20261007 1 Samuel 15 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

residual questions from last week's study before

we move on. Okay, then we are going to be in

1 Samuel chapter 15, but turn back first to Exodus

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention Exodus 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17. Let's see, we'll just read at the

beginning of the chapter, the people are thirsty.

Moses takes his rod as God instructs him. He

gives them water. And then in verse 8, Then came

Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And

Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men and

go out. Fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand

up on top of the hill with the rod of God in

mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to

him and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron,

and Hur one up to the top of the hill. And it

came to pass when Moses held up his hand that

Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand,

Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy,

and they stood on a stone and put it under him,

and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed

up his hands, the one on the one side and the

other on the other side, and his hands were steady

until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited

Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for

a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the

ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the

remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And

Moses built an altar, and called the name of

it Jehovah Nissi. For he said, Because the Lord

has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek

from generation to generation, to generation.

Alright, now we'll turn over to 1 Samuel chapter

1 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

15. This is the last chapter then in the division

of the book that we gave it at the beginning,

which is these first 15 chapters are the story

of Samuel. The next section to the end of 1 Samuel

is the story of Saul and David. And then in 2

Samuel is the story of David. Alright, chapter

15. Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent

me to anoint thee to be king over his people,

over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto

the voice of the words of the Lord. So, just

a reminder to kind of set the scene here. Whose

people are they? They're God's people. They're

not Saul's people. Saul seems to be confused

throughout his... throughout his short reign

as to who the people were and who the authority

is. But right here at the beginning, we're reminded

that the people belong to the Lord. Samuel asserts

his right to speak because he's the one that

anointed Saul. So Saul ought to hear his word.

And it's not his word, but it's the voice of

the word of the Lord. Then this is what Samuel

says to Saul. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I

remember that which Amalek did to Israel. how

he laid wait for him in the way when he came

up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly

destroy all that they have, utterly destroy all

that they have, and spare them not. But slay

both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and

sheep, camel and ass. We'll stop, we'll pause

there. So what is the... What is it that Saul

is supposed to do? Somebody just put it in our

modern language for us. He's supposed to go to

Amalek and do what? He's got to kill everybody.

Not only every person, but also all the cattle,

small and great. So, yeah, it's a good question.

So, first of all, maybe you can remind us. When

an Israelite brought a... sheep, a ram, a bull,

whatever, for sacrifice, what happened to that

animal? It was killed, and then what? Parts of

it, what? Okay. They threw away part of it, and

then what? Okay, and then the person that brought

it also got some of the teeth, right? Depending

on the sacrifice. So... And if it was a sacrifice

in that way, then part of the animal would have

been eaten by the people and part of it would

have been given to the Lord. It would have been

done in that manner. What is it telling us then

that the Lord... Can somebody turn those lights

on back there for me? It makes me feel dark if

I can't see those lights. What does it tell us

then that the Lord wanted to have all the people

destroyed and all the animals destroyed, everything

destroyed? Well, it tells us that it all belongs

to the Lord. The Lord was claiming every bit

of it as his own, and he was claiming it as a

judgment for the sin of the Amalekites. And I

think, somebody could remind me, but I think

that it's only like the sin of, is it even in

Sodom? Do they call it sin in Sodom? Do you remember?

Or even in Canaan? I'm not sure that they call

it sin, but for whatever reason, he calls it

sin here for the Amalekites. The Amalekites had

sinned against the Lord, at least in coming against

his people. And the judgment on them for that

was total destruction, total wiping from the

face of the earth. The Lord had not forgotten,

even though it had been hundreds of years since.

The Amalekites had done what they did. The Lord

was going to take care of them. So, I guess in

our modern... This was genocide, I guess. That's

what we would call it. This was God commanding

Saul to go and commit genocide against the Amalekites.

They were supposed to be wiped from the face

of the earth. Now, this is a unique time in...

in history this is a theocracy it's the only

theocracy that's ever existed in the well the

only proper theocracy that's existed in the history

of mankind we may have a theocracy in Iran but

it's not a biblical theocracy and it's certainly

not a God honoring theocracy but God alone is

the one that can command judgment through his

people It is strange to the ears of New Covenant

people to hear that God is sanctioning and commanding

genocide back here in the Old Testament through

Saul and through his people Israel. But the Amalekite

sin had come up before the Lord and their time

had come and judgment was being poured out. So

in the same way that... that a sacrifice honors

the Lord. This is the last of your questions.

