King Saul’s Disobedience & Demise

1 Samuel 15

The Bible Teaching Commentary
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C) The Test: Differing Opinions

1 Samuel 15:10-15

Paul J. Bucknell

Introductory | The Crisis (1 Samuel 15:1-3) | The Response (1 Samuel 15:4-9)
The Test (1 Samuel 15:10-15) | The Excuse (1 Samuel 15:16-23)
The Confession (1 Samuel 15:24-31) | The Future (1 Samuel 15:32-35)

Bible Study Questions | mp3 Podcast
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Purpose

1 Samuel 15:10-15 The Test: Differing Opinions is part 4/7 of The Bible Teacher's Commentary on 1 Samuel 15 which reveals God's view of what King Saul did in contrast to Saul's own perspective.

“Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands. And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night. 12 And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.

13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” 15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed” (1 Samuel 15:10-16).

In verse 10-15 we see a clear contrast of what Saul thought about himself and the battle and what God thought of the victory.

Before Samuel confronted Saul, the Lord had an information meeting with Samuel. What Samuel heard from God devastated him. The Hebrew word translated ‘distressed’ here more often is translated angry or kindled. He evidently was very displeased and angry with Saul’s willingness to disobey the Lord and not fully carry out His commands. Saul thought he was king rather than treating God as king.

Saul, however, saw the situation as a wonderful victory in which he obeyed the Lord. Note his words, “I have carried out the command of the LORD!” (1 Samuel 15:13). Before continuing to Gilgal where Samuel was, he set up a monument to himself. We can see from this that Saul really thought much about the victory. From the outward it was a stunning victory. Everyone was extremely happy. Saul was delighted with the victory and himself and so built the monument. This view of himself greatly differed with God’s view of Saul.

We wonder how can God's view be so different than Saul's. We then wonder does God think this way of us? How can we prevent such delusion?

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Observations of Saul’s wrong assumptions

• He believed that a good heart (bring sacrifice) would minimize any real disobedience.

• He believed partial obedience could be interpreted as obedience.

• He believed God was happy over His victory and that the other issues were of no import.

Continue -> The Excuse: Shifts blame (1 Samuel 15:16-23)

Biblical Foundations for Freedom

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell

info@foundationsforfreedom.net

Scriptures quoted from the New American Standard Bible unless noted
(C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1988