1 Samuel 14 verse 47 to 15 verse 23 Trust and Obey

 

Introduction

What are you listening to at the moment?

I don’t mean what radio station you tune into regularly, or the current podcast you are consuming, or even if you are listening to me right now. No, I mean in your daily walk are you listening to God’s voice to direct you, or are you listening to someone or something else-even your own voice?

In God’s Word today we see the importance of listening to God’s voice and doing His will. Before we come to Chapter 15, we hear the author summarise Saul’s political and domestic life in Chapter 14 verses 46 to 52.

These verses leave us with a sense that Saul was a successful- prevailing over enemies and with a thriving family involved in the government of the nation. This was the life of Saul, king of Israel- a great life, to be sure. But, with so much of Saul’s story still to tell, why are we given these details at this point in the story?

Well, perhaps the most obvious reason is to teach us that earthly success is not all there is to a godly life. Saul teaches us that a person’s life is not finally assessed by achievements but by faithful obedience to God.

And so, Chapter 15 tells the story of Saul’s rejection as Israel’s king in detail. Saul once again fails to obey God- he rejects God’s Kingship- and so God rejects Saul as king. From the very start of the Chapter, the focus is on obedience to God- on hearing His Word and obeying His Will.

Chapter 15 breaks neatly into three scenes:

Scene 1: God Speaks

Scene 2: Saul ‘Hears’

Scene 3: God Rejects

In Saul’s rejection we learn that God’s People must be careful listen to God’s voice and fully obey His commands as they trust in God’s True King.

So let us begin at the beginning…

God Speaks

Chapter 15 begins with Samuel bringing the Word of God to Saul; in verse 1 we hear Samuel say to Saul: ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord…’. Saul, God’s anointed king, was supposed to listen to God’s Word and obey His Willl. And it was His failure to fully obey God’s commands that would lead to Saul’s downfall.

In verses 2 to 3 the Word of God is given in detail. Saul was left in no doubt about what He was to do, how he was to do it and why he was to do it. Saul was to attack and completely destroy the Amalekites, one of Israel’s ancient enemies, for their sins against God and His People.

To our contemporary ears, this may sound like ethnic cleansing. Instead, we are to understand that this was an act of judgment against sin.

Amalek was a people deeply and consistently set against God and His People. In Exodus 17 we read of how they had opposed Israel in her weakness as she left Egypt; and the Amalekites had continued in wickedness ever since. Now, in God’s perfect timing, God would bring His long-awaited judgement through Saul- just as He had promised all the way back in Deuteronomy 25.

So, destruction comes to the Amalekites not because they are Amalekites, but because they are sinners. And their destruction is a picture of what humanity deserves because of sin: God’s holy wrath and just punishment.

It is often the case that when we hear these true stories from God’s Word, we are tempted to minimise divine judgment. This is probably because we are inclined to minimise human sin- especially our own. And that, as we will see, was Saul’s problem.

For now, we see Saul respond with energetic obedience. In verse 4 Saul prepares the troops for battle, and in verse 5 he devises a military strategy. In verse 6 Saul takes considerable care to not go beyond God’s instructions. The Kenites were not included in the terrible curse that was on the Amalekites and so Saul warned them to get out of the way.

Then, with the Kenites safely out of the way, we see Saul indeed brings long-awaited judgment on the Amalekites in verse 7. The words of verses 8 and 9, however, should stop us in our tracks:

He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

Saul did not fully obey. He was to completely destroy, but instead he spared some.

The author is very careful to point out Saul’s responsibility for the sparing that was done. The way he writes suggests that it was Saul who ‘spared’, and the people joined him. The significance of this will be seen when we reach verse 15.

For now, we move on to the second scene…

Saul ‘Hears’

‘Delayed obedience is disobedience’.

I remember hearing this when I was younger- not too often, but often enough for it to have stuck in my mind. It means simply that when you are told to do something, you must do it when you are told, not when it suits you.

In Chapter 15 we learn that ‘Partial obedience is disobedience’. Saul was given a clear command by God, but he did not listen and obey fully God’s Word. Instead, he chose to obey in a way that suited him.

Saul’s disobedience in Chapter 15, sparing the life of Agag and his livestock, resulted in God’s complete rejection of Saul as king; in verse 11 God says to Samuel:

“I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”

Saul had not listened to God’s voice- he was listening to other voices- and acted accordingly.

God also acted accordingly. Because Saul did not listen and obey God’s Word, God was ‘grieved’ that he had made Saul king; other translations speak of God ‘repenting’ or ‘regretting’ making Saul king.

Now, this sort of talk may pose a dilemma for some of us, because we think immediately that somehow God is admitting that He made a bad choice and will have to fix it. But we should not understand this as if God were saying, ‘If I’d known that was going to happen, I’d never have appointed him.’. The teaching of all of Scripture is that God knows everything. God cannot be taken by surprise- whether in the life of Israel, or in our own lives.

We will not delay on this point today. When we come to verse 29 next time there is more to be said.

Perhaps what is best to take from this episode at present is that just because Saul’s disobedience didn’t surprise God doesn’t mean that God is incapable of feeling sorrow over it. Here we see that God feels genuine sorrow when contemplating Saul’s sin. But it does not mean that God thinks His decision to make Saul king was a mistake in the overall course of His plans for history.

Indeed, here and in other parts of Scripture, we see God making a point by expressing His sorrow. His point was that He demands from His People careful obedience to the whole Word of God- anything else grieves His heart.

The astonishing thing is that God is so involved with His People that their failures affect Him. Saul’s failure to listen to God’s Word and obey Him caused God divine grief. This is the nature of sin: disobedience to God’s Word that grieves God’s heart.

In verse 11 we see that the tragedy of this whole episode was not lost on Samuel either. He was simply distraught. He understood the enormity of what had happened. The king God had sent him to anoint over His People had failed to listen to God’s Word.

What happened next was one of the most spectacular confrontations in the pages of the Bible. We will come to it in just a moment.

For now let us be mindful, as we have seen before, that Saul, the king who failed, points us to the King who did not fail. In the New Testament we see that King Jesus is the one who will without fail bring God’s judgment to the whole world.

The day has been set when Jesus, as God’s appointed King over the whole world, will bring the righteous judgment of God. It is the clear teaching of Scripture that God’s righteous judgement will fall on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. It is also the teaching of Scripture that this Gospel also includes the wonderful news that this same Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. The Gospel both warns of the coming judgment and calls us to saving faith the Savior.

In Saul’s mission to judge the Amalekites we see in miniature what will happen when God’s appointed King comes to judge the whole world. Contemporary, so-called, ‘Christianity’ wants to keep Christ but deny the divine judgment He has been appointed to bring. This is a terrible distortion of the truth.

The truth of God’s Word, however, is that the Gospel of Jesus announces the coming judgment of the whole world and the means of salvation from that judgement. As Believers we live in a time when we are to proclaim the Gospel in its fullness- judgement and mercy- and point to our King who is awesome in glory and amazing in His grace.

In our passage we learn of the nature of sin and the seriousness of sin. When we fail to obey God’s Word, we grieve God’s heart and deserve His judgement. In our final scene we learn of the deceptiveness of sin…

God Rejects

Saul was the king whom God rejected. Chapter 15 recalls the decisive events that led God to reject Saul. The Chapter powerfully demonstrates the deceptive power of sin. In doing so it reveals why God’s People need a leader greater than Saul.

We have followed the first two of the three scenes of the drama in 1 Samuel 15. Saul had been sent to bring God’s long anticipated judgment on the Amalekites. He went, and he won a decisive victory over the Amalekites but did not fully obey God’s instruction. Then God spoke to the prophet Samuel about the grief that Saul’s disobedience had caused Him. Samuel was very distressed and spent the night crying out to the Lord.

In Scene 3 we now come to early the next morning. In verse 12 Samuel makes his way to meet Saul- no doubt concerned to hear Saul has erected a monument to his achievements. When Samuel meets Saul, in verse 13, Saul is the first to speak:

“The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord ‘s instructions.”

Imagine how these words sounded to Samuel. The previous night, God had made clear to Samuel that Saul had not carried out God’s instructions.

Saul appears to be blissfully unaware that anything was wrong. And when we take Saul at face value- that he genuinely believes he has been obedient- we see here something of sin’s deceitfulness.

Here we see that the sinfulness that leads us to disobedience often blinds us to the reality of our disobedience. As sinners we need the probing, searching work of the Word of God to help us recognise our guilt.

Saul claims obedience. Then, in verse 14, Samuel alerts Saul to the fact that he can hear the sounds of Saul’s disobedience. The air is thick with the sound of Saul’s failure to listen to God’s voice and do His will.

In verse 15 Saul’s response reveals the depth of sin’s deceitfulness:

Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

Saul is unwilling to take responsibility for his disobedience. Instead, he makes a series of excuses. He tries to shift the blame for his sin, to blame the soldiers, and minimises the seriousness of his disobedience, claiming that the people had a good reason for what had been done. He then took credit for the part of what had been done that was obedient ‘…but we totally destroyed the rest…’.

Notice how Saul’s defence betrays his separation from the God whose voice he was meant to be hearing. He called him ‘…the LORD your God…’, not the LORD my God.

Saul stand in the long tradition of sinners since Adam who minimise and deny the guilt of their actions because they have turned away from God. Saul’s one-sentence defence provides a brilliant study in the deceitfulness of sin.

In verses 16 to 19 we see Samuel address the reality of Saul’s disobedience by bringing the truth to bear- reminding Saul of the position he held and the mission he had been given. As God’s anointed king, Saul was to bring God’s judgment on these sinners. The terms of the mission were unambiguous and weighty. Samuel is perplexed by the utter foolishness of Saul’s disobedience.

In verses 20 and 21 Saul responded by reiterating the defence he had already presented. Then in verses 22 and 23 Samuel makes a piercing proclamation:

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. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord , he has rejected you as king.

Saul had rejected the word of the Lord and so God had rejected Saul as king.

In Samuel’s speech we witness the devastating seriousness of disobedience to God’s word. The speech speaks to Saul, and every Believer today, about the fundamental reality of what God requires.

Samuel’s speech goes to the heart of Biblical faith, which is a response to the God who has spoken. In His Word God has made known His Will, in the form of promises and commands. Biblical faith consists in believing God’s promises and obeying His commands. This is the only acceptable response to the God who has spoken. Anything less is foolishness. Only complete obedience will be accepted.

We must pause and ponder Samuel’s penetrating words to Saul: disobedience is ‘rebellion’ and ‘arrogance’. If God has spoken, then to be unwilling to obey Him is to rebel against God. If God has spoken, then to fail to obey Him is arrogance of the highest order. If God has spoken, disobedience is effectively rejecting God as King and choosing another religion.

Saul’s disobedience was a rejection of the Word of God, which was a rejection of God Himself. The consequence was God’s rejection of Saul.

 

Conclusion

As we leave this place today we must remember that in the failure of Saul we are pointed to the true King of God’s People, Jesus Christ. Unlike Saul, King Jesus could claim perfect obedience. Only King Jesus could claim the words of Psalm 40:

“Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”

Only King Jesus fully obeyed God’s Word by doing His Will. And it is in that perfect obedience, and God’s True King, we must put our trust.

When we come to Christ in faith, we are united to Him and all that it is His becomes ours. When we come to Christ He gives us His Spirit as our Helper and Guide. Only in the perfect obedience of Christ can we find full acceptance with God. Only by His Spirit can we rightly respond with faithful obedience.

So let us live a life of full obedience- a life pleasing to God, a truly full life-  as we listen to God’s Word and do His Will in the power that He supplies through His True King.