Then Yahweh’s word came to Samuel, saying,
Parallel Translations
-
Then Yahweh’s word came to Samuel, saying,
-
Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
-
Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying:
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references
No cross-references for this verse.
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD…
1Sa 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
Ver. 10. Then came the word of the Lord.] That which one saith of our Henry VIII may well be applied to Saul, Habuit ille quidem egregias dotes; sed suos simul patiebatur manes: there were in him great virtues, and no less vices, jumbled together, as it were. And as the chronicler writeth of our Edward II. Never was prince received with greater love and opinion of all than he; or ever any that sooner lost it. So here.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning…
Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning the execution of his commission against the Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here furnished with of the strictness of the justice of God and the treachery and deceitfulness of the heart of man. We are here told,
I. What passed between God and Samuel, in secret, upon this occasion, Sa1 15:10, Sa1 15:11. 1. God determines Saul's rejection, and acquaints Samuel with it: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a change of his mind, but a change of his method or dispensation. He does not alter his will, but wills an alteration. The change was in Saul: He has turned back from following me; this construction God put upon the partiality of his obedience, and the prevalency of his covetousness. And hereby he did himself make God his enemy. God repented that he had given Saul the kingdom and the honour and power that belonged to it: but he never repented that he had given any man wisdom and grace, and his fear and love; these gifts and callings of God are without repentance. 2. Samuel laments and deprecates it. It grieved Samuel that Saul had forfeited God's favour, and that God had resolved to cast him off; and he cried unto the Lord all night, spent a whole night in interceding for him, that this decree might not go forth against him. When others were in their beds sleeping, he was upon his knees praying and wrestling with God. He did not thus deprecate his own exclusion from the government; nor was he secretly pleased, as many a one would have been, that Saul, who succeeded him, was so soon laid aside, but on the contrary prayed earnestly for his establishment, so far was he from desiring that woeful day. The rejection of sinners is the grief of good people; God delights not in their death, nor should we.
Read full note →
II. What passed between Samuel and Saul in public. Samuel, being sent of God to him with these heavy tidings, went, as Ezekiel, in bitterness of soul, to meet him, perhaps according to an appointment when Saul went forth on this expedition, for Saul had come to Gilgal (Sa1 15:12), the place where he was made king (Sa1 11:15), and were now he would have been confirmed if he had approved himself well in the trial of his obedience. But Samuel was informed that Saul had set up a triumphal arch, or some monument of his victory, at Carmel, a city in the mountains of Judah, seeking his own honour more than the honour of God, for he set up this place (or hand, as the word is) for himself (he had more need to have been repenting of his sin and making his peace with God than boasting of his victory), and also that he had marched in great state to Gilgal, for this seems to be intimated in the manner of expression: He has gone about, and passed on, and gone down, with a great deal of pomp and parade. There Samuel gave him the meeting, and,
1. Saul makes his boast to Samuel of his obedience, because that was the thing by which he was now to signalize himself (Sa1 15:13): "Blessed be thou of the Lord, for thou sendest me upon a good errand, in which I have had great success, and I have performed the commandment of the Lord." It is very likely, if his conscience had now flown in his face at this time and charged him with disobedience, he would not have been so forward to proclaim his disobedience; for by this he hoped to prevent Samuel's reproving him. Thus sinners think, by justifying themselves, to escape being judged of the Lord; whereas the only way to do that is by judging ourselves. Those that boast most of their religion may be suspected of partiality and hypocrisy in it.
2. Samuel convicts him by a plain demonstration of his disobedience. "Hast thou performed the commandment of the Lord? What means then the bleating of the sheep?" Sa1 15:14. Saul would needs have it thought than God Almighty was wonderfully beholden to him for the good service he had done; but Samuel shows him that God was so far from being a debtor to him that he had just cause of action against him, and produces for evidence the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen, which perhaps Saul appointed to bring up the rear of his triumph, but Samuel appears to them as witnesses against him. He needed not go far to disprove his professions. The noise the cattle made (like the rust of silver, Jam 5:3) would be a witness against him. Note, It is no new thing for the plausible professions and protestations of hypocrites to be contradicted and disproved by the most plain and undeniable evidence. Many boast of their obedience to the command of God; but what mean then their indulgence of the flesh, their love of the world, their passion and uncharitableness, and their neglect of holy duties, which witness against them?
3. Saul insists upon his own justification against this charge, Sa1 15:15. The fact he cannot deny; the sheep and oxen were brought from the Amalekites. But, (1.) It was not his fault, for the people spared them; as if they durst have done it without the express orders of Saul, when they knew it was against the express orders of Samuel. Note, Those that are willing to justify themselves are commonly very forward to condemn others, and to lay the blame upon any rather than take it to themselves. Sin is a brat that nobody cares to have laid at his doors. It is the sorry subterfuge of an impenitent heart, that will not confess its guilt, to lay the blame on those that were tempters, or partners, or only followers in it. (2.) It was with a good intention: "It was to sacrifice to the Lord thy God. He is thy God, and thou wilt not be against any thing that is done, as this is, for his honour." This was a false plea, for both Saul and the people designed their own profit in sparing the cattle. But, if it had been true, it would still have been frivolous, for God hates robbery for burnt-offering. God appointed these cattle to be sacrificed to him in the field, and therefore will give those no thanks that bring them to be sacrificed at his altar; for he will be served in his own way, and according to the rule he himself has prescribed. Nor will a good intention justify a bad action.
