1 Sam
15:1-3, 7-12a, 15-16 (ESV) And Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to
anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of
the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'I have noted what Amalek did to
Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and
strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them,
but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and
donkey.'"
. .
. 7
And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is
east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted
to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the
best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and
all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised
and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10 The
word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11
"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from
following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry,
and he cried to the Lord all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in
the morning . . . 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the
Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to
sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to
destruction." 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you
what the Lord said to me this night." And he said to him,
"Speak."
NOTE: It is another
test. Previously, chapter 14 ends with success on every front as Saul subdues
the enemies of Israel. At the height of his success, God tests him. Saul
reverts to applying worldly wisdom over and above the commands of God. In other
words, doesn't it make more sense to do this than what God commands? Surely,
God would see the wisdom I have applied versus the folly of his command. Maybe,
God did not understand. Maybe God did not know. As I write these sentences, we
are so foolish when we use our understanding to trump a command of God. His
wisdom and knowledge far exceeds our puny brains. The fact that we don't
understand what seems to be foolishness on God's part does not condemn God, but
rather us and the limitations of our knowledge and understanding. Of course it
might not make sense, we are comparing the knowledge of the infinite God
against the puny .05 cubic foot of the largest human brain. Of course, it does
not make sense, logically it probably shouldn't. It is a whole lot like trying
to explain quantum mechanics to a two year old. If it does make sense, then
something is wrong.
Secondly, Samuel
starts to rebuke Saul, and Saul takes it very poorly. Samuel interrupts the
king and tells him to "stop!" repeating his justification for
disobeying God's command. Saul obviously takes it wrong, because he is the
king. So, to reaffirm his authority over God's authority (and more specifically
Samuel), he gives Samuel permission to continue, "speak." As if God
needs our approval to rebuke us. That is what power does to us. It subtly
pushes above everything that we recognized as authority before. The rules don't
apply to us, only to others. And that is wrong. Father, forgive me when I let
the sin of pride think that I am better than some rule of some other person.
Forgive me for my pride.
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