The same way you would bring an animal to be

sacrificed for whatever the sacrifice was for,

that honored the Lord in that way. Do it according

to his way. Here, if you're going to honor the

Lord, then you're going to execute judgment in

exactly the way the Lord lays out for you. The

entirety of the Amalekite kingdom and everything

in it belonged to the Lord, and the Lord was

demanding that that be given to him in the form

of genocide. Anybody want to have a question?

Anybody want to correct my thinking in any kind

of way or add anything to that? Honoring the

Lord. Yeah, that was the only way that God could

be honored. It's not, I guess I just say this,

it's not a pattern for modern... kingdoms or

nations. It's not permission for any nation to

say, well, look what God did back there, and

so we'll justify our genocide by that. It doesn't

work that way. Okay, so then verse 4. Chapter

15, verse 4. And Saul gathered the people together

and numbered them in Tulane, 200 ,000 footmen

and 10 ,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the

city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley. So

we don't know how much time has passed since

chapter 14. Maybe it's been quite a while. Remember

at the end of that chapter, it says he took any

valiant man that he found and added him to his

army. So it may have been a while. So, you know,

if these numbers seem... Remember, how many did

he have when he went against the Philistines?

He started with 3 ,000. He ended with 600. So

now he has 200 ,000 footmen and 10 ,000 men of

Judah. The only question amongst the Hebrew interpreters

is whether that 10 ,000 has to do with an exact

number of men or if it is in some kind of military

division of forces. But either way, the number

is accurate. Anybody that I still can remember

when I was in ninth grade, I think, and I had

a teacher tell me that the numbers in the Old

Testament were not to be trusted. And that was

the first time in my life that I had ever heard

anybody question whether or not the Bible may

or may not be true. So I went home to my dad,

and he assured me that the Bible was true. And

so I went ahead and got in trouble at school.

So we can trust it. The numbers are real and

they're accurate. Whether the exact translation

that we understand in the ancient Hebrew or not

is beside the point. Saul had this army. And

he took that army to the city of Amalek and laid

in wait in the valley. And then in verse 6, Saul

said, Under the Kenites, go, depart, get you

down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy

you with them. For he showed kindness to all

the children of Israel when they came up out

of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among

the Amalekites. Now we've come across the Kenites

several times in our study in Judges and now

here again in 1 Samuel. You remember that Moses'

father -in -law was a Kenite. So the history

between the Kenites and the Israelites. goes

back to their departing from Egypt. So Saul sends

them away. Again, we should see that God's not

indiscriminate in his judgment. His judgment

was to fall on the Amalekites and not on the

Kenites. Now, if the Kenites decided to ignore

the word of the Lord and stay there where they

were, then they were subject to suffer the same

judgment as the Amalekites. But they got out.

And verse 7 tells us that Saul smoked the Amalekites

from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that

is over against Egypt. So we don't know, nobody

knows exactly where that geographical location

is, although it is close to Judah. And you saw

in the army, 200 ,000 footmen and 10 ,000 men

of Judah. Why Judah is singled out there. My

guess is because Judah was supposed to take the

lead. Judah was supposed to be the one that took

the lead way back in Judges and in the wiping

the land of Canaan, which is now Israel, clean

from the Canaanites. It was Judah that was supposed

to take the lead. It's Judah that is going to

produce the kingly line of David and then all

the way to Jesus. So they were supposed to be

the leaders. That's my guess as to why it's in

there in that way throughout the Old Testament.

Okay, verse 8. And he, that is Saul, took Agag,

the king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly

destroyed 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 fatlings and the lambs and all that was good.

and would not utterly destroy them. But everything

that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed

utterly. So, here again is Saul, who has never

been able to hearken unto the voice or the word

of the Lord. What does it mean to hearken? What

was Samuel calling him to do back in verse 1?

He says, Now therefore hearken thou unto the

voice of the words of the Lord. Does somebody

remind us? What does that mean? Listen, hearken.

How do we listen to the voice of the Lord? Well,

first of all, we have to hear, right? So we have

to know something. So even in our lives, we want

to know something. You want to know how it is

that God's instructing you. Then you've got to

read your Bible. You've got to hear. the voice

of the Lord from his word. That's where he speaks.

