Tuesday, February 4, 2014

A torn coat

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 15:24–31, “And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.”

At first Saul tried to blame everyone else but, finally, he accepted that he has sinned against the Lord. However, even though he admitted to sinning, he said that he only sinned because he was afraid of the people. It was his job as king of Israel to lead the people and not allow them to force him to do things so he was just admitting that he wasn’t really emotionally qualified to be the king. Saul begged Samuel to show the people that he still had the Lord’s support but Samuel refused because Samuel wanted to obey the Lord as he had done for the rest of his life. As Samuel turned to walk away Saul grabbed hold of coat and the coat tore. Samuel used this as an illustration to show Saul that the Lord had taken the kingdom away. Saul begged Samuel again and Samuel went with him to worship the Lord.

No comments:

Post a Comment