13Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”
14Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
13 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”
14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
KJVKing James Version
13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: 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.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
13 And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him: 'Blessed be thou of the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD.'
14 And Samuel said: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'
15 And Saul said: 'They have brought them from the Amalekites; 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.'
1 Samuel 15:9(vv13, 15)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,…
Judges 17:2(v13)He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in…
Ruth 3:10(v13)He said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you didn’t…
1 Samuel 15:21(v15)But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.”
Proverbs 28:13(vv13, 15)He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Show all 28 cross-references
Genesis 3:12(v13)The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Genesis 3:12-13(v15)The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Yahweh God said to the woman, “What…
Genesis 14:19(v13)He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.
Exodus 32:22-23(v15)Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods,…
1 Samuel 15:11(v13)“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…
Proverbs 30:13(v13)There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.
Proverbs 31:31(v13)Give her of the fruit of her hands! Let her works praise her in the gates!
Luke 17:10(v13)Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ”
Luke 18:11(v13)The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous,…
Job 31:33(v15)if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
Psalms 36:2(v14)For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin.
Psalms 50:16-21(v14)But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate…
Jeremiah 2:18-19(v14)Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters…
Jeremiah 2:22-23(v14)For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh. “How can you say,…
Jeremiah 2:34-37(v14)Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn’t find them breaking in, but it is because of all these…
Malachi 3:13-15(v14)“Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve…
Matthew 2:8(v15)He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also…
Luke 10:29(v15)But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
Luke 19:22(v14)“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I…
Romans 3:19(v14)Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world…
1 Corinthians 4:5(v14)Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the…
1 Samuel 13:10(v13)It came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he…
Proverbs 27:2(v13)Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
28 distinct cross-references across this passage (30 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v13This is the nature of hypocrites to be impudent…
This is the nature of hypocrites to be impudent against the truth, to condemn others, and justify themselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv13–151Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul…
1Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
Ver. 13. Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed, &c.] Which if he had done indeed, he would never thus have boasted, but by glossing speeches he thinks to stop Samuel’s mouth, from whom he might well fear a reproof. He gives good words, when his deeds were evil: he protests his obedience against his conscience, and faceth out his protestation against a reproof. In a word, there needeth no other character of hypocrisy than Saul in the handling of this one business with Agag and Samuel, as a very grave and learned divine {a} hath well observed.
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{a} Dr Hall, Contempla.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv13–15Blessed be thou of the Lord; I thank thee,…
Blessed be thou of the Lord; I thank thee, and I beg that God would bless thee, for sending me upon this employment, and giving me this opportunity of manifesting my obedience to God.
I have performed the commandment of the Lord, to wit, for the main and substance of it, to wit, the extirpation of that wicked people; for he thought the sparing of Agag and the cattle very inconsiderable in the case, though indeed it was expressly contrary to God’s command; but self-interest made him exceeding partial in his own cause: or else, like a bold hypocrite, he pretends that for his part he had obeyed God; resolving, it seems, to cast the blame upon the people, as he did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv13–15And Samuel came to Saul,.... At Gilgal:
And Samuel came to Saul,.... At Gilgal:
and Saul said unto him, blessed be thou of the Lord; signifying that he had abundant reason to bless the Lord on his account, not only that he had anointed him king, but had sent him on such an errand, in which he had succeeded so well, and it was a pleasure to him that he might report it to him:
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I have performed the commandment of the Lord; either he was really ignorant that he had done amiss; and thought that his sparing Agag, when he had destroyed all the rest, and reserving some of the best of the cattle for sacrifice, could not be interpreted a breach of the orders given him; or if he was conscious he had broken the commandment of the Lord, this he said to prevent Samuel's reproof of him, and to sooth him with flattering words.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v13They - That is, the people. Thus, he lays…
They - That is, the people. Thus, he lays the blame upon the people; whereas they could not do it without his consent; and he should have used his power to over-rule them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v15Verse 15. The people spared the best of the…
Verse 15. The people spared the best of the sheep] It is very likely that the people did spare the best of the prey; and it is as likely that Saul might have restrained them if he would. That they might not love war, God had interdicted spoil and plunder, so the war was undertaken merely from a sense of duty, without any hope of enriching themselves by it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v151Sa 15:15. They — That is, the people; have…
1Sa 15:15. They — That is, the people; have brought them from the Amalekites — Thus he lays the blame upon the people, whereas they could not do it without his consent, and he should have used his power to overrule them. To sacrifice unto the Lord thy God — This was a plausible pretence; but as the Lord had given express command that nothing should be saved, no more for himself than for them, this excuse could be no more than an instance of mean hypocrisy.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv13, 15Gilgal being within 15 miles of Ramah, Samuel might…
Gilgal being within 15 miles of Ramah, Samuel might easily have come from Ramah that morning. Self-will and rashness had hitherto been Saul’s chief faults. He now seems to add falsehood and hypocrisy.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv14–15Hear, and which manifestly prove, that God’s order has…
Hear, and which manifestly prove, that God’s order has not been put in execution. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v13Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the…
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people. Samuel saw the real state of the case, and in discharge of the commission he had received before setting out, proceeded to denounce his conduct as characterized by pride, rebellion, and obstinate disobedience. When Saul persisted in declaring that he had obeyed, alleging that the animals, whose bleating was heard, had been reserved for a liberal sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, his shuffling, prevaricating answer called forth a stern rebuke from the prophet. It well deserved it--for the destination of the spoil to the altar was a flimsy pretext--a gross deception, an attempt to conceal the selfishness of the original motive under the cloak of religious zeal and gratitude.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv13, 1513. I have performed the commandment of the Lord…
13. I have performed the commandment of the Lord — This is the language of hypocrisy, by which the disobedient warrior presumes to hide his guilt.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv13, 1513. Blessed be thou of the Lord] Cp. Gen_14:19;…
13. Blessed be thou of the Lord] Cp. Gen_14:19; Gen_24:31; Rth_3:10; 2Sa_2:5. Saul attempts to conciliate Samuel with a friendly greeting. His conscience can scarcely have been so hardened that he was insensible of his sin.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–15(13) Blessed be thou of the Lord.—Saul must have…
(13) Blessed be thou of the Lord.—Saul must have been fully conscious that he had failed to carry out the will and command of the Eternal King of Israel. In the late war, undertaken for the definite and solemn purpose of exterminating a wicked and bloodthirsty people, whose continued existence worked terrible evil upon the adjacent countries, he, disregarding the express instructions of the prophet of the Lord for his own covetous purposes, had not destroyed all, but reserved some of the living spoil for himself. Conscious of all this, he still dared to come forward, and to congratulate the prophet upon the fulfilment of the Lord’s command. But Saul’s words of self-gratulation were evidently feigned; in his heart he knew he had been faithless.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv13–15Blessed be thou of Jehovah. Saul meets Samuel with…
Blessed be thou of Jehovah. Saul meets Samuel with all external respect, and seems even to expect his approval, saying, I have performed the commandment of Jehovah. And so he had in the half way in which men generally keep God"s commandments, doing that part which is agreeable to themselves, and leaving that part undone which gives them neither pleasure nor profit. Saul probably had thought very little about the exact terms of the command given him, and having successfully accomplished the main point of carrying out a vast foray against the Amalekites, regarded the captive king and the plundered cattle as proofs of his victory. The trophy at Carmel is a token of his own self satisfaction.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v14What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in…
1Sa_15:14
What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears.
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Hypocrisy
1.I learn, first, from the subject that God will expose hypocrisy. A hypocrite is one who pretends to be what he is not, or to do what he does not. Saul was only a type of a class. There are a great many churches that have two or three ecclesiastical Uriah Heeps. When the fox begins to pray, look out for your chickens. A man of that kind is of immense damage to the Church of Christ. A ship may outride a hundred storms and yet a handful of worms in the planks may sink it to the bottom. The Church of God is not so much in danger of the cyclones of trouble and persecution that come upon it as of the vermin of hypocrisy that infest it. Wolves are of no danger to the fold of God unless they look like sheep Oh! we cannot deceive God with a church certificate. If you have the grace of God, profess it. Profess no more than you have. But I want the world to know that where there is one hypocrite in the church, there are five hundred outside of it, for the reason that the field is larger. There are men in all circles that will bow before you, and who are obsequious in your presence, and talk flatteringly, but who, all the while they are in your conversation, are digging for bait and angling for imperfections. In your presence they imply that they are everything friendly, but after awhile you find that they have the fierceness of a catamount, the slyness of a snake, and the spite of a devil. God will expose such. The gun they load will burst in their own hands; the lies they tell will break their own teeth; and at the very moment they think they have been successful in deceiving you and deceiving the world, the sheep will bleat and the oxen will bellow.
2. I learn, further, from this subject how natural it is to try to put off your sins upon other people. Human nature is the same in all the ages Adam confronted with his sin, said: The woman tempted me, and I did eat; and the woman charged it upon the serpent; and, if the serpent could have spoken, it would have charged it upon the devil. I suppose that Adam was just as much to blame as Eve was. You cannot throw off the responsibility of any sin upon the shoulders of other people. Here is a young man who says; I know I am doing wrong, but I have not had any chance. I had a father who despised God, and a mother who was a disciple of godless fashion. I am not to blame for my sins--it is my bringing up. Here is a business man. He says: I know I dont do exactly right in trade, but all the dry goods men do it, and all the hardware men do this, and I am not responsible. God will hold you responsible for what you do, and them responsible for what they do. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
3. I learn, further, from this subject what God meant by extermination. There may be more sins in our soul than there were Amalekites. We must kill them. Woe unto us if we spare Agag. Here is a Christian who says: I will drive out all the Amalekites of sin from my heart. Here is jealousy, down goes that Amalekite. Here is backbiting, down goes that Amalekite. And what slaughter he makes among his sins, striking right and left. What is that out yonder lifting up his head? It is Agag--it is worldliness. It is as old sin he cannot bear to strike down. It is a darling transgression he cannot afford to sacrifice. I appeal for entire consecration. Christ will not stay in the same house with Agag. You must give up Agag or give up Christ. Jesus says: All of that heart or none.
4. I learn, further, from this subject that it is vain to try to defraud God. Here Saul thought he had cheated God out of those sheep and oxen; but he lost his crown--he lost his empire. You cannot cheat God. The Lord God came into the counting house, and said: I have allowed you to have all this property for ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and you have not done justice to My poor children. When the beggar called upon you, you hounded him off your steps. When My suffering children appealed to you or help, you had no mercy. I only asked for so much, or so much; but you did not give it to Me, and now I will take it all. God asks of us one-seventh of our time in the way of Sabbath. Do you suppose we can get an hour of that time successfully away from its true object? No, no. As you go into the world, exhibit an open-hearted Christian frankness. Do not be hypocritical in anything; you are never safe if you are. In the most inopportune moment the sheep will bleat and the oxen bellow. Have no mercy on Agag. Down with your sins--down with your pride--down with your worldliness. I know you cannot achieve this work by your own arm; but Almighty grace is sufficient (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Sell deception
Let our subject be the danger of self deception and half-heartedness in the religious life. We shall not have to do with people wholly irreligious and immoral, with those we commonly term sinners; but with a kind of semi-religious, or professedly religious people--people always hovering about the kingdom of God, but who never truly and heartily enters into it; one part of whose life seems alway to contradict and undo another.
I. The master evil--want of whole-hearted surrender and obedience to the will and commandment of God. This it was which ran through, vitiated, and spoiled the whole life and course of the unhappy king, Saul. No more ill-fated, unhappy, unprofitable enigma to himself, to God, and to the world, than a man who has never more than half a mind or heart to anything. Such a man can serve neither world well and truly, for he dare not give himself up wholly to the present, and be cannot give himself up to the world to come, the kingdom of God. He knows and believes both too much and too little. This description applies to many professing Christians. They have too little gospel in them to make them blessed in the Lord; and enough perhaps to make them ashamed and miserable in the day of visitation--the still small voice only heard at intervals, but the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen generally gross and loud enough to close their ears to the music of heaven and eternity.