4. Samuel overrules, or rather overlooks, his plea, and proceeds, in God's name, to give judgment against him. He premises his authority. What he was about to say was what the Lord had said to him (Sa1 15:16), otherwise he would have been far from passing so severe a censure upon him. Those who complain that their ministers are too harsh with them should remember that, while they keep to the word of God, they are but messengers, and must say as they are bidden, and therefore be willing, as Saul himself here was, that they should say on. Samuel delivers his message faithfully. (1.) He reminds Saul of the honour of God had done him in making him king (Sa1 15:17), when he was little in his own sight. God regarded the lowness of his state and rewarded the lowliness of his spirit. Note, Those that are advanced to honour and wealth ought often to remember their mean beginnings, that they may never think highly of themselves, but always study to do great things for the God that had advanced them. (2.) He lays before him the plainness of the orders he was to execute (Sa1 15:18): The Lord sent thee on a journey; so easy was the service, and so certain the success, that it was rather to be called a journey than a war. The work was honourable, to destroy the sworn enemies of God and Israel; and had he denied himself, and set aside the consideration of his own profit so far as to have destroyed all that belonged to Amalek, he would have been no loser by it at last, nor have gone this warfare on his own charges. God would no doubt have made it up to him, so that he should have no need of spoil. And therefore, (3.) He shows him how inexcusable he was in aiming to make a profit of this expedition, and to enrich himself by it (Sa1 15:19): "Wherefore then didst thou fly upon the spoil, and convert that to thy own use which was to have been destroyed for God's honour?" See what evil the love of money is the root of; but see what is the sinfulness of sin, and that in it which above any thing else makes it evil in the sight of the Lord. It is disobedience: Thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord.
5. Saul repeats his vindication of himself, as that which, in defiance of conviction, he resolved to abide by, Sa1 15:20, Sa1 15:21. He denies the charge (Sa1 15:20): "Yea, I have obeyed, I have done all I should do;" for he had done all which he thought he needed to do, so much wiser was he in his own eyes than God himself. God bade him kill all, and yet he puts in among the instances of his obedience that he brought Agag alive, which he thought was as good as if he had killed him. Thus carnal deceitful hearts think to excuse themselves from God's commandments with their own equivalents. He insists upon it that he has utterly destroyed the Amalekites themselves, which was the main thing intended; but, as to the spoil, he owns it should have been utterly destroyed; so that he knew his Lord's will, and was under no mistake about the command. But he thought that would be wilful waste; the cattle of the Midianites was taken for a prey in Moses's time (Num 31:32, etc.), and why not the cattle of the Amalekites now? Better it should be prey to the Israelites than to the fowls of the air and the wild beasts; and therefore he connived at the people's carrying it away. But it was their doing and not his; and, besides, it was for sacrifice to the Lord here at Gilgal, whither they were now bringing them. See what a hard thing it is to convince the children of disobedience of their sin and to strip them of their fig-leaves.
6. Samuel gives a full answer to his apology, since he did insist upon it, Sa1 15:22, Sa1 15:23. He appeals to his own conscience: Has the Lord as great delight in sacrifices as in obedience? Though Saul was not a man of any great acquaintance with religion, yet he could not but know this, (1.) That nothing is so pleasing to God as obedience, no, not sacrifice and offering, and the fat of rams. See here what we should seek and aim at in all the exercises of religion, even acceptance with God, that he may delight in what we do. If God be well pleased with us and our services, we are happy, we have gained our point, but otherwise to what purpose is it? Isa 1:11. Now here we are plainly told that humble, sincere, and conscientious obedience to the will of God, is more pleasing and acceptable to him than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices. A careful conformity to moral precepts recommends us to God more than all ceremonial observances, Mic 6:6-8; Hos 6:6. Obedience is enjoyed by the eternal law of nature, but sacrifice only by a positive law. Obedience was the law of innocency, but sacrifice supposes sin come into the world, and is but a feeble attempt to take that away which obedience would have prevented. God is more glorified and self more denied by obedience than by sacrifice. It is much easier to bring a bullock or lamb to be burnt upon the altar than to bring every high thought into obedience to God and the will subject to his will. Obedience is the glory of angels (Psa 103:20), and it will be ours. (2.) That nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, setting up our wills in competition with his. This is here called rebellion and stubbornness, and is said to be as bad as witchcraft and idolatry, Sa1 15:23. It is as bad to set up other gods as to live in disobedience to the true God. Those that are governed by their own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim (as the word here is for idolatry) or the diviners. It was disobedience that made us all sinners (Rom 5:19), and this is the malignity of sin, that it is the transgression of the law, and consequently it is enmity to God, Rom 8:7. Saul was a king, but if he disobey the command of God, his royal dignity and power will not excuse him from the guilt of rebellion and stubbornness. It is not the rebellion of the people against their prince, but of a prince against God, that this text speaks of.
