“It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
Parallel Translations
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“It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
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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.
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'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.
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Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 15:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 6:6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
- 1 Samuel 13:13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.
- 2 Samuel 24:16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Psalms 119:136 Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law.
- 1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
- 1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, and of the fat calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
- 1 Samuel 15:35–16:1 Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel. Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
- Jeremiah 9:18 Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.
- Joshua 22:16 “The whole congregation of Yahweh says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following Yahweh, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against Yahweh?
- 1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
- 1 Kings 9:6-7 But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
- Psalms 78:57 but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
- Psalms 109:4 In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.
- Psalms 110:4 Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Psalms 125:5 But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
- Jeremiah 13:17 But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.
- Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
- Luke 19:41-44 When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
- Romans 9:1-3 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh
- Hebrews 10:38 But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- Psalms 78:41 They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
- Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.
- Luke 6:12 In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God.
- Jeremiah 18:7-10 At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.
- Amos 7:3 Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh.
- Jonah 3:10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
- Jonah 4:2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.
- Zephaniah 1:6 those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
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Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain God in his eternal counsel never changeth nor repenteth,…
God in his eternal counsel never changeth nor repenteth, as verse 29, though he seemeth to us to repent when anything goeth contrary to his temporal election.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 15:11 It repenteth me that I have set…
1Sa 15:11 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.
Ver. 11. It repenteth me that I have set up Saul.] This is humaniths dictum, spoken after the manner of men: as man when he altereth anything that he did before, seemeth to repent. It hath been elsewhere noted, that God’s repentance is not a change of his will, but of his work. Repentance with man, is the changing of his will; repentance with God, is the willing of a change.
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And it grieved Samuel] Heb., And Samuel kindled; viz., with anger and grief together; anger against Saul, and grief for him, See a like mixture of holy passions in our Saviour against the hard-hearted Jews, Mar 3:5.
And he cried unto the Lord all night.] That God would not cast away Saul, but give him repentance unto life. Here was no envy at his new successor, but fervent charity.
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 Poole 1685 · Public Domain It repenteth me: repentance properly notes grief of heart,…
It repenteth me: repentance properly notes grief of heart, and change of counsels, and therefore cannot be in God, who is unchangeable, most wise, and most blessed; but it is ascribed to God in such cases, when men give God cause to repent, and when God alters his course and method of dealing, and treats a person as if he did indeed repent of all the kindness he had showed to him.
He cried unto the Lord all night, to implore his pardoning mercy for Saul, and for the people; so far was he from rejoicing in their calamities, as an envious and self-seeking person would have done.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain It repenteth me that I have set up Saul…
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king,.... Which is not to be understood of any change of mind, counsel, purpose, or decree in God, which is not consistent with his unchangeable nature; but of a change of dispensation, and outward dealings, and is spoken after the manner of men, who, when they repent of anything, change the course of their conduct and behaviour; and so the Lord does without any change of his mind and will, which alters not; and though he changes the outward dispensations of his providence, yet he never changes and alters in the matters and methods of his grace; though he repented he made Saul king, he never repents of his making his saints kings and priests for himself; his outward gifts he sometimes takes away, as an earthly crown and kingdom; but his gifts and calling, which are of special grace, are without repentance; see Gill on Gen 6:6.
for he is turned back from following me; from after my worship, as the Targum, from doing his will and work:
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and hath not performed my commandments: particularly in this affair relating to Amalek:
and it grieved Samuel; that Saul should so soon be rejected from being king, and that he should do anything to deserve it; and whom Samuel had anointed king, and for whom he had a cordial respect, and to whom he wished well, both for his own personal good, and for the good of the people of Israel; so far was he from rejoicing at his fall, who came in his stead, and to whom he gave way in the affair of government:
and he cried unto the Lord all night; or prayed, as the Targum; either that the Lord would inform him of the particulars wherein Saul had done amiss, or that he would forgive his sin, and not reject him from the kingdom.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Repenteth - Repentance implies grief of heart, and change…
Repenteth - Repentance implies grief of heart, and change of counsels, and therefore cannot be in God: but it is ascribed to God when God alters his method of dealing, and treats a person as if be did indeed repent of the kindness he had shewed him. All night - To implore his pardoning mercy for Saul, and for the people. Is turned back - Therefore he did once follow God. Otherwise it would have been impossible, he should turn back from following him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. It repenteth me that I have set…
Verse 11. It repenteth me that I have set up Saul] That is, I placed him on the throne; I intended, if he had been obedient, to have established his kingdom. He has been disobedient; I change my purpose, and the kingdom shall not be established in his family. This is what is meant by God's repenting-changing a purpose according to conditions already laid down or mentally determined.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 15:11. It repenteth me that I have set…
1Sa 15:11. It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king — Repentance, properly speaking, implies grief of heart, and a change of counsels. Understood in which sense, it can have no place in God. But it is often ascribed to him in the Scriptures when he alters his method of dealing with persons, and treats them as if he did indeed repent of the kindness he had shown them. He is turned back from following me — Therefore he did once follow God, otherwise it would have been impossible he should turn back from following him. He cried unto the Lord all night — To implore his pardoning mercy for Saul and for the people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain It grieved Samuel - “Samuel was angry, or displeased,”…
It grieved Samuel - “Samuel was angry, or displeased,” as Jonah was Jon 4:1, and for a similar reason. Samuel was displeased that the king whom he had anointed should be set aside. It seemed a slur on his prophetic office.