II. Herein is displayed lamentable weakness of faith and purpose. There was a fatal weakness of soul and character about Saul, which showed itself at every great crisis, and at length brought his days to an end in calamity, disgrace, despair. He was not a man to be kept true to his avowed faith and principles, was too easily turned aside; he put his hand to the plough, and yet looked back; he reminds us of those in the gospels who said, Lord, I will follow Thee, but.
III. The deceiving love of self, self interest, covetous desires, vain ambitions, bender us insensible to the sovereign claims of God and truth. It is so easy, while professing to give ourselves to God and His holy service, to seek and serve ourselves meanwhile, and keep in view low earthly ends--even to fight against prevalent forms of error and evil more for the sake of our own advancement and advantage than from pure loyalty to the cause of truth and righteousness. We may win the spoils of the enemy, and in so doing spare Agag the king, take the master-evil home into our own hearts and households, seek our own reputation and interest and not the glory of God.
IV. We have here also a melancholy example of sparing sins and evils that should be slain, sheltering and harbouring them under false pretences, by unworthy pleas and excuses. The mark of a true man and Christian to allow no known sin, least of all favourite, profitable, accustomed, pleasant sins.
V. How short and easy the stage between this evil partiality, this indulged insincerity at given points, and a blinding hypocrisy throughout the man.
VI. It is a vain thing to throw the blame on others, to allege public opinion and custom in self-justification and defence, when we are disobeying the plainly expressed will and commandments of God. We cut ourselves off, in this way, from all true kingship, not in Israel only, as Saul; but is a greater, holier, ever during kingdom, the kingdom of God. (Watson Smith.)
The rigour of Divine law
In approaching the fundamental principles suggested by the narrative, we ought to note two useful incidental points:--
1. That man cannot evade Divine retribution (1Sa_15:2).
2. That kindness to the good ensures Divine compensation (1Sa_15:6). Kindness is self- rewarding. Beneficence bears an immortal fruitage. Passing from these introductory points we are brought into full contact with the lessons of the incident. We may learn:--
I. The transcendent importance of rendering literal obedience to Divine requirements. The argument turns on the word literal. Learn that Divine language never exceeds Divine meaning. There is significance in every word; you cannot amputate a single syllable, without doing violence to the Divine idea.
II. The fearful possibility of resting satisfied wits partial obedience. Are you satisfied because your life is right in the main? God will not be satisfied. He examines the minutest fibres of life. Verily the best of men need be clothed in Christs righteousness, or they will be consumed in the fire of Divine trial.
III. The utter impossibility of rendering disobedience well-pleasing to God. A religious reason is adduced in justification of disobedience. God said, Exterminate, but the people said, Sacrifice. God, however, rejected the offering which was presented at the expense of obedience. Learn then:--
1. That Divine requirements are absolute.
2. That God will not allow one duty to be performed on the ruin of another. Let no man forsake Gods temple in order that he may visit the sick. Let it stand as a vital clause in your life-creed, that God will not accept one duty at the expense of another!
IV. The danger of being seduced into disobedience by social clamour. Lessons suggested by Sauls circumstances:--
1. That there is a higher law than the verdict of society. Popular opinion is fickle: moral law is immutable.
2. That there is a crisis in which social force can yield us no assistance. Saul was placed in that fearful crisis. He had obeyed the people, but now the people could be of no service to him! The people could violate Divine law, but could not avert Divine judgment! (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v14(*A few paragraphs on the Life of David are…
CHAPTER X X I I I.
DAVID'S EARLY LIFE*
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(*A few paragraphs on the Life of David are reproduced from the author's book David, King of Israel.")
1Sa_15:14-23.
BEFORE we enter at large into the incident of which these verses form the record it is desirable to settle, as far as we can, the order of events in the early life of David.
After being anointed by Samuel, David would probably return to his work among the sheep. It is quite possible that some years elapsed before anything else occurred to vary the monotony of his first occupation. The only interruption likely to have occurred to his shepherd life would be, intercourse with Samuel. It is rather striking that nothing is said, nothing is even hinted, as to the private relations that prevailed in youth between him and the venerable prophet who had anointed him with the holy oil. But it cannot be supposed that Samuel would just return to Ramah without any further communication with the youth that was to play so important a part in the future history of the country. If Saul, with all his promising qualities at the beginning, had greatly disappointed him, he could only be the more anxious on that account about the disposition and development of David. The fact that after David became the object of the murderous jealousy of Saul, it was to Samuel he came when he fled from the court to tell what had taken place, and to ask advice (1Sa_19:18-19), seems to indicate that the two men were on intimate terms, and therefore that they had been much together before. Whether David derived his views of government from Samuel, or whether they were impressed on him directly by the Spirit of God, it is certain that they were the very same as those which Samuel cherished so intensely, and which he sought so earnestly to impress on Saul. God's imperial sovereignty, and the earthly king's entire subordination to him; the standing of the people as God's people, God's heritage, and the duty of the king to treat them as such, and do all that he could for their good; the infinite and inexhaustible privilege involved in this relation, making all coquetting with false gods shameful, dishonouring to God, and disastrous to the people, - were ruling principles with Samuel and David alike. If David was never formally a pupil of Samuel's, informally he must have been so to a large extent. Samuel lived in David; and the complacency which the old prophet must have had in his youthful friend, and his pleasure in observing the depth of his loyalty to God, and his eager interest in the highest welfare of the people, must have greatly mitigated his distress at the rejection of Saul, and revived his hope of better days for Israel.
As David grew in years, but before he ceased to be a boy, he might acquire that local reputation as "a mighty valiant man and a man of war" which his friend referred to when he first mentioned him to Saul. In him as in Jonathan faith gendered a habit of dash and daring which could not be suppressed in the days of eager boyhood. The daring insolence of the Philistines, whose country lay but a few miles to the west of Bethlehem, might afford him opportunities for deeds of boyish valour. Jerusalem, the stronghold of the Jebusites, was but two hours distant from Bethlehem, and on the part of its people, too, collisions with Israelites were doubtless liable to occur. It may have been now, or possibly a little later, that the contest occurred with the lion and the bear. The country round Bethlehem was not a peaceful paradise, and the career of a shepherd was not the easy life of lovesick swains which poets dream.
It was at this period of David's life that Saul's peculiar malady took that form which suggested the use of music to soothe his nervous irritation. His courtiers recommended that he should seek out a cunning player on the harp, whose soothing strains would calm him in the paroxysms of his ailment. Obviously, it was desirable that one who was to be so close to a king so full of the military spirit as Saul should have a touch of that spirit himself. David had become known to one of the courtiers, who at once mentioned him as in all respects suitable for the berth. Saul accordingly sent messengers to Jesse, bidding him send to him David his son, who was with the sheep. And David came to Saul. But his first visit seems to have been quite short. Saul's attacks were probably occasional, and at first long intervals may have occurred between them. When he recovered from the attack at which David had been sent for, the cunning harper was needed no longer, and would naturally return home. He may have been but a very short time with Saul, too short for much acquaintance being formed. But it is the way of the historians of Scripture, when a topic has once been introduced, to pursue it to its issues without note the events that came between. The writer having indicated how David was first brought into contact with Saul, as his musician, pursues the subject of their relation, without mentioning that the fight with Goliath occurred between. Some critics have maintained that in this book we have two accounts of David's introduction to Saul, accounts which contradict one another. In the first of them he became known to him first as a musician sent for in the height of his attack. In the other it is as the conqueror of Goliath he appears before Saul. It is the fact that neither Saul nor any of his people knew on this occasion who he was that is so strange. According to our view the order of events was this: David's first visit to Saul to play before him on his harp was a very short one. Sometime after the conflict with Goliath occurred. David's appearance had probably changed considerably, so that Saul did not recognize him. It was now that Saul attached David to himself, kept him permanently, and would not let him return to his father's house (1Sa_18:2). And while David acted as musician, playing to him on his harp in the paroxysms of his ailment (1Sa_18:10), he went out at his command on military expeditions, and acquired great renown as a warrior (1Sa_18:5). Thus, to turn back to the sixteenth chapter, the last two verses of that chapter record the permanent office before Saul which David came to fill after the slaughter of the Philistine. In fact, we find in that chapter, as often elsewhere, a brief outline of the whole course of events, some of which are filled up in minute detail in the chapter following.
Having thus settled the chronology, or rather the order of events in David's early history, it may be well now to examine more fully that period of his life, in so far as we have any materials for doing so.
According to the chronology of the Authorized Version, the birth of David must have occurred about the year before Christ 1080. It was about a hundred years later than the date commonly assigned to the Trojan war, and therefore a considerable time before the dawn of authentic history, at least among the Greeks or the Romans. The age of David succeeded what might be called the heroic age of Hebrew history; in one sense, indeed, it was a continuation of that period. Samson, the latest, and in some sense the greatest of the Jewish heroes, had perished not very long before; and the scene of his birth and of some of his most famous exploits lay within a very few miles of Bethlehem. In David's boyhood old men would still be living who had seen and talked with the Hebrew Hercules, and from whose lips high-spirited boys would hear, with sparkling eye and heaving bosom, the story of his exploits and the tragedy of his death. The whole neighbourhood would swarm with songs and legends illustrative of the deeds of those mighty men of valour, that ever since the sojourn in Egypt had been conferring renown on the Hebrew name. The mind of boyhood delights in such narratives; they rouse the soul, expand the imagination, and create sympathy with all that is brave and noble. We cannot doubt that such things had a great effect on the susceptible temperament of the youthful David, and contributed some elements of that manly and invincible spirit which remained so prominent in his character.
But a much more important factor in determining his character and shaping his life was the religious awakening in which Samuel had so prominent a share. Not a word is said anywhere of the manner in which David's heart was first turned to God; but this must have been in his earliest years. We think of David as we think of Samuel, or Jeremiah, or Josiah, or John the Baptist, as sanctified to the Lord from his very childhood. God chose him at the very outset in a more vital sense than He afterwards chose him to be king. In the exercise of that mysterious sovereignty which we are unable to fathom, God made his youthful heart a plot of good soil, into which when the seed fell it bore fruit an hundredfold. In strong contrast to Saul, whose early sympathies were against the ways and will of God, those of David were warmly for them. Samuel would find him an eager and willing listener when he spoke to him of God and His ways. How strange are the differences of young persons, in this respect, when they come first under the instructions of a minister or other servant of God! Some so earnest, so attentive, so impressed; so ready to drink in all that is said; treasuring it, hiding it in their hearts, rejoicing in it like those that find great spoil. Others so hard to bring into line, so glad of an excuse for absence, so difficult to interest, so fitful and unconcerned. No doubt much depends on the skill of the teacher in working upon anything in their minds that gives even a faint response to the truth. And in no case is the aversion of the heart beyond the power of the Holy Spirit to influence and to change. But for all that, we cannot but acknowledge the mysterious sovereignty which through causes we cannot trace makes one man so to differ from another; which made Abel so different from Cain, Isaac from Ishmael, Moses from Balaam, and David from Saul.
Was David at any time a member of any of the schools of the prophets? We cannot say with certainty, but when we ponder what we read about them it seems very likely that he was. These schools seem to have enjoyed in an eminent degree the gracious power of the Holy Spirit. The hearts of the inmates seem to have burned with the glow of devotion; the emotions of holy joy with which they were animated could not be restrained, but poured out from them, like streams from a gushing fountain, in holy songs and ascriptions to God; and such was the overpowering influence of this spirit that for a time it infected even cold-hearted men like Saul, and bore them along, as an enthusiastic crowd gathers up stragglers and sweeps them onward in its current. It seems highly probable that it was in connection with these institutions, on which so signal a blessing rested, that the devotional spirit became so powerful in David afterwards poured out so freely in his Psalms. For surely he could not be in the company of men who were so full of the Spirit without sharing their experience and pouring forth the feelings that stirred his soul.
