Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal." Sermons
1 Samuel 15:12-21. (GILGAL.) 1. Samuel met Saul at Gilgal. It was a sacred spot, and a well known scene of important events in former time and in more recent years. There the kingdom had been established (1 Samuel 11:15), and Saul "had solemnly pledged him and the people to unconditional obedience." There also he had been previously rebuked and warned (1 Samuel 13:13). And thither he repaired ostensibly to offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving for victory, really to make a boastful display and confirm his worldly power. How strangely and intimately are particular places associated with the moral life of individuals and nations! 2. The interview (like the former) appears to have been held in private. The sentence of rejection was heard by Saul alone, and long kept by him as a dreadful secret. Yet it was probably surmised by many from his breach with Samuel, and was gradually revealed by the course of events. The sacred history was written from a theocratic point of view, and indicates the principles of which those events were the outcome. 3. The appearance of Samuel was an arraignment of the disobedient king before the tribunal of Divine justice. Blinded in part and self-deceived, he made an ostentatious profession of regard for the prophet (ver. 13), and with the assumption of perfect innocence and praiseworthy obedience uttered "the Pharisee's boast" - "I have performed the commandment of Jehovah." His subsequent confession proved the insincerity of his declaration. His disobedience was crowned with falsehood and hypocrisy. When formally called to account (ver. 14), he forthwith began to justify himself and make excuses for his conduct, such as transgressors are commonly accustomed to make. They were - I. EXCEEDINGLY VARIED. He - 1. Attributes to other persons what cannot be denied to have occurred, and seeks to transfer to them the blame which is due to himself. "They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen" (ver. 15). So spoke Adam and Eve at the commencement of human transgression and human excuses (Genesis 3:13). On a former occasion, when desirous of having his own way, he had not been so considerate of their wishes or so compliant (1 Samuel 14:24, 39, 45). "If this excuse were false, where was the integrity and honour of the monarch? If it were true, where was his devotion and obedience? And whether true or false, how utterly unworthy did it prove him of continuing the servant and viceroy of the King of Israel" (Le Bas). 2. Protests good intentions, and even religious and commendable motives. "The people spared the best to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God;" whereby he seeks to gain the approval of the prophet, but betrays his own inward alienation from the Lord, for he cannot truly say "my God" (Matthew 23:14); and whilst he has regard to the outward ceremonies of the law, he knows not (or wilfully disregards it) that by the law the sacrifices of "devoted" things were altogether prohibited (Deuteronomy 13:15; Numbers 31:48). 3. Professes his faithful obedience. "And the rest we have utterly destroyed." Agam and again he declares his innocence (vers. 20, 21), and insinuates, that instead of being reproved by the prophet, he ought to be commended by him for his zeal. 4. Asserts complete readiness to meet whatever charge may be preferred against him. "Say on" (ver. 16). "See how sin is multiplied by sin. The transgressor of God's command stands forth as the accuser of the people, the speaker of gross falsehood. The spirit of disobedience evoked as with the rod of an enchanter those other agents of iniquity from their lurking place; and lo! they sprang forth to do his bidding. Verily their name was legion, for they were many" (Anderson, 'Cloud of Witnesses,' 2:350). II. FAITHFULLY EXPOSED. Samuel's fidelity, moral courage, and dignity, mingled with something of bitter disappointment and sorrowful resentment, are specially noteworthy. He - 1. Points to incontestable fact. "What is this bleating of sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of oxen which I hear?" (ver. 14). It flatly contradicts thy statement, reveals thy sin, and exposes thy excuses. Between it and thy duty there is a contradiction which no explanation can remove. Sin cannot be wholly concealed. "God knows how to bring it to light, however great the care with which it may be cloaked." He was convicted of it by the voices of the animals which he had spared. And "it is no new thing for the plausible pretensions and protestations of hypocrites to be contradicted and disproved by the most plain and undeniable evidences. 2. Checks the multiplication of vain excuses. Stay (ver. 16); proceed no further in thy endeavour to justify thyself. "And I will tell thee," etc. When the voice of truth, of conscience, and of God speaks, it must perforce silence all other voices. 3. Recalls the requirements of the Divine commission (ver. 18), which had been kept out of sight and evaded in the attempts made in self-defence. "Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites" (see ver. 3). 