He cried unto the Lord - With the wild scream or shriek of supplication. (See 1Sa 7:8-9; 1Sa 12:18.) The phrase and the action mark Samuel’s fervent, earnest character.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Repenteth. God cannot change: but he often acts exteriorly…
Repenteth. God cannot change: but he often acts exteriorly as one who repents. He alters his conduct when men prove rebellious. (St. Justin Martyr, p. 22.) --- Grieved. Hebrew, "indignant." (Calmet) --- He was sorry to think that Saul would now lose his temporal, and perhaps his eternal crown. (Salien) --- "The choice of Judas and of Saul, do not prove that God is ignorant of future events, but rather that he is a Judge of the present." (St. Jerome in Ezechiel ii.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. It repenteth me — Repentance in God does…
11. It repenteth me — Repentance in God does not imply changeableness in the Divine nature, like the changes oft involved in human life and action; for such a supposition is forbidden by such passages as 1Sa_15:29, where see note, and Num_23:19. But the Divine nature is emotional. Indignation and grief over the sins of men are passions as true and pure as love. The emotionality of anger, grief, or pity no more implies imperfection in God than does the emotionality of love. Can we for a moment think of a personal God destitute of feeling? And when his creatures suffer and fall through sin, what feelings but indignation and grief might be expected to move his holy nature? By repentance in God we are, therefore, to understand the change of feeling which must needs occur in the Divine nature towards any of the children of his grace when they turn from his truth, and presumptuously sin against him. Compare Gen_6:6, and note on Jdg_2:18.
It grieved Samuel — Literally, It burned him. It thrilled his great soul to its profoundest depths, for he saw that this rejection of Saul must result in great calamity to Israel. So Jehovah and his holy prophet both were grieved.
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He cried unto the Lord all night — He probably prayed that this cup might pass from him, and that Saul might be forgiven and established in the kingdom.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10–23. Saul’s disobedience and its penalty
10–23. Saul’s disobedience and its penalty
11. It repenteth me] “God’s repentance is the change of His dispensation.” In the language of the O. T. God is said to repent when a change in the character and conduct of those with whom He is dealing leads to a corresponding change in His plans and purposes towards them. Thus (a) upon man’s penitence God repents and withdraws a threatened punishment (Exo_32:14; 2Sa_24:16): (b) upon man’s faithlessness and disobedience He cancels a promise or revokes a blessing which He had given. The opposite is also true, “God is not a man that he should repent” (1Sa_15:29). His repentance is not to be understood as though He who foreknows all things regretted His action, nor is it a sign of mutability. A change in the attitude of man to God necessarily involves a corresponding change in the attitude of God to man.
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it grieved Samuel] This rendering is probably right, though the word more commonly means “to be angry.” Samuel was grieved at the failure of one from whom he had hoped for so much advantage to the nation.
he cried unto the Lord all night] Interceding for Saul if perchance he might he forgiven. For Samuel’s intercessions see ch. 1Sa_7:5, and compare Moses’ pleading for Israel (Exo_32:11-13). Our Lord “continued all night in prayer to God” (Luk_6:12).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) It repenteth me . . . —“God does…
(11) It repenteth me . . . —“God does not feel the pain of remorse (says St. Augustine in Psalms 131), nor is He ever deceived, so as to desire to correct anything in which He has erred. But as a man desires to make a change when he repents, so when God is said in Scripture to repent, we may expect a change from Him. He changed Saul’s kingdom when it is said He repented of making him king.”—Bishop Wordsworth.
And it grieved Samuel—“Many grave thoughts seem to have presented themselves at once to Samuel, and to have disturbed his mind when he reflected on the dishonour which would be inflicted upon the name of God, and the occasion which the rejection and deposition of Saul would furnish to wicked men for blaspheming the invisible King of Israel . . . For Saul had been chosen by God Himself from all the people, and called by Him to the throne; if, therefore, he was deposed, it seemed likely that the worship of God would be overturned, and the greatest disturbance ensue.”—Calvin, quoted by Keil. Abarbanel tells us respecting Samuel’s grief that he was angry and displeased, because he loved Saul for his beauty and heroism, and as his own creature whom he had made king; and that he prayed all night because God had not revealed to him Saul’s sin, and he wished to know why sentence was pronounced against him.
