(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 15:10–23, “Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, 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. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Samuel had previously told Saul that he would not the father of a dynasty of kings in Israel. However, this time, the Lord told Samuel to go and speak to Saul again. The Lord gave Saul a specific command but Saul didn’t do what the Lord had said. He didn’t kill Agag the king and the people brought the spoil back from the battle even though the Lord had told them not to bring spoil. Samuel asked Saul what he was doing and Saul said that he had obeyed the Lord, except that he had saved the king of the Amalekites. Samuel asked Saul why he could hear the sounds of sheep and cattle. Saul tried to deflect the blame for his sin and blamed the people for bringing back the animals for sacrifice.Samuel told Saul that the Lord required obedience and didn’t expect that His people would pick and choose which of His commands they would obey. This was the time that Lord took His support for Saul, as king, away. Even though Saul remained king for some years, he was truly just like the kings of the neighbouring nations and ruled without the Lord’s support in any way. The same is true today. There are people who say that they love the Lord and obey His commandment but they want to tell the Lord what His commandments are rather than listening to Him. So many people say things like, “I know the Lord wants me to be happy.” then to specifically go and do things that He has said we shouldn’t do.
No comments:
Post a Comment