Samuel, Saul and David
1 Samuel 15
Well I wonder what kind of child you were or what kind of children you have. I remember as a child being taking to a supermarket, with my mum. I must have been about 6 or 7 and mum told me collect a bag of flour or some other food item from the next isle. Once I’d collected it I was to come back to the trolley. Now for some reason I decided I was going to do something different, so I collected the flour and didn’t go back to the trolley but went a different way. The next thing I knew was I was completely lost and parents became aware of this when the public address man asked the parents of David Lower to collect him from the customer service point.
It’s just a childhood story, but as adults were are just as disobedient as children. And the theme of our passage this morning is obedience and the disaster that follows disobedience.
We’re in the middle of a series learning lessons from the main characters in book of 1 Samuel. Last week we looked at the rise of King Saul from an ordinary 30 year old donkey farmer, to the very first King of Israel. It was an immense rise in power. Better than any reality television series we have today. Saul came from nowhere to have everything. God’s people had reject God as their king and demanded a monarchy, they wanted to be like the nations around them. God had given them what they desired; an impressive leader, young and hansom, a new king who would lead military campaigns and rule the nation. A king to be proud of.
However right from the start of Saul’s reign there were warning signs that this king wasn’t all he should be. In the week following his anointing by the prophet Samuel he’s told to wait seven days, so Samuel can make some sacrifices before the army goes into battle. Saul manages to wait 6 and a half days before his patience runs out and he makes the sacrifices himself. It may have been a rooky mistake but his disobedience to God’s word set the pattern for the rest of his reign.
So in our chapter today we see the demise of the King. His early promise turns to deep disappointment. It’s one of the saddest biographies recorded in bible. And yet it teaches us some valuable lessons and can give us great hope for the future. So I have three points this morning, three lessons from the life of Saul. And just to warn you, the first lesson is longer than the other two. And the first lesson is on The Requirement of Obedience.
The Requirement of Obedience
We see in verse 1 that Samuel has message for Saul from God. Samuel was God’s prophet, God’s mouth piece, the channel that God used to communicate with his people. And in verse v1 Yahweh, the living God, the God of Israel and the bible, or as our version says The LORD has some words for Saul. The message is fairly simple and Saul is to listen carefully so he can act on it. Saul is told to attack the Amalekites, completely destroying them all their possessions. He’s to spare nothing. Women, children, cattle, sheep and donkeys are all to be put to death. He is to completely wipe out the Amalekites.
Now if you’re like me your may me thinking How can the God of love that the bible speaks of be so destructive to a particular group of people. Isn’t this just unreasonable? Well to understand God’s command we need to go back another 300 hundred years to the time when the Israelites were in the desert on route to the promised land. They were attacked by the Amalekites. The assault seems to have been particularly vicious. It was occurred when the Israelites were weary and worn out and the Amalekites seem to have targeted the most vulnerable people, those straggling along at the back. We’re told from Exodus and Deuteronomy that the Amalekites had no fear of God. As a result God promised that he would blot out the memory of them from the earth.
300 hundred years on and the time of God’s vengeance has come. We see that in verse two. God is going to punish a people who have acted against him. And in case were thinking that it doesn’t seem fair, to punish people for the sins of their ancestors, we see in verse 18 that the Amalekites haven’t improved in 300 hundred years, they are still a wicked people. Far from being unfair God has been merciful to an evil people for generations. However as with all wickedness there will be a time for it’s punishment.
So the command is given. It may not have been the nicest or easiest thing to do but it’s a clear command, simple to understand. In verse 4 we see Saul rousing his troops and setting an ambush. The Kenites are instructed to leave. Over the years they were an ally of Israel, and because of their kindness they’ll avoid the coming destruction. In verse 7 we see that Saul defeats the Amalekites over a massive area, from Havilah in the South to Shur in the east. It’s a tremendous victory but in 11 we see that God is grieved that he made Saul king because he has turned from him and not carried out in the Lords instructions. And again in verse 22 when Samuel speaks he says “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed better than the fat of rams”
The striking thing is that Saul, doesn’t know he’s sinned, he’s not got a guilty conscience and thinks he’s done what he’s been told. So in verse 13 He greats Samuel heartily. “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” he says. So how is it possible for Saul have disobeyed God’s word and yet think he has obeyed? The answer of course is that he hadn’t understood the requirement of obedience.
Saul partially obeyed God’s word. The command was to destroy everything and wipe out the Amalekites. In principle he’s done this, a few farm animals and a powerless king are all that remain. But he hasn’t followed in full. You see partial obedience is just another name for disobedience. What God requires it not partial compliance but total obedience. It’s no good for Saul to say I’ve done most of what you said. God required Saul to do all that he was commanded.
Last week I saw my doctor. I’ve had a sore wrist, since I fitted our garden fence a month ago. The doctor told me I had tendonitis, caused by putting pressure my tendon when screwing the fence together. He gave me some anti-inflammatory gel to apply, told me not to use a screwdriver and to come back in month if I was still in pain. Well imagine if in a month’s time I go back to the doctor and say I’ve done what you said, I put the gel on three times a day but I’m no better. He’d ask if I’d been using the screwdriver and say ‘well just a little bit each day on some projects’. He’s not likely to have much sympathy for me because I’d only partially obeyed what he said.