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And he cried unto the Lord all night.—This was, no doubt, that “piercing shrill cry” peculiar to Samuel. With this strange cry he seems to have on many a solemn occasion spoken with his God. He is often in this book represented as thus “crying unto God.” (See Stanley’s Lectures on the Jewish Church, Vol. I., 1 Samuel 18)
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 REJECTION OF SAUL AND HIS DYNASTY (vers. 10-23).
REJECTION OF SAUL AND HIS DYNASTY (vers. 10-23).
It repenteth me. By the law of man"s free will his concurrence is necessary in carrying out the Divine purpose, and consequently every man called to the execution of any such purpose undergoes a probation. God"s purpose will be finally carried out, but each special instrument, if it prove unworthy, will be laid aside. This change of administration is always described in Scriptural language as God"s repentance, possibly because the phrase contains also the idea of the Divine grief over the rebellious sinner. But though Saul and his dynasty were thus put aside, and no longer represented Jehovah, still Saul remained the actual king, because God works slowly by the natural sequence of cause and effect. Saul"s ill-governed temper, and his hatred and malice towards David, were the means of bringing about his ruin. It grieved Samuel. Hebrew, "it burned to Samuel," i.e. he was angry and displeased. The same phrase occurs in Jon_4:1, where it is rendered "he was very angry." But with whom was Samuel vexed? Generally at the whole course of events, but especially with Saul. In choosing him he had hoped that, in addition to high military qualities, he would possess a religious and obedient heart. He had now obtained for him a second trial, and if, warned by his earlier failure, he had proved trustworthy all might have been well. Saul had too many noble gifts for Samuel to feel indifferent at the perversion of so great an intellect and so heroic a heart. But he was of a despotic temperament, and would bend to no will but his own; and so he had saved the best of the plunder to enrich the people, and Agag possibly as a proof of his personal triumph. And he cried unto Jehovah all night. Ie. he offered an earnest prayer for forgiveness for Saul, and for a change in his heart. As Abravanel says, Samuel no doubt loved Saul for his beauty and heroism, and therefore prayed for him; but no change came in answer to his prayer, and as forgiveness is conditional upon man"s repentance, Saul was not forgiven. It is remarkable how often Samuel is represented as "crying" unto God. (see 1Sa_7:8, 9 12:18)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain It repenteth me that I have set up Saul…
1Sa_15:11-23
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king.
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Saul rejected
The story is graphic and pathetic. This is Sauls victory and also his defeat. Our defeats are often wrapped up in our victories. Some of our most dismal failures are hidden from us by the glare of a partial and disastrous success. Saul succeeded and failed. He conquered Agag, but disobeyed God. And so the glory of his victory is lost in the darkness of his defeat. A man may conquer the greatest of earths kings, but his life is a consummate failure if he disobeys the King of kings. And so, instead of praising Sauls victory let us meditate on Sauls sin. His sin was the sin of disobedience, the sin by which our first parents fell. In Sauls defence of his sin we possess a study of conscience unsurpassed in the literature of the world. Samuel on hearing of Sauls disobedience goes to meet him. Saul is the first to speak. Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Was he honest in saying this? he may have been. Other men have lied as outrageously and still believed themselves to be speaking the truth. The heart is deceitful above all things and is oftentimes unconscious of its own deceitfulness. To be sure he has preserved the life of Agag, but then imprisonment is a heavier punishment to a proud king than death itself. The people have been destroyed. This is the one thing essential. No danger can come from a king in chains. Saul has whittled down tire Divine commands a little, but only a little; and who is so foolish as to think that God will notice the swerving of a heirs breadth from what He commands? And reasoning thus we sometimes pare off the edges of Gods commandments, blissfully unconscious that we are doing anything positively wrong. To be sure, we are not keeping Gods commandment to the letter, but He does not expect us to keep it so. It is enough if we kill the Amalekites. There is no need of killing Agag. We take delight in slaying the Amalekites, but we are opposed to killing Agag. And later on we discover to our sorrow that Agag is the chief of the Amalekites and that ruin lurks in the survival of anything which God commands us to destroy Saving Agag costs many a child of God his crown. I have performed the commandment of the Lord, so Saul says, and while he speaks his sentences are punctuated by the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep. A mans conscience may be so drugged that it will not cry out against him, but some outside voice is sure to break forth in condemnation. God never leaves Himself without a witness. And if the animals are dumb, then the inanimate earth will speak. Abels blood will cry even from the ground. Saul had said nothing about the sheep, and so the sheep supplied what Saul had forgotten to mention. In their innocence they bleated out Seals guilt. The universe is so constructed that a guilty man cannot hide his sin. You assert your innocence, and yet my senses take knowledge of the evidences of your guilt. You say you do not drink too much; what meaneth, then, this reddening of the eyes and trembling of the hand? You say your heart is clean; what meaneth then this rottenness that trickles now and then into your talk? You say you are an honest man; what meaneth then this style of living which runs beyond the limits of your income? You say you are a Christian; what mean these scores of duties unperformed, bleating evidences of your unfaithfulness? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites. Mark that word they. We might have expected it. When a man is driven into a corner, the most convenient trapdoor through which he can make his escape is that little word they. Conscience, when stirred, endeavours to shift responsibility. They did it. So says every man not brave enough to face the consequences of his own misdeeds. Why do you not, O preacher, preach spiritual and Scriptural sermons? Do not begin your answer with, Well, my people! And why, O Christian man and woman, do you not inaugurate that reform which your town needs? Please do not say anything about the people. Let each man bear his own responsibility without flinching. But even those of us who are most ready to make a scapegoat of the people do not wish to be too hard on them. We would be merciful and considerate. We can see reasons why the people act as they do. The people spared the best of the sheep. Only the best There was good reason for that. Why destroy the best of the sheep? Why cause unnecessary destruction? Extravagance certainly is not pleasing to God. We have used the same argument many a time We believe in saving the best of the sheep. We are so afraid of being reckless that we drop into disobedience. We would rather disobey God than kill one extra sheep. We are as afraid of killing good sheep as Judas was of wasting precious ointment and for the same reason. Many of Gods commands sound reckless, and so we curb His Divine impetuosity by our prudence. We do not hesitate to kill the best sheep for our own banquets, but when it comes to killing them for God that is quite another matter. But the people in this case bad not preserved the sheep for selfish uses. They had kept them with lofty and beautiful intentions. The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. To put these sheep to religious uses is certainly better than to slay them indiscriminately in the fury of war. God said to slay both ox and sheep, but it matters not to Him how they are slain. So Saul reasoned and so do we reason. There is a streak of the Jesuit in us all. If the end is good, we will not be too punctilious about the means. God cares for results. Methods are of comparative unimportance. The church must meet its expenses. It matters little how we raise the money, providing we raise it. It makes no difference how we get people to church, providing we get them. The Bible must be defended. It matters little what arguments are used, providing the blessed Book is saved. The sheep are to be slain. It matters little how or where they are slain, whether on the altar or on the side of one of Gods hills. It must be acknowledged that God in His word lays tremendous emphasis on the How, but if we are only zealous to increase His glory we feel confident He will not scrutinise too closely our spirit and methods. This is Sauls apology. It gives us a full length portrait of the man. While he speaks we feel we are looking on a soul going to pieces, a moral character in the process of disintegration, a king degenerating into a slave. Every sentence which he speaks tarnishes the gold in his crown and falls like a blow upon his sceptre, which first shivers and tinnily breaks. It is the sacrifice of the will which is pleasing to God. Obedience is the queen of the virtues. Disobedience is the mother of sins. It is the vine, and other sins are only branches. Because of disobedience Saul lost his crown, and so shall we, if like him disobedient, lose the inheritance which is ours. (Charles E. Jefferson.)
Saul rejected
On the top of the Hartz Mountains in Switzerland the figures of travellers, in certain states of the atmosphere, take on a gigantic size to the eye of an observer below, and every movement they make is exaggerated. In the career of King Saul, as it is presented to us in Scripture, we see the figure of a man raised to a dizzy height, his actions prelected, as it were, upon the clouds, so that all mankind may learn from them the desired lesson that Jehovah reigns, and that it is an evil end bitter thing to sin against him. Note--
I. Sauls elevation. If ever man was king by Divine right, it was Saul. Never were greatness and royalty more suddenly thrust upon one than in this ease. The priest and prophet, Samuel, gave him his title of king.
II. Sauls disobedience. This was seen plainly on two occasions: the first, when he sacrificed at Gilgal, contrary to an express command; the second, when he refused to smite Amalek utterly, and offer all the spoil to Jehovah. But these occasions simply brought to the surface an underlying state of disobedience which only waited its tempting inducements to appear. But before this last outward disobedience there had been a slowly increasing departure from the living God in the heart of the king, so that, when the wicked and justly punished Amalekites were put under the ban he was not equal to the occasion and he yielded to the temptation of the hour. The devoting of the whole nation to destruction was no arbitrary act of barbarism that assumed to be under Divine appointment, but a literal and genuine visitation from heaven upon those who richly deserved it. The phrase utterly destroy is in the original put under the ban. This ban was an old custom, originating before the time of Moses, but formulated and regulated by him, as were so many other social customs amidst which Israel grew up. In its simplest form it was the devotion to God of any object, living or dead.
III. The ground of Sauls rejection. It is stated in the briefest language. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath rejected thee from being king. The rejection was already an accomplished fact in the Divine purpose, although its execution was for a time delayed. In this complete rejection we are instructed in Gods ways by seeing that it proceeded on no technical and superficial grounds, as if the Almighty was an austere man, reaping where He had not sowed, and eager to secure a reason for condemning His servant. Even under the old dispensation, how spiritual was Gods claim; how identical with that which rests on us today. The sacrifices of God have always been a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Outward acts have never been accepted in place of an inward submission and penitence.