7. He reads his doom: in short, "Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, hast despised it (so the Chaldee), hast made nothing of it (so the Septuagint), hast cast off the government of it, therefore he has rejected thee, despised and made nothing of thee, but cast thee off from being king. He that made thee king has determined to unmake thee again." Those are unfit and unworthy to rule over men who are not willing that God should rule over them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel,....…
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; this came to him in a dream or vision, or by an articulate voice:
saying; as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain GOD REJECTS HIS FOR DISOBEDIENCE. (Sa1 15:10-11)
GOD REJECTS HIS FOR DISOBEDIENCE. (Sa1 15:10-11)
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul--Repentance is attributed in Scripture to Him when bad men give Him cause to alter His course and method of procedure, and to treat them as if He did "repent" of kindness shown. To the heart of a man like Samuel, who was above all envious considerations, and really attached to the king, so painful an announcement moved all his pity and led him to pass a sleepless night of earnest intercession.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain SAMUEL’S LAST WORDS TO SAUL, 1Sa_15:10-35.
SAMUEL’S LAST WORDS TO SAUL, 1Sa_15:10-35.
10. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel — Either by a dream or a vision of the night. See Num_12:6.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Then came the word . . . —Very…
(10) Then came the word . . . —Very likely in a dream.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 10, 11. (RAMAH.)
Vers. 10, 11. (RAMAH.)
Samuel"s intercession for Saul.
Read full note →
The recorded instances of Samuel"s praying are of an intercessory character. (1Sa_7:9 1Sa_8:6, 21 12:18, 23) The last of them is his intercession for Saul. He appears to have been told by God in a dream of the result of the probationary commission which had been given to the king. Agitated and distressed, and not yet clearly perceiving it to be the fixed purpose of God (ver. 29) that Saul should no longer reign over Israel as his recognised servant and vicegerent, Samuel gave himself unto prayer, if thereby he might avert the calamity. Respecting his intercession, consider
I ON WHOSE BEHALF IT WAS MADE. Chiefly, doubtless, on behalf of Saul, though not without regard to the nation, on which his rejection seemed likely to produce a disastrous effect. Intercession should be made for individuals as well as communities. "Satan hath desired to have you," said he who is the perfect example of intercessory prayer, "but I have prayed for thee. (Luk_22:32) There were many things in Saul calculated to call it forth.
1. His good qualities, exalted position, and intimate relationship to the prophet.
2. His grievous sin (vers. 11, 19, 23), exceeding his previous transgressions.
3. His great danger falling from his high dignity, failing to accomplish the purpose of his appointment, losing the favour and help of Jehovah, and sinking into confirmed rebellion and complete ruin. "It repenteth me that I have made Saul king; for he is turned back from following me" (vers. 11, 35). When a change takes place in the conduct of man toward God, as from obedience to disobedience, it necessitates a change of God"s dealings toward him (otherwise he would not be unchangeably holy), and this "change of his dispensation" or economy (Theodoret) is called his repentance. It is not, however, the same in all respects as repentance in men. No change in him can arise, as in them, from unforeseen events or more perfect knowledge, seeing that "his understanding is infinite;" yet, on the other hand, as in their repentance there is sorrow, so also in his sorrow over those who turn from him, oppose his gracious purposes, and bring misery upon themselves (Gen_6:6; Jud_1:10:16) and of this Divine sorrow the tears and agonies of Christ are the most affecting revelation.
II IN WHAT SPIRIT IT WAS MADE.
1. Holy anger against sin, and against the sinner in so far as he has yielded himself to its power, arising from sympathy with God and zeal for his. (Psa_119:126, Psa_119:136, Psa_119:158)
1. Deep sorrow over the sinner, in his essential personality, his loss and ruin; not unmingled with disappointment at the failure of the hopes entertained concerning him. Sorrow over sinners is a proof of love to them.
2. Intense desire for the sinner"s repentance, forgiveness, and salvation. "And he cried unto the Lord all night" with a loud and piercing cry, and in prolonged entreaty. The old home at Ramah, which had been sanctified by parental prayers and his own incessant supplications, never witnessed greater fervour. Wonderful was the spirit of intercession which he possessed. Well might the Psalmist, in calling upon men to worship the Lord, single him out as pre-eminent among them that "call upon his name" (Psa_99:6) But still more wonderful was the spirit which was displayed by the great Intercessor, who often spent the night in prayer, and whose whole life was a continued act of intercession, closing with the cry, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Would that more of the same spirit were possessed by all his disciples!