But now you're left with just what? You've just

got this body of knowledge. This is what the

Lord has instructed me to do. Anybody that reads

the Bible can come to that conclusion. They can

say, this is what the Lord would instruct his

people to do. This is what I should do. What's

the second part of listening to the voice of

the word of the Lord? You've got to agree that

it's a good thing, right? You've got to come

to the place where you say, if... God has told

me to do this, then it's a good thing, and then

I will obey. So you can't be said to be listening

if those three things aren't present in your

hearing. It's the same way. It's the way faith

works, right? You hear something. You have a

knowledge of that thing. You come to agree with

it, and then you obey it. You trust. You do whatever

it is that the Lord has told you to do. So, that's

what the Lord is calling Saul to hear me, agree

with me, and then do. And Saul heard undoubtedly.

He heard with his ears. Didn't agree, and so

he didn't obey. So, it's impossible then for

you to say to me, well, I've heard the voice

of the Lord, I agree with it, but I don't obey

it. That's impossible either. You haven't really

heard the word of the Lord. So you don't have

the knowledge or you refuse to agree with it.

Those are the only now. That may just be in a

moment of time. We all sin. We all still fall

short. None of us has come to perfection and

we won't on this side of eternity. But the tenor

of your life is such that you can say, when I

hear the voice of the Lord, I agree because I

know who the one is that's speaking. And I try

to order my life according to that word. That's

something that Saul never could do. So he goes,

he kills them all. The Lord gives him the victory.

All that he had to do was finish the work, but

he didn't. He took all the good stuff, and he

brought that to himself, and he didn't kill Agag,

the king. Now, it must be a little bit frightening

for a king to kill another king. Because when

he kills that other king, he knows that anybody

else can rise up and kill him. That his kingship

is not what the English would say is divine right.

That you have this divine right from the Lord

to be where you are. At the Lord's pleasure you

serve, and at the Lord's displeasure then you

end your service. So, you know, we try to understand

where Saul is, but Saul is not in submission

to the Lord. And the Lord is aware of everything

that's happened. So in verse 10, Then came the

word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, Now this

time it just comes to Samuel. Samuel didn't seek

it out. Samuel wasn't in the presence of Saul.

But the Lord comes to Samuel, and he says, It

repenteth me, or I regret, that I have set up

Saul to be king. For he has turned back from

following me, and hath not performed my commandments.

And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the

Lord all night. So, how are we going to, and

I meant to write this down, it's not an anthropomorphism,

but it's a, do you know what it is? Anthropopo,

pop, P -O -P, something. So an anthropomorphism

would be like the hand of God. God's a spirit,

he doesn't have hands, but God reveals himself

in that way to us, in some way that we can understand

that he works, that he's doing something, or

whatever else the anthropomorphism is. It's in

that same genre. The Lord is communicating something

about who he is. But we know that God doesn't

change. He didn't change his mind the way that

men do. Later on in the same chapter, we hear

that God doesn't change his mind. So what is

it that God is telling us about himself? What

are we supposed to learn here about God? Anybody

going to venture a guess? Oh, I thought you were

getting ready to say something. Somebody? Anybody?

He's displeased over Saul. He is displeased over

Saul. I think that's probably about as good as

we can do. We can also say that he's involved

in his creation, isn't he? He's not this God

that is just off somewhere unaware of what's

going on. When you sin, when I sin, when... Sin

and wickedness seem to rule the land. And the

effect of that upon God's creation. God wants

us to know that that's no small thing. He's displeased

with that. So he's displeased with Saul. And

we can see why. Now when the word came to Samuel.

He cried unto the Lord all night. What is that?

What was he doing? Praying? I mean Samuel was.

He heard the voice of the Lord, and the Lord

told him he was displeased. He told him that

he was regretting that he had ever made Saul

king. And undoubtedly, I mean, we can't really,

we won't be able to enter into that, the way

that that feels or how that would move us this

side of eternity. But if you can just imagine.

The Lord God Almighty, who was so gracious to

Samuel from the moment of his birth, who was

so faithful to his people throughout their history,

who had kept all the promises to Abraham, who

had given him the land, he had done all those

things. And that God is communicating to you

his displeasure in this King Saul. You'd be moved.