IV. The false repentance of Saul. It had much of the appearance of a godly sorrow that leads to peace. It surely was sorrow. It showed an aroused and alarmed conscience. Saul comprehended himself; saw the conflict within between his better and worse nature. Again and again he awoke to his sin and folly with bitter tears in after days, but never reached the point where he could say, in the wonderful words of his successor, Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.
V. The mystery of sin and punishment. Who can understand his errors, or those of any man in ancient or modern times, delineated in the Bible or in our own literature? Who can find the key to a sinful life, and unlook all its mysteries and incongruities? What is sin but an irrational, abnormal, strange thing, making everyones life at points an enigma, and best described as a mystery in its origin, development, and results in eternity? Who shall attempt to fathom the connection between wrong-doing and punishment, and foresee the consequences of single transgression? Who is to say what a sin is in its real nature, and what its results ought to be in a holy government? We cannot tell when our characters have become so consistent in evil that God passes judgment on us, and tears from our hands all that He gave us, and for which we are called to live. God has left the consequences of sin in the unseen future, like the shadows of mountains when the sun is behind us. This may be because He wishes us to be more afraid of sin than of its results. This man, whose downfall was the result of his own misdeeds, was, in the hands of Providence, a scourge for Israel, sent to them, as we read, in Gods anger. The career of a sinner can be understood only when we see to what uses it is put in the worlds discipline. If we are obedient to God He will turn our lives into a blessing upon men. If we rebel, He still can use us turning our actions into scourges. To each of us is offered a kingdom, invisible but real, as old as eternity. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Sauls disobedience and rejection
The intoxication of power is upon him, impelling him directly in the teeth of the Divine warning. He is occupying dangerous ground. Our passage shows the turning point in Sauls history.
I. Let us observe the occasion which brought about the crisis. God had given him a commission to ban the Amalekites, the ancient enemies of Israel. The crisis in Sauls life had come. He fails to meet it, in the spirit of a true man of God. His soul finds temptation in a moment when power and success and human adulation have intoxicated him; he yields to the snare, and falls to rise no more. At the turning point of his life he is weighed in the balances and found wanting. The whole sad transaction and all its terrible consequences are summed up in one word--disobedience to positive Divine command. It breaks upon us at once. It is complete and fully manifested in a single transaction. But definite steps led up to it. It can be accounted for. It should have been avoided.
II. As the disobedience was complete and inexcusable, so the punishment was prompt, definite, and final. God hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. Successive steps led to its accomplishment. God caused Samuel to withdraw from him. He took his good Spirit away, and allowed an evil spirit to come upon him. He was left to his own rash, self-willed, and self-pleasing nature. He was allowed to work out his own destruction and the ruin of his dynasty, while God quietly but diligently prepared a better man to take his place on the throne of Israel. A great and solemn principle emerges here--the basis-principle upon which all right and enduring relations to God must rest,--to wit, obedience. There can be no happy relations between a sovereign Creator and dependent creatures upon any other scheme, even though that sovereign Creator be properly viewed as a tender Father. The whole question needs to be restated with firmness. The sentimentality of a spurious faith, which claims heaven and yet the right to please self, is a travesty upon the word of God and upon every serious utterance of human consciousness. And yet this sentimentality is seeking to interpret the preaching of salvation by the cross in the interest of selfish indulgence, and is going far to justify the sneer of the enemy, that morals are divorced from religion; for what are any Christian morals worth that do not mean obedience to the living God? Let Sauls sad fall by reason of disobedience warn us at thin point. In conclusion we may draw out a few brief lessons.
1. The danger of a halfway surrender to God, a consecration which has its reservations. Such a course is an insult to God. It is the very worst spirit of bargain making. It marks off a section of our individuality, into which God has no right to come with His demands. Saul was willing to serve God in being a king if he would have his way when the spoil was at hand. He was quite willing to fellowship Samuel and have his endorsement if he could sacrifice when he pleased. But this spirit brought him to a bad end.
2. See how disobedience demoralises the spirit and sets it upon unworthy shifts His character drooped lower and lower as he sought his way out from the consequences of disobedience by unworthy shifts. When we have sinned it is better to be open and ingenuous with God and man, and while sorrowing for the sin, meekly receive the consequences in the full purpose of immediate amendment.
3. The folly of those in authority, as parents, pastors or teachers, yielding to the tastes and entreaties of the young, the wayward, or the undisciplined for the privilege of doing that which is wrong either in itself or in its tendency. Saul pleaded that he yielded to the wishes of the people when he saved the best of the spoil. So with many now in the place of solemn and responsible authority. But this is simple weakness where we have the right to expect strength. This weakness does not lesson the guilt before God. (W. G. Craig, D. D.)
