Saul’s Rebellion Concerning Agag

Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hy … More

Disobedience

Saul is given specific instructions, through Samuel, to “smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy them (vv. 1-3).” We do not know for sure from scripture why God gave this command for utter destruction but possibly it was because they were a band of guerrilla terrorists and the Israelites could never live peacefully in the promised land as long as they existed. Also, they practiced corrupt, idolatrous religious practices that threatened Israel’s relationship with God.

Saul and his men smote the Amalekites but he did not utterly destroy them, as God had commanded (vv. 4-7), but he spared Agag, the king, and kept the best of the spoil (vv. 8-9). He reasoned that it was a shame to destroy everything so he saved Agag and kept the things he wanted for himself. Saul had no right to spare him, any more than he had a right to spare the humblest peasant among these people. Neither did he have the right to save from destruction the best of the cattle and other animals. He thought he had won a great victory but God saw it as a great failure. Saul had disobeyed Him and then he lied to Samuel about the results of the battle.

No only did the people choose Saul but Samuel chose him also, and now he was sorry that he did (vv. 10-11). Samuel loved Saul and he wanted him to be a good king. It appears that he may have wanted Saul, even more than David, to be successful. However God has rejected Saul, and Samuel. When Samuel arrived on the scene, he could see and hear the evidence of Saul’s wrong actions (vv. 12-13). Then when he was confronted, Saul said he only kept these choice animals to sacrifice them to God (vv. 14-15). This was like a bank robber saying he only stole the money so he could put it in the offering plate. Listen to Saul as he begins to use double-talk in an attempt to camouflage his conduct. He had a very pious reason for sparing some of the animals. He said he wanted to have excellent animals to sacrifice to the Lord! This was, of course, an attempt to cover up his disobedience with a pious pretense. Saul has been disobedient and judgment is coming.

You can find the same kind of hypocrisy in our contemporary culture. There is a tendency to cover our evil businesses with good works. An example of this would be the liquor industry who donates money for beautiful gardens and scenic spots for people to visit and enjoy.

Application

If I try to gloss over sin in order to protect what I have or for material gain, I am not being smart but simply disobeying God, which is sin. Selective obedience is just another form of disobedience.

I Samuel 15:1-15 (English Standard Version)


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