We all believe in some degree in the law of heredity, and find it interesting to trace the features of forefathers, physical and spiritual, in the persons of their descendants. The piety, the humanity, and the affectionateness of Boaz and Ruth form a beautiful picture in the early Hebrew history, and seem to come before us anew in the character of David. Boaz was remarkable for the fatherly interest he took in his dependants, for his generous kindness to the poor, and for a spirit of gentle piety that breathed even through his secular life. Was it not the same spirit that dictated the benediction, " Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble"? Was it not the same interest in the welfare of dependants that David showed when "he dealt among the people, even the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as to the men, to everyone a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine? Ruth again was remarkable for the extraordinary depth and tenderness of her affection; her words to Naomi have never been surpassed as an expression of simple, tender feeling: ''Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Does not this extraordinary tenderness seem to have fallen undiminished to the man who had such an affection for Jonathan, who showed such emotion on the illness of his infant child, and poured out such a flood of anguish on the death of Absalom? The history of Boaz and Ruth would surely take hold very early of his mind. The very house in which he lived, the fields where he tended his sheep, every object around him, might have associations with their memory; aged people might tell him stories of their benevolence, and pious people give him traditions of their godliness, and thus an element would be contributed to a character in which the tenderness of a woman and the piety of a saint were combined with the courage and energy of a man.
The birthplace of David, Bethlehem, is more remarkable for its moral associations than its natural features. Well has it been said by Edward Robinson of the place where both David and Jesus were born, "What a mighty influence for good has gone forth from this little spot upon the human race both for time and for eternity!It was situated some six miles to the south of Jerusalem, and about twice that distance to the north of Hebron. The present town is built upon the north and north-east slope of a long grey ridge, with a deep valley in front and another behind, uniting at no great distance, and running down toward the Dead Sea. The country around is hilly, but hardly beautiful; the limestone rock gives a bare appearance to the hills, which is not redeemed by boldness of form or picturesqueness of outline. The fields, though stony and rough, produce good crops of grain; olive groves, fig-orchards, and vineyards abound both in the valleys and on the gentler slopes; the higher and wilder tracts were probably devoted to the pasturing of flocks. The whole tract in which Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem are situated is elevated nearly four thousand feet above the level of Jordan and the Dead Sea on the one side, and between two and three thousand feet above the Mediterranean on the other. Among these hills and valleys David spent his youth, watching the flocks of his father.
We have seen that the life of a shepherd in those scenes was not without its times of danger, making great demands on the shepherd's courage and affection. In the main, however, it was a quiet life, affording copious opportunities for meditation and for quiet study. It was the great privilege of David to see much of God in His works and to commune with Him therein. The Psalms are full of allusions to the varied aspects of nature - the mountains, the rocks, the rivers, the valleys, the forests, the lightning, the thunder, the whirlwind.
It is not easy to say how much of the written Word existed in David's time, but at the most it could be but a fragment of what we now possess. But if the mines of revelation were few, all the more eager was his search for their hidden treasures. And David had the advantage of using what we may call a pictorial Bible. When he read of the destruction of Sodom he could see the dark wall of Moab frowning over the lake near to which the guilty cities were consumed by the fire of heaven. When he paused to think of the solemn transactions at Machpelah, he could see in the distance the very spot where so much sacred dust was gathered. Close by his daily haunts one pillar marked the place where God spake to Jacob, and another the spot where poor Rachel died. In the dark range of Moab yon lofty peak was the spot whence Moses had his view and Balaam his vision. It was from that eminence the prophet from Pethor saw a star come out of Jacob and a sceptre rise out of Israel that should smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth. The sympathy with God fostered by these studies and meditations was of the closest kind; an unusually clean and impressive knowledge seems to have been acquired of the purpose of God concerning Israel; drinking in himself the lessons of revelation, he was becoming qualified to become the instrument of the Holy Spirit for those marvellous contributions to its canon which he was afterwards honoured to make.
And among these hills and valleys, too, David would acquire his proficiency in the two very different arts which were soon to make him famous - the use of the sling and the use of the harp. It seems to have been his ambition, whatever he did, to do it in the best possible way. His skill in the use of the sling was so perfect that he could project a stone even at a small object with unerring certainty. His harp was probably a very simple instrument, small enough to be carried about with him, but in handling it he acquired the same perfect skill as in handling his sling. In his hands it became a wonderfully expressive instrument. And hence when Saul required a skilful musician to soothe him, the known gifts of the young shepherd of Bethlehem pointed him out as the man.
Of the influence of music in remedying disorders of the nerves there is no want of evidence. ''Bochart has collected many passages from profane writers which speak of the medicinal effects of music on the mind and body, especially as appeasing anger and soothing and pacifying a troubled spirit" (Speaker's Commentary). A whole book was written on the subject by Caspar Læscherus. Professor of Divinity at Wittenberg (A.D. 1688). Kitto and other writers have added more recent instances. It is said of Charles IX. of France that after the massacre of St. Bartholomew his sleep was disturbed by nightly horrors, and he could only be composed to rest by a symphony of singing boys. Philip V. of Spain, being seized with deep dejection of mind that unfitted him for all public duties, a celebrated musician was invited to surprise the king by giving a concert in the neighbouring apartment to his majesty's, with the effect that the king roused himself from his lethargy and resumed his duties. We may readily believe that in soothing power the harp was not inferior to any of the other instruments.
Still, with all its success, it was but a poor method of soothing a troubled spirit compared to the methods that David was afterwards to employ. It dealt chiefly with man's physical nature, it soothed the nervous system, and removed the hindrance which their disorder caused to the action of the powers of the mind. It did not strike at the root of all trouble - alienation from God; it did not attempt to create and apply the only permanent remedy for trouble - trust in a loving Father's care. It was a mere foreshadow, on a comparatively low and earthly ground, of the way in which David, as the Psalmist, was afterwards to provide the true ''oil of joy for the mourner," and to become a guide to the downcast soul from the fearful pit and the miry clay up to the third heaven of joy and peace. The sounds of his harp could only operate by an influence felt alike by saint and sinner in soothing an agitated frame; but with the words of his Psalms, the Divine Spirit, by whose inspiration they were poured out, was in all coming ages to unite Himself, and to use them for showing the sin-burdened soul the true cause of its misery, and for leading it by a holy path, sorrowing yet rejoicing, to the home of its reconciled Father.
It is a painful thing to see any one in overwhelming trouble; it is doubly painful to see kings and others in high places miserable amid all their splendours, helpless amid all their resources. Alas, O spirit of man, what awful trials thou art subject to! Well mayest thou sometimes envy the very animals around thee, which, if they have no such capacities of enjoyment as thou hast, have on the other hand no such capacities of misery. The higher our powers and position, the more awful the anguish when anything goes wrong. Yet hast thou not, O man, a capacity to know that thy misery cannot be remedied till the cause of it is removed? Prodigal son, there is but one way to escape a miserable life. Arise, go to thy Father. See how He is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses. Accept His offers and be at peace. Receive His Spirit and your disorder shall be healed. I own that not even then can we assure you of freedom from grievous sorrows. The best of men in this world have often most grievous sufferings. But they are strengthened to bear them while they last; they are assured that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose; and they know that when ''the earthly house of their tabernacle is dissolved, they have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v131Sa_15:4. “Telaim.” Most likely the same as Telem (Jos_15:21;…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_15:4. “Telaim.” Most likely the same as Telem (Jos_15:21; Jos_15:24), a city lying on the eastern border of Judah, and therefore near the territory of the Amalekites. “Ten thousand men of Judah.” “This implies that the two hundred thousand were from the other tribes.” (Keil.) “The separate mention of the men of Judah shows how little union there was between Judah and Ephraim even at this time; a circumstance which throws light upon the whole after history. (See 2Sa_11:11). The presence of these men arose, no doubt, from their tribe being the chief sufferers from the inroads of the Amalekites.” (Biblical Commentary.)
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1Sa_15:6. “Kenites.” A tribe first mentioned in Gen_15:19. “Their origin is hidden from us, but we may fairly infer that they were a branch of the larger nation of Midian, from the fact that Jethro, who in Exo_2:15, etc., is represented as priest or prince of Midian, and is in Jdg_1:16; Jdg_4:11, as distinctly said to have been a Kenite … They were therefore descended immediately from Abraham by his wife Keturah, and in this relationship and the connection with Moses we find the key to their continued alliance with Israel. The important services rendered by the sheikh of the Kenites to Moses during a time of great pressure and difficulty, were rewarded by a promise of firm friendship between the two nations (Num_10:32). And this promise was gratefully remembered long after (1Sa_15:6). The connection then commenced lasted as firmly as a connection could last between a settled people like Israel and one whose tendencies were so nomadic as the Kenites. They seem to have accompanied the Israelites in their wanderings (Num_24:21-22, etc.) … But these over, they forsook the neighbourhood of the towns and betook themselves to freer air—to ‘the wilderness of Judah, which is to the south of Arad’ (Jdg_1:16), where ‘they dwelt among the people’ of the district—the Amalekites, who wandered in that dry region, and among whom they were living when Saul made his expedition there.” (Smith’s Biblical Dictionary.)
1Sa_15:7. “Havilah—Shur.” “Havilah, according to Gen_25:18, the boundary of the Ishmaelites, probably therefore in the south-east on the border of Arabia Petrea and Arabia Felix.… Shur is the present wilderness of Jifar, the portion of the Arabian desert bordering on Egypt, into which the Israelites entered after the exodus (Exo_15:22). Saul thus smote the Amalekites through their territory from south-east towards the west and north-west.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:8. “Agag.’ “Evidently a reduplicate variety of the Egyptian Hak (ruler). This was the common title of the Amalekite king. Saul spared him probably to enjoy the glory of displaying so distinguished a captive. Josephus distinctly asserts that the beauty and tallness of his body made so fine an appearance, and Saul admired it so much, that he thought him worthy of preservation (cf. 1Ki_20:32-34).” (Jamieson.) “All the people.” “That is, speaking generally, some survived, of course; the Amalekites appear afterwards, 1Sa_27:8; 1Sa_30:1; 2Sa_8:12. Their complete annihilation is mentioned in 1Ch_4:43.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:9. “Fatlings.” Literally of the second tort. Kimchi and others understand the word to denote animals of the second birth, which were thought better than others.
1Sa_15:13. “Samuel came to Saul.” “In the place (Gilgal) where he had solemnly pledged Saul and the people to unconditional obedience, he now executes judgment for disobedience to the Divine will.” (Erdmann.) “I have performed,” etc. “Self-will and rashness have hitherto been Saul’s chief faults. He now seems to add falsehood and hypocrisy.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:15. “The people spared,” etc. “The falsehood and hypocrisy of these words lay upon the very surface; for even if the cattle spared were really intended as sacrifices to the Lord, not only the people, but Saul also, would have had their own interests in view (vid. 1Sa_15:9), since the flesh of thank-offerings was appropriated to sacrificial meals.” (Keil.) “Every word uttered by Saul seems to indicate the breaking down of his moral character. There is something thoroughly mean in his attempt to shift the responsibility of what was done from his own kingly shoulders to those of the people, One feels that after the scene so forcibly described in this chapter, Saul must have forfeited his own self-respect, and that his downward career was henceforth almost inevitable.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:17. “When thou wast little.” “The reference here to Saul’s own words (1Sa_9:21), is beyond doubt. It is the humiliating reminder to the haughty Saul of the low position whence he had been elevated to the headship of Israel, and of the modesty and humility which he then possessed.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:18. “Sinners.” “As though God would justify his commission to destroy them. So it is said of the men of Sodom, that they were sinners before the Lord.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:19. “Fly upon.” “Expressive of eagerness, passionate craving.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:21. “The Lord thy God.” “As if he had been showing honour to Samuel, as well as to God, when he was disobeying both.” (Wordsworth.) “As if he had more zeal for the glory of God than was felt by Samuel.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:22. “Hath the Lord,” etc. “This fundamental ethical truth is affirmed, with unmistakable reference to these words of Samuel, in the classical passages Psa_50:8-14; Psa_51:18-19; Isa_1:11; Mic_6:6-8; Hos_6:6; Jer_6:20.” (Erdmann.) “There is a poetical rhythm in the original, which gives it the tone of a Divine oracle uttered by the Spirit of God, imparting to it an awful solemnity, and making it sink deep in the memory of the hearers in all generations.” (Wordsworth.)