4. Reveals the motives of outward conduct (ver. 19), viz. self-will, pride (1 Samuel 9:21), avarice, rapacity, "love of the world" (Colossians 3:5; 2 Timothy 4:10), rebellious opposition to the will of Jehovah, and daring ambition to reign independently of him. In all this Samuel sought to rouse the slumbering conscience of the king, and lead him to see his sin and repent. If even yet he had fallen upon his face and given glory to God, there might have been hope. But the reiteration of his previous assertions, his repudiation of what was laid to his charge, and his blindly pointing to his main offence ("and have brought Agag the king of Amalek") as an evidence of his fidelity and zeal, showed that he was insensible to reproof. What should have humbled him served only to harden him in rebellion and obstinacy. And nothing was left but his rejection. His excuses were - III. UTTERLY FUTILE, sinful, and injurious. They - 1. Failed of their intended effect. 2. Increased his delusion, and prevented the light of truth from shining into his mind. 3. Deepened his guilt in the sight of Heaven. 4. Brought upon him heavier condemnation. "As he returned with his victorious troops the prophet met him. That sorrow stricken countenance, round which hung the long Nazarite locks, now whitened by the snows of ninety years, pale and worn with the long night's unbroken but ungranted intercession, might have told all. Now the thundercloud, which began to gather fourteen years before, breaks and peals over the sinner's head. 'Stay,' is the sad and terrible voice as it breaks through the cobweb limits of self-deception and excuse, 'and I will tell thee what the Lord said to me this night,' etc 'The people took of the spoil,' etc. - the very utterance of dark superstition and mean equivocation. Then the lightning came. The prophet's voice, gathering itself up into one of those magnificent utterances which, belonging to another and a later dispensation, antedate the coming revelation, and are evidently launched forth from the open ark of the testimony of the Highest, said, 'Hath the Lord,'" etc. ('Heroes of Hebrews Hist.'). - D.
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. The story is graphic and pathetic. This is Saul's victory and also his defeat. Our defeats are often wrapped up in our victories. Some of our most dismal failures are hidden from us by the glare of a partial and disastrous success. Saul succeeded and failed. He conquered Agag, but disobeyed God. And so the glory of his victory is lost in the darkness of his defeat. A man may conquer the greatest of earth's kings, but his life is a consummate failure if he disobeys the King of kings. And so, instead of praising Saul's victory let us meditate on Saul's sin. His sin was the sin of disobedience, the sin by which our first parents fell. In Saul's defence of his sin we possess a study of conscience unsurpassed in the literature of the world. Samuel on hearing of Saul's disobedience goes to meet him. Saul is the first to speak. "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord." Was he honest in saying this? he may have been. Other men have lied as outrageously and still believed themselves to be speaking the truth. The heart is deceitful above all things and is oftentimes unconscious of its own deceitfulness. To be sure he has preserved the life of Agag, but then imprisonment is a heavier punishment to a proud king than death itself. The people have been destroyed. This is the one thing essential. No danger can come from a king in chains. Saul has whittled down tire Divine commands a little, but only a little; and who is so foolish as to think that God will notice the swerving of a heir's breadth from what He commands? And reasoning thus we sometimes pare off the edges of God's commandments, blissfully unconscious that we are doing anything positively wrong. To be sure, we are not keeping God's commandment to the letter, but He does not expect us to keep it so. It is enough if we kill the Amalekites. There is no need of killing Agag. We take delight in slaying the Amalekites, but we are opposed to killing Agag. And later on we discover to our sorrow that Agag is the chief of the Amalekites and that ruin lurks in the survival of anything which God commands us to destroy Saving Agag costs many a child of God his crown. "I have performed the commandment of the Lord," so Saul says, and while he speaks his sentences are punctuated by the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep. A man's conscience may be so drugged that it will not cry out against him, but some outside voice is sure to break forth in condemnation. God never leaves Himself without a witness. And if the animals are dumb, then the inanimate earth will speak. Abel's blood will cry even from the ground. Saul had said nothing about the sheep, and so the sheep supplied what Saul had forgotten to mention. In their innocence they bleated out Seal's guilt. The universe is so constructed that a guilty man cannot hide his sin. You assert your innocence, and yet my senses take knowledge of the evidences of your guilt. You say you do not drink too much; what meaneth, then, this reddening of the eyes and trembling of the hand? You say your heart is clean; what meaneth then this rottenness that trickles now and then into your talk? You say you are an honest man; what meaneth then this style of living which runs beyond the limits of your income? You say you are a Christian; what mean these scores of duties unperformed, bleating evidences of your unfaithfulness? "And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites." Mark that word "they." We might have expected it. When a man is driven into a corner, the most convenient trapdoor through which he can make his escape is that little word "they." Conscience, when stirred, endeavours to shift responsibility. "They did it." So says every man not brave enough to face the consequences of his own misdeeds. Why do you not, O preacher, preach