We are told How much the prayers of righteous men avail; And yet "tis strange how very few believe These blessed words, or act as were they true.
III TO WHAT EXTENT IT AVAILED.
1. Not to the full extent he desired. Saul did not repent, neither was he exempted from the sentence of rejection. The relation of the sovereignty of God to the will of men is inexplicable. How far the Almighty may, by special and extraordinary grace, subdue its opposition we cannot tell. But he has conditioned the general exercise of his power by the gift of freedom and responsibility, he does not destroy or recall the gift; and the power of human resistance to the Divine will is a fearful endowment. There are stages of human guilt which would be followed by the wrath of God "though Moses and Samuel stood before him". (Jer_15:1) "There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he shall pray for it". (1Jn_5:16) "The sin, namely, of a wilful, obstinate, Heaven daring opposition to the ways of God and the demands of righteousness, and which, under a dispensation of grace, can usually belong only to such as have grieved the Spirit of God till he has finally left them a sin, therefore, which lies beyond the province of forgiveness" (Fairbairn, "Typology," 2:341).
2. Yet, doubtless, to obtain many benefits for the transgressor, in affording him space for repentance and motives to it. Who shall say how many blessings came upon Saul in answer to Samuel"s intercession for him?
3. And to calm the soul of him who prays, to make known the will of God to him more clearly, to bring him into more perfect acquiescence with it, and to strengthen him for the duty that lies before him. "And he arose early to meet Saul in the morning" (ver. 12).
1. How great is the privilege and honour of intercessory prayer.
2. Since we know not who are beyond the reach of Divine grace, weshould never cease to intercede for any.
3. If intercession does not avail to obtain all that it seeks, it does not fail toobtain invaluable blessings. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 1Sa_15:10. “It repenteth me.” “The anthropopathic expression for the…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_15:10. “It repenteth me.” “The anthropopathic expression for the change of the Divine procedure into the opposite of what the holy and righteous will of God had determined under the condition of holy and righteous conduct by men when on man’s side there has been a change to the opposite of this condition without repentance.” (Erdmann.) See also comments on this verse. “It grieved Samuel and he cried unto the Lord,” etc. Literally “It burned (in) him,” i.e., his wrath was kindled. “Many grave thoughts seem to have presented themselves at once to Samuel and disturbed his mind, when he reflected upon the dishonour which might be heaped upon the name of God, and the occasion which the deposition and rejection of Saul would furnish to wicked men for blaspheming God. For Saul had been anointed by the ministry of Samuel, and he had been chosen by God Himself from all the people, and called by Him to the throne. If, therefore, he was nevertheless deposed, it seemed likely that so much would be detracted from the authority of Samuel and the confidence of the people in his teaching, and moreover that the worship of God would be overturned, and the greatest disturbance ensue; in fact, that universal confusion would break in upon the nation. These were probably the grounds upon which Samuel’s great indignation rested.” (Calvin.) “The object of Saul’s prayer was doubtless not release from the fulfilment of the Divine command, but the exemption of Saul from the sentence of rejection and the forgiveness of his disobedience.” (Erdmann).
Read full note →
1Sa_15:12. “When Samuel rose.” “It does not appear clearly where Samuel was, but probably at his own home.” (Biblical Commentary.) “Carmel.” A city south-east of Hebron, on the mountains of Judah (Jos_15:55), now called Kurmul. “A place.” “Rather, a monument or trophy. The Hebrew word yad means a hand, but we have a certain clue to the meaning, monument or trophy, not only in the verb here used, ‘set up,’ but in 2Sa_18:18, where we are told that the marble pillar which Absalom set up was called Yad Absalom.” (Biblical Commentary.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Sa_15:10-12
SAMUEL’S PRAYER
I. There is a strong conviction in the mind of the best men that prayer has an influence upon the Divine mind. This arises, first, from their knowledge of the Divine character and the Divine command. They know that God has commanded His creatures to draw near to Him and pour out their hearts before Him, and they know also that He is infinitely just and good. They therefore conclude that He would not require them to perform any unmeaning act—that if He commands them to pray He is open to influence from their prayers. Secondly, their own past experience and the record of the experience of other praying souls confirms this conviction. If a man has waited upon God in the past and has received into his life the blessings which he has asked of God, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to convince him that there was not a conviction between his prayer and the blessing. And the records of the Church of God in all ages are full of the testimonies of God’s servants that they have cried unto the Lord and He has heard them and given them their heart’s desire. Samuel was evidently governed by a conviction that prayer was a power with God. His own name was to him a constant testimony of the power of prayer—his whole life had been a life of prayer, and he had in times past received blessings, both for himself and others, in answer to his petitions. In looking back, also, upon the history of Israel in the past, he could recall many times when judgments had been turned aside and blessings had descended in answer to the prayer of the people as a whole or to the request of one man on behalf of the entire nation. He would especially remember how, more than once, the prayer of Moses for rebellious and disobedient Israel had prevailed with God, and his whole soul was penetrated by a conviction that prayer had an influence upon the mind of the Eternal. When, therefore, God made known to him the new offence of which Saul had been guilty, and His purpose concerning him, Samuel did not think it useless to supplicate God long and earnestly to avert the sentence which He had passed on the offender or in some degree to mitigate its severity. The best men in all ages have done the same in similar circumstances under the influence of the same strong conviction of the power of prayer.