1Sa_15:23. Literally, “Rebellion is the sin of soothsaying, and opposition is heathenism and idolatry.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHS.—1Sa_15:4-9; 1Sa_15:13-23
SAUL’S SECOND ACT OF DISOBEDIENCE
I. God will not accept a partial obedience to any of His commands. There is nothing strange or unreasonable in this. If a human ruler gives a command, he will not be satisfied if the person to whom he gives it obeys it just so far as it suits his convenience or agrees with his fancy and no farther. Anything less than a whole obedience is no obedience in the estimation of a fellow-creature. If a soldier receives an order from his general to execute a certain military movement, he is not expected to consult his own wishes or his own judgment, but he must sink his own will entirely in the will of his superior, and fulfil his command to the very letter. However stern may be the work to be done, whatever sacrifice of personal feeling may be involved, anything less than an observance of the commandment in its entirety will be counted as grave a crime as the non-observance of the whole. If a father directs his son to perform a given task, and the son executes about half of that which is required of him, the father will consider that his command has been disobeyed. If this is the case with human superiors, it cannot be expected that the Holy and All-wise God, whose commands—however stern they may sometimes seem—are always perfectly just and good, will be satisfied with less than an entire obedience to His commands. He is surrounded by ten thousand faithful and mighty angelic servants, who render to him a perfect and unquestioning service, and although imperfect and sinful creatures cannot offer to Him a service equal to theirs, yet there are Divine commands which men are able to carry out to the letter, and which they must so carry out if they would not incur the penalty of disobedient servants of the Most High. Such a command was that which was here given to Saul—it was one which he could obey—one for the non-observance of which he could not plead inability—one which he did not attempt to say he was unable to perform. His partial obedience was rejected—his non-observance of all the details of the Divine command was accounted as direct an act of defiance of God’s directions as if he had taken no action whatever against the Amalekites. And so God will ever account compliance with His commands, which is measured not by His requirements but by man’s inclinations.
II. Where the condition is not fulfilled which is included in the Divine plan of blessing, God repents, not by changing His mind, but by changing His method in relation to the sinner. It is obvious that God cannot undergo a change of disposition or of motive. He is perfect in goodness, and therefore, in all His dealings with His creatures He must always have their welfare in view. He must always be willing to do for them that which is best for their highest interests. It is not possible for the Ruler of the world to act from any of the unworthy motives which sometimes influence men in their conduct towards each other. And being as infinite in wisdom as He is in goodness, He can have no better plans than His original plans, no second thoughts which are better than His first. When, therefore, God speaks of Himself as repenting, He speaks of a change of His dealings with a man, which are the result of a change in that man’s attitude towards Himself. Such a change is quite compatible with an unchangeable character and disposition, and is, indeed, the result of it. To men of the same character God’s attitude is the same now as it was ages ago, and it will be the same to the end of time, and when a man’s relations to God are altered it is in consequence of a change in himself, and not in the unchangeable God. There was no change in God when, in consequence of Saul’s non-compliance with the conditions of kingship, God rejected him from being king over Israel. He had been anointed by “the Lord to be captain over His inheritance” (1Sa_10:1)—in other words to be His vicegerent in Israel, and when he refused to act in that capacity God proved His own unchangeableness by changing His method of dealing with him. A purpose of blessing on the part of God towards men always includes a condition to be fulfilled on their part, and a purpose of judgment always includes a continuance on the part of the sinner of the conduct which has provoked the judgment. This is the explanation of the repentance of God in relation to the men of the old world, and in relation to the Ninevites. In the first case God sent judgment because the offenders refused to repent, and in the second instance He revoked His sentence of judgment because the men of Nineveh were willing to forsake their sins and return to Him for pardon. (See Gen_6:5-6; Jon_3:10).
III. Obedience is better than the offering to God of any other sacrifice.
1. Because it is a sacrifice of far higher value. Obedience is the giving up of the will to the will of another—it is therefore the sacrifice of the whole man. When a man has given himself thus to God, he has offered to Him all that he has to offer—all his powers of soul and body as well as all his material possessions. This was the sacrifice which Adam offered to his Maker before he sinned, and this is the offering which has been for ages offered to God by His sons who have never at any time resisted His will. This is far more precious, and therefore far more acceptable to the Lord, than “thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil” (Mic_6:7), because it is a spiritual and moral sacrifice.
2. It is a sacrifice which can be offered at any time and in any place. The sacrifices of the Levitical law were required to be offered in certain places. A man who desired to sacrifice to the Lord could only do so by coming up to the place appointed, and hence his offerings could only be made at intervals. But obedience is a sacrifice which can always be rendered to God—an expression of love to Him which can be made everywhere and always.
3. It is a sacrifice which every man can offer for himself. Even in Israel there might have been men at times too poor to be able to bring the least costly material offering to the altar of the Lord; but none is ever too poor to offer his will to God—to give himself up to His guidance and submit to His commands. And this is a sacrifice in which there is no need of the intervention of a third person—an offering in which every man can be his own priest.
4. It is the sacrifice which alone can make any other sacrifice acceptable. All other offerings without this are “vain oblations,” and even “an abomination” (Isa_1:13) unto Him who owns “every beast of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psa_50:10). To expect a Holy and Spiritual Being to be willing to accept anything less than the offering of the heart, is to expect Him to be satisfied with less than would often content a fellow-creature. Many a man would spurn a gift which was not an outcome of inward feeling, and yet God’s creatures sometimes act as if they thought their Maker could be bribed by such an offering.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_15:6. Thus does every good thing reward itself; nothing remains forgotten; often in later centuries the seed sown in an old past yet everywhere comes up gloriously, and children and children’s children derive advantage from the good done by their fathers.—Schlier.
He that is not less in mercy than in justice, as he challenged Amalek’s sin of their succeeding generations so he derives the recompense of Jethro’s kindness unto his far descended issue.
… If we sow good works, succession shall reap them, and we shall be happy in making them so.… It is the manner of God, first to separate before He judge, as a good husbandman weeds his corn ere it be ripe for the sickle, and goes to the fan ere he goes to the fire.… Why should we not imitate God, and separate ourselves, that we may not be judged; separate not one Kenite from another, but every Kenite from among the Amalekites, else if we will needs live with Amalek we cannot think much to die with him.—Bp. Hall.
1Sa_15:13. Here is a proof that a man may be blinded by his own self-will, and that he may imagine that his own way is right, while it is leading him to the gates of death.—Wordsworth.
Could Saul think that Samuel knew of the asses that were lost, and did not know of the oxen and sheep that were spared?… Much less, when we have to do with God Himself, should dissimulation presume either of safety or of secresy. Can the God that made the heart not know it? Can He that comprehends all things be shut out of our close corners? Saul was otherwise crafty enough, yet herein his simplicity is palpable. Sin can besot even the wisest man; and there was never but folly in wickedness … No man brags so much of holiness as he who wants it. True obedience is joined ever with humility and fear of unknown errors. Falsehood is bold, and can say, “I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord.”—Bp. Hall.
1Sa_15:14. 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?… and while asking the question to feel the sad truth of the matter to be, that the thing which calls forth the question is in our own case, as it was in Saul’s, only so much spared of that which God has commanded us to subdue and destroy, so much permitted to live which God had required us to conquer and to slay.—Miller.
1Sa_15:16. We must not look to what hypocrites say of themselves, but to what God’s word says of them.—S. Schmid.
1Sa_15:17. Observe the contrast between Saul and Paul. Saul of Gibeah lost an earthly kingdom by pride, but Saul of Tarsus gained a heavenly kingdom by humility (1Co_15:10).—Wordsworth.
There is an ingratitude in every sin, and that is to be considered. Good turns aggravate unkindness, and our offences are increased by our obligations.—Trapp.
1Sa_15:20. Men are apt to cry out with Saul, “I have obeyed the commandment of the Lord; but, alas, when it comes to be examined, how have they obeyed Him?… Possibly they have, with Saul, destroyed the Amalekites; have constantly and openly opposed the declared enemies of religion. Moreover, perhaps, whatever was vile and refuse that they have destroyed utterly. Whatever sins did not easily beset them, nor offer them strong temptations, these sins they have both heartily avoided themselves, and severely condemned in other men. But the best of the sheep and of the oxen, the things which were dear to them, like a right hand or a right eye, these they could not spare.… And yet, as Saul endeavoured to transfer the blame upon the people, so, in the other case also, it is not the men themselves, it is not their reason and judgment, that chooses the sin, but their inferior appetites, their passions and affections choose it for them, and drive them into it, even perhaps in a manner against their wills.—Dr. S. Clark.
1Sa_15:22-23. It was as much as to say that the sum and substance of Divine worship consisted in obedience, with which it should always begin, and that sacrifices were, so to speak, simple appendices, the force and worth of which were not so great as obedience to the precepts of God.—Calvin.
All conscious disobedience is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will, the human I, into a God. So that all manifest opposition to the word and commandment of God is, like idolatry, a rejection of the true God.—Keil.
This saying of Samuel came literally true in Saul’s case. Through disobedience he was forsaken of God, and became a prey to the Evil Spirit, and was led on in time to resort to witchcraft (1Sa_27:7), and perhaps to consult seraphim (see 1Sa_19:13). Here is a solemn warning for these latter days.—Wordsworth.
When the Lord expressly says “Thou shalt,” and His rational creature dares to persist in saying “I will not,” whether the contest be about an apple or a kingdom, it is stubbornness and rebellion.—Scott.
May we then take good care that, even when we mean to render the Lord service or obedience, we yet beware of our choice and fancy, and follow only the traces of the Divine will. Obedience is the mother-grace, the parent of all virtues. It makes the eye see, the ear hear, the heart think, the memory remember, the mouth speak, the foot go, the hand work, and the whole man do that, yea that alone, which is conformed to the will of God … It is impossible for him who is not obedient to God to lay any command upon men. That is what these words (“The Lord hath rejected thee,”) and the aim of God therein mean. The authorities must not proceed from their own will and notion, but in everything must take God’s word and will for their rule. If He does not drive apostate rulers from their position, like as He did Nebuchadnezzar, but leaves them ruling, as He also did Saul for a while, yet they are and remain rejected in His sight, and vainly write themselves “by the grace of God,” when He Himself does not so acknowledge them.—Berlenberger Bible.
God rejects Saul from being king over Israel who had rejected God from being King over Saul.—T. Adams.
Every ceremonial law is moral; the outward act is never enjoined but for the sake of the inward thing, what it pictures—represents. Never is there body without spirit. But the fleshly sense would have none of the spirit, and laid hold solely of the body, which, thus isolated, became a corpse.—Hengstenberg.
It is a holier and a better thing to do one’s duty, than to make duties for one’s self and then set about them.—Spurgeon.
Why was sacrifice good, but because it was commanded? What difference was there betwixt slaughter and sacrifice but obedience?—Bp. Hall.
Saul lived to give in his own person the painful but the clearest evidence of the identity, as far as concerns a common origin and principle of action, which may exist between two very different crimes … The same disposition which evinced itself in those acts of rebellion, which he committed all the while he was crying down witchcraft, induced him to do the very thing which he censured when occasion pressed … The security against our being guilty of any particular form of transgression is not that we condemn it, but that the evil principle within us which excites to its commission, is subdued and removed by Divine grace.—Miller.
1Sa_15:4-23. The fall of King Saul shows:
(1) How unrepented and only whitewashed sin at the first severe temptation breaks out as manifest and criminal self-seeking.
(2) How this self-seeking is so blinding as to tell itself and others the lie that it is a labour for the Lord.—J. Disselhoff.
We may see in the history of Saul how important it is that we should make the most of the opportunities which God sets before us. There came to the son of Kish a tidal time of favour, which, if he had only recognised and improved it might have carried him, not only to greatness, but to goodness. But he proved faithless to the trust committed to him, and became in the end a worse man than he would have been if no such privileges had been conferred upon him.… His career is a melancholy illustration of the truth of the Saviour’s words: “From him that hath not, shall be taken away even that he hath.”—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v14General Information:
General Information:
Samuel questions why Saul did not utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
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bleating of sheep ... lowing of the oxen
These are the sounds that these animals make. Your language may have different terms for these.
in my ears ... that I hear
These two phrases mean the same thing. Here "in my ears" refers to hearing. (See: Parallelism and Metonymy)
They have brought ... the people spared
The word "they" and the phrase "the people" here both represent Saul's army. Saul is blaming the people rather than himself.
to sacrifice to Yahweh your God
Saul is arguing that animals for sacrifice were an exception to Yahweh's command to destroy everything.
