Cc – Samuel Rebukes Sha’ul First Samuel 13: 1-15a

Samuel Rebukes Sha’ul
First Samuel 13: 1-15a

Samuel rebukes Sha’ul DIG: Combating the Philistine threat was to be Sha’ul’s life work. What were Isra’el’s odds of victory? How do Sha’ul’s reasons for deciding to sacrifice sound to you? How did Sha’ul show pride? Unbelief? Impatience? Deception? What happened as a result of Sha’ul’s disobedience? What, exactly, was Sha’ul’s sin? How did God react to it? 

REFLECT: What do you think you would have done if you were in Sha’ul’s situation? When has God been “late” in keeping a promise to you? How often do you take matters into your own hands, as if to say, “It’s OK God, I got this!” How has God tested your patience as He tested Sha’ul? Why does God test His people? What are the lessons of Sha’ul’s sin?

If you had obeyed, ADONAI would have set up your kingship over Isra’el forever;
but as it is now, your kingship will not be established.

The key to understanding this chapter is to realize that Sha’ul had finally gotten around to obeying Samuel’s instructions, given to him at the time of his public coronation a year earlier (to see link click By – Long live the King). After providing Sha’ul with three supernatural confirmations of his anointing, Samuel commanded him, “When these signs come over you, just do whatever you feel like doing, because God is with you. You are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal and wait there seven days, until I come and tell you what to do” (10:7-8). The command to “do what you want to do” was a subtle way of directing Sha’ul to attack the Philistines, a command that Sha’ul did not keep at that time. So much had happened in the meantime! Sha’ul had been confirmed as Isra’el’s king. Samuel had called on both the king and the people to be careful to obey God’s Word, “Only fear ADONAI, and serve Him faithfully with all your heart and thinking about what great things He has done for you! However, if you insist on doing evil, you will be swept away – both you and your king” (see Ca – Samuel’s Farewell Speech)! Perhaps it took a year of thinking about this to work up his courage, and perhaps it was Jonathan’s initiative that forced his hand, but Sha’ul finally committed himself to do as the prophet had directed.²⁷⁴

Pride (13:1-4): Now the account of Sha’ul’s reign was about to begin, the formula that accompanies the record of each of the kings in the books of Samuel and Kings is inserted (for example Second Samuel 5:4-5 and Second Kings 12:1). Sha’ul was a young man when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years (13:1 The Message and Acts 13:21). As a result of the Philistine forces who maintained fortresses in Israelite territory, He chose three thousand trained men of Isra’el. Two thousand of them were with Sha’ul at Micmash and in the hills of Bethel, and a thousand were with his son Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; both were central locations on the west side of the Jordan River, from which they could respond in virtually any direction. The rest of the men he sent back to their respective tents (13:2). However, the fact that Isra’el was mustering an army put the Philistines on the alert. They had garrisons in different parts of the country and monitored the situation carefully.²⁷⁵

Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geva, about one mile southwest of Micmash, and the Philistines heard of it. Then, anticipating retaliation from the Philistines, Sha’ul had the shofar sound throughout the land, saying, “Let the [Israelites] hear.” So all Isra’el heard that Sha’ul had attacked the Philistine outpost, and thus made Isra’el a stench in the nostrils of the Philistines (13:3-4a). But Sha’ul didn’t attack the Philistine outpost, it was Jonathan. So we see here the pride that begins to rise up in Sha’ul that would eventually lead to his destruction (James 1:12-15). And from this moment on, Sha’ul begins to have evil feelings toward his son. He would even go so far as to try and kill him (see Ci – The Rescue of Jonathan). This is where the people started to turn against Sha’ul and look elsewhere for a replacement, and Jonathan himself pointed to David (23:17).