spiritual and Scriptural sermons? Do not begin your answer with, "Well, my people!" And why, O Christian man and woman, do you not inaugurate that reform which your town needs? Please do not say anything about the people. Let each man bear his own responsibility without flinching. But even those of us who are most ready to make a scapegoat of the people do not wish to be too hard on them. We would be merciful and considerate. We can see reasons why the people act as they do. "The people spared the best of the sheep." Only the best There was good reason for that. Why destroy the best of the sheep? Why cause unnecessary destruction? Extravagance certainly is not pleasing to God. We have used the same argument many a time We believe in saving the best of the sheep. We are so afraid of being reckless that we drop into disobedience. We would rather disobey God than kill one extra sheep. We are as afraid of killing good sheep as Judas was of wasting precious ointment and for the same reason. Many of God's commands sound reckless, and so we curb His Divine impetuosity by our prudence. We do not hesitate to kill the best sheep for our own banquets, but when it comes to killing them for God that is quite another matter. But the people in this case bad not preserved the sheep for selfish uses. They had kept them with lofty and beautiful intentions. "The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God." To put these sheep to religious uses is certainly better than to slay them indiscriminately in the fury of war. God said to slay both ox and sheep, but it matters not to Him how they are slain. So Saul reasoned and so do we reason. There is a streak of the Jesuit in us all. If the end is good, we will not be too punctilious about the means. God cares for results. Methods are of comparative unimportance. The church must meet its expenses. It matters little how we raise the money, providing we raise it. It makes no difference how we get people to church, providing we get them. The Bible must be defended. It matters little what arguments are used, providing the blessed Book is saved. The sheep are to be slain. It matters little how or where they are slain, whether on the altar or on the side of one of God's hills. It must be acknowledged that God in His word lays tremendous emphasis on the How, but if we are only zealous to increase His glory we feel confident He will not scrutinise too closely our spirit and methods. This is Saul's apology. It gives us a full length portrait of the man. While he speaks we feel we are looking on a soul going to pieces, a moral character in the process of disintegration, a king degenerating into a slave. Every sentence which he speaks tarnishes the gold in his crown and falls like a blow upon his sceptre, which first shivers and tinnily breaks. It is the sacrifice of the will which is pleasing to God. Obedience is the queen of the virtues. Disobedience is the mother of sins. It is the vine, and other sins are only branches. Because of disobedience Saul lost his crown, and so shall we, if like him disobedient, lose the inheritance which is ours.(Charles E. Jefferson.) Monday Club Sermons. On the top of the Hartz Mountains in Switzerland the figures of travellers, in certain states of the atmosphere, take on a gigantic size to the eye of an observer below, and every movement they make is exaggerated. In the career of King Saul, as it is presented to us in Scripture, we see the figure of a man raised to a dizzy height, his actions prelected, as it were, upon the clouds, so that all mankind may learn from them the desired lesson that Jehovah reigns, and that it is an evil end bitter thing to sin against him. Note —I. SAUL'S ELEVATION. If ever man was king by Divine right, it was Saul. Never were greatness and royalty more suddenly thrust upon one than in this ease. The priest and prophet, Samuel, gave him his title of king. II. SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE. This was seen plainly on two occasions: the first, when he sacrificed at Gilgal, contrary to an express command; the second, when he refused to smite Amalek utterly, and offer all the spoil to Jehovah. But these occasions simply brought to the surface an underlying state of disobedience which only waited its tempting inducements to appear. But before this last outward disobedience there had been a slowly increasing departure from the living God in the heart of the king, so that, when the wicked and justly punished Amalekites were put under the ban he was not equal to the occasion and he yielded to the temptation of the hour. The devoting of the whole nation to destruction was no arbitrary act of barbarism that assumed to be under Divine appointment, but a literal and genuine visitation from heaven upon those who richly deserved it. The phrase "utterly destroy" is in the original "put under the ban." This ban was an old custom, originating before the time of Moses, but formulated and regulated by him, as were so many other social customs amidst which Israel grew up. In its simplest form it was the devotion to God of any object, living or dead. III. THE GROUND OF SAUL'S REJECTION. It is stated in the briefest language. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath rejected thee from being king. The rejection was already an accomplished fact in the Divine purpose, although its execution was for a time delayed. In this complete rejection we are instructed in God's ways by seeing that it proceeded on no technical and superficial grounds, as if the Almighty was an austere man, reaping where He had not sowed, and eager to secure a reason for condemning His servant. Even under the old dispensation, how spiritual was God's claim; how identical with that which rests on us today. The sacrifices of God have always been a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Outward acts have never been accepted in place of an inward submission and penitence. IV. THE FALSE REPENTANCE OF SAUL. It had much of the appearance of a godly sorrow that leads to peace. It surely was sorrow. It showed an aroused and alarmed conscience. Saul comprehended himself; saw the conflict within between his better and worse nature. Again and again he awoke to his sin and folly with bitter tears in after days, but never reached the point where he could say, in the wonderful words of his successor, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." V. THE MYSTERY OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. Who can understand his errors, or those of any man in ancient or modern times, delineated in the Bible or in our own literature? Who can find the key to a sinful life, and unlook all its mysteries and incongruities? What is sin but an irrational, abnormal, strange thing, making everyone's life at points an enigma, and best described as a mystery in its origin, development, and results in eternity? Who shall attempt to fathom the connection between wrong-doing and punishment, and foresee the consequences of single transgression? Who is to say what a sin is in its real nature, and what its results ought to be in a holy government? We cannot tell when our characters have become so consistent in evil that God passes judgment on us, and tears from our hands all that He gave us, and for which we are called to live. God has left the consequences of sin in the unseen future, like the shadows of mountains when the sun is behind us. This may be because He wishes us to be more afraid of sin than of its results. This man, whose downfall was the result of his own misdeeds, was, in the hands of Providence, a scourge for Israel, sent to them, as we read, in God's anger. The career of a sinner can be understood only when we see to what uses it is put in the world's discipline. If we are obedient to God He will turn our lives into a blessing upon men. If we rebel, He still can use us. turning our actions into scourges. To each of us is offered a kingdom, invisible but real, as old as eternity. (Monday Club Sermons.) I. LET US OBSERVE THE OCCASION WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE CRISIS. God had given him a commission to ban the Amalekites, the ancient enemies of Israel. The crisis in Saul's life had come. He fails to meet it, in the spirit of a true man of God. His soul finds temptation in a moment when power and success and human adulation have intoxicated him; he yields to the snare, and falls to rise no more. At the turning point of his life he is weighed in the balances and found wanting. The whole sad transaction and all its terrible consequences are summed up in one word — disobedience to positive Divine command. It breaks upon us at once. It is complete and fully manifested in a single transaction. But definite steps led up to it. It can be accounted for. It should have been avoided. II. AS THE DISOBEDIENCE WAS COMPLETE AND INEXCUSABLE, SO THE PUNISHMENT WAS PROMPT, DEFINITE, AND FINAL. "God hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." Successive steps led to its accomplishment. God caused Samuel to withdraw from him. He took his good Spirit away, and allowed an evil spirit to come upon him. He was left to his own rash, self-willed, and self-pleasing nature. He was allowed to work out his own destruction and the ruin of his dynasty, while God quietly but diligently prepared a better man to take his place on the throne of Israel. A great and solemn principle emerges here — the basis-principle upon which all right and enduring relations to God must rest, — to wit, obedience. There can be no happy relations between a sovereign Creator and dependent creatures upon any other scheme, even though that sovereign Creator be properly viewed as a tender Father. The whole question needs to be restated with firmness. The sentimentality of a spurious faith, which claims heaven and yet the right to please self, is a travesty upon the word of God and upon every serious utterance of human consciousness. And yet this sentimentality is seeking to interpret the preaching of salvation by the cross in the interest of selfish indulgence, and is going far to justify the sneer of the enemy, "that morals are divorced from religion;" for what are any Christian morals worth that do not mean obedience to the living God? Let Saul's sad fall by reason of disobedience warn us at thin point. In conclusion we may draw out a few brief lessons. 1. The danger of a halfway surrender to God, a consecration which has its reservations. Such a course is an insult to God. It is the very worst spirit of bargain making. It marks off a section of our individuality, into which God has no right to come with His demands. Saul was willing to serve God in being a king if he would have his way when the spoil was at hand. He was quite willing to fellowship Samuel and have his endorsement if he could sacrifice when he pleased. But this spirit brought him to a bad end. 2. See how disobedience demoralises the spirit and sets it upon unworthy shifts His character drooped lower and lower as he sought his way out from the consequences of disobedience by unworthy shifts. When we have sinned it is better to be open and ingenuous with God and man, and. while sorrowing for the sin, meekly receive the consequences in the full purpose of immediate amendment. 