Yahweh your God
Saul here does not describe Samuel's God as his own God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13, 1515:13 I have carried out the Lord’s command! Cp.…
15:13 I have carried out the Lord’s command! Cp. 15:3. Saul apparently thought his actions were justified (15:15; cp. Lev 22:19). Samuel, however, cut through Saul’s pretense (1 Sam 15:17-19) and carried out God’s command himself (15:32-33).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v13 This is the nature of hypocrites to be impudent…
This is the nature of hypocrites to be impudent against the truth, to condemn others, and justify themselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–15 1Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul…
1Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
Ver. 13. Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed, &c.] Which if he had done indeed, he would never thus have boasted, but by glossing speeches he thinks to stop Samuel’s mouth, from whom he might well fear a reproof. He gives good words, when his deeds were evil: he protests his obedience against his conscience, and faceth out his protestation against a reproof. In a word, there needeth no other character of hypocrisy than Saul in the handling of this one business with Agag and Samuel, as a very grave and learned divine {a} hath well observed.
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{a} Dr Hall, Contempla.
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 On vv13–15 Blessed be thou of the Lord; I thank thee,…
Blessed be thou of the Lord; I thank thee, and I beg that God would bless thee, for sending me upon this employment, and giving me this opportunity of manifesting my obedience to God.
I have performed the commandment of the Lord, to wit, for the main and substance of it, to wit, the extirpation of that wicked people; for he thought the sparing of Agag and the cattle very inconsiderable in the case, though indeed it was expressly contrary to God’s command; but self-interest made him exceeding partial in his own cause: or else, like a bold hypocrite, he pretends that for his part he had obeyed God; resolving, it seems, to cast the blame upon the people, as he did.
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 On vv13–15 And Samuel came to Saul,.... At Gilgal:
And Samuel came to Saul,.... At Gilgal:
and Saul said unto him, blessed be thou of the Lord; signifying that he had abundant reason to bless the Lord on his account, not only that he had anointed him king, but had sent him on such an errand, in which he had succeeded so well, and it was a pleasure to him that he might report it to him:
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I have performed the commandment of the Lord; either he was really ignorant that he had done amiss; and thought that his sparing Agag, when he had destroyed all the rest, and reserving some of the best of the cattle for sacrifice, could not be interpreted a breach of the orders given him; or if he was conscious he had broken the commandment of the Lord, this he said to prevent Samuel's reproof of him, and to sooth him with flattering words.
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 On v13 They - That is, the people. Thus, he lays…
They - That is, the people. Thus, he lays the blame upon the people; whereas they could not do it without his consent; and he should have used his power to over-rule them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v15 Verse 15. The people spared the best of the…
Verse 15. The people spared the best of the sheep] It is very likely that the people did spare the best of the prey; and it is as likely that Saul might have restrained them if he would. That they might not love war, God had interdicted spoil and plunder, so the war was undertaken merely from a sense of duty, without any hope of enriching themselves by it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v15 1Sa 15:15. They — That is, the people; have…
1Sa 15:15. They — That is, the people; have brought them from the Amalekites — Thus he lays the blame upon the people, whereas they could not do it without his consent, and he should have used his power to overrule them. To sacrifice unto the Lord thy God — This was a plausible pretence; but as the Lord had given express command that nothing should be saved, no more for himself than for them, this excuse could be no more than an instance of mean hypocrisy.
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 On vv13, 15 Gilgal being within 15 miles of Ramah, Samuel might…
Gilgal being within 15 miles of Ramah, Samuel might easily have come from Ramah that morning. Self-will and rashness had hitherto been Saul’s chief faults. He now seems to add falsehood and hypocrisy.
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 On vv14–15 Hear, and which manifestly prove, that God’s order has…
Hear, and which manifestly prove, that God’s order has not been put in execution. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the…
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people. Samuel saw the real state of the case, and in discharge of the commission he had received before setting out, proceeded to denounce his conduct as characterized by pride, rebellion, and obstinate disobedience. When Saul persisted in declaring that he had obeyed, alleging that the animals, whose bleating was heard, had been reserved for a liberal sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, his shuffling, prevaricating answer called forth a stern rebuke from the prophet. It well deserved it--for the destination of the spoil to the altar was a flimsy pretext--a gross deception, an attempt to conceal the selfishness of the original motive under the cloak of religious zeal and gratitude.
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 On vv13, 15 13. I have performed the commandment of the Lord…
13. I have performed the commandment of the Lord — This is the language of hypocrisy, by which the disobedient warrior presumes to hide his guilt.
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 On vv13, 15 13. Blessed be thou of the Lord] Cp. Gen_14:19;…
13. Blessed be thou of the Lord] Cp. Gen_14:19; Gen_24:31; Rth_3:10; 2Sa_2:5. Saul attempts to conciliate Samuel with a friendly greeting. His conscience can scarcely have been so hardened that he was insensible of his sin.
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 On vv13–15 (13) Blessed be thou of the Lord.—Saul must have…
(13) Blessed be thou of the Lord.—Saul must have been fully conscious that he had failed to carry out the will and command of the Eternal King of Israel. In the late war, undertaken for the definite and solemn purpose of exterminating a wicked and bloodthirsty people, whose continued existence worked terrible evil upon the adjacent countries, he, disregarding the express instructions of the prophet of the Lord for his own covetous purposes, had not destroyed all, but reserved some of the living spoil for himself. Conscious of all this, he still dared to come forward, and to congratulate the prophet upon the fulfilment of the Lord’s command. But Saul’s words of self-gratulation were evidently feigned; in his heart he knew he had been faithless.
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 On vv13–15 Blessed be thou of Jehovah. Saul meets Samuel with…
Blessed be thou of Jehovah. Saul meets Samuel with all external respect, and seems even to expect his approval, saying, I have performed the commandment of Jehovah. And so he had in the half way in which men generally keep God"s commandments, doing that part which is agreeable to themselves, and leaving that part undone which gives them neither pleasure nor profit. Saul probably had thought very little about the exact terms of the command given him, and having successfully accomplished the main point of carrying out a vast foray against the Amalekites, regarded the captive king and the plundered cattle as proofs of his victory. The trophy at Carmel is a token of his own self satisfaction.
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 On v14 What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in…
1Sa_15:14
What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears.
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Hypocrisy
1.I learn, first, from the subject that God will expose hypocrisy. A hypocrite is one who pretends to be what he is not, or to do what he does not. Saul was only a type of a class. There are a great many churches that have two or three ecclesiastical Uriah Heeps. When the fox begins to pray, look out for your chickens. A man of that kind is of immense damage to the Church of Christ. A ship may outride a hundred storms and yet a handful of worms in the planks may sink it to the bottom. The Church of God is not so much in danger of the cyclones of trouble and persecution that come upon it as of the vermin of hypocrisy that infest it. Wolves are of no danger to the fold of God unless they look like sheep Oh! we cannot deceive God with a church certificate. If you have the grace of God, profess it. Profess no more than you have. But I want the world to know that where there is one hypocrite in the church, there are five hundred outside of it, for the reason that the field is larger. There are men in all circles that will bow before you, and who are obsequious in your presence, and talk flatteringly, but who, all the while they are in your conversation, are digging for bait and angling for imperfections. In your presence they imply that they are everything friendly, but after awhile you find that they have the fierceness of a catamount, the slyness of a snake, and the spite of a devil. God will expose such. The gun they load will burst in their own hands; the lies they tell will break their own teeth; and at the very moment they think they have been successful in deceiving you and deceiving the world, the sheep will bleat and the oxen will bellow.
2. I learn, further, from this subject how natural it is to try to put off your sins upon other people. Human nature is the same in all the ages Adam confronted with his sin, said: The woman tempted me, and I did eat; and the woman charged it upon the serpent; and, if the serpent could have spoken, it would have charged it upon the devil. I suppose that Adam was just as much to blame as Eve was. You cannot throw off the responsibility of any sin upon the shoulders of other people. Here is a young man who says; I know I am doing wrong, but I have not had any chance. I had a father who despised God, and a mother who was a disciple of godless fashion. I am not to blame for my sins--it is my bringing up. Here is a business man. He says: I know I dont do exactly right in trade, but all the dry goods men do it, and all the hardware men do this, and I am not responsible. God will hold you responsible for what you do, and them responsible for what they do. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
3. I learn, further, from this subject what God meant by extermination. There may be more sins in our soul than there were Amalekites. We must kill them. Woe unto us if we spare Agag. Here is a Christian who says: I will drive out all the Amalekites of sin from my heart. Here is jealousy, down goes that Amalekite. Here is backbiting, down goes that Amalekite. And what slaughter he makes among his sins, striking right and left. What is that out yonder lifting up his head? It is Agag--it is worldliness. It is as old sin he cannot bear to strike down. It is a darling transgression he cannot afford to sacrifice. I appeal for entire consecration. Christ will not stay in the same house with Agag. You must give up Agag or give up Christ. Jesus says: All of that heart or none.
4. I learn, further, from this subject that it is vain to try to defraud God. Here Saul thought he had cheated God out of those sheep and oxen; but he lost his crown--he lost his empire. You cannot cheat God. The Lord God came into the counting house, and said: I have allowed you to have all this property for ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and you have not done justice to My poor children. When the beggar called upon you, you hounded him off your steps. When My suffering children appealed to you or help, you had no mercy. I only asked for so much, or so much; but you did not give it to Me, and now I will take it all. God asks of us one-seventh of our time in the way of Sabbath. Do you suppose we can get an hour of that time successfully away from its true object? No, no. As you go into the world, exhibit an open-hearted Christian frankness. Do not be hypocritical in anything; you are never safe if you are. In the most inopportune moment the sheep will bleat and the oxen bellow. Have no mercy on Agag. Down with your sins--down with your pride--down with your worldliness. I know you cannot achieve this work by your own arm; but Almighty grace is sufficient (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Sell deception
Let our subject be the danger of self deception and half-heartedness in the religious life. We shall not have to do with people wholly irreligious and immoral, with those we commonly term sinners; but with a kind of semi-religious, or professedly religious people--people always hovering about the kingdom of God, but who never truly and heartily enters into it; one part of whose life seems alway to contradict and undo another.
I. The master evil--want of whole-hearted surrender and obedience to the will and commandment of God. This it was which ran through, vitiated, and spoiled the whole life and course of the unhappy king, Saul. No more ill-fated, unhappy, unprofitable enigma to himself, to God, and to the world, than a man who has never more than half a mind or heart to anything. Such a man can serve neither world well and truly, for he dare not give himself up wholly to the present, and be cannot give himself up to the world to come, the kingdom of God. He knows and believes both too much and too little. This description applies to many professing Christians. They have too little gospel in them to make them blessed in the Lord; and enough perhaps to make them ashamed and miserable in the day of visitation--the still small voice only heard at intervals, but the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen generally gross and loud enough to close their ears to the music of heaven and eternity.
II. Herein is displayed lamentable weakness of faith and purpose. There was a fatal weakness of soul and character about Saul, which showed itself at every great crisis, and at length brought his days to an end in calamity, disgrace, despair. He was not a man to be kept true to his avowed faith and principles, was too easily turned aside; he put his hand to the plough, and yet looked back; he reminds us of those in the gospels who said, Lord, I will follow Thee, but.
III. The deceiving love of self, self interest, covetous desires, vain ambitions, bender us insensible to the sovereign claims of God and truth. It is so easy, while professing to give ourselves to God and His holy service, to seek and serve ourselves meanwhile, and keep in view low earthly ends--even to fight against prevalent forms of error and evil more for the sake of our own advancement and advantage than from pure loyalty to the cause of truth and righteousness. We may win the spoils of the enemy, and in so doing spare Agag the king, take the master-evil home into our own hearts and households, seek our own reputation and interest and not the glory of God.
