Saul Rejected
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what the Lord hath said to me this night.... 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?” He repeated the command of
the Lord concerning Amalek, and demanded the reason of the king’s
disobedience.
Saul persisted in self-justification: “Yea, I have obeyed the voice
of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and
have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the
Amalekites. But the people took of 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.”
In stern and solemn words the prophet swept away the refuge of
lies and pronounced the irrevocable sentence: “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. 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.”
As the king heard this fearful sentence he cried out, “I have sinned:
for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words:
because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” Terrified by the
denunciation of the prophet, Saul acknowledged his guilt, which he
had before stubbornly denied; but he still persisted in casting blame
upon the people, declaring that he had sinned through fear of them.
It was not sorrow for sin, but fear of its penalty, that actuated the
king of Israel as he entreated Samuel, “I pray thee, pardon my sin, and
turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.” If Saul had had true
repentance, he would have made public confession of his sin; but it
was his chief anxiety to maintain his authority and retain the allegiance
of the people. He desired the honor of Samuel’s presence in order to
strengthen his own influence with the nation.
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“I will not return with thee,” was the answer of the prophet: “for
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee
from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to depart, the king, in
an agony of fear, laid hold of his mantle to hold him back, but it rent
in his hands. Upon this, the prophet declared, “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.”