II. There are characters for whom the prayers of the best men cannot prevail. The man who begs a physician to restore his friend to health must remember that all does not rest with the physician. If his prescriptions were infallible, there must be co-operation on the part of the patient if they are to be of any avail. If he declines to fall in with the healer’s method of cure, he makes his friend’s prayer powerless by his own wilfulness. God Himself implies that Samuel and Moses were most powerful intercessors with Him on behalf of His ancient people (Jer_15:1), yet there were times when even their pleadings failed, not because the Divine arm was shortened or the Divine ear deaf to their intercessions, but because the wilfulness of those for whom they prayed rendered it impossible to answer their supplications. God has often broken through the laws of His material universe in answer to the requests of His servants, but the laws of His moral kingdom are unalterable and cannot be broken through. If Saul in his unrepentant condition had been permitted to go unpunished, a moral law would have been broken. Samuel’s prayers had done much for him in the past, and if there had been any disposition on his part to turn to God and again submit to His will, they might have even now prevailed for him, but his own persistent obstinacy and self-will made even the petitions of this mighty intercessor with God powerless in his case.
III. When the servants of God become convinced that their prayers cannot be answered, they ought to become fully enlisted on the side of God’s purpose although it is not on the side of their desire. Samuel earnestly desired that the purpose of God concerning Saul should not be carried out, and he prayed fervently that his desire might be granted; but when he found that it could not be, although his grief was long and deep (see 1Sa_15:35 and 1Sa_16:1), he gave himself unreservedly into the hand of God, and prepared himself to carry to Saul the Divine message which he delivered with the authority and faithfulness which befitted his prophetic office. The fervent intercessor is changed into the inflexible judge when he becomes convinced that it is not consistent with the Divine will to grant him his heart’s desire. It should be so with God’s servants at all times and under all circumstances. They are not forbidden—they are indeed encouraged—to make known their requests unto God with fervour; they may plead with Him with all their heart for the person or the plan that lies near their heart, but when they become convinced that their prayer can not be answered, they ought to cheerfully accept the position, and be willing to lend themselves, heart and soul, to the purpose and plan of God, although it is directly opposed to their previous desires.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_15:11. Wilfulness, the sin of Saul. Saul’s temptation and fall consisted in a certain perverseness of mind, founded on some obscure feelings of self-importance, very commonly observable in human nature, and sometimes called pride—a perverseness which shows itself in a reluctance absolutely to relinquish its own independence of action, in cases where dependence is a duty, and which interferes a little, and alters a little, as if with a view of satisfying its own fancied dignity, though it is afraid altogether to oppose itself to the voice of God. Should this seem at first sight to be a trifling fault, it is more worth while to trace its operation in the history of Saul. If a tree is known by its fruit, it is a great sin.… In contemplating the miserable termination of a history which promised well in the beginning, it should be observed how clearly the failure of the Divine purpose is attributable to man.… No one could be selected in talents and conduct more suitable for maintaining political power at home than the reserved, mysterious monarch whom God gave to His people; none more suitable for striking terror into the surrounding nations than a commander gifted with his coolness and promptness in action. But he fell from his election because of unbelief—because he would take another part, and not the very part which was actually assigned him in the decrees of the Most High.—J. H. Newman.
“Samuel cried unto the Lord all night.” Was this warrantable? It was a mistaken, but surely not a criminal, urgency; for might he not with reason be supposed to receive the dreadful announcement as a frowning barrier over which faith had to wrestle?… He might not arrest the evil of Saul’s fate; the erring monarch must himself be a penitent suppliant ere that can be remedied. He might not keep the crown in the family of Saul; the season of probation was over for that. But he might mitigate the consequences of the sin to Saul and his people. The soul of the king might be brought to repentance and be saved, though with the loss of his dynasty.… Who can tell how much Saul was indebted to that prayer of Samuel for the mercies and escapes and successes of his subsequent career.—Steel.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain 1 Samuel
1 Samuel
SAUL REJECTED
Read full note →
1Sa 15:10 - 1Sa 15:23.