IV. We have here also a melancholy example of sparing sins and evils that should be slain, sheltering and harbouring them under false pretences, by unworthy pleas and excuses. The mark of a true man and Christian to allow no known sin, least of all favourite, profitable, accustomed, pleasant sins.
V. How short and easy the stage between this evil partiality, this indulged insincerity at given points, and a blinding hypocrisy throughout the man.
VI. It is a vain thing to throw the blame on others, to allege public opinion and custom in self-justification and defence, when we are disobeying the plainly expressed will and commandments of God. We cut ourselves off, in this way, from all true kingship, not in Israel only, as Saul; but is a greater, holier, ever during kingdom, the kingdom of God. (Watson Smith.)
The rigour of Divine law
In approaching the fundamental principles suggested by the narrative, we ought to note two useful incidental points:--
1. That man cannot evade Divine retribution (1Sa_15:2).
2. That kindness to the good ensures Divine compensation (1Sa_15:6). Kindness is self- rewarding. Beneficence bears an immortal fruitage. Passing from these introductory points we are brought into full contact with the lessons of the incident. We may learn:--
I. The transcendent importance of rendering literal obedience to Divine requirements. The argument turns on the word literal. Learn that Divine language never exceeds Divine meaning. There is significance in every word; you cannot amputate a single syllable, without doing violence to the Divine idea.
II. The fearful possibility of resting satisfied wits partial obedience. Are you satisfied because your life is right in the main? God will not be satisfied. He examines the minutest fibres of life. Verily the best of men need be clothed in Christs righteousness, or they will be consumed in the fire of Divine trial.
III. The utter impossibility of rendering disobedience well-pleasing to God. A religious reason is adduced in justification of disobedience. God said, Exterminate, but the people said, Sacrifice. God, however, rejected the offering which was presented at the expense of obedience. Learn then:--
1. That Divine requirements are absolute.
2. That God will not allow one duty to be performed on the ruin of another. Let no man forsake Gods temple in order that he may visit the sick. Let it stand as a vital clause in your life-creed, that God will not accept one duty at the expense of another!
IV. The danger of being seduced into disobedience by social clamour. Lessons suggested by Sauls circumstances:--
1. That there is a higher law than the verdict of society. Popular opinion is fickle: moral law is immutable.
2. That there is a crisis in which social force can yield us no assistance. Saul was placed in that fearful crisis. He had obeyed the people, but now the people could be of no service to him! The people could violate Divine law, but could not avert Divine judgment! (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v14 (*A few paragraphs on the Life of David are…
CHAPTER X X I I I.
DAVID'S EARLY LIFE*
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(*A few paragraphs on the Life of David are reproduced from the author's book David, King of Israel.")
1Sa_15:14-23.
BEFORE we enter at large into the incident of which these verses form the record it is desirable to settle, as far as we can, the order of events in the early life of David.
After being anointed by Samuel, David would probably return to his work among the sheep. It is quite possible that some years elapsed before anything else occurred to vary the monotony of his first occupation. The only interruption likely to have occurred to his shepherd life would be, intercourse with Samuel. It is rather striking that nothing is said, nothing is even hinted, as to the private relations that prevailed in youth between him and the venerable prophet who had anointed him with the holy oil. But it cannot be supposed that Samuel would just return to Ramah without any further communication with the youth that was to play so important a part in the future history of the country. If Saul, with all his promising qualities at the beginning, had greatly disappointed him, he could only be the more anxious on that account about the disposition and development of David. The fact that after David became the object of the murderous jealousy of Saul, it was to Samuel he came when he fled from the court to tell what had taken place, and to ask advice (1Sa_19:18-19), seems to indicate that the two men were on intimate terms, and therefore that they had been much together before. Whether David derived his views of government from Samuel, or whether they were impressed on him directly by the Spirit of God, it is certain that they were the very same as those which Samuel cherished so intensely, and which he sought so earnestly to impress on Saul. God's imperial sovereignty, and the earthly king's entire subordination to him; the standing of the people as God's people, God's heritage, and the duty of the king to treat them as such, and do all that he could for their good; the infinite and inexhaustible privilege involved in this relation, making all coquetting with false gods shameful, dishonouring to God, and disastrous to the people, - were ruling principles with Samuel and David alike. If David was never formally a pupil of Samuel's, informally he must have been so to a large extent. Samuel lived in David; and the complacency which the old prophet must have had in his youthful friend, and his pleasure in observing the depth of his loyalty to God, and his eager interest in the highest welfare of the people, must have greatly mitigated his distress at the rejection of Saul, and revived his hope of better days for Israel.
As David grew in years, but before he ceased to be a boy, he might acquire that local reputation as "a mighty valiant man and a man of war" which his friend referred to when he first mentioned him to Saul. In him as in Jonathan faith gendered a habit of dash and daring which could not be suppressed in the days of eager boyhood. The daring insolence of the Philistines, whose country lay but a few miles to the west of Bethlehem, might afford him opportunities for deeds of boyish valour. Jerusalem, the stronghold of the Jebusites, was but two hours distant from Bethlehem, and on the part of its people, too, collisions with Israelites were doubtless liable to occur. It may have been now, or possibly a little later, that the contest occurred with the lion and the bear. The country round Bethlehem was not a peaceful paradise, and the career of a shepherd was not the easy life of lovesick swains which poets dream.
It was at this period of David's life that Saul's peculiar malady took that form which suggested the use of music to soothe his nervous irritation. His courtiers recommended that he should seek out a cunning player on the harp, whose soothing strains would calm him in the paroxysms of his ailment. Obviously, it was desirable that one who was to be so close to a king so full of the military spirit as Saul should have a touch of that spirit himself. David had become known to one of the courtiers, who at once mentioned him as in all respects suitable for the berth. Saul accordingly sent messengers to Jesse, bidding him send to him David his son, who was with the sheep. And David came to Saul. But his first visit seems to have been quite short. Saul's attacks were probably occasional, and at first long intervals may have occurred between them. When he recovered from the attack at which David had been sent for, the cunning harper was needed no longer, and would naturally return home. He may have been but a very short time with Saul, too short for much acquaintance being formed. But it is the way of the historians of Scripture, when a topic has once been introduced, to pursue it to its issues without note the events that came between. The writer having indicated how David was first brought into contact with Saul, as his musician, pursues the subject of their relation, without mentioning that the fight with Goliath occurred between. Some critics have maintained that in this book we have two accounts of David's introduction to Saul, accounts which contradict one another. In the first of them he became known to him first as a musician sent for in the height of his attack. In the other it is as the conqueror of Goliath he appears before Saul. It is the fact that neither Saul nor any of his people knew on this occasion who he was that is so strange. According to our view the order of events was this: David's first visit to Saul to play before him on his harp was a very short one. Sometime after the conflict with Goliath occurred. David's appearance had probably changed considerably, so that Saul did not recognize him. It was now that Saul attached David to himself, kept him permanently, and would not let him return to his father's house (1Sa_18:2). And while David acted as musician, playing to him on his harp in the paroxysms of his ailment (1Sa_18:10), he went out at his command on military expeditions, and acquired great renown as a warrior (1Sa_18:5). Thus, to turn back to the sixteenth chapter, the last two verses of that chapter record the permanent office before Saul which David came to fill after the slaughter of the Philistine. In fact, we find in that chapter, as often elsewhere, a brief outline of the whole course of events, some of which are filled up in minute detail in the chapter following.
Having thus settled the chronology, or rather the order of events in David's early history, it may be well now to examine more fully that period of his life, in so far as we have any materials for doing so.
According to the chronology of the Authorized Version, the birth of David must have occurred about the year before Christ 1080. It was about a hundred years later than the date commonly assigned to the Trojan war, and therefore a considerable time before the dawn of authentic history, at least among the Greeks or the Romans. The age of David succeeded what might be called the heroic age of Hebrew history; in one sense, indeed, it was a continuation of that period. Samson, the latest, and in some sense the greatest of the Jewish heroes, had perished not very long before; and the scene of his birth and of some of his most famous exploits lay within a very few miles of Bethlehem. In David's boyhood old men would still be living who had seen and talked with the Hebrew Hercules, and from whose lips high-spirited boys would hear, with sparkling eye and heaving bosom, the story of his exploits and the tragedy of his death. The whole neighbourhood would swarm with songs and legends illustrative of the deeds of those mighty men of valour, that ever since the sojourn in Egypt had been conferring renown on the Hebrew name. The mind of boyhood delights in such narratives; they rouse the soul, expand the imagination, and create sympathy with all that is brave and noble. We cannot doubt that such things had a great effect on the susceptible temperament of the youthful David, and contributed some elements of that manly and invincible spirit which remained so prominent in his character.
But a much more important factor in determining his character and shaping his life was the religious awakening in which Samuel had so prominent a share. Not a word is said anywhere of the manner in which David's heart was first turned to God; but this must have been in his earliest years. We think of David as we think of Samuel, or Jeremiah, or Josiah, or John the Baptist, as sanctified to the Lord from his very childhood. God chose him at the very outset in a more vital sense than He afterwards chose him to be king. In the exercise of that mysterious sovereignty which we are unable to fathom, God made his youthful heart a plot of good soil, into which when the seed fell it bore fruit an hundredfold. In strong contrast to Saul, whose early sympathies were against the ways and will of God, those of David were warmly for them. Samuel would find him an eager and willing listener when he spoke to him of God and His ways. How strange are the differences of young persons, in this respect, when they come first under the instructions of a minister or other servant of God! Some so earnest, so attentive, so impressed; so ready to drink in all that is said; treasuring it, hiding it in their hearts, rejoicing in it like those that find great spoil. Others so hard to bring into line, so glad of an excuse for absence, so difficult to interest, so fitful and unconcerned. No doubt much depends on the skill of the teacher in working upon anything in their minds that gives even a faint response to the truth. And in no case is the aversion of the heart beyond the power of the Holy Spirit to influence and to change. But for all that, we cannot but acknowledge the mysterious sovereignty which through causes we cannot trace makes one man so to differ from another; which made Abel so different from Cain, Isaac from Ishmael, Moses from Balaam, and David from Saul.
Was David at any time a member of any of the schools of the prophets? We cannot say with certainty, but when we ponder what we read about them it seems very likely that he was. These schools seem to have enjoyed in an eminent degree the gracious power of the Holy Spirit. The hearts of the inmates seem to have burned with the glow of devotion; the emotions of holy joy with which they were animated could not be restrained, but poured out from them, like streams from a gushing fountain, in holy songs and ascriptions to God; and such was the overpowering influence of this spirit that for a time it infected even cold-hearted men like Saul, and bore them along, as an enthusiastic crowd gathers up stragglers and sweeps them onward in its current. It seems highly probable that it was in connection with these institutions, on which so signal a blessing rested, that the devotional spirit became so powerful in David afterwards poured out so freely in his Psalms. For surely he could not be in the company of men who were so full of the Spirit without sharing their experience and pouring forth the feelings that stirred his soul.
We all believe in some degree in the law of heredity, and find it interesting to trace the features of forefathers, physical and spiritual, in the persons of their descendants. The piety, the humanity, and the affectionateness of Boaz and Ruth form a beautiful picture in the early Hebrew history, and seem to come before us anew in the character of David. Boaz was remarkable for the fatherly interest he took in his dependants, for his generous kindness to the poor, and for a spirit of gentle piety that breathed even through his secular life. Was it not the same spirit that dictated the benediction, " Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble"? Was it not the same interest in the welfare of dependants that David showed when "he dealt among the people, even the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as to the men, to everyone a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine? Ruth again was remarkable for the extraordinary depth and tenderness of her affection; her words to Naomi have never been surpassed as an expression of simple, tender feeling: ''Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Does not this extraordinary tenderness seem to have fallen undiminished to the man who had such an affection for Jonathan, who showed such emotion on the illness of his infant child, and poured out such a flood of anguish on the death of Absalom? The history of Boaz and Ruth would surely take hold very early of his mind. The very house in which he lived, the fields where he tended his sheep, every object around him, might have associations with their memory; aged people might tell him stories of their benevolence, and pious people give him traditions of their godliness, and thus an element would be contributed to a character in which the tenderness of a woman and the piety of a saint were combined with the courage and energy of a man.
