Lesson 7: Obedience 81
Genesis 6:6–7). God’s “grieving” or regret ref lects the importance of
people to God and his desire to be in relationship with us. Our God is
not the “Unmoved Mover” theorized by the Greek philosopher Aristotle;
rather, God is deeply invested in us and grieved by our disobedience.
Samuel likewise was deeply upset and took no pleasure in having to be
the bearer of bad news to Saul.
Confrontation Between Samuel and Saul (15:12–28)
15:12. Samuel rose early in the morning after a sleepless night. He went
to meet Saul, only to discover that Saul had called for a victory celebra-
tion at Gilgal, the place where he was first publicly recognized as king.
Saul revealed his selfish interest by setting up a monument to himself
at Carmel, a small town in southern Judah about seven miles south of
Hebron.
15:13 –21. Samuel’s conversation with Saul (1 Sam. 15:13–21) was similar
to his previous conversation with Eli (1 Sam. 3:11–18). In each case, the
message from God was the removal of a leader and his family due to
their disobedience. The difference was that Eli accepted his judgment
willingly while Saul made excuses and blamed others in an attempt to
cover up his disobedience. Saul may have rationalized his actions to
the point that he believed he had “carried out the Lord’s instructions”
(15:13).
When confronted about the livestock that had been taken (15:14),
Saul had a two-fold excuse prepared to explain his disobedience: 1) the
soldiers were the ones who took the livestock, and 2) they had spared the
best of the livestock to offer as a sacrifice to God (15:15). When “Saul and
the army” originally took the Amalekite valuables (15:9), offering a sacri-
fice to God was not mentioned as their motivation. Rather, they seemed
to be motivated by the desire for personal gain, similar to Achan’s moti-
vation when he took some of the spoils from Jericho (Joshua 7:21).
Samuel responded by clarifying precisely how Saul had not followed
the Lord’s instructions (1 Sam. 15:16–19). In response, Saul pleaded
his case once again by repeating his rationale (15:20–21). Perhaps Saul
thought it was such a clever excuse that he could not believe Samuel
would not accept it. Maybe Saul thought that Samuel had not fully heard
his explanation and needed to hear it again.