The commission given to Saul
The command given to Saul was unmistakable and imperative. And this was to be in fulfilment of the legacy of judgment and vengeance left to the people by Moses long before. In Moses words you have hints of the real character and life of the Amalekites that are to be associated with Samuels words, in which he calls them the sinners, the Amalekites. Here you have their character of bloodthirsty, treacherous marauders. The days of old needed the destruction of such as the Amalekites; and if Israel had to do the work it was needful that they should be utterly destroyed. It was better for the world to be without such sinners, and it was required, for Israels sake, that Saul and his people should have no gain from the conquest. God often does thus with the ill-gotten wealth of wicked nations. Where are all the riches of the mighty monarchies of old? Where is the bloodstained wealth of the ruined Roman Empire? Who can tell? God swept, it, away, for a curse--the curse of conquest and oppression--was upon at Consider, Sauls violation of the law of obedience. Saul gave himself to spoilation; the attempted shelter under fear of the people belied itself; his repeated words that they had brought the spoil to sacrifice to the Lord thy God were an attempt to justify sin by profession of good intention, and to degrade religious service of God into formal acts of ceremonial observance. The answer to all his excuses and explanations was simple and as imperative as the commands he had neglected, Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king. There are many lessons taught us in these things, among which, let us note the following, for they touch solemn matters in the life of each of us.
I. It is evident that a professedly good or creditable intention will not justify a bad act. It is true that, the real character of any act is in the intention of the doer; but you cannot judge acts as though they were isolated, and to be taken each on its own merits. The intention that is behind one act may itself be a depraved spiritual act or represent a spiritual state that; God hates.
II. Nor can God be honoured in one way at the cost of dishonouring Him in another. Obedience to one command that is built out of the ruins and breach of another, must be displeasing to God. If we do, we shall add to non-performance of some duties the vitiating of those we do observe.
III. So, also, are we to learn that offerings to God are abomination if they do not express obedient love. For they may represent pride, vain-glory, or hypocrisy they may be a service of self that is all the more real for being hidden under the veil of Divine honour, or they may be a following of custom, or a sensuous dependence upon superstitious services for acceptance with the Lord. Gods supreme demand is loving obedience: the submission of the heart, the sacrifice of the will the offering up of self, the fasting from the self-willed indulgence of our own thoughts and intents. (R. G. B. Ryley.)
Saul rejected
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. Gods 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. Gods commandment must not be changed by mens 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 (Deu_25:17; Deu_25:19). Time has no effect upon moral distinctions, or moral judgments. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Sauls continued disobedience
A course of action more certainly calculated to insult the majesty of Heaven cannot be conceived than that which Saul adopted. It is true the command was partially obeyed, but the only case in which obedience was rendered was that in which there was no temptation to gratify selfish feeling. Where, however, anything could be turned to his own personal advantage, there the command of God was recklessly trifled with. Look attentively at Saul in this matter. When Jonathan had done nothing to deserve death, there was no mercy for him in his fathers heart; and it required the downright and peremptory prohibition of all Sauls army to save the innocent son alive. But, when a duty was rendered imperative by that God who is not bound to give, in any case, His reasons for action, Saul was deputed to put Agag to death, when to have done this would have been but an act of simple obedience, he ventured to disobey, and spared the man whom God had marked for destruction. It was, in Sauls view, a matter of pride to have his triumph graced by the presence of a conquered king, to make Agag feel that he owed his life to his own clemency, and that he held its prolongation on the tenure of his conquerors will. He found a greater gratification in ell this than in simple obedience to God. Samuel goes, after a night spent in grief and in prayer, to be the bearer of the tidings of Gods displeasure. But what strange scene is this which breaks upon us as the messenger of the Lord reaches Gilgal? Much as we know of Saul, and accustomed as we have become to the proofs of his moral obtuseness, we are hardly prepared for the downright self-complacency, for the cool effrontery of the words which he addressed to Samuel, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment, of the Lord.
I. We are reminded that a great amount of direct sin may be committed and nevertheless disguised, under a loud profession of obedience to God. There is, in some individuals, a forwardness in certain forms of duty which cost no self-denial at all; a forwardness, also, in the announcement of what has been done which is, in itself, to practised eyes a ground for suspicion that all is not right behind the scenes We sometimes notice individuals overdoing the thing that is courteous and polite--glaringly civil--towards those who come on the errand of Christian fidelity, and whose business is with souls in prospect of the great account. There is so much joy expressed at seeing them, there is so much interest taken in their presence, there is such a sudden burst of cordiality, as that upon the very amazement excited there follows the suspicion that something is going on which there is an effort to conceal. Let us aim after such a walk and conversation as that we can be natural in our demeanour, and not artificial and forced, such a life as will bear inspection behind the scenes, and as will not compel those who watch for souls to ask, as they look around, what meaneth this or that? what meaneth this unholy gratification? what meaneth this unsubdued temper?