The birthplace of David, Bethlehem, is more remarkable for its moral associations than its natural features. Well has it been said by Edward Robinson of the place where both David and Jesus were born, "What a mighty influence for good has gone forth from this little spot upon the human race both for time and for eternity!It was situated some six miles to the south of Jerusalem, and about twice that distance to the north of Hebron. The present town is built upon the north and north-east slope of a long grey ridge, with a deep valley in front and another behind, uniting at no great distance, and running down toward the Dead Sea. The country around is hilly, but hardly beautiful; the limestone rock gives a bare appearance to the hills, which is not redeemed by boldness of form or picturesqueness of outline. The fields, though stony and rough, produce good crops of grain; olive groves, fig-orchards, and vineyards abound both in the valleys and on the gentler slopes; the higher and wilder tracts were probably devoted to the pasturing of flocks. The whole tract in which Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem are situated is elevated nearly four thousand feet above the level of Jordan and the Dead Sea on the one side, and between two and three thousand feet above the Mediterranean on the other. Among these hills and valleys David spent his youth, watching the flocks of his father.
We have seen that the life of a shepherd in those scenes was not without its times of danger, making great demands on the shepherd's courage and affection. In the main, however, it was a quiet life, affording copious opportunities for meditation and for quiet study. It was the great privilege of David to see much of God in His works and to commune with Him therein. The Psalms are full of allusions to the varied aspects of nature - the mountains, the rocks, the rivers, the valleys, the forests, the lightning, the thunder, the whirlwind.
It is not easy to say how much of the written Word existed in David's time, but at the most it could be but a fragment of what we now possess. But if the mines of revelation were few, all the more eager was his search for their hidden treasures. And David had the advantage of using what we may call a pictorial Bible. When he read of the destruction of Sodom he could see the dark wall of Moab frowning over the lake near to which the guilty cities were consumed by the fire of heaven. When he paused to think of the solemn transactions at Machpelah, he could see in the distance the very spot where so much sacred dust was gathered. Close by his daily haunts one pillar marked the place where God spake to Jacob, and another the spot where poor Rachel died. In the dark range of Moab yon lofty peak was the spot whence Moses had his view and Balaam his vision. It was from that eminence the prophet from Pethor saw a star come out of Jacob and a sceptre rise out of Israel that should smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth. The sympathy with God fostered by these studies and meditations was of the closest kind; an unusually clean and impressive knowledge seems to have been acquired of the purpose of God concerning Israel; drinking in himself the lessons of revelation, he was becoming qualified to become the instrument of the Holy Spirit for those marvellous contributions to its canon which he was afterwards honoured to make.
And among these hills and valleys, too, David would acquire his proficiency in the two very different arts which were soon to make him famous - the use of the sling and the use of the harp. It seems to have been his ambition, whatever he did, to do it in the best possible way. His skill in the use of the sling was so perfect that he could project a stone even at a small object with unerring certainty. His harp was probably a very simple instrument, small enough to be carried about with him, but in handling it he acquired the same perfect skill as in handling his sling. In his hands it became a wonderfully expressive instrument. And hence when Saul required a skilful musician to soothe him, the known gifts of the young shepherd of Bethlehem pointed him out as the man.
Of the influence of music in remedying disorders of the nerves there is no want of evidence. ''Bochart has collected many passages from profane writers which speak of the medicinal effects of music on the mind and body, especially as appeasing anger and soothing and pacifying a troubled spirit" (Speaker's Commentary). A whole book was written on the subject by Caspar Læscherus. Professor of Divinity at Wittenberg (A.D. 1688). Kitto and other writers have added more recent instances. It is said of Charles IX. of France that after the massacre of St. Bartholomew his sleep was disturbed by nightly horrors, and he could only be composed to rest by a symphony of singing boys. Philip V. of Spain, being seized with deep dejection of mind that unfitted him for all public duties, a celebrated musician was invited to surprise the king by giving a concert in the neighbouring apartment to his majesty's, with the effect that the king roused himself from his lethargy and resumed his duties. We may readily believe that in soothing power the harp was not inferior to any of the other instruments.
Still, with all its success, it was but a poor method of soothing a troubled spirit compared to the methods that David was afterwards to employ. It dealt chiefly with man's physical nature, it soothed the nervous system, and removed the hindrance which their disorder caused to the action of the powers of the mind. It did not strike at the root of all trouble - alienation from God; it did not attempt to create and apply the only permanent remedy for trouble - trust in a loving Father's care. It was a mere foreshadow, on a comparatively low and earthly ground, of the way in which David, as the Psalmist, was afterwards to provide the true ''oil of joy for the mourner," and to become a guide to the downcast soul from the fearful pit and the miry clay up to the third heaven of joy and peace. The sounds of his harp could only operate by an influence felt alike by saint and sinner in soothing an agitated frame; but with the words of his Psalms, the Divine Spirit, by whose inspiration they were poured out, was in all coming ages to unite Himself, and to use them for showing the sin-burdened soul the true cause of its misery, and for leading it by a holy path, sorrowing yet rejoicing, to the home of its reconciled Father.
It is a painful thing to see any one in overwhelming trouble; it is doubly painful to see kings and others in high places miserable amid all their splendours, helpless amid all their resources. Alas, O spirit of man, what awful trials thou art subject to! Well mayest thou sometimes envy the very animals around thee, which, if they have no such capacities of enjoyment as thou hast, have on the other hand no such capacities of misery. The higher our powers and position, the more awful the anguish when anything goes wrong. Yet hast thou not, O man, a capacity to know that thy misery cannot be remedied till the cause of it is removed? Prodigal son, there is but one way to escape a miserable life. Arise, go to thy Father. See how He is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses. Accept His offers and be at peace. Receive His Spirit and your disorder shall be healed. I own that not even then can we assure you of freedom from grievous sorrows. The best of men in this world have often most grievous sufferings. But they are strengthened to bear them while they last; they are assured that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose; and they know that when ''the earthly house of their tabernacle is dissolved, they have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v13 1Sa_15:4. “Telaim.” Most likely the same as Telem (Jos_15:21;…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_15:4. “Telaim.” Most likely the same as Telem (Jos_15:21; Jos_15:24), a city lying on the eastern border of Judah, and therefore near the territory of the Amalekites. “Ten thousand men of Judah.” “This implies that the two hundred thousand were from the other tribes.” (Keil.) “The separate mention of the men of Judah shows how little union there was between Judah and Ephraim even at this time; a circumstance which throws light upon the whole after history. (See 2Sa_11:11). The presence of these men arose, no doubt, from their tribe being the chief sufferers from the inroads of the Amalekites.” (Biblical Commentary.)
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1Sa_15:6. “Kenites.” A tribe first mentioned in Gen_15:19. “Their origin is hidden from us, but we may fairly infer that they were a branch of the larger nation of Midian, from the fact that Jethro, who in Exo_2:15, etc., is represented as priest or prince of Midian, and is in Jdg_1:16; Jdg_4:11, as distinctly said to have been a Kenite … They were therefore descended immediately from Abraham by his wife Keturah, and in this relationship and the connection with Moses we find the key to their continued alliance with Israel. The important services rendered by the sheikh of the Kenites to Moses during a time of great pressure and difficulty, were rewarded by a promise of firm friendship between the two nations (Num_10:32). And this promise was gratefully remembered long after (1Sa_15:6). The connection then commenced lasted as firmly as a connection could last between a settled people like Israel and one whose tendencies were so nomadic as the Kenites. They seem to have accompanied the Israelites in their wanderings (Num_24:21-22, etc.) … But these over, they forsook the neighbourhood of the towns and betook themselves to freer air—to ‘the wilderness of Judah, which is to the south of Arad’ (Jdg_1:16), where ‘they dwelt among the people’ of the district—the Amalekites, who wandered in that dry region, and among whom they were living when Saul made his expedition there.” (Smith’s Biblical Dictionary.)
1Sa_15:7. “Havilah—Shur.” “Havilah, according to Gen_25:18, the boundary of the Ishmaelites, probably therefore in the south-east on the border of Arabia Petrea and Arabia Felix.… Shur is the present wilderness of Jifar, the portion of the Arabian desert bordering on Egypt, into which the Israelites entered after the exodus (Exo_15:22). Saul thus smote the Amalekites through their territory from south-east towards the west and north-west.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:8. “Agag.’ “Evidently a reduplicate variety of the Egyptian Hak (ruler). This was the common title of the Amalekite king. Saul spared him probably to enjoy the glory of displaying so distinguished a captive. Josephus distinctly asserts that the beauty and tallness of his body made so fine an appearance, and Saul admired it so much, that he thought him worthy of preservation (cf. 1Ki_20:32-34).” (Jamieson.) “All the people.” “That is, speaking generally, some survived, of course; the Amalekites appear afterwards, 1Sa_27:8; 1Sa_30:1; 2Sa_8:12. Their complete annihilation is mentioned in 1Ch_4:43.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:9. “Fatlings.” Literally of the second tort. Kimchi and others understand the word to denote animals of the second birth, which were thought better than others.
1Sa_15:13. “Samuel came to Saul.” “In the place (Gilgal) where he had solemnly pledged Saul and the people to unconditional obedience, he now executes judgment for disobedience to the Divine will.” (Erdmann.) “I have performed,” etc. “Self-will and rashness have hitherto been Saul’s chief faults. He now seems to add falsehood and hypocrisy.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:15. “The people spared,” etc. “The falsehood and hypocrisy of these words lay upon the very surface; for even if the cattle spared were really intended as sacrifices to the Lord, not only the people, but Saul also, would have had their own interests in view (vid. 1Sa_15:9), since the flesh of thank-offerings was appropriated to sacrificial meals.” (Keil.) “Every word uttered by Saul seems to indicate the breaking down of his moral character. There is something thoroughly mean in his attempt to shift the responsibility of what was done from his own kingly shoulders to those of the people, One feels that after the scene so forcibly described in this chapter, Saul must have forfeited his own self-respect, and that his downward career was henceforth almost inevitable.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:17. “When thou wast little.” “The reference here to Saul’s own words (1Sa_9:21), is beyond doubt. It is the humiliating reminder to the haughty Saul of the low position whence he had been elevated to the headship of Israel, and of the modesty and humility which he then possessed.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:18. “Sinners.” “As though God would justify his commission to destroy them. So it is said of the men of Sodom, that they were sinners before the Lord.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:19. “Fly upon.” “Expressive of eagerness, passionate craving.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_15:21. “The Lord thy God.” “As if he had been showing honour to Samuel, as well as to God, when he was disobeying both.” (Wordsworth.) “As if he had more zeal for the glory of God than was felt by Samuel.” (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa_15:22. “Hath the Lord,” etc. “This fundamental ethical truth is affirmed, with unmistakable reference to these words of Samuel, in the classical passages Psa_50:8-14; Psa_51:18-19; Isa_1:11; Mic_6:6-8; Hos_6:6; Jer_6:20.” (Erdmann.) “There is a poetical rhythm in the original, which gives it the tone of a Divine oracle uttered by the Spirit of God, imparting to it an awful solemnity, and making it sink deep in the memory of the hearers in all generations.” (Wordsworth.)
