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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 15:10 - 15:23
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Samuel's Reproof
v. 10. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
v. 11. It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king, an expression which denotes that God had found it necessary to change His mode of action into the opposite of what He had determined under the condition of holy and righteous conduct of men; for he is turned back from following Me and hath not performed My commandments. Pride and self-will, in the consciousness of his own power in Israel, had caused Saul to disregard the divine charge. And it grieved Samuel, it hurt him bitterly to find that Saul had turned away from the Lord, it kindled a holy anger in his heart; and he cried unto the Lord all night, probably to obtain for Saul forgiveness for his disobedience.
v. 12. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, setting out to call Saul to account, as the Lord had commanded, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, southeast of Hebron, and, behold, he set him up a place, a monument to commemorate the victory, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal, in the valley of Jordan.
v. 13. And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, a greeting of hypocritical friendliness; I have performed the commandment of the Lord, a calm assurance intended to throw sand into Samuel's eyes.
v. 14. And Samuel, losing no time in unmasking the hypocrisy of Saul, said, What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
v. 15. And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, so much he had to concede, though it appears even here that he wants to put the blame on the people; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, they were the transgressors, while he was blameless, to sacrifice unto the Lord, thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. The untruth and hypocrisy of this excuse were evident at once, as well as the selfish interests, for the thank-offerings were always combined with sacrificial meals.
v. 16. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, he should desist from lying excuses, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
v. 17. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, for so Saul had described himself when Samuel first met him, 1Sa_9:21, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
v. 18. And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, who were so persistent in their hostility against Israel and against Jehovah, and fight against them until they be consumed.
v. 19. Wherefore, then, after this plain command, didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, in eager greed, in passionate craving, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
v. 20. And Saul said unto Samuel, still persisting in his denial of any blame on his part, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. It was a further hypocritical self-justification.
v. 21. But the people, upon whom Saul again lays all the blame, took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, the firstlings of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto the Lord, thy God, in Gilgal. Saul evaded the plain words of the Lord that everything was to be put under the ban, and that therefore the animals could no longer be used for burnt offerings.
v. 22. And Samuel saith, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? A mechanical worship without true loyalty of the heart is not acceptable to Him. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. This principle, of the utter worthlessness of a dead worship, especially when it goes side by side with a lack of obedience to the Lord, has held in the Church of God at all times, and should be considered most carefully by all those whose churchgoing is a matter of mere routine.
v. 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, or divination, the service of demons in any form, and stubbornness, in refusing to obey God's commands, is as iniquity and idolatry, in which the living God is denied and rejected. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king, Saul was abandoned to his pride, selfishness, and wickedness. He who opposes the Word of the Lord in any way, whether by speaking or by doing, thereby denies the true God and is in danger of being rejected.