3. The folly of those in authority, as parents, pastors or teachers, yielding to the tastes and entreaties of the young, the wayward, or the undisciplined for the privilege of doing that which is wrong either in itself or in its tendency. Saul pleaded that he yielded to the wishes of the people when he saved the best of the spoil. So with many now in the place of solemn and responsible authority. But this is simple weakness where we have the right to expect strength. This weakness does not lesson the guilt before God. (W. G. Craig, D. D.) The command given to Saul was unmistakable and imperative. And this was to be in fulfilment of the legacy of judgment and vengeance left to the people by Moses long before. In Moses' words you have hints of the real character and life of the Amalekites that are to be associated with Samuel's words, in which he calls them "the sinners, the Amalekites." Here you have their character of bloodthirsty, treacherous marauders. The days of old needed the destruction of such as the Amalekites; and if Israel had to do the work it was needful that they should be utterly destroyed. It was better for the world to be without such sinners, and it was required, for Israel's sake, that Saul and his people should have no gain from the conquest. God often does thus with the ill-gotten wealth of wicked nations. Where are all the riches of the mighty monarchies of old? Where is the bloodstained wealth of the ruined Roman Empire? Who can tell? God swept, it, away, for a curse — the curse of conquest and oppression — was upon at Consider, Saul's violation of the law of obedience. Saul gave himself to spoilation; the attempted shelter under fear of the people belied itself; his repeated words "that they had brought the spoil to sacrifice to the Lord thy God" were an attempt to justify sin by profession of good intention, and to degrade religious service of God into formal acts of ceremonial observance. The answer to all his excuses and explanations was simple and as imperative as the commands he had neglected, "Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." There are many lessons taught us in these things, among which, let us note the following, for they touch solemn matters in the life of each of us.I. IT IS EVIDENT THAT A PROFESSEDLY GOOD OR CREDITABLE INTENTION WILL NOT JUSTIFY A BAD ACT. It is true that, the real character of any act is in the intention of the doer; but you cannot judge acts as though they were isolated, and to be taken each on its own merits. The intention that is behind one act may itself be a depraved spiritual act or represent a spiritual state that; God hates. II. NOR CAN GOD BE HONOURED IN ONE WAY AT THE COST OF DISHONOURING HIM IN ANOTHER. Obedience to one command that is built out of the ruins and breach of another, must be dis. pleasing to God. If we do, we shall add to non-performance of some duties the vitiating of those we do observe. III. SO, ALSO, ARE WE TO LEARN THAT OFFERINGS TO GOD ARE ABOMINATION IF THEY DO NOT EXPRESS OBEDIENT LOVE. For they may represent "pride, vain-glory, or hypocrisy" they may be a service of self that is all the more real for being hidden under the veil of Divine honour, or they may be a following of custom, or a sensuous dependence upon superstitious services for acceptance with the Lord. God's supreme demand is loving obedience: the submission of the heart, the sacrifice of the will. the offering up of self, the fasting from the self-willed indulgence of our own thoughts and intents. (R. G. B. Ryley.) What are the lessons with which the narrative is charged?I. THE DANGER OF MISTAKING PARTIAL FOR COMPLETE OBEDIENCE. "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord." 1. God requires literal obedience. 2. God's language never exceeds Gods meaning. 3. Conscience is seen most clearly in minute obedience. II. THE POSSIBILITY OF GIVING A RELIGIOUS REASON FOR AN ACT OF DISOBEDIENCE. I. The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God" 1. One duty must not be performed on the ruins of another. It was a duty to sacrifice, but sacrifice must not be offered upon disobedience. 2. God's commandment must not be changed by men's afterthought. Lucky ideas, sudden inspirations, and the like, mean ruin, unless well tested. III. THE DANGER OF BEING SEDUCED INTO DISOBEDIENCE BY SOCIAL CLAMOUR. "I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice." The people who tempt are not the people who can save. 2. Where God has spoken distinctly there should be no human consultation IV. THE CERTAIN WITHDRAWMENT OF THE BEST INFLUENCES OF LIFE AS THE RESULT OF DISOBEDIENCE. "And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death." Parents, ministers, friends, gone! There are some incidental points of application: — 1. Sin discovers itself: "What meaneth this this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear?" 2. Sin will be punished. Four hundred years elapsed before the sword fell upon Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:17, 19). Time has no effect upon moral distinctions, or moral judgments. (J. Parker, D. D.) A course of action more certainly calculated to insult the majesty of Heaven cannot be conceived than that which Saul adopted. It is true the command was partially obeyed, but the only case in which obedience was rendered was that in which there was no temptation to gratify selfish feeling. Where, however, anything could be turned