Again the narrative takes us to Gilgal,-a fateful place for Saul, There they ‘made Saul king before the Lord’; there he had taken the first step on his dark way of gloomy, proud self-will, down which he was destined to plunge so far and fatally. There he had, in consequence, received the message of the transference of the kingdom from his house, though not from himself. Now, flushed with his victory over Amalek, he has come there with his troops, laden with spoil. They had made a swift march from the south where Amalek dwelt, passing by Nabal’s Carmel, where they had put up some sort of monument of their exploit in a temper of vain-glory, very unlike the spirit which reared the stone of help at Eben-ezer; and apparently they purpose sacrifices and a feast. But Samuel comes into camp with no look of congratulation. Probably the vigorous old man had walked that day from his home, some fifteen miles off, and on the way seems to have picked up tidings of Saul’s victory and position, which ought to have reached him from the king himself, and would have done so if Saul’s conscience had been clear. The omission to tell him was studied neglect, which revealed much.
Samuel had ‘cried unto the Lord all night,’ if perchance the terrible sentence might be reversed; and his cries had not been in vain, for they had brought him into complete submission, and had nerved him to do his work calmly, without a quiver or a pang of personal feeling, as becomes God’s prophet.
I. We must go back a step beyond this passage to understand it. Note, first, the command which was disobeyed. The campaign against Amalek was undertaken by express divine direction through Samuel’s lips. It was the delayed fulfilment of a sentence passed in the times of the Conquest, but not executed then. The terrible old usages of that period are brought into play again, and the whole nation with its possessions is ‘devoted’. The word explains the dreadful usage. There are two kinds of devotion to God: that of willing, and that of unwilling, men; the one brings life, the other, death. The massacre of the foul nations of Canaan was thereby made a direct divine judgment, and removed wholly from the region of ferocious warfare. No doubt, the whole plane of morals in the earlier revelation is lower than that of the New Testament. If Jesus has not taught a higher law than was given to ‘them of old time,’ one large part of His gift to men disappears. The wholesale destruction of ‘babe and suckling’ with the guilty makes us shudder; and we are meant to feel the difference between the atmosphere of that time and ours. But we are not meant to question the reality of the divine command, nor His right to give it. He slays, and makes alive. His judgments strike the innocent with the guilty. In many a case, and often, the sin is one generation’s, and the bitter fruit another’s. The destruction of Canaanites and Amalekites does not change its nature because God used men to do it; and the question is not whether the Israelites were fiercely barbarous in their warfare, but whether God has the right of life and death. We grant all the dreadfulness, and joyfully admit the distance between such acts and Jesus Christ; but we recognise them as not incongruous with the whole revealed character of the God who is justice as well as love, as parallel in substance, though different in instrument, with many of His dealings with men,-as the execution of righteous sentence on rank corruption, and as sweetening the world by its removal. Most of the difficulty and repugnance has been caused by forgetting that Israel was but the sword, while the hand was God’s.
II. Note the disobedience. Partial obedience is complete disobedience. Saul and his men obeyed as far as suited them; that is to say, they did not obey God at all, but their own inclinations, both in sparing the good and in destroying the worthless. What was not worth carrying off they destroyed,-not because of the command, but to save trouble. This one fault seems but a small thing to entail the loss of a kingdom. But is it so? It was obviously not an isolated act on Saul’s part, but indicated his growing impatience of the divine control, exercised on him through Samuel. He was in a difficult position. He owed his kingdom to the prophet; and the very condition on which he held it was that of submission to Samuel’s authority. No wonder that his elevation quickened the growth of his masterfulness and gloomy, impetuous self-will,-traits in his character which showed themselves very early in his reign! No wonder either that such a king, held in leading-strings by a prophet, should chafe! The more insignificant the act in itself, the more significant it may be as a flag of revolt. Disobedience which will not do a little thing is great disobedience. Nor was this the first time that Saul had ‘kicked,’ like another Saul, ‘against the pricks,’ Gilgal had seen a previous instance of his impetuous self-assertion, masked by apparent deference; and the inference is fair that the interval between the two pieces of rebellion had been of a piece with them. Trivial acts, especially when repeated, show deep-seated evil. There may be only a coil of the snake visible, but that betrays the presence of the slimy folds, though they are covered from sight among the leaves. The tiny shoot of a plant, peeping above the ground, does not augur that the roots are short; they may run for yards. Nor can any act be called small, of which the motive is disregard of God’s plain command: ‘He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.’ Saul had never much religion. He had never heard of Samuel till that day when he came to consult him about the asses. It was a wonder to his acquaintances to find him ‘among the prophets’; and all his acts of worship have about them a smack of self, and an exclusive regard to the mere externals of sacrifice, which imply a shallow notion of religion and a spirit unsubdued by its deeper influences.
Such a man habitually acts in disregard of God’s will; and that is great sin, though it be manifested in small acts. It is to be remembered, too, that the excepting of the best of the spoil from the general destruction, changed the whole character of the transaction, and brought it down from the level of a solemn act of divine justice, of which Saul and his army were the executors by divine mandate, to that of a mere cattle-lifting foray, in which they were but thieves for their own gain. The mingling of personal advantage with any sort of service of God, ruins the whole, and turns it into mere selfishness. Samuel, in 1Sa 15:19, puts the two sides of this ‘evil in the sight of the Lord’ as being disobedience and swooping down on the booty, like some bird of prey.
