The Anatomy of Sin

HBI - when threatened and tempatation is pressing in on all sides we have a choice to give in and follow our own ways or to trust God and His timing.

Intro

When threatened with apperant defeat, and with enemies pressing in on all sides Saul gives into temptation and takes matters into Hios onw hands. He begins to function in a way any king would from the world around Him. He goes against the explicit instructions of God and trusts in His own ability to bring about God’s plan instead of trusting in the timing of God. He acts in sinful ways.

Elizabeth Holmes was once celebrated as the next Steve Jobs. She founded Theranos, a health tech company that promised revolutionary blood testing with just a single drop of blood. Investors poured in hundreds of millions. The media praised her. She was young, driven, and ambitious.

But behind the scenes, the technology wasn’t ready. The tests didn’t work. The science wasn’t solid. Yet instead of slowing down or being transparent, Holmes chose to push forward, ignore warnings, and stage demonstrations to keep up appearances.

Eventually, the truth came out. The company collapsed. Investors lost money. Patients received inaccurate medical results. In 2022, Holmes was convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison.

Like Saul, Holmes had enormous opportunity and influence. But when pressure mounted, she didn’t wait. She didn't follow the process. Instead, she acted on fear and urgency, and lost everything—reputation, freedom, and a legacy that could have changed lives.

So we look and we ask, what do we do when the pressure mounts, when we can not wait any longer to trust in the timing of God but rather try to outrun God? Or maybe we think by our own actions we can force God to act in the way taht we want Him to act.

Saul Fights the Philistines - vs 1-7

right from the beginning fo the passage, we have a slight problem. verse one is a tricky verse to deal with. It has beena source of contention and confusion for a long time.

1 Samuel 13:1 CSB

1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.

You might think that this is not a big deal, it makes sense. But just wait till you see how other people trnslated this.

1 Samuel 13:1 KJV 1900

Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

That is the KJV and the ESV does the same thing. I thought my amazon bought ESV bible had an error in it at first. There is one mpre translation that is a little more bold and shows the reality of what we have left from the original manuscriots for this text.

1 Samuel 13:1 RSV

Saul was … years old when he began to reign; and he reigned … and two years over Israel.

The length of the reign of Saul can only be estimated from other sources because we do not have th actual numbers that where originally listed here. It is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, Saul obviously did reign more then two years and he was more then a year old when He began to reign.

We have two other sources that mention Saul and His reign. Acts 13:21

Acts 13:21 CSB

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

And the historical records of Josephs which says the same thing. Saul’s son Jonathan comes up here as well as an aldult in charge of a legion of men which would mean that What Acts and Josephus says where likely accurate.

The exact age and length of the reign of Saul are not all that important here as His regin is going to be cut short anyways because of decisions he was going to face in the chapter.

we set the stage fo the chapter with the King and his son fighting against the Philistine armies. Their relationship was not good.

1 Samuel 13:4 CSB

And all Israel heard the news, “Saul has attacked the Philistine garrison, and Israel is now repulsive to the Philistines.” Then the troops were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

What this caused the Philistines to do was gather in massive numbers and form a great army.

This started to scare the Israelites and they ran and hid. Likelt thinking that they had no hope to fight an army of this magnitude.

1 Samuel 13:6 ESV

When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns,

So Saul and Jonathan were fighting the Philistines and become a thorn in their sid. well the Philistine army had enough and they mounted a response to the Israelites and it scared them. They ran away and hid at the might of the Philistine army.

They had God on their side, they should have remembered that. To follow the Lord god with their whole heart they should have trusted that if what they where doing lined up with what God wanted them to do then the battle already was won. But we forget that.

Did I say we? yes we do the same thing sometimes. What do we do when the pressure is on, when the temptation hits when the world attacks. When the temptation to sin hits and scripture comes to mind maybe or the desire to pray but we ignore it because the lure to sin is so much greater. But I go back to the question, what do we do when the pressure is on to run, to do things our own way, to try and force god to act the wya that we think he should. as if by some actions of ourselves we can pretend to think that we can make God do what we want Him to do. This is what Saul did.

When the pressure mounted, when everything was getting hard and he felt like he had no other option, he failed in trying to make God do what He wanted Him to do.

Disobedience under pressure reveals character.

It is important to remember all that Saul was facing an army that most people feared was against Him and his whole military just seemed to run away. But then you also have to remember that He was the king of the chosen people of God. God had done many great things for them already. They seemed to foreget though.

1 Samuel 13:8–9 ESV

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.

One thing I find interesting is that the sin saul committed was not itself in the offering of the sacrifice to God.

After all, this was done by both David and Solomon. But it always seemed to be done under the supervision of the priest.

Many people say this refers to 1 sam 10 when Samuel told saul to wait there for 7 days before offering a sacrifice. But you must remember that this command in chapter 10 was many years before this. So for Samuel to say meet me in 7 days in Gilgal but for the command to wait for 7 days was actually many years, then that doesnt make sense. when it comes to David and Solomon, there was no need for them to do it without a priest present, or at least it doesnt say they did it without one. Here saul did.

The First Book of Samuel e. Saul and Samuel (13:10-15)

As the speech of Samuel (12:20–25) shows, the king is to be under the control of God’s word, and the dual role of the prophet is to intercede and instruct the king and the people. In this regard, Saul the king is commanded to listen to the word of Samuel the prophet. Therefore, the “foolishness” of Saul might possibly be not so much in his sacrificing the burnt offering as his failure to acknowledge the prophet’s higher role as the divine messenger and to listen to the word of God. Rejecting the word of the Lord was the cause of Saul’s total rejection from his throne.