Thus, the people rallied behind Sha’ul in Gilgal, where he had been confirmed as king by Samuel and the people (13:4b). It is never wrong for believers to begin practicing what YHVH has commanded – and as seen here, better late than never – and Sha’ul was following the words of the prophet given at the time of his public coronation. When in doubt, believers should simply obey God’s Word as it applies to our situation. This is what Sha’ul did, and while it gained him universal scorn, we cannot fail to see this as the high-water mark of Sha’ul’s entire life and reign.²⁷⁶

Impatience (13:5-9): Meanwhile, the Philistines responded to Jonathan’s assault with immediate, savage, and overwhelming force. They assembled themselves together to make war on Isra’el with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and an army as large as the number of sand grains on the seashore. They came up and pitched camp at Micmash, less than twenty miles east of Bethel. The overwhelmingly superior forces of the Philistines, superior in both equipment and in numbers, took their stand in the very area Sha’ul had occupied. Sha’ul’s troops were so intimated that they hid themselves in caves, thickets, crevices, watchtowers and cisterns; while some of the [Israelites] crossed the Jordan to the territory of Gad and Gilead, areas east of the Jordan River to escape the expected slaughter. But Sha’ul was still in Gilgal waiting for Samuel, where all the people were eager to follow him over the anticipated Philistine attack (13:5-7).

This was the first of Isra’el’s three major battles with the Philistines in Sha’ul’s reign (see Cp – Goliath Mocks Isra’el) and see Dj – Sha’ul Takes His Own Life). This was the beginning of Isra’el’s war of liberation, although it wasn’t finished until after David became king (see the commentary on the Life of David Ce – David Anointed King Over Y’hudah). Sha’ul knew he must soon make a move against the Philistines if his volunteer militia would stand strong. In fact, the small army that remained was armed with mostly farm tools. Only Sha’ul and Jonathan had swords, and they were made of bronze rather than iron. He was very nervous as he impatiently waited for Samuel to offer the sacrifices that preceded the battle, and demonstrated Isra’el’s dependence on the LORD. It was a test.²⁷⁷

Meanwhile, Sha’ul had gone to Gilgal, exactly as Samuel had directed, to wait seven days until the prophet arrived. He waited seven days, as Samuel had instructed; but Samuel didn’t come and Sha’ul’s volunteer militia began to scatter. So he took matters into his own hands and said, “Bring me the burnt offering (see the commentary on Leviticus Ai – The Burnt Offering: Accepted by God) and the peace offerings (see Leviticus Ak – The Peace Offerings: At Peace with God),” although he was from the tribe of Benjamin and wasn’t a priest, he offered the burnt offering (13:8-9). While it was true that Sha’ul was in a tough spot with more of his army deserting every single day, circumstances are never an excuse to ignore God’s commands. He should have learned that no matter how many soldiers left him, ADONAI could still give him the victory. It is a serious matter for anyone to set aside God’s requirements, but it is especially serious for those in spiritual leadership. Even today, the Lord has set certain requirements on those who can and cannot act in the capacity of spiritual leadership (First Timothy 3:1-12 and Titus 1:5-9).²⁷⁸

How are we to understand the purposes of ADONAI at work through Sha’ul? Samuel had warned Sha’ul and the people in his farewell address to fear ADONAI, and serve Him faithfully with all your heart and thinking about what great things He has done for you! Sha’ul was trying to do that very thing, but everything was going wrong and utter defeat seemed inevitable. Did this mean that YHVH never intended for Sha’ul to succeed, so that God gave him a test that would strain any one of us to the breaking point? No! The LORD had offered him an eternal kingship if only he had obeyed (13:13). The reality is that Ha’Shem does test His people with severe trials, giving grace to those who trust Him. Moshe learned to trust ADONAI with his back to the Sea of Reeds – which God parted to save His people and destroy the Egyptian army. Likewise, Sha’ul would need to trust YHVH in trying times if he wanted to see God’s deliverance.²⁷⁹