We'll be moved when we hear or when we can see.

the glory of God, and really just the, we won't

hear it with regret. We won't hear it with any

kind of mourning. But we will recognize the majesty

of a God who is so faithful in spite of men's

unfaithfulness. And that's the picture that Samuel

got there, and it moved him all night. Was he

crying for mercy for the people? Was he crying,

you know, exactly what he was praying? We don't

know. But he spent the night before the Lord

weeping and crying. Moved. And then verse 12.

And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the

morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came

to Carmel. And behold, he set him up a place

and has gone about and passed on and gone down

to Gilgal. We're always back at Gilgal. And Samuel

came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed

be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment

of the Lord. Now, was there any question in Saul's

mind that he hadn't performed the commandment?

Was he confused? I mean, can you imagine that?

To Samuel, who anointed you king, who came and

gave you instruction, you looked him in the eye,

you heard what he had said, and now when he comes

to you, you just lie to him. That's all that

that is. It's just a lie. Plain and simple. And

Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleeding

of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the

oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they. Now he

was all about these are my people. He's all about

me, me, me, me, me. But now it's they. They have

brought them from the Amalekites and 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. Now, it would seem

that at surface level, that this was a good thing,

right? Now, what kind of animal, what kind of

lamb could you have for your Passover meal? Anybody

remember? A young lamb. One year old. And what?

Perfect. Unblemished. When you brought an animal

to sacrifice, a lamb to sacrifice, you didn't

go out in your herd and, you know, stand over

on this side of the field and call them. And

the slowest one that's kind of wobbly on its

legs and got problems, you say, okay, that's

the one I'm taking to the Lord. It's the best

one. You find the strongest one. You find the

one that has no defects. The one that's wool

is perfect in its body and it functions exactly

as it should. And you say, that's the one that

I'm going to bring to the Lord, the best of what

I have. Now that goes for you and for me. If

you're a person that thinks that you're going

to offer to the Lord the leftovers of whatever

it is in your giving, well, I do my giving at

the end of the month after all my bills have

been paid. After I see if I've found a deal on

Marketplace, after I've made sure that I've had

a good date night and everything else, whatever

is left over then at the end of the month, I'm

going to give a portion of that to the Lord.

Does anybody here think that that's honoring

to the Lord? What you've done is essentially

you've set everything else as a priority above

the Lord. And you've said, if I can get everything

that I want, and the Lord has given me, More

than that. Then I'll give a portion of that.

To the Lord. It pleases the Lord. When we take

the best. We take the best of our time. We take

the best of our efforts. We take the best of

whatever it is. That he's put into our hands.

And we say. This is the thing that I'm going

to give to the Lord. So it would seem. On the

surface. That these people have done a good thing.

They want to sacrifice to the Lord. But what

did that mean? In this specific circumstance.

What did that mean for them? What had they really

done? And they disobeyed him and they did what?

They stole from the Lord. The Lord who gave them

the land flowing with milk and honey assured

them that they could work six years and take

the seventh year off and they wouldn't suffer

a bit. The Lord who said, out of all the people

in the world, you're the only ones that are going

to work six days a week. And that first day of

the week, or the last day of the week, the Sabbath,

That's my day, and so you rest with me in that

day. Remember what I've done. There was never

a more blessed people in the entire world than

Israel. And that's the people that said, we're

going to steal some stuff from the Lord. He hasn't

given us enough. We want to have some more. And

so they stole from him. Now, they were going

to give him parts of the animals, presumably,

if we're to believe what Saul said, although

we know that Saul has turned out to be... rather

loose with the truth. I have commanded the Lord.

Oh, the people are going to sacrifice that to

the Lord. Then Samuel, this is Samuel's response.

He says to Saul, stay, and I will tell thee what

the Lord has said to me this night. And he said

unto him, that is Saul, say on. And Samuel said,

when thou wast little in thine own sight, wast

thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel,

and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?

Now remember back, what did Saul say when Samuel

told him he was going to be king? I'm just a

nobody from the little tribe of Benjamin. Remember?

And everybody wondered if that was legitimate,

if that was really how he felt. Well, apparently

Samuel took him at his word when he said that.