to his own personal advantage, there the command of God was recklessly trifled with. Look attentively at Saul in this matter. When Jonathan had done nothing to deserve death, there was no mercy for him in his father's heart; and it required the downright and peremptory prohibition of all Saul's army to save the innocent son alive. But, when a duty was rendered imperative by that God who is not bound to give, in any case, His reasons for action, Saul was deputed to put Agag to death, when to have done this would have been but an act of simple obedience, he ventured to disobey, and spared the man whom God had marked for destruction. It was, in Saul's view, a matter of pride to have his triumph graced by the presence of a conquered king, to make Agag feel that he owed his life to his own clemency, and that he held its prolongation on the tenure of his conqueror's will. He found a greater gratification in ell this than in simple obedience to God. Samuel goes, after a night spent in grief and in prayer, to be the bearer of the tidings of God's displeasure. But what strange scene is this which breaks upon us as the messenger of the Lord reaches Gilgal? Much as we know of Saul, and accustomed as we have become to the proofs of his moral obtuseness, we are hardly prepared for the downright self-complacency, for the cool effrontery of the words which he addressed to Samuel, "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment, of the Lord."I. WE ARE REMINDED THAT A GREAT AMOUNT OF DIRECT SIN MAY BE COMMITTED AND NEVERTHELESS DISGUISED, UNDER A LOUD PROFESSION OF OBEDIENCE TO GOD. There is, in some individuals, a forwardness in certain forms of duty which cost no self-denial at all; a forwardness, also, in the announcement of what has been done which is, in itself, to practised eyes a ground for suspicion that all is not right behind the scenes We sometimes notice individuals overdoing the thing that is courteous and polite — "glaringly civil" — towards those who come on the errand of Christian fidelity, and whose business is with souls in prospect of the great account. There is so much joy expressed at seeing them, there is so much interest taken in their presence, there is such a sudden burst of cordiality, as that upon the very amazement excited there follows the suspicion that something is going on which there is an effort to conceal. Let us aim after such a walk and conversation as that we can be natural in our demeanour, and not artificial and forced, such a life as will bear inspection behind the scenes, and as will not compel those who watch for souls to ask, as they look around, what meaneth this or that? what meaneth this unholy gratification? what meaneth this unsubdued temper? II. THE ANSWER OF SAUL TEACHES THAT THE MEN WHO, TO GRATIFY THEIR OWN PURPOSES, WILL LEAD OTHERS WRONG AND COUNTENANCE THEM IN EVIL-DOING, WILL BE THE VERY FIRST TO EXPOSE THEM WHEN THEY WANT TO EXCUSE THEMSELVES. And Saul said, "They — not I — 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." Ah! study well that sentence, "They" did it. Would that its impressiveness might be felt by the thousands who are too ready to be led by the advice, by the example, of those who ought to have but one rule for their own conduct and for their Influence over others too, and that rule God's word — God's will. There are some who will lead you into evil for the sake of getting countenance to themselves in their own want of religion. How many have had to mourn at last, when they have found their advisers converted into their accusers, when they have seen their companions in guilt stand as the witnesses for their condemnation. III. THERE ARE OTHER ERRONEOUS PRINCIPLES IN THIS ANSWER OF SAUL. 1. He evidently implied that a formal act of obedience might be taken as a set-off against an act of direct disobedience. He implied that, putting one thing over against the other, God would be satisfied in the long run. If he intended to offer sacrifice at all, it was upon the principle of compromise and composition. He would have given God a part of the spoil, that he might have kept a much larger portion for himself. He would have offered a fraction, that the extensive remainder might not have rendered his conscience uneasy. In those sacrifices which you offer to God no equivalent is found for the want of obedience. Obedience, as a principle, has a value far above sacrifice, as an action; it is "better than sacrifice" — better, as the principle must be superior to the form in which it is embodied — better, as the affection which sends a gift is more valuable than the gift itself. How, then, with justice, can the one be substituted for the other? The offering and the sacrifice have a value as embodiments of the principle of obedience and love — then only are they acceptable; but as substitutes for principle they have no acceptableness. 2. Another error in Saul's answer to which Samuel addressed himself was this, that, admitting he was in fault, there was no great harm in his sin after all. The king of Israel did not, indeed, use these words, but doubtless the prophet gathered that this was his real sentiment. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." Here we see a class of sins mentioned whose heinousness was undoubted. Witchcraft God had forbidden to be tolerated on any account. Iniquity is here undoubtedly put for flagrant violation of God's law; such, for instance, as the idolatry mentioned immediately after. The probability is that the king of Israel plumed and prided himself upon his public acts in reference to these very points. You have acted as though you thought witchcraft was a great crime, and so it is; but then rebellion such as that which you have manifested is as bad. Your rebellion, what has that, been but putting God out of His proper place of authority, and consulting your will and your inclination instead of listening to His voice. The actual amount of our guilt must not be adjusted by the external form of the transgression in which it issues — by its classification according to outward appearance Saul congratulated himself on being thought far superior to the consulter of those who had familiar spirits, and would have been shocked at the idea of being regarded as an idolater; but God thought him just as bad as though he were the one or the other. It is well for us to recollect that in spirit we may be bearing the very same kind of guilt before the eye of Omniscience which we are condemning in the declared conduct of others. (J. A. Miller.) Saul has thrown away his last chance, and Samuel mourns for him in the bitterness of his soul. Rationalistic writers, who would fain remove the miraculous out of Scripture, and explain the currents of its history by the play of human passions, have maintained, in strange inconsistency with the facts before them, that it was Samuel who compassed Baal's misfortunes. They argue that, displeased with the king for supplanting him in the rule and the affections of the people, he had secretly wrought his fall. How utterly inconsistent such a view is with the facts of Baal's history, especially how utterly inconsistent it is with the true relation of Samuel to Saul, as disclosed in the history, need hardly be stated. So we read that Samuel, when be bad heard of Saul's transgression, "cried unto the Lord all night." and again in the last verse of the chapter, that "Samuel mourned for Saul." The prophet's tears and entreaties could not avert the doom that was inevitable. Saul had sinned away his last, chance, and he was finally rejected. Saul, after setting up a monument, commemorative of his victory, at Carmel, had gone down to Gilgal. Samuel having learned of his movements, proceeded thither to meet him. An interview followed. "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord." The refutation of Saul's falsehood is not far to seek. It comes from the sheep and the oxen, the very spoils which he has spared. The veil of his false piety is in a moment rent off, and his true position before God revealed. The fearful nature of that position flashes upon him; Saul must face the sad reality. The act of disobedience which had caused his rejection betrayed his whole character as carnal and estranged from God. We are struck here with the cowardice of his self-vindication. "They have brought them from the Amalekites;" "the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen." He himself has had no share in the sin — the transgression is the act of the army! In their obedience, however, be will claim a part, "The rest we have utterly destroyed." We blame our circumstances, we blame others, we blame God; how slow we are to blame ourselves! The first symptom of a right state of mind is when the sinner, in self-condemnation and sorrow, acknowledges his guilt as his own. Saul, so brave in the battlefield, so generous when his better nature was called into play, roils his guilt on others. The people did it; he himself was innocent. What moral cowardice! But his reply is not more cowardly and mean than it is false. They did it, he declares, "to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God." Who can for a moment believe that Saul spoke what was true? The assumed motive of sacrifice was a hollow falsehood, an afterthought, as flimsy as it was false. Further, one is struck with the profane daring of Saul's reply. The spoils were spared, he says to sacrifice, unto the Lord; it is as if the mention of such a motive would so gratify the Lord am to lead Him to compound with him for his transgression. Let us mark finally the spirit of estrangement from God which breathes in Saul's reply The people spared the spoils," he says, "to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God" It is not "the, Lord my God," for, alas! Seal's guilt has estranged him from God. A great barrier has arisen between him and the Lord. God is no longer his, but Samuel's God. How cad the fall!(Henry W. Bell, M. A.) Homiletic Review. I. NO EXCUSE, HOWEVER PLAUSIBLE, CAN EVER JUSTIFY DISOBEDIENCE TO A DIVINE COMMAND.II. GOD HELD SAUL RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DISOBEDIENCE, AND PERSONALLY PUNISHED HIM FOR IT, though be plead that it was the act of the people. III. SACRIFICE "INSTEAD OF OBEDIENCE" IS A LOATHING TO GOD. IV. GOD USES STRANGE MEANS, SOMETIMES, TO BETRAY GUILT. (Homiletic Review.) Solomon, in his Proverbs, writes: "Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?" and also, "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." Solomon discovered the self-righteous in his day. Cloaks of superior piety covered hearts full of impiety. Our Saviour likewise witnessed much of outward cleanliness, but inward wickedness. Semblances of piety only — shells without the kernel. In all ages and among all nations this class is found One of the most vivid illustrations of a self-righteous man is that presented in Saul's character. Note in what his self-righteousness consisted:1. In partially heeding the Lord's commands Partial service and fondness for spoils exhibit his true character. Society today is tinctured with like partial service and fondness for spoils. 