day Samuel presented King Saul with orders from Adonai. ‘You are king because Adonai anointed you,’ he said. ‘Now He has special work for you. Destroy the nation of Amalek completely, for it must be punished for waylaying the Israelites as they came from Egypt. You must destroy all that the Amalekites have; every person, sheep, ox, camel and donkey. Saul gathered his army at Telaim, with about two hundred thousand men plus ten thousand men of Judah. As he came near the city of the Amalekites, he set up an ambush in the valley. Saul sent word to the Kenites, who lived among the Amalekites. ‘Move away from the Amalekites so we do not destroy you with them, for you were kind to the people of Israel when they came from Egypt.’ The Kenites listened to Saul and moved away immediately. From Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt, Saul cut down the Amalekites. He killed them all except King Agag, whom he captured and thus Saul disobeyed Adonai. Saul also disobeyed Adonai’s orders to destroy all their animals. Instead, he kept the best sheep, oxen and lambs and destroyed the others. Then Adonai told Samuel what had happened. ‘I’m sorry that I made Saul king, for he will not obey Me,’ Adonai said. Samuel was so upset when he heard what Adonai said that he cried out to Him all through the night. Early the next morning Samuel arose and went to search for Saul. ‘He went to Carmel earlier and built a monument to himself, someone told Samuel. Then he went down to Gilgal.’ Samuel kept searching until he found Saul. ‘I did exactly what Adonai said,’ Saul told Samuel when they met. ‘Is that so?’ said Samuel. ‘Then what is all the bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen that I hear?’ ‘Oh, those?’ Saul answered. ‘Those are just a few choice animals that my men brought here to sacrifice to Adonai. But we destroyed all the other animals.’ ‘Let me tell you what Adonai said about you last night!’ Samuel said. ‘Tell me!’ Saul asked anxiously. ‘When you were a nobody, Adonai made you king of Israel,’ said Samuel. ‘He gave you a job to do, telling you to destroy the Amalekites completely. Why didn’t you do as Adonai told you? Why did you steal the spoils and do what Adonai told you not to do?’ ‘But I did obey Adonai,’ Saul protested. ‘I went against the enemy as YHVH ordered. I killed everyone except King Agag. And I kept the spoils only because my men insisted that I keep them to sacrifice to Adonai at Gilgal.’ ‘Did you think your sacrifices would please Adonai as much as your obedience?’ Samuel asked. ‘It is much better to obey Him than to sacrifice. It is better to listen than to give Him the fat of rams. Rebellion is as bad as sorcery and stubbornness is as bad as sin and idolatry. Since you have rejected Him as Adonai, He has rejected you as king.’ ‘I have sinned!’ Saul confessed. ‘I have disobeyed Adonai and you, but only because I was afraid of my people and listened to them. Forgive me and go with me to worship Adonai.’ ‘No, I will not go with you,’ Samuel answered. ‘You have rejected Adonai’s Word, so He has already rejected you as king of Israel.’ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul clutched at his robe to keep him there and tore it. ‘Adonai has torn your kingdom from you today and has given it to a better man than you,’ said Samuel. ‘Adonai will not lie to you or change His mind about this.’ ‘I have sinned!’ Saul cried out again. ‘But show me some honour before my people and their leaders by going with me to worship Adonai.’ Then Samuel agreed and went with him. But when they arrived at the place of worship, Samuel had a surprise for Saul. ‘Bring King Agag to me!’ Samuel ordered. King Agag was cheerful when he came before Samuel, for he thought that he was safe now. ‘Surely the bitterness of death has passed by me,’ King Agag said. ‘No!’ said Samuel. ‘With your sword you have made many mothers childless. Now your own mother will be childless.’ Then Samuel cut Agag into pieces before Adonai at Gilgal. When Samuel left Gilgal, he went to Ramah and Saul returned home to Gibeah. Never again did Samuel see Saul until the day Samuel died, but he continued grieving for Saul. And Adonai continued to be sorry that He had made Saul king over Israel.”

COMMENTARY

SAUL’S KINGDOM

The king was supposed to lead YHVH’s people in His ways. But King Saul disobeyed YHVH by keeping some sheep, oxen and lambs which had belonged to the enemy. [You have rejected the Word of Adonai,] Samuel said angrily to Saul, [and Adonai has rejected you as king over Israel.] When Saul became king, the Israelite tribes united their fighting power behind a single leader for the first time in years. He established a capital at Gibeah and began to train an army. His soldiers had few weapons, but they managed to do together what the tribes alone could not do. Saul focused most of his strength against the Philistines, Israel’s most dangerous enemy. He did not end the Philistine threat; conflict continued throughout his reign; but battles such as those at Michmash and the Valley of Elab gradually broke the Philistines’ grip of power. The army forced them out of Israelite hill country and back to the coastal plain. The king also succeeded in pushing other enemies back to their traditional borders. These battles gave Israel control over five areas. Asher in the north extended down through the mountains of Galilee. Just south of this was the wide plain of Jezreel. Between Jezreel and the capital city were the wooded hills of Ephraim, where so many battles took place. Territory belonging to the tribes of Benjamin and Judah formed the southernmost region. Across the Jordan was the last area, the long strip of land called Gilead. Small areas in foreign control remained scattered throughout the country, but Saul ended the chaos of earlier years. Land where the Israelites lived was clearly under their control. Later kings used this as a foundation to make Israel even stronger.