He's saying, remember back then, and the Lord

sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly

destroy the sinners, the Amalekites. and fight

against them until they be consumed. Wherefore

then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord,

but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil

in the sight of the Lord? In other words, you

came, and you gathered up all the good stuff,

the spoil. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I

have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone

the way which the Lord sent me. And I have brought

Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed

the Amalekites. So again, Saul still hasn't gotten

it through his head. He's saying, I did obey.

I killed everybody except for the king. And I

brought him here. I've utterly destroyed the

Amalekites. And then what does he say? In verse

21, but the people. took the spoil, sheep, and

oxen, the chief of the things which should have

been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the

Lord thy God in Gilgal. Now, there's a word in

there, a phrase, that gives us, tells us, all

we need to know about Saul. Should have been.

No. Later on, at the bottom of verse 21, or the

end. Yes. What does that tell us about Saul and

about God? Okay. There's no relationship there,

is there? There's no trust. There's no burden

on Saul's heart to follow the Lord, to obey him.

It's Samuel's God. The Lord thy God. And Samuel

said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. Well, we

can stop there. What's he saying? In what way

is obedience better than sacrifice? Or in this

context, what is it? What are we supposed to

know here? Well, first of all, there's no such

thing as a sacrifice that isn't obedient. You

can't bring a broken -legged lamb for your sacrifice.

You don't get to determine how it is that you're

going to worship the Lord. Who is it that determines

how the Lord is going to be worshipped? The Lord,

and the Lord alone. Saul doesn't have the right

to rewrite any of the commands of the Lord. That's

what he seems to think. I thought it was a good

idea to bring the best of the stuff back here

for whatever reason. Maybe to sacrifice, maybe

for whatever. That's what I thought would be

a good thing. And then the second thing is that

there is no... There is no sacrifice for willful

disobedience. Saul is still stuck in the place

where he doesn't believe he's done anything wrong.

I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I've obeyed

it. I did what he told me to do. I went there

and I defeated him. That's enough. The rest of

it I've rewritten and what I've done is a good

thing. There is no sacrifice for that. What the

Lord says to Saul is obey me. And if you obey

me and do what you're supposed to do, then what?

Then the entire Amalekite kingdom, people, animals,

and everything else was a sacrifice unto the

Lord their God. It all belonged to the Lord,

not a portion of it, not some of it, not whatever

Saul wanted, but everything belonged to the Lord.

Then he goes on in verse 23, for rebellion is

as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness is

as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected

the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee

from being king. Exactly how it is, how rebellion

is divination or witchcraft. Anybody have any

idea? Or stubbornness or presumption. as iniquity

and idolatry. Okay, so the first one is, yes,

that's good. Rebellion is as the sin of divination.

What is rebellion? Rejecting God. Okay, so whatever

authority is over you, you reject that and you

go against it. So in this case, you're exactly

right. What is divination or witchcraft? It's

listening to a voice that's not the Lord, isn't

it? Speaking to the dead. Speaking to spirits.

So it is rebellion against the Lord then to get

a word or to get a prophecy, to get some information

in some other way than the Lord has designed.

To come to me. Come to me with your needs, he

says. You don't go in this other direction and

do these other things. That's directly rebellion

against who I am and against my authority. And

then to be presumptuous. Or to be stubborn is

gross immorality. And it's idolatry in the sense

that you have created in your mind, by your imagination,

some other God than the God of the Bible. You

have said, I don't need that. I'm going to create

a God in my image who does what I want him to

do. That's the grossest form of idolatry and

of sin. to reject the clear revelation of God

and construct one of your own imagination. It's

one thing for an Indian out in the plains in

America who's never heard the gospel, he's never

had the Bible in his hand, to create in his imagination

some kind of a God. He knows there must be a

God. He can see all of creation. But he creates

one after the fashion of his own mind. But then

you have here, in this case, Saul, who has the

revelation of God. He has spoken and has been

friends with and been led by Samuel, whose word

has never failed. And that's the one who rejects

that revelation and instead creates his own God.

In Saul's case, who was his God? His very self.