1Sa_15:23. Literally, “Rebellion is the sin of soothsaying, and opposition is heathenism and idolatry.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHS.—1Sa_15:4-9; 1Sa_15:13-23
SAUL’S SECOND ACT OF DISOBEDIENCE
I. God will not accept a partial obedience to any of His commands. There is nothing strange or unreasonable in this. If a human ruler gives a command, he will not be satisfied if the person to whom he gives it obeys it just so far as it suits his convenience or agrees with his fancy and no farther. Anything less than a whole obedience is no obedience in the estimation of a fellow-creature. If a soldier receives an order from his general to execute a certain military movement, he is not expected to consult his own wishes or his own judgment, but he must sink his own will entirely in the will of his superior, and fulfil his command to the very letter. However stern may be the work to be done, whatever sacrifice of personal feeling may be involved, anything less than an observance of the commandment in its entirety will be counted as grave a crime as the non-observance of the whole. If a father directs his son to perform a given task, and the son executes about half of that which is required of him, the father will consider that his command has been disobeyed. If this is the case with human superiors, it cannot be expected that the Holy and All-wise God, whose commands—however stern they may sometimes seem—are always perfectly just and good, will be satisfied with less than an entire obedience to His commands. He is surrounded by ten thousand faithful and mighty angelic servants, who render to him a perfect and unquestioning service, and although imperfect and sinful creatures cannot offer to Him a service equal to theirs, yet there are Divine commands which men are able to carry out to the letter, and which they must so carry out if they would not incur the penalty of disobedient servants of the Most High. Such a command was that which was here given to Saul—it was one which he could obey—one for the non-observance of which he could not plead inability—one which he did not attempt to say he was unable to perform. His partial obedience was rejected—his non-observance of all the details of the Divine command was accounted as direct an act of defiance of God’s directions as if he had taken no action whatever against the Amalekites. And so God will ever account compliance with His commands, which is measured not by His requirements but by man’s inclinations.
II. Where the condition is not fulfilled which is included in the Divine plan of blessing, God repents, not by changing His mind, but by changing His method in relation to the sinner. It is obvious that God cannot undergo a change of disposition or of motive. He is perfect in goodness, and therefore, in all His dealings with His creatures He must always have their welfare in view. He must always be willing to do for them that which is best for their highest interests. It is not possible for the Ruler of the world to act from any of the unworthy motives which sometimes influence men in their conduct towards each other. And being as infinite in wisdom as He is in goodness, He can have no better plans than His original plans, no second thoughts which are better than His first. When, therefore, God speaks of Himself as repenting, He speaks of a change of His dealings with a man, which are the result of a change in that man’s attitude towards Himself. Such a change is quite compatible with an unchangeable character and disposition, and is, indeed, the result of it. To men of the same character God’s attitude is the same now as it was ages ago, and it will be the same to the end of time, and when a man’s relations to God are altered it is in consequence of a change in himself, and not in the unchangeable God. There was no change in God when, in consequence of Saul’s non-compliance with the conditions of kingship, God rejected him from being king over Israel. He had been anointed by “the Lord to be captain over His inheritance” (1Sa_10:1)—in other words to be His vicegerent in Israel, and when he refused to act in that capacity God proved His own unchangeableness by changing His method of dealing with him. A purpose of blessing on the part of God towards men always includes a condition to be fulfilled on their part, and a purpose of judgment always includes a continuance on the part of the sinner of the conduct which has provoked the judgment. This is the explanation of the repentance of God in relation to the men of the old world, and in relation to the Ninevites. In the first case God sent judgment because the offenders refused to repent, and in the second instance He revoked His sentence of judgment because the men of Nineveh were willing to forsake their sins and return to Him for pardon. (See Gen_6:5-6; Jon_3:10).
III. Obedience is better than the offering to God of any other sacrifice.
1. Because it is a sacrifice of far higher value. Obedience is the giving up of the will to the will of another—it is therefore the sacrifice of the whole man. When a man has given himself thus to God, he has offered to Him all that he has to offer—all his powers of soul and body as well as all his material possessions. This was the sacrifice which Adam offered to his Maker before he sinned, and this is the offering which has been for ages offered to God by His sons who have never at any time resisted His will. This is far more precious, and therefore far more acceptable to the Lord, than “thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil” (Mic_6:7), because it is a spiritual and moral sacrifice.
2. It is a sacrifice which can be offered at any time and in any place. The sacrifices of the Levitical law were required to be offered in certain places. A man who desired to sacrifice to the Lord could only do so by coming up to the place appointed, and hence his offerings could only be made at intervals. But obedience is a sacrifice which can always be rendered to God—an expression of love to Him which can be made everywhere and always.
3. It is a sacrifice which every man can offer for himself. Even in Israel there might have been men at times too poor to be able to bring the least costly material offering to the altar of the Lord; but none is ever too poor to offer his will to God—to give himself up to His guidance and submit to His commands. And this is a sacrifice in which there is no need of the intervention of a third person—an offering in which every man can be his own priest.
4. It is the sacrifice which alone can make any other sacrifice acceptable. All other offerings without this are “vain oblations,” and even “an abomination” (Isa_1:13) unto Him who owns “every beast of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psa_50:10). To expect a Holy and Spiritual Being to be willing to accept anything less than the offering of the heart, is to expect Him to be satisfied with less than would often content a fellow-creature. Many a man would spurn a gift which was not an outcome of inward feeling, and yet God’s creatures sometimes act as if they thought their Maker could be bribed by such an offering.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_15:6. Thus does every good thing reward itself; nothing remains forgotten; often in later centuries the seed sown in an old past yet everywhere comes up gloriously, and children and children’s children derive advantage from the good done by their fathers.—Schlier.
He that is not less in mercy than in justice, as he challenged Amalek’s sin of their succeeding generations so he derives the recompense of Jethro’s kindness unto his far descended issue.
… If we sow good works, succession shall reap them, and we shall be happy in making them so.… It is the manner of God, first to separate before He judge, as a good husbandman weeds his corn ere it be ripe for the sickle, and goes to the fan ere he goes to the fire.… Why should we not imitate God, and separate ourselves, that we may not be judged; separate not one Kenite from another, but every Kenite from among the Amalekites, else if we will needs live with Amalek we cannot think much to die with him.—Bp. Hall.
1Sa_15:13. Here is a proof that a man may be blinded by his own self-will, and that he may imagine that his own way is right, while it is leading him to the gates of death.—Wordsworth.
Could Saul think that Samuel knew of the asses that were lost, and did not know of the oxen and sheep that were spared?… Much less, when we have to do with God Himself, should dissimulation presume either of safety or of secresy. Can the God that made the heart not know it? Can He that comprehends all things be shut out of our close corners? Saul was otherwise crafty enough, yet herein his simplicity is palpable. Sin can besot even the wisest man; and there was never but folly in wickedness … No man brags so much of holiness as he who wants it. True obedience is joined ever with humility and fear of unknown errors. Falsehood is bold, and can say, “I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord.”—Bp. Hall.
1Sa_15:14. 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?… and while asking the question to feel the sad truth of the matter to be, that the thing which calls forth the question is in our own case, as it was in Saul’s, only so much spared of that which God has commanded us to subdue and destroy, so much permitted to live which God had required us to conquer and to slay.—Miller.
1Sa_15:16. We must not look to what hypocrites say of themselves, but to what God’s word says of them.—S. Schmid.
1Sa_15:17. Observe the contrast between Saul and Paul. Saul of Gibeah lost an earthly kingdom by pride, but Saul of Tarsus gained a heavenly kingdom by humility (1Co_15:10).—Wordsworth.
There is an ingratitude in every sin, and that is to be considered. Good turns aggravate unkindness, and our offences are increased by our obligations.—Trapp.
1Sa_15:20. Men are apt to cry out with Saul, “I have obeyed the commandment of the Lord; but, alas, when it comes to be examined, how have they obeyed Him?… Possibly they have, with Saul, destroyed the Amalekites; have constantly and openly opposed the declared enemies of religion. Moreover, perhaps, whatever was vile and refuse that they have destroyed utterly. Whatever sins did not easily beset them, nor offer them strong temptations, these sins they have both heartily avoided themselves, and severely condemned in other men. But the best of the sheep and of the oxen, the things which were dear to them, like a right hand or a right eye, these they could not spare.… And yet, as Saul endeavoured to transfer the blame upon the people, so, in the other case also, it is not the men themselves, it is not their reason and judgment, that chooses the sin, but their inferior appetites, their passions and affections choose it for them, and drive them into it, even perhaps in a manner against their wills.—Dr. S. Clark.
1Sa_15:22-23. It was as much as to say that the sum and substance of Divine worship consisted in obedience, with which it should always begin, and that sacrifices were, so to speak, simple appendices, the force and worth of which were not so great as obedience to the precepts of God.—Calvin.
All conscious disobedience is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will, the human I, into a God. So that all manifest opposition to the word and commandment of God is, like idolatry, a rejection of the true God.—Keil.
This saying of Samuel came literally true in Saul’s case. Through disobedience he was forsaken of God, and became a prey to the Evil Spirit, and was led on in time to resort to witchcraft (1Sa_27:7), and perhaps to consult seraphim (see 1Sa_19:13). Here is a solemn warning for these latter days.—Wordsworth.
When the Lord expressly says “Thou shalt,” and His rational creature dares to persist in saying “I will not,” whether the contest be about an apple or a kingdom, it is stubbornness and rebellion.—Scott.
May we then take good care that, even when we mean to render the Lord service or obedience, we yet beware of our choice and fancy, and follow only the traces of the Divine will. Obedience is the mother-grace, the parent of all virtues. It makes the eye see, the ear hear, the heart think, the memory remember, the mouth speak, the foot go, the hand work, and the whole man do that, yea that alone, which is conformed to the will of God … It is impossible for him who is not obedient to God to lay any command upon men. That is what these words (“The Lord hath rejected thee,”) and the aim of God therein mean. The authorities must not proceed from their own will and notion, but in everything must take God’s word and will for their rule. If He does not drive apostate rulers from their position, like as He did Nebuchadnezzar, but leaves them ruling, as He also did Saul for a while, yet they are and remain rejected in His sight, and vainly write themselves “by the grace of God,” when He Himself does not so acknowledge them.—Berlenberger Bible.
God rejects Saul from being king over Israel who had rejected God from being King over Saul.—T. Adams.
Every ceremonial law is moral; the outward act is never enjoined but for the sake of the inward thing, what it pictures—represents. Never is there body without spirit. But the fleshly sense would have none of the spirit, and laid hold solely of the body, which, thus isolated, became a corpse.—Hengstenberg.
It is a holier and a better thing to do one’s duty, than to make duties for one’s self and then set about them.—Spurgeon.
Why was sacrifice good, but because it was commanded? What difference was there betwixt slaughter and sacrifice but obedience?—Bp. Hall.
Saul lived to give in his own person the painful but the clearest evidence of the identity, as far as concerns a common origin and principle of action, which may exist between two very different crimes … The same disposition which evinced itself in those acts of rebellion, which he committed all the while he was crying down witchcraft, induced him to do the very thing which he censured when occasion pressed … The security against our being guilty of any particular form of transgression is not that we condemn it, but that the evil principle within us which excites to its commission, is subdued and removed by Divine grace.—Miller.
1Sa_15:4-23. The fall of King Saul shows:
(1) How unrepented and only whitewashed sin at the first severe temptation breaks out as manifest and criminal self-seeking.
(2) How this self-seeking is so blinding as to tell itself and others the lie that it is a labour for the Lord.—J. Disselhoff.
We may see in the history of Saul how important it is that we should make the most of the opportunities which God sets before us. There came to the son of Kish a tidal time of favour, which, if he had only recognised and improved it might have carried him, not only to greatness, but to goodness. But he proved faithless to the trust committed to him, and became in the end a worse man than he would have been if no such privileges had been conferred upon him.… His career is a melancholy illustration of the truth of the Saviour’s words: “From him that hath not, shall be taken away even that he hath.”—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v14 General Information:
General Information:
Samuel questions why Saul did not utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
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bleating of sheep ... lowing of the oxen
These are the sounds that these animals make. Your language may have different terms for these.
in my ears ... that I hear
These two phrases mean the same thing. Here "in my ears" refers to hearing. (See: Parallelism and Metonymy)
They have brought ... the people spared
The word "they" and the phrase "the people" here both represent Saul's army. Saul is blaming the people rather than himself.
to sacrifice to Yahweh your God
Saul is arguing that animals for sacrifice were an exception to Yahweh's command to destroy everything.
Yahweh your God
Saul here does not describe Samuel's God as his own God.
translationWords
ewe
cow
sacrifice
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 15:13 I have carried out the Lord’s command! Cp.…
15:13 I have carried out the Lord’s command! Cp. 15:3. Saul apparently thought his actions were justified (15:15; cp. Lev 22:19). Samuel, however, cut through Saul’s pretense (1 Sam 15:17-19) and carried out God’s command himself (15:32-33).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.