2. In endeavours to appear good. The ready salutation was common in the East; his assertion of fidelity unasked was egotistic. Moreover it was false. 3. In excusing self and condemning others. "They did it." He shirks responsibility, he would be seen of men as the true captain, when in fact he was the real hypocrite. 4. In commanding sacrifice in justification of disobedience. He claims that the spoils were for religious purposes. What vain justification! As well may the dealer in ardent spirits argue that he does his damning work that he may build a church. Good deeds cannot stone for disobedience without repentance. If we become enamoured of our goodness, our piety is vain, and exclusion from Christ's kingdom is certain. It was the hidden rock that sent the City of Columbus, with her precious freight, into the mighty deep. The hidden defect in the car wheel brings wreck and ruin to the train. The hidden flaw in the column or arch tells the story of disaster and death. The hidden defect of self-righteousness will bring upon us irreparable ruin. Clothe yourselves with Christ's righteousness. (W. E. Fetcham.) This fragment of ancient history teaches —I. THAT PARTIAL OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDS OF GOD IS NOT SATISFACTORY TO HIM. II. THAT THE PERFORMANCE OF ONE DUTY CANNOT ATONE FOR THE NEGLECT OF ANOTHER. III. THAT THERE IS IN SIN A SAD TENDENCY TO SELF-MULTIPLICATION. History abounds in examples of this self-propagating power of evil. Men get entangled in wickedness, and then, with a view to free themselves, they plunge deeper into the labyrinth. "I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er." — Shakespeare.The beginning of evil is like the escape of water from a great canal or capacious reservoir; it is like the falling of a spark upon combustibles. No one can tell when or where its ravages wilt end. Will they ever totally end? Beware of such beginnings! IV. THAT OBEDIENCE TO POPULAR DEMANDS IS NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH OBEDIENCE TO GOD. (W. Jones.) as the most florid people do not always enjoy the firmest state of health, so the most showy professors are not always the holiest and most substantial believers.(A. Toplady.) And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night It is the distinguishing mark of God's children that they sigh and cry for the offences and affronts committed against their God. One prophet wished that his head were waters, add his eyes a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night (Jeremiah 9:1) Another declared, his tears ran like rivers, because men kept not God's laws (Psalm 119:136). Another said, he had continual sorrow in his heart for his unconverted brethren (Romans 9:2). And when God would point out the grand mark by which his own were to be known, he says, "Go through the midst of the city, the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (Ezekiel 9:4). When wickedness is going on in the streets, or in the secret chambers, do you shut your door about you, and cry unto the Lord all night? or do you look on with something like interest, and smile when you ought to sigh, and laugh when you ought to weep? A school, mistress was once telling me of something that a girl had done wrong; and while she was describing the fault in a very lively manner, several of the children smiled, and scarcely suppressed a laugh. She immediately turned to them with a solemnity and concern which I can never forget, and said, "Now, girls, you have made her sin your own, those who could laugh at it could do it." The girls looked alarmed, and I hope they would not again so thoughtlessly make a mock at sin.(Helen Plumptre.) Bishop Thirlby was appointed by Queen Mary, and went as her ambassador to Rome to swear anew England's allegiance to the Pope. But when he performed the ceremony of degradation over Archbishop Cranmer, he wept with keenest sorrow as he did it.(H. O. Mackay.) People Agag, Amalek, Amalekites, Havilah, Israelites, Kenites, Samuel, SaulPlaces Amalek, Carmel, Edom, Egypt, Gibeah, Gilgal, Ramah, Shur Desert, TelaimTopics Behold, Carmel, Declared, Early, Gilgal, Got, Honor, Meet, Monument, Morning, Passed, Passeth, Pillar, Proceeded, Riseth, Rose, Round, Samuel, Saul, Saying, SettingOutline 1. Samuel sends Saul to destroy Amalek6. Saul favors the Kenites 7. He spares Agag and the best of the spoil 10. Samuel denounces unto Saul God's rejection of him for his disobedience 24. Saul's humiliation 32. Samuel kills Agag 34. Samuel and Saul part Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Samuel 15:1-236718 reconciliation, believers Library Saul Rejected'Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11. 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. 12. 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. 13. And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Letter iv to the Prior and Monks of the Grand Chartreuse Confession of Sin --A Sermon with Seven Texts Obedience That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers. The Truth of God Blessed are they that Mourn The New Covenant. How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. " Samuel Links 1 Samuel 15:12 NIV1 Samuel 15:12 NLT 1 Samuel 15:12 ESV 1 Samuel 15:12 NASB 1 Samuel 15:12 KJV 1 Samuel 15:12 Bible Apps 1 Samuel 15:12 Parallel 1 Samuel 15:12 Biblia Paralela 1 Samuel 15:12 Chinese Bible 1 Samuel 15:12 French Bible 1 Samuel 15:12 German Bible 1 Samuel 15:12 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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