He's rejected the Lord. That's what it says at

the end of 23. Because thou has rejected the

word of the Lord. So all the rest that has gone

before it is a description of what this is. What

does it look like to reject the Lord? Well, it

looks like somebody who has decided to do things

their own way, to please themselves, to do what

is right in their own eyes, rather than what

the Lord has commanded them to do. He's rejected

the word of the Lord. And he also rejected thee

from being king, Saul says. So in the same way

that you rejected the Lord, now the Lord is rejecting

you. Now, that's devastating to anybody with

half of a brain. Saul doesn't appear to have

even half of a brain. That doesn't seem to have

affected him, that he has offended, that he has

disappointed, that he has rejected the very God

who put him where he is. And Saul said to Samuel,

I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment

of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the

people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore

I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with

me, that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said

unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou

hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord

hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

Probably a little bit. It does for sure show

that in Saul's mind, this was just a little bitty

thing. Can you just pardon this? Can we get past

this? Is essentially what he's saying. The end

of the verse, it tells us what's in the psyche

of Saul. He feared the people and obeyed their

voice. Now, whose choice was Saul? Who chose

Saul? The people. He said, we want a king, right?

We want a king like all the other nations. We're

going to do this, that, and the other thing.

It was the people's choice. And Saul was exactly

what the people wanted. Because Saul was afraid

of them. And Saul would do whatever the mob demanded.

That's what Saul was going to do. It was a perfect

fit between the two of them. It was a horrible

fit as the people of God and the king who was

supposed to obey the Lord. But Saul was a king

of the people. Just pardon me and turn again.

Let's get past this. Verse 27, And as Samuel

turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the

skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel

said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom

of Israel from thee this day, and hath given

it to a neighbor of thine that is better than

thou. Now, it might appear at first glance again

that this was the great humbling of Saul, that

he finally realized what was going on, and he

fell down, on his hands and his knees, and grabbed

the hem of Samuel's robe. And he wouldn't let

go, and he ripped a section of it off. He's desperate,

in other words. He's laying prostrate before

the Lord's prophet. Maybe he's finally come to

the conclusion that the Lord is no one to be

trifled with. And he's in a rather dangerous

position having been rejected by the Lord. But

we find out that it really doesn't have anything

to do with that. He's desperate, all right. There's

no question about that. But his desperation doesn't

stem from the fact that the Lord is displeased

with him. It stems from something else. So let's

find out what that something else is. The Lord

has rent the kingdom and given it to someone

who's better than you in verse 29. And also the

strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. For

he is not a man that he should repent. Now who

is the strength of Israel? Hopefully you've got

that capitalized in your Bibles. That's the Lord

God Almighty. The strength of Israel. So where

before we're told that God regretted. having

anointed Saul, we're told here that he does not

repent. He's not a man that he should repent.

He doesn't change his mind. He's unchanging.

Verse 29 and 30. Then he said, that is Saul,

I have sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee,

before the elders of my people and before Israel,

and turn again with me that I may worship the

Lord thy God. So now we see that Saul hasn't

moved one bit. That the Lord is not his Lord.

It's not his God. There's still no relationship

there. It's still Samuel's God. And Saul is only

concerned with what's going to happen to me if

the people find out that I've been rejected.

That I'm no longer the king of Israel. Now that's

the truth. He's no longer the king of Israel.

He's been rejected. All that is left is for God

to take him off of the earth. His death is the

only thing that's left to confirm what is already

true. That he's not the king. And so he pleads

with Samuel. And in verse 31. So Samuel turned

again after Saul. And Saul worshipped the Lord.

I can only assume. That this is really just a

show. And that Samuel was moved. By compassion.

For not Saul. But for the entire nation. Because

the new king was not ready yet. To take over.

It wasn't God's time for that yet. And so he

did relent. And he, in order to keep order in

the nation, he undoubtedly had some kind of a

relationship with Saul up until this point, and

so he relents. So we see that Samuel is not God.

He does change his mind. Before he said he wouldn't,

and now he says that he will. Now, and then in

verse 32, they bring Agag the king. It didn't

occur to me. I was reading in one of my books.