II. The answer of Saul teaches that the men who, to gratify their own purposes, will lead others wrong and countenance them in evil-doing, will be the very first to expose them when they want to excuse themselves. And Saul said, They--not I--for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Ah! study well that sentence, They did it. Would that its impressiveness might be felt by the thousands who are too ready to be led by the advice, by the example, of those who ought to have but one rule for their own conduct and for their Influence over others too, and that rule Gods word--Gods will. There are some who will lead you into evil for the sake of getting countenance to themselves in their own want of religion. How many have had to mourn at last, when they have found their advisers converted into their accusers, when they have seen their companions in guilt stand as the witnesses for their condemnation.
III. There are other erroneous principles in this answer of Saul.
1. He evidently implied that a formal act of obedience might be taken as a set-off against an act of direct disobedience. He implied that, putting one thing over against the other, God would be satisfied in the long run. If he intended to offer sacrifice at all, it was upon the principle of compromise and composition. He would have given God a part of the spoil, that he might have kept a much larger portion for himself. He would have offered a fraction, that the extensive remainder might not have rendered his conscience uneasy. In those sacrifices which you offer to God no equivalent is found for the want of obedience. Obedience, as a principle, has a value far above sacrifice, as an action; it is better than sacrifice--better, as the principle must be superior to the form in which it is embodied--better, as the affection which sends a gift is more valuable than the gift itself. How, then, with justice, can the one be substituted for the other? The offering and the sacrifice have a value as embodiments of the principle of obedience and love--then only are they acceptable; but as substitutes for principle they have no acceptableness.
2. Another error in Sauls answer to which Samuel addressed himself was this, that, admitting he was in fault, there was no great harm in his sin after all. The king of Israel did not, indeed, use these words, but doubtless the prophet gathered that this was his real sentiment. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Here we see a class of sins mentioned whose heinousness was undoubted. Witchcraft God had forbidden to be tolerated on any account. Iniquity is here undoubtedly put for flagrant violation of Gods law; such, for instance, as the idolatry mentioned immediately after. The probability is that the king of Israel plumed and prided himself upon his public acts in reference to these very points. You have acted as though you thought witchcraft was a great crime, and so it is; but then rebellion such as that which you have manifested is as bad. Your rebellion, what has that, been but putting God out of His proper place of authority, and consulting your will and your inclination instead of listening to His voice. The actual amount of our guilt must not be adjusted by the external form of the transgression in which it issues--by its classification according to outward appearance Saul congratulated himself on being thought far superior to the consulter of those who had familiar spirits, and would have been shocked at the idea of being regarded as an idolater; but God thought him just as bad as though he were the one or the other. It is well for us to recollect that in spirit we may be bearing the very same kind of guilt before the eye of Omniscience which we are condemning in the declared conduct of others. (J. A. Miller.)
Sauls dethronement
Saul has thrown away his last chance, and Samuel mourns for him in the bitterness of his soul. Rationalistic writers, who would fain remove the miraculous out of Scripture, and explain the currents of its history by the play of human passions, have maintained, in strange inconsistency with the facts before them, that it was Samuel who compassed Baals misfortunes. They argue that, displeased with the king for supplanting him in the rule and the affections of the people, he had secretly wrought his fall. How utterly inconsistent such a view is with the facts of Baals history, especially how utterly inconsistent it is with the true relation of Samuel to Saul, as disclosed in the history, need hardly be stated. So we read that Samuel, when be bad heard of Sauls transgression, cried unto the Lord all night. and again in the last verse of the chapter, that Samuel mourned for Saul. The prophets tears and entreaties could not avert the doom that was inevitable. Saul had sinned away his last, chance, and he was finally rejected. Saul, after setting up a monument, commemorative of his victory, at Carmel, had gone down to Gilgal. Samuel having learned of his movements, proceeded thither to meet him. An interview followed. Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. The refutation of Sauls falsehood is not far to seek. It comes from the sheep and the oxen, the very spoils which he has spared. The veil of his false piety is in a moment rent off, and his true position before God revealed. The fearful nature of that position flashes upon him; Saul must face the sad reality. The act of disobedience which had caused his rejection betrayed his whole character as carnal and estranged from God. We are struck here with the cowardice of his self-vindication. They have brought them from the Amalekites; the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. He himself has had no share in the sin--the transgression is the act of the army! In their obedience, however, be will claim a part, The rest we have utterly destroyed. We blame our circumstances, we blame others, we blame God; how slow we are to blame ourselves! The first symptom of a right state of mind is when the sinner, in self-condemnation and sorrow, acknowledges his guilt as his own. Saul, so brave in the battlefield, so generous when his better nature was called into play, roils his guilt on others. The people did it; he himself was innocent. What moral cowardice! But his reply is not more cowardly and mean than it is false. They did it, he declares, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. Who can for a moment believe that Saul spoke what was true? The assumed motive of sacrifice was a hollow falsehood, an afterthought, as flimsy as it was false. Further, one is struck with the profane daring of Sauls reply. The spoils were spared, he says to sacrifice, unto the Lord; it is as if the mention of such a motive would so gratify the Lord am to lead Him to compound with him for his transgression. Let us mark finally the spirit of estrangement from God which breathes in Sauls reply The people spared the spoils, he says, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God It is not the, Lord my God, for, alas! Seals guilt has estranged him from God. A great barrier has arisen between him and the Lord. God is no longer his, but Samuels God. How cad the fall! (Henry W. Bell, M. A.)
