I Samuel 15
Dear RTB’ers,
Happy Father’s Day – to the few fathers on this list! Sorry about yesterday’s post; I was using my phone instead of my computer, with spotty signal all along our travel route. Today I’m home-based, a much better situation!
Continuing with Saul (and Samuel)… Today we have Saul’s third misdeed. God had required complete destruction of the Amalekites: Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (v. 3b). Instead, in verses 15 and 21 Saul let himself be swayed by his followers, 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. (v. 9) Saul and his followers held back the sacrificial animals, in full disobedience to the Lord’s command. And even after being chastised by Samuel, Saul continued to argue that what he did was reasonable (v. 20).
A quote for all time: 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.” (v. 22) Similar verses are written in Proverbs 21:3 and Hosea 6:6. I have a friend who used to say, “When you get to the Pearly Gates, God is going to ask you one question: ‘Did you do what I asked you to do?’”
A sad ending to the Saul-Samuel relationship: And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. (v. 35a)
Blessings!
Fred