III. Note Saul’s excuses. Throughout the whole interview he plays a sorry part, and is evidently cowed by the hated authority and personality of the old man; while Samuel, on his side, is curt, stern, and takes the upper hand, as becomes God’s messenger. The relative positions of the two men are the normal ones of their offices, and explain both Saul’s revolt and the chronic impatience of kings at the interference of prophets. Here we have Saul coming to meet Samuel with affected heartiness and welcome, and with the bold lie, ‘I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ That is more than true obedience is quick to say. If Saul had done it, he would have been slower to boast of it. ‘Those vessels yield the most sound that have the least liquor.’ He ‘doth protest too much’; and the protestation comes from an uneasy conscience. Or did he, like a great many other men who have no deep sense of the sanctity of every jot and tittle of a divine law, please himself with the notion that it was enough to keep it approximately, in the ‘spirit’ of the precept, without slavish obedience to the ‘letter’? In a later part of the interview {1Sa 15:20} he insists that he has obeyed, and tries to prove it by dwelling on the points in which he did so, and gliding lightly over the others.
‘Samuel had reason to believe the sheep and oxen above Saul’; and there is a tone of almost contempt for the shuffling liar in his quiet question: ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?’ There was no answering that; so Saul shifts his ground without a blush or a moment’s hesitation. ‘The people spared.’ It is a new character for him to appear in,-that of a weak ruler who cannot keep his unruly men in order! Had he tried to restrain them? If he had, and had failed, he was not fit to be a king. If he had not, he was a coward to shift the blame on to them. How ready men are to vilify themselves in some other direction, in order to escape the consciousness of sin, which God is seeking to force home on them! No doubt the people were very willing to have a finger in the affair; but so was he. And if the cattle was their share, Agag, who could be held to ransom, was his; and the arrangement suited all round. As to the purpose of sacrificing at Gilgal, perhaps that was true; but if it were, no doubt the same process of selection, which had destroyed the worthless and kept the best, would have been repeated; and the net result would have been a sacrifice of the least valuable, and ‘the survival of the fittest’ in many a pasture and stall.
But note Saul’s attitude towards Jehovah, betrayed by him in that one word: ‘the Lord thy God,’ No wonder that he had been content with a partial and perfunctory obedience, if he had no closer sense of connection with God than that! There is almost a sneer in it, too, as if he had said, ‘What needs all this fuss about saving the cattle? You should be pleased; for this Jehovah, with whom you profess to have special communication, will be honoured with sacrifice, and you will share in the feast.’ If the words do not mean abjuring Jehovah, they go very near it, and, at all events, betray the shallowness of Saul’s religion. Samuel, in his answer, reminds him of his early modesty and self-distrust, and of the source of his elevation. He then sweeps away the flimsy cobwebs of excuses, by the curt repetition of the plain, dreadful terms of Saul’s commission, and then flashes out the piercing question, like a sword, ‘Wherefore then didst thou not?’ The reminder of past benefits, and the reiteration of the plain injunctions which have been broken, are the way to cut through the poor palliations which men wrap around their sins.
It speaks of a very obstinate and gloomy determination that, in answer, Saul should reiterate his protestation of having done as he was bid. He doggedly says over again all that he had said before, unmoved by the prophet’s solemn words. He is steeling his heart against reproof; and there is only one end to that. Sin unacknowledged, after God has disclosed it, is doubly sin. The heart that answers the touch of God’s rebukes by sullenly closing more tightly on its evil, is preparing itself for the blow of the hammer which will crush it. ‘He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.’ Let us beware of meeting God’s prophet with shuffling lies about our obedience, and of opposing to the words which are loving though they pierce, the armour of impenetrable self-righteousness and conceit.
IV. Note the punishment. To the vain talk about honouring God by sacrifice, Samuel opposes the great principle which was the special message committed to every prophet in Israel, and which was repeated all through its history, side by side with the divinely appointed sacrificial system. In the intensity of his spiritual emotion, Samuel speaks in lyric strains, in the measured parallelism which was the Hebrew dress of poetry, and gives forth in words ‘which will live for ever’ the great truth that God delights in obedience more than in sacrifice. Whilst, on the one hand, he lifts the surrender of the will, and the consequent submission of the life, high above all mere ritual, on the other hand, by the same process, he sinks the rebellion of the will and the stubbornness of the nature, unsubdued either by kindness or threats, as Saul was showing his to be, to the level of actual idolatry.
‘Rebellion is divination,
And stubbornness is idols and teraphim.’