Deception (13:10-12): As Sha’ul decays in character, we see him deceiving himself and others more and more. No sooner had he sacrificed the Burnt Offering, than Samuel arrived on the seventh day, only to be greeted by the king as if nothing had happened. But Sha’ul had violated the holy standards of the LORD by disobeying the Torah and the word of His prophet Samuel, who had told him two years earlier to proceed to Gilgal and to wait there for him seven days in anticipation of Samuel’s sacrifice (10:1-8).²⁸⁰ Samuel declared, “What have you done?” We are reminded of the voice of the LORD speaking to Adam and Eve after their sin in the garden (Genesis 3:9-13). Like Adam with his fig leaves, Sha’ul sought to cover his disobedience with an excuse. Sha’ul answered, “When I saw that the army was deserting me, that you hadn’t come during the time appointed (but it was still the seventh day) and that the Philistines had assembled at Micmash. Sha’ul reacted not by faith but based on what he saw. He feared losing his men and did not properly consider what God wanted him to do. So I thought, “Now the Philistines will attack me at Gilgal, and I haven’t asked the favor of ADONAI,” so I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering. From a human standpoint, Sha’ul did what he needed to do in a difficult situation. But from God’s point of view, difficult circumstances are never an excuse for disobedience.²⁸¹

Foolishness (13:13-14): Sha’ul had experienced the LORD’s favor in defeating the Ammonites (see Bz – The Ammonite War), but at the first sign of adversity, he failed the test. The penalty was severe. Samuel said to Sha’ul, “You did a foolish thing. You didn’t observe the mitzvah of ADONAI (making a sacrifice without being a priest). If you had obeyed, ADONAI would have set up your kingship over Isra’el forever (13:13). We must take this statement at face value, however unlikely its fulfillment was. Therefore, at this point, Sha’ul was not rejected as king, it was just that he would not have an eternal dynasty.²⁸² Sha’ul needed to be reminded, as we need to be, that God is interested in the motives of the heart. What Sha’ul couldn’t grasp was the fact that character was, and is, the issue, and in that respect, he had completely failed. His pride, impatience, deception, and foolishness were all seen and judged by Ha’Shem, and Samuel announced the verdict: But as it is now, your kingship will not be established (13:14a). This clearly demonstrates YHVH was testing Sha’ul’s heart. If he had remained steadfast in obeying His mitzvot, God would have established Sha’ul’s lineage on the throne of Isra’el forever. Instead, Sha’ul proved his heart was not committed to following Ha’Shem as his Sovereign, and thus, God found another man whose heart was aligned with His.²⁸³

This was a severe judgment, and we might be tempted to think that Samuel overreacted, having subjected Samuel to an unnecessarily long period of waiting, only to condemn him. But Samuel was trying to establish once-and-for-all the essential difference between Isra’el’s monarchy and all the other nations. In Isra’el, ADONAI is King, and obedience to Him must be absolute. It follows that anything short of that would lead to disqualification, being equivalent to rebellion against YHVH.²⁸⁴

ADONAI had already chosen Sha’ul’s successor, a man after His own heart, and would appoint him to be the leader over His people, because Sha’ul didn’t keep ADONAI’s command to wait seven days. Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, which at this point was safely in Jewish hands (13:14b-15a). If the people had been patient enough to wait for God’s timing, David would have been Isra’el’s first king. Nevertheless, Sha’ul’s sin at Gilgal cost him the dynasty, and his future sin involving the Amalekites would cost him his kingdom (see Ck – God Rejects Sha’ul). He eventually lost his crown and his life (see 15:16-34 and 31:1-13). ADONAI wanted a king with a heart that was aligned with His, a man with a shepherd’s heart, and He found that kind of a heart in David (see the life of David Ah – Samuel Anoints David). Sha’ul was a warrior and nothing more; he was never a shepherd. But, David had a shepherd’s heart, because ADONAI was his Shepherd (Psalm 23:1).²⁸⁵