Saul saw a threat to him and his people, he took matters into His own hands and thought he could get the favor of God on His own. Samuel came before saul; could finish.

1 Samuel 13:12–13 CSB

I thought, ‘The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have been foolish. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel,

He forgot the command of God, or more then likely ignored it and conveniently forgot what God had told Him. Now saul was going to be forgotten.

1 Samuel 13:14 CSB

but now your reign will not endure. The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.”

A man after God’s own heart is what God was going to find.

God values obedience over ritual or human strategy.

what we see here is a failure to accept the structure and authority that God gave to them. the problem that we have here is saul seemingly usrping the authority of God in His life. Saul had all the advantages given to him He had the promises of God that was given to Him yet when pressed on all sides he failed and succumbed to sin. the sin being pride thinking that he had to go outside the commands of God and do what he could to help god help him with the day.

This is kind of how sin works. We have what one author clled the tyranny of the urgent. t the time the temptation, the evil whatever it is semeed so urgent, the pressure encroaching from all sides. The self doubt that everything is going to come crashing down and fail and we need something to help but we for some reason do not turn to the commands of God. Then comes the pitiful human attempt to take matters into our own hands which is essentially usurping or presuming on the the authority of God.

and unfortunatley there are places that call themselves chruches that teach exactley that. like one that teaches the power of faith and positive thinking and speaking as a way to bring the fulfillment of God or having your best life now. But this is so damaging to the life and faith of those around us who when faced with the battle of sin and temptation to think they can bring about victory on our own with our own strength, look what happened to saul when he tried.

What rather God values is obeience to Him, even when it is hard, even when it does not always make sense.

we move to the end of the chapter where the Israelites where being set up to lose by the Philistines.

1 Samuel 13:20–21 CSB

So all the Israelites went to the Philistines to sharpen their plows, mattocks, axes, and sickles. The price was two-thirds of a shekel for plows and mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for pitchforks and axes, and for putting a point on a cattle prod.

1 & 2 Samuel Philistine Strategic and Tactical Advantages (13:16–22)

THE PHILISTINES HOLD a decisive military superiority over the Israelites during this period. They substantially outnumber the troops of Saul and Jonathan.13 They can afford the luxury of sending out detachments of “raiding parties” in different directions in order to seal off Saul’s forces, preventing any Israelite reinforcements from the northern tribes.14

This personnel superiority is accompanied by a superiority in military equipment. By controlling a monopoly in metallurgical technology and technicians, the Philistines are able to limit Israel’s arsenal.15 While Philistine troops have the latest in advanced weaponry with finished metal products, Israel is restricted to weapons of wood and stone. The result is that on the day of battle, only Saul and Jonathan among the Israelites are armed with sword and spear (13:22). Presumably the Philistines know how inadequately Israel is prepared for war. It seems clear: Saul and his forces are in danger of annihilation.

So What?

1 & 2 Samuel Contemporary Significance

When threatened with apparent defeat and with his enemies pressing from every direction, he personally takes charge. He functions as a king would function in other nations in the ancient world. Against the explicit directives of God, he trusts his own ability to lead and to win the favor of God.

Consider the features of Saul’s actions that contribute to what we have called the anatomy of sin. (1) Saul allows the circumstances of his current crisis to overtake him

realizes that “all the troops with him were quaking with fear” (13:7b), and it appears as if all is lost (13:11). But God’s promise included victory over the Philistines. Indeed, Saul has been anointed as the prince who will deliver Israel from the power of this long-standing enemy (9:16). It is for just such a time as this that Saul has been made king. The circumstances of the moment swallow Saul and his vision of what God has in store for him.

(2) Saul commits himself to partial obedience

Spiritual leadership must wait on God’s timing.

Finally—and with this we arrive at the heart of the matter—when Samuel confronts Saul with this infraction, he fails to accept responsibility. He continues the kind of recrimination we have come to expect (and use ourselves!) since the Garden of Eden. He begins by trying to place partial blame on his troops and on Samuel himself

God removes leaders who don’t trust and obey Him.

His punishment as announced by the prophet Samuel may seem harsh and unfair. But Samuel recognizes something in Saul that will recur in the subsequent narratives. Saul is content to depend on his own resources rather than lean on God’s Word. This text is about learning to trust God when you see your own resources slipping away. But it is also about learning to trust God even when you think your resources are sufficient, when you think you can handle it alone. That is perhaps when we need to look to him more completely.

Wesley addressed the apparent inequity of the punishment with the question: But was it not hard to punish so little a sin so severely? In his answer, he states that disobedience to an express command, though in a small matter, is actually a great provocation. “And indeed, there is no little sin, because there is no little God to sin against. In general, what to [humans] seems a small offense, to him who knows the heart may appear a heinous crime.

so when the circumstances seem like they are going out of our control what are we going to do? Do we trust in God or do we try to make God do what we want him to do. I am not talking about stepping out in faith but rather stepping forward and thinking by some might of our own deed we can bring about the intended desire of our own hearts.

when threatened and tempatation is pressing in on all sides we have a choice to give in and follow our own ways or to trust God and His timing.