Then comes the stern sentence of rejection. Why was Saul thus irrevocably set aside? Was it not a harsh punishment for such a crime? As we have already remarked, Saul’s act is not to be judged as an isolated deed, but as the outcome of a deep tendency in him, which meant revolt from God. It was not because of the single act, but because of that which it showed him to be, that he was set aside. The sentence is pronounced, not because ‘thou didst spare Amalek,’ but because ‘thou didst reject the word of the Lord.’ Further, it is to be remembered that the punishment was but the carrying out of his act. His own hand had cut the bond between him and God, and had disqualified himself for the office which he filled. Saul had said, ‘I will reign by myself.’ God said, ‘Be it so! By thyself thou shalt reign.’ For the consequence of his deposition was not outward change in his royalty. David indeed was anointed but in secret, so Samuel consented to honour Saul before the people. All the external difference was that Samuel never saw him again, and he was relieved from the incubus of the prophet’s ‘interference’; that is to say, he ceased to be God’s king, and became a phantom, ruling only by his own will and power, as he had wished to do. How profound may be the difference while all externals remain unchanged! When we set up ourselves as our own lords, and shake off God’s rule, we cast away His sanction and help in all the deeds of our self-will, however unaltered their outward appearance may remain. But God left him to ‘walk in his own ways, and be filled with the fruit of his own devices,’ by no irrevocable abandonment, however the decree of rejection from the kingship was irrevocable. The gates of repentance stood open for him; and the very sentence that came stern and laconic from Samuel’s lips, rightly accepted, might have drawn him in true penitence to a forgiving God. His subsequent confession was rejected because it expressed no real contrition; and the worship which he proceeded to offer, without the sanction of the prophet’s presence, was as unreal as his protestation of obedience, and showed how little he had learned the lesson of the great words, ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Samuel’s Reproof
Samuel’s Reproof
v. 10. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
Read full note →
v. 11. It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king, an expression which denotes that God had found it necessary to change His mode of action into the opposite of what He had determined under the condition of holy and righteous conduct of men; for he is turned back from following Me and hath not performed My commandments. Pride and self-will, in the consciousness of his own power in Israel, had caused Saul to disregard the divine charge. And it grieved Samuel, it hurt him bitterly to find that Saul had turned away from the Lord, it kindled a holy anger in his heart; and he cried unto the Lord all night, probably to obtain for Saul forgiveness for his disobedience.
v. 12. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, setting out to call Saul to account, as the Lord had commanded, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, southeast of Hebron, and, behold, he set him up a place, a monument to commemorate the victory, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal, in the valley of Jordan.
v. 13. And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, a greeting of hypocritical friendliness; I have performed the commandment of the Lord, a calm assurance intended to throw sand into Samuel’s eyes.
v. 14. And Samuel, losing no time in unmasking the hypocrisy of Saul, said, What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
v. 15. And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, so much he had to concede, though it appears even here that he wants to put the blame on the people; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, they were the transgressors, while he was blameless, to sacrifice unto the Lord, thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. The untruth and hypocrisy of this excuse were evident at once, as well as the selfish interests, for the thank-offerings were always combined with sacrificial meals.
v. 16. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, he should desist from lying excuses, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
v. 17. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, for so Saul had described himself when Samuel first met him, 1Sa 9:21, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
v. 18. And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, who were so persistent in their hostility against Israel and against Jehovah, and fight against them until they be consumed.
v. 19. Wherefore, then, after this plain command, didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, in eager greed, in passionate craving, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
v. 20. And Saul said unto Samuel, still persisting in his denial of any blame on his part, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. It was a further hypocritical self-justification.
v. 21. But the people, upon whom Saul again lays all the blame, took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, the firstlings of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto the Lord, thy God, in Gilgal. Saul evaded the plain words of the Lord that everything was to be put under the ban, and that therefore the animals could no longer be used for burnt offerings.
v. 22. And Samuel saith, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? A mechanical worship without true loyalty of the heart is not acceptable to Him. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. This principle, of the utter worthlessness of a dead worship, especially when it goes side by side with a lack of obedience to the Lord, has held in the Church of God at all times, and should be considered most carefully by all those whose churchgoing is a matter of mere routine.
v. 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, or divination, the service of demons in any form, and stubbornness, in refusing to obey God’s commands, is as iniquity and idolatry, in which the living God is denied and rejected. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king, Saul was abandoned to his pride, selfishness, and wickedness. He who opposes the Word of the Lord in any way, whether by speaking or by doing, thereby denies the true God and is in danger of being rejected.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "It
the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "It
The idiom "the word of Yahweh came to" is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "Yahweh gave a message to Samuel. He said, 'It" or "Yahweh spoke this message to Samuel: 'It" (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
It grieves me
"I am sorry"
he has turned back from following me
Saul not obeying Yahweh is spoken of as if Saul had physically turned away from walking behind God. AT: "he has stopped following me" (See: Metaphor)
has not performed my commandments
"has not obeyed what I commanded him to do." Saul was to completely destroy everything and everyone. God had placed a ban on the Amalekites. But Saul permitted some livestock to live.
Samuel was angry
Possible meanings are 1) Samuel was angry with Saul for his disobedience or 2) Samuel was disturbed.
translationWords
turn
command
anger
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.