Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
What is obedience?
Saul had been instructed to completely annihilate the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:3). Unlike the instruction given to Israel regarding Jericho under Joshua, which was to reserve specified items (gold, silver and bronze) for the Lord's use and destroy the rest, Saul was told to completely destroy the Amalekites. put every living thing (including the livestock) to death. Saul, however, didn't exactly follow the instructions, which resulted in the following exchange:
[Samuel speaking] "Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"
"But I did obey the LORD, " Saul said, "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to devote them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
But Samuel replied, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." -- 1 Samuel 15:19 - 22
Self deception is the most insidious thing. It perverts honesty, blinds eyes, and breaks faith. Because self deception is what convinces someone that the end justifies the means.
Saul declared that he HAD obeyed God...and then promptly confessed to disobeying him. And didn't even see it. God said 'Destroy it all at once'; Saul said, 'I will design my own plan to destroy it over time." That is, of course, assuming he told Samuel the truth, that they brought back the choicest of the livestock for a sacrifice at Gilgal. Saul thought that was good enough....but it wasn't what he was told to do. Which means it was not obedience.
As far as Agag goes, there's no explanation at all as to why he was taken captive instead of killed as instructed. The Amalekites had attacked Israel without provocation during the Exodus (Ex. 17:8); Joshua had defeated them in the day when the sun stood still, but God had pronounced judgment on them (Ex. 17:14)...that they would be blotted out. Now was the time for that judgment to fall, and Saul was to be the executioner. But he held back and did not do as he was instructed.
And then had the audacity to declare that his task was done and he had obeyed, when the evidence to the contrary was right in front of everyone. He said he 'destroyed the Amalekites completely', when he had, in fact, kept their king alive, along with the best animals of their flocks and herds.
Saul wanted to define his obedience himself...which earned him a stinging rebuke from Samuel and cost his family the royal dynasty that went to David.
Did Saul really not know the difference? Or did he rationalize his choices to himself? Or...was his story an outright lie: the animals WEREN'T kept out for sacrifice but had been doled out among the men as plunder, with the sacrifice story being a made-up explanation to get off the hook?
As if God doesn't know the true motives behind everything we say and do...
To obey is better than sacrifice. Why do we find it so hard to just do what He says?
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