And when you write, you can't write three different

things that are going on at the same time. Now,

when you watch a movie, you might see that this

person is eating over here. And so you get the

picture of what he's eating. But if you were

writing, then you would have to say, this was

what the person was eating. And while he was

eating, this is the conversation that he was

having. And this also was going on. So you can

only write about one thing at a time. So exactly

when it is that they brought Agag to Samuel,

we don't know, but we do know that he did. And

so Samuel says, Bring hither to me Agag, the

king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him

delicately. Now, wouldn't it have been nice if

when Samuel had come, Saul had come delicately

before Samuel? If Saul had had some kind of fear

or trepidation that here was the man of God who

was coming to greet him and he had disobeyed

the Lord, but no such thing with Saul. But Agag

came delicately. Agag apparently had a notion

that things weren't as good as they were before

Samuel had come on the scene. And Agag said,

probably to himself, surely the bitterness of

death has passed. He's trying to convince himself,

okay, I'm going to go gingerly, and I've already

survived the slaughter of all of my people. I've

been brought here by the king, who apparently

has some use for me. Certainly, I haven't come

this far just to die. And Samuel says, As thy

sword hath made women childless, so shall thy

mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed

Agag in pieces before the Lord, and Gilgal. He

chopped them to pieces. Samuel followed the instruction

of the Lord. Samuel did whatever it was that

the Lord had called him to do, and he finished

the job that Saul refused to finish. Then Samuel

went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house

in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to

see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless,

Samuel mourned for Saul. And the Lord repented

that he had made Saul king over Israel. So the

Lord is not in any way pleased with what's going

on in Israel. It's not according to his instruction,

and it's not according to his will. We've got

a couple minutes. Well, first I'll pause for

questions. Is there any significance to why you...

It was a place of religious significance. It

was where all kinds of... It was a holy place

before they had Jerusalem and the temple, like

Shiloh, like Ramah. Well, we can't hardly read

this without at least reflecting a little bit

on the nature of sin. That it is no small thing

to ignore the voice of the Lord. What Saul thought

was a small thing, and maybe what was a small

thing back at the beginning. Was really just

all of Saul's wickedness. When he wouldn't wait

for Samuel and he went ahead and sacrificed.

And now here where he doesn't. Those are all

symptoms of the real problem. The real problem,

the real sin of Saul is that he refused steadfastly

to hearken unto the voice of the Lord. Saul was

determined to go his own way. That's nothing

but sin. And it creeps up on us. And when it

does. And if we don't correct it, if we don't

see it, that's why it is so important that we

be in our Bibles. What is it that's going to

alert you? Hey, this part of your life needs

some work. Are you relying on me for that? Are

you relying on Tim for that? Are you relying

on Dad for that? Maybe you're relying on a spouse.

Maybe you've got a good friend. But maybe the

subtlety of your own heart and the sin is unknown

to any of those people. It's not unknown to the

Lord, though. And the day of reckoning comes.

And the day of reckoning comes when sin has wrapped

its tentacles so tightly around you that it chokes

you. It chokes the very life out of you. It removes

from you all joy. It removes from you all purpose

in your life. God chose you and he called you

and he saved you so that you could walk in this

world in a way that honors him. As a pillar of

what it is to be submitted to the Lord. And you've

thrown all that away. And when you finally come

to realize it, it's hard. And the hard work then

begins. Now if you're in the Lord, then that

hard work will be done. Make no mistake, but

how much better would it be to catch it early,

to stop it before it gets so entangled in who

you are that it's hard to separate, it's hard

to see. And how important is it to then examine

ourselves in light of the Word? When you are

in sin's grip, it is almost impossible. To be

without bias and judge yourself and examine yourself

in light of the Word. That's when you need the

work of the Holy Spirit. Through somebody else

to say, hey, this is a huge problem. And we're

going to have to deal with it. And we're going

to deal with it. And the Lord's going to deal

with it. And the Lord gives us discipline for

just that reason. He gives us friends for just

that reason. And thank God that He does. But

be humble before the Lord consistently. Avoid

the mess of it. Avoid the hard work that's involved

when sin has got us in its grip. Samuel never

came to see Saul ever again. Can you imagine

that? The one that he anointed, he knew him when

he was just still chasing down donkeys, lost

donkeys. He stayed with him for the, whatever,

two or three years of his king. His kingship.

And then he doesn't see him again until the day

that he died. And he mourned for him. That's

the nature of sin. Not only does it affect you,

it affects everybody around you. The whole nation

of Israel paid for Saul's sin. Samuel paid for

Saul's sin. He mourned him. Anything else? Anybody

else got a question or want to say anything?

Anthropopathic. Thank you.