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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.)

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KJV: 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.

WEB: "It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments." Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.