The Failures of Saul

Saul started out looking and acting the part of God’s representative and Israel’s king. He was physically imposing, attractive, seemed humble before the Lord and obediently dependent upon Samuel for spiritual guidance. He took his job seriously, as Israel’s champion against the Philistines. He led a successful military campaign against them in his earliest years as ruler.

Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for him seven days at Gilgal, where Samuel would meet him to perform the burnt offerings and sacrifices. That was the duty of the priest. It wasn’t for just anyone to do. Here’s where we begin to see Saul’s true character. He loved and respected Samuel, but was impatient. Samuel didn’t appear exactly when Saul expected him to, so Saul decided to take it upon himself to perform the priestly offerings. There was ominous precedence for such rashness, in Numbers chapter 16, when some Jews decided to challenge the authority of Moses and Aaron by making priestly offerings themselves. They reasoned that, hey, we’re all God’s people here. Who do you, Moses and Aaron, think you are? Well, who they were were God’s anointed representatives, charged with certain priestly duties which the general population were not given. This was an act of rebellion which received severe discipline against those who intruded into the office of the priesthood (Numbers 16:32-40).

I Samuel 13:8-11..He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?”

There is a principle called the Protocol Plan of God. Only a right thing done in the right way is right.We humans will often rationalize that since what we think needs to be done is a seemingly good thing, we should just go ahead with it, even if it isn’t within God’s prescribed procedure. Especially since we’re such wonderful, blessed people. God loves me so much, if I do it, it must be acceptable; honorable, even. I’ll probably get extra points for knowing how to perform the burnt offerings that Samuel is not yet here to do. NOT! It is arrogance to intrude into the office that God has given to His chosen representative. It is rebellion.  Saul started with his rationale:

And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” I Samuel 13:11-12

Well, you see, it was the people’s fault. They were scattering. And it’s your fault, Samuel, because you did not arrive on time. I was afraid I’d be attacked before I could seek God’s blessing. I just had to go ahead and make the offering. Samuel’s instruction in chapter 10 verse 8 had been to wait seven days, but that wasn’t all. The final word was “until I come to you.”

And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” I Samuel 13:13-14

Rashness, impatience, arrogance, ignoring the protocol of God; all these are indications of a man not capable of ruling according to God’s plan and purpose. This was only the beginning of Saul’s disobedience. He would have many more opportunities to obey God’s commands, and he would continue to allow his own human viewpoint to determine his behavior. The issue is, at any point in Saul’s descent into reversionism and blackout of the soul, he could have simply confessed his sin to God and repented (changed direction). Recovery was always possible, if he had wanted to recover his relationship to God and keep his throne. Saul was a religious man, an emotional man, a presumptuous man, and he was wrong.

Another opportunity: I Samuel 15:1-3 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. 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. 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.’”

Amalek had been a bitter enemy of Israel throughout their history. The Amalekites were descendants of Amalek, who was a direct descendant of Esau, and they had viciously harassed and opposed Israel to try and prevent her possession of Canaan, when God had specifically given that land to Israel. God plainly stated in Deuteronomy chapter 9 and other scriptures that He was driving out the pagans because of their wickedness. Now the kingdom was established, and it was Saul’s assignment to wipe out the Amalekites because of that wickedness. Modern society is horrified by the “every living thing” mandate, because modern society has become blind to the reality that when demonism is allowed to flourish in a culture, even the animals are affected by it, and the children born in such a culture will carry the tendencies into the following generations. There comes a time when such a people must be destroyed. God doesn’t have to explain His orders, however. He gave the command. Saul’s duty was to obey.

He began well. He warned the Kenites who were in the area to move on out, and then he proceeded to defeat the Amalakites. Too bad he didn’t finish the job:

And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 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. I Samuel 15:7-9

Saul thought his own judgment was better than God’s! The order was to utterly destroy. No, let’s show mercy to their king while killing all the “despised and worthless.” (!) In whose opinion? Saul was never given that option. Saul just took that liberty. There it was again. Arrogance.

In verses 10-16, we see a chain of consequences of Saul’s arrogance.
1. God denounced Saul and announced he would be removed as king.
2. Samuel, who loved Saul in spite of his arrogance, tried all night to intercede for Saul.
3. Samuel was told Saul had set up a monument for himself in Gilgal.
4. Saul met Samuel, beaming, and declared the mission accomplished regarding Amalek
5. Samuel exposed Saul’s failure to obey God’s command and exposed Saul as a liar.
6. Saul rationalized again that he was bowing to the wishes of the people (the politician’s excuse). “They” wanted to keep some of the best livestock alive, for sacrifice. Saul insisted again that he had obeyed.

I  Samuel 15:22-23, And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination (witchcraft-KJV), and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Please notice the comparison of rebellion and presumption to witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry. Just in case we didn’t know. These are not little discrepancies. They are sins against God.

Saul then did confess his sin and begged Samuel to stand with him and honor him before the people. At first Samuel refused, but then he relented and showed honor to Saul, who was demonstrating remorse, and who was still Israel’s king, if not for much longer. There was unfinished business, however, and Samuel was Israel’s true leader and God’s man for the task at hand.

Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. I Samuel 15:32-35 "regretted" in v.35 is an anthropropathism. It means a human characteristic attributed to God, to enable us to understand a change of policy. 

Agag knew Samuel wasn’t an emotional wimp like Saul, but he made the attempt with “let’s let bygones be bygone.” It was a futile attempt by an evil man. What Saul, the self-righteous politician couldn’t bring himself to do, Samuel did without hesitation. It was God’s command. What God had commanded, Samuel would do, no matter how Saul and the people felt about it. “We’re all God’s children, we should just love one another” wasn’t applicable to the evil God had ordered destroyed.

There is more to Saul’s tragic story. This momentary recovery was shallow, if not superficial, and his self-importance would become full-blown insanity before his reign would finally end. His demise was a disaster of his own making.

It didn’t have to be.