The lessons of Sha’ul’s sin: What, exactly, was Sha’ul’s sin? As Richard Phillips describes in his commentary on 1 Samuel, the obvious answer was that he made the Burnt Offering without the authority to do so. Only a properly ordained priest could offer the burnt offering that would secure God’s favor. But given the dire national circumstances that Sha’ul was facing, it is possible that ADONAI would be more concerned with the proper ritual for the offering of His sacrifices than with Sha’ul’s need to get moving with organizing the war? The answer is “Yes.” The sacrificial offerings of the priesthood were more important than the king’s pursuit of the war. What we do in worship reveals our beliefs about who the LORD is and what He wants, so that our obedience in worship should receive priority in our lives. The sacrifices Sha’ul desecrated were holy, and they dealt with holy things, such as God’s wrath against our sin and His atoning work in Messiah for our forgiveness. In the final analysis, it was more important for YHVH to be worshiped properly than for Isra’el to survive its war.

Several aspects of Samuel’s rebuke apply to us. First, we notice that foolishness consists of violating the commands of the LORD. The proverb states: Trust in ADONAI with all your heart; and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, then He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). Sha’ul violated this very precept in making the offering himself. Given the circumstances, it seemed best to him – even necessary – to violate the command of God. But it is never right to violate the command of Ha’Shem, who is sovereign over all circumstances and saves His people who trust in Him. This applies to believers today in matters such as child-raising, dating, marriage, and the use of money and time. Whereas our society encourages independence in children, the Bible commands obedience to parents (see Deuteronomy Bp – Honor Your Parents). Whereas the world applauds sexual indulgence in dating, God requires purity and self-control. So it goes in virtually every other aspect of life. When worldly ideas conflict with the teaching of God’s Word and especially with its clear commands, they are to be resisted, because, in reality, they are foolish (see the commentary on First Corinthians An – The Foolishness of Worldly Wisdom). As Samuel said to Sha’ul, so it could be said of us when our worldly “wisdom” leads us to violate God’s Word, “You did a foolish thing. You didn’t observe the mitzvah of ADONAI, which He gave you (13:13a).

Second, we see that obedience to God is obedience to God’s Word. The reason Sha’ul was guilty of breaking God’s command is that he violated the word that Samuel had given him. Today, we receive the Word of ADONAI in the Scriptures. Some people complain that to revere the Bible is to make it an idol. But the Bible is God’s Word, and the way that we worship and obey God is by obeying the teachings of the Bible. It was because Sha’ul treated God’s Word without reverence that he was rebuked by the Lord.

Third, Samuel reminds us that if we want to do God’s work, we must do it in accordance with God’s Word. Sha’ul was not on some agenda of his own; he was serving Isra’el against its enemies. So what was the problem? The problem was that he did not serve God in accordance with God’s Word, so that he was rebuked and rejected by Ha’Shem. Believers risk the same result today when we adapt the worship of the Church and plans for Church growth to worldly models copied from the entertainment and business worlds, rather than faithfully applying the kinds of worship and ministry taught and modeled in the Bible.

Fourth, we may be tempted to think that Samuel, and therefore YHVH, was excessive in His rebuke of Sha’ul. But this example shows us that what we consider to be small matters of negligence are often considered by ADONAI to be major indicators of a heart that is not devoted to Him. God looks on the heart as stated above, and it is in the small matters of life that our heart’s true attitude is often revealed.²⁸⁶

Dear heavenly Father, praise You that You are almighty and the Sovereign Ruler of the universe! You are so much wiser, greater and more powerful than any ruler, be he king, prime minister or president. Your authority and power is far above all rulers. You are always to be obeyed. Sometimes rulers get “big heads” and pride gets in their way. But You, who are the greatest Ruler, humbled Yourself and became a man to take our sin punishment. How wonderful You are! Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself – taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself – becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

What a glorious act of humility that was rewarded with being lifted above every name and before whom all shall bow! For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord – to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). It is a joy to be able to trust and follow You always, for You are so loving and wonderful! It is a joy to do things Your way. You always know best. In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen