1 Samuel 15

Samuel was not saying that offerings and sacrifices were displeasing to God; after all, God, through Moses, had commanded that they be offered to Him. But they had to be offered in the right spirit, that is, with an obedient heart. God would not accept sacrifices from those who deliberately disobeyed Him, who did not love Him (see Amos 5:21–24; Mark 12:32–34).

Samuel went on to compare Saul’s rebellion to the sin of divination⁵⁹ (verse 23), which in essence was the making of an alliance with a false god; the punishment for divination was death (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26; 20:6,27). Then Samuel compared Saul’s arrogance to the evil of idolatry;⁶⁰ Saul had, in effect, made himself into an idol; he had put himself in the place of God.

There are many people today who believe that all they have to do to please God is to “offer a sacrifice,” to observe some ritual, to attend some church. But God does not look on these outward observances: God looks at the heart. First of all, we must love God with all our heart (see Deuteronomy 6:4–5 and comment); only then will these observances bring pleasure to God and blessing to ourselves.

24–25 Because Saul had rejected God’s word-indeed, rejected God Himself-God in turn rejected Saul as king over Israel (verse 26). God’s rejection did not take effect immediately, but His judgment had fallen irrevocably.

Saul confessed, “I have sinned” (verse 24). But Samuel knew his confession was not sincere.⁶¹ Saul needed Samuel’s affirmation in order to retain the favor of the people. Saul wanted “quick forgiveness.” He wanted Samuel to come back with him so that the people would see that Samuel was still supporting him.

26–29 Samuel at first refused. Saul then grabbed Samuel’s robe and tore it. Samuel told Saul that, in a similar way, his kingdom would be torn from him and given to one better—David (verse 28). From the beginning, God had planned that David, from the tribe of Judah, should establish the royal line of Israel (Genesis 49:10). God did not change his mind (verse 29).

30–33 Saul again asked Samuel to come back with him to Gilgal and honor him before the people (verse 30). This time Samuel agreed. But Samuel did not go with Saul in order to “honor” him but rather to carry out God’s sentence on Agag, the Amalekite king. Samuel put Agag to death for the crimes he had committed. Since Agag had killed many people-leaving their mothers childless-it was fitting that his own mother should be left childless also. He thus received a punishment commensurate with his crimes.

34–35 Samuel mourned for Saul. He mourned because he had hoped that Saul would do well. Saul had great gifts, great potential, and yet in the end that potential was not realized. Why? Because, first of all, Saul hadn’t put his trust in God. He feared the Philistines (1 Samuel 13:6–7), he feared his own men (verse 24); but he didn’t fear God, as Samuel had commanded (1 Samuel 12:24). Saul was more interested in receiving honor from men (verse 30) than he was in receiving honor from God (see John 2:44; 12:42–43).

The second reason for Saul’s failure to realize his potential was his disobedience. Trust and obedience go together; as has been said, they are like two blades of a scissors: you can’t have one without the other. Trust (faith) comes first, but true faith is always accompanied by obedience (see James 2:14–26).

Saul failed both in trusting and obeying. Today there are many Christians like Saul who are not living up to their potential for God, and the reasons are the same. At some point in their lives they have shown a lack of trust or they have disobeyed God in some matter, and they have ceased to grow in their spiritual lives. The words of a popular hymn best sum up the Christian life: “Trust and obey, there is no other way.”