Christian culture
I. No excuse, however plausible, can ever justify disobedience to a Divine command.
II. God held Saul responsible for this disobedience, and personally punished him for it, though be plead that it was the act of the people.
III. Sacrifice instead of obedience is a loathing to God.
IV. God uses strange means, sometimes, to betray guilt. (Homiletic Review.)
The self-righteous
Solomon, in his Proverbs, writes: Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find? and also, There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. Solomon discovered the self-righteous in his day. Cloaks of superior piety covered hearts full of impiety. Our Saviour likewise witnessed much of outward cleanliness, but inward wickedness. Semblances of piety only--shells without the kernel. In all ages and among all nations this class is found One of the most vivid illustrations of a self-righteous man is that presented in Sauls character. Note in what his self-righteousness consisted:
1. In partially heeding the Lords commands Partial service and fondness for spoils exhibit his true character. Society today is tinctured with like partial service and fondness for spoils.
2. In endeavours to appear good. The ready salutation was common in the East; his assertion of fidelity unasked was egotistic. Moreover it was false.
3. In excusing self and condemning others. They did it. He shirks responsibility, he would be seen of men as the true captain, when in fact he was the real hypocrite.
4. In commanding sacrifice in justification of disobedience. He claims that the spoils were for religious purposes. What vain justification! As well may the dealer in ardent spirits argue that he does his damning work that he may build a church. Good deeds cannot stone for disobedience without repentance. If we become enamoured of our goodness, our piety is vain, and exclusion from Christs kingdom is certain. It was the hidden rock that sent the City of Columbus, with her precious freight, into the mighty deep. The hidden defect in the car wheel brings wreck and ruin to the train. The hidden flaw in the column or arch tells the story of disaster and death. The hidden defect of self-righteousness will bring upon us irreparable ruin. Clothe yourselves with Christs righteousness. (W. E. Fetcham.)
Partial obedience a sin
This fragment of ancient history teaches--
I. That partial obedience to the commands of God is not satisfactory to Him.
II. That the performance of one duty cannot atone for the neglect of another.
III. That there is in sin a sad tendency to self-multiplication. History abounds in examples of this self-propagating power of evil. Men get entangled in wickedness, and then, with a view to free themselves, they plunge deeper into the labyrinth.
I am in blood
Steppd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go oer.
--Shakespeare.
The beginning of evil is like the escape of water from a great canal or capacious reservoir; it is like the falling of a spark upon combustibles. No one can tell when or where its ravages wilt end. Will they ever totally end? Beware of such beginnings!
IV. That obedience to popular demands is not synonymous with obedience to God. (W. Jones.)
Showy profession
as the most florid people do not always enjoy the firmest state of health, so the most showy professors are not always the holiest and most substantial believerses (A. Toplady.)
And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night.
Samuels grief over Saul
It is the distinguishing mark of Gods children that they sigh and cry for the offences and affronts committed against their God. One prophet wished that his head were waters, add his eyes a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night (Jer_9:1) Another declared, his tears ran like rivers, because men kept not Gods laws (Psa_119:136). Another said, he had continual sorrow in his heart for his unconverted brethren (Rom_9:2). And when God would point out the grand mark by which his own were to be known, he says, Go through the midst of the city, the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof (Eze_9:4). When wickedness is going on in the streets, or in the secret chambers, do you shut your door about you, and cry unto the Lord all night? or do you look on with something like interest, and smile when you ought to sigh, and laugh when you ought to weep? A school, mistress was once telling me of something that a girl had done wrong; and while she was describing the fault in a very lively manner, several of the children smiled, and scarcely suppressed a laugh. She immediately turned to them with a solemnity and concern which I can never forget, and said, Now, girls, you have made her sin your own, those who could laugh at it could do it. The girls looked alarmed, and I hope they would not again so thoughtlessly make a mock at sin. (Helen Plumptre.)
Grief over a fallen brother
Bishop Thirlby was appointed by Queen Mary, and went as her ambassador to Rome to swear anew Englands allegiance to the Pope. But when he performed the ceremony of degradation over Archbishop Cranmer, he wept with keenest sorrow as he did it. (H. O. Mackay.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
repenteth
(See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.