Partial obedience is disobedience and disobedience is sin. Samuel arrives in verse 14 to be greeted by Saul and his animals. It’s like old MacDonald’s farm, the sheep are bleating, the cows are mooing and Samuel says what’s this racket I can I hear from all these animals? But instead of acknowledging his sin Saul comes up with excuses as to why the animals are there, he sticks with his own version of events.
First in verse 15 it’s the fault of the soldiers, they spared the best sheep, we totally destroyed the rest. He’s playing the blame game, shifting the responsibility from himself to others. It may have been a sin but it wasn’t my fault it was the soldiers that did it.
Then in verse 20 he tries to shift the focus “But I did obey the Lord, I went on the mission the Lord assigned me, I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king”. Why are we focussing on the negatives here, I completely destroyed them, can’t we look at the good things rather then the bad.
The next excuse is verse 21 “The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the lord your God at Gilgal”. OK says Saul we may have done the wrong thing, but we were doing it for the right reasons, we had the best possible motives. We wanted to keep the very best animals as sacrifices to God. I mean it would be a shame to waste such good animals.
Saul has failed understand the requirement of obedience, anything less than total obedience is sin. Samuel brings it home to him in verses 22 and 23 by explaining exactly what disobedience is. "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” Samuel identifies the true place of disobedience. Disobeying God’s voice is rebellion and arrogance. It can be listed in the same category as the pagan sins of divination and idolatry. Divination -seeking out the future through supernatural means and idolatry - worshiping anything other than the true God. Two very severe sins, not to be associated with the people of God.
Well this was all a long time ago with one King disobeying one prophet, but it becomes real to us when we realise that God speaks just as clearly to us today as he did to Saul then. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days (as in the time we now live) he has spoken to us by his son.” All that God wants to say to us today has been said in Jesus, his life and ministry recorded for us in the bible. The challenge for us is, are we obeying all that God says in the bible or just some parts. If we’re only following in part then we need to recognise that partial obedience is actually disobedience.
You see when we disobey we’re effectively saying I know better than you. The soldier disobeying his officers orders, the employee disobeying her boss, the child disobeying their parents. In each case the disobedience is arrogance – I know better than you. And when we disobey God and his word we’re saying to God, my ways are better than your ways. We worship ourselves and follow our laws rather than worshipping God and submitting to his word.
Now sometimes we clearly know what God is told has to do and we just flatly refuse to do it. We rebel. But it’s more likely that we fall into the same traps as Saul, we deceive ourselves. So at work or home we can pass the responsibility onto others. It wasn’t my fault, it was my boss, or my wife, it’s everyone else’s fault, but it’s not mine. Or we can deceive ourselves by focussing on other issues not the one at hand. Yes I know Christians are supposed to be people who pray but look at all the good that I’m doing with the young people, don’t look at the fact I’m not praying. Or we can kid ourselves into thinking we’re doing things for the right motives. Yes I know I shouldn’t be going out with a non-Christian or hanging around with that group of people, but I’m doing it for the right reason, you see I’m doing it so I can share the gospel with them.
So the first lesson we learn from Saul’s life is God’s requirement of obedience, the second is that disaster will follow disobedience.
Disaster will follow disobedience
Verse 24 “Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the LORD." 26And Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." 27As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you.”
What greater disaster could come upon a king? A king without a kingdom is no king at all. And here Saul’s kingdom is torn from him like the hem on Samuel’s robe. His disobedience has resulted in the ultimate disaster, rejection by God. His kingdom will go to a better man. A new king who’s heart is inclined to obey. Saul kingdom is taken, but in verse 35 we see he loses something far more valuable, the word of God. Saul would not see God’s prophet Samuel until the day of his death. Communication with God was effectively over. It’s a tragic end to a reign that had so much potential. Samuel mourns, and the Lord was grieved he had made Saul king.
Had Saul known the disaster that would follow his disobedience he may have acted differently. But he feared the opinions of men more than he feared God. He listened to the peoples words not the word of God. It’s a stark lesson in listening. And my question this morning is who are we listening to? Are we influenced by friends and the world outside that say obeying God is not important? Or are we hearing the word of God that tells us that if we disobey disaster will follow.
Well it’s appears a depressing picture. A God who requires total obedience, and disaster that follows disobedience. What possible hope can there be? And yet we’re told in Romans that “everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance of the scriptures we might have hope”. The disobedience of one king points us to the obedience of another. Israel’s first King may have been a major disappointment, but Israel’s true king was perfect in every way.
So the third lesson we learn from Saul, is that his life and this passage, points us to the King who obeys.
The King who obeys
King Jesus who was equal with God and yet he humbled himself and was obedient to death – even death on a cross. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the perfect king, we can have hope. Jesus has come and calls us to obey. The obedience of faith. To put our faith in Jesus, and trust in his death for the forgiveness of our disobedience. The bible says, If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. So let me ask you this morning. Are you obeying God’s word? Putting your faith in Jesus and his death as the way to be right with God.
So the life of Saul, God called him to do a task but he did it his own way. He disobeyed God’s word. God was disappointed and rejected him as king, the ultimate disaster. His life is a lesson for us in obedience, if it’s important for the king of Israel to obey it’s important for us to obey. His life challenges us to rethink our attitude to God’s word urging us to fully obey. It reminds us of the disaster that follows disobedience, and it points us to the obedient king urging us to put our faith in him.
David Lower
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