To Obey is Better than Worship

I. The Mission

What Amalek did Exod 17:8-16; Deut 25:17-19.

The Amalekites were descendants of Esau (Gen 36:15-16), and were a seminomadic people that lived in the Negev, the nearly uninhabitable desert to the south of Israel. v.5 mentions the “city” of Amalek. It was likely a fortified tent encampment - it would have had a simple canvas wall or something like that, so it qualified as a city to the Israelites. The King of Amalek would have been their chieftain. They would have lived in tents and been constantly on the move to find pasture for their sheep, since the desert region didn’t allow for traditional farming. In the period of the Judges they apparently settled in Ephraim, which would have been quite near Saul’s home (Judges 12:15 ).

Judges 12:15 NKJV

Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountains of the Amalekites.

“utterly destroy” - חַרֶם - put under the ban. This is a special word that means that the thing is to be devoted to God completely and irrevocably so that it is destroyed, with the exception of indestructible things - metal objects couldn’t be burned, so they were to be given to the temple. Leviticus 27:28-29 When God put Jericho under the ban, that meant that no one could take the spoils of war from the city, and that every person in it must be destroyed. This was the most severe punishment that could be administered. Even most Canaanite cities weren’t destroyed that completely.

Leviticus 27:28–29 NKJV

‘Nevertheless no devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.

To violate Herem meant putting yourself under the ban in place of what should have been destroyed. So serious is the violation of Herem that one man taking a little bit of spoil from Jericho caused the defeat of the entire army. Saul definitely would know this. Indeed, he later put a priestly city, Nob, under the ban to satisfy his personal vendetta against David (1 Sam 22).

II. The Failure

See map. Saul assembled the people in the far south of Israel, a vast host almost as big as the one in chapter eleven (210,000 vs 330,000). Where-ever the compound was, there was a wadi [dried up river bed] nearby where Israel waited.

Saul remembers the Kenites and is careful to allow them to leave because they showed kindness. The Kenites were also a nomadic people that inhabited the Negev. Judges 1:16 The Midianites and the Kenites were close enough that individuals are sometimes labeled as the other people group. Apparently Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, was also called Hobab, and he functioned as a guide to Israel Num 10:29-31. This was the right thing to do, but it also gave a chance for quite a few Amalekites to “suddenly discover” that they actually had more Kenite ancestry than Amalekite. That is the fundamental reason why the Amalekites were later found destroying Ziklag, David’s hideout, and David had to go destroy them to get his stuff back.

No, the real failure was not in destroyed the Amalekites - he did that. It was in sparing all the best animals and of King Agag. Saul didn’t spare any of this out of a reluctance to kill. If the animal was worthless, they killed it. The King was spared as a trophy of his victory. Saul doubtless got pressure from the army to take the spoils of war. Because this war was being taken under Harem, the army didn’t get paid. Israelite armies didn’t get a salary. They were just every available man who could fight. Their salary was the spoils of war, but under Harem they weren’t supposed to have any. To enforce the bad would have been quite unpopular. That’s why Saul did what he did. As for the trophy, that was purely Saul’s ego. He wanted Agag to exalt himself by showing people, “look at me, here is the king I defeated, now under my power.”

III. The Trial

The Lord Regretted making Saul King. Now the idea here isn’t that God is surprised and wished he had done something different. Rather, the idea is that God is sad that Saul has chosen to disobey, and it grieves him to have to administer justice. The word is נַחָם, and it occurs also in Genesis 6:6 about the Flood.

Anyone in authority knows what this is like. You have to make a hard decision - “junior, go clean your room.” [but he always complains when I say that, and I said last time that there would be consequences if he did it again.] Junior complains again, and you impose the consequences you said. You knew this would happen, but it’s the right thing to do, so you did it anyway. But you’re not happy. You wanted Junior to clean his room without complaining, but cleaning his room after punishment will have to do instead. Oh well.

Samuel is devastated by the news. He is angry, not at God but at what happened for he knows exactly what is coming. He is so disturbed that he doesn’t sleep all night. This is a really big deal.

Saul set up a monument in Carmel. This is the town in Judah, not Mount Carmel where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal. More Ego building.

Saul characteristically shifts the blame. He claims to have performed the command of the Lord, when he knows full well he didn’t. He fully owns all the successes “I performed; we devoted to destrection” but “ they people spared”

“What’s this bleating of animals I hear??”

“although you were little” seems to be that the point was that despite how unimportant you thought you were, God made you king anyway. God made you king, so you owe your job to him. You’d better do what he says. Saul did say he wasn’t important (1 Samuel 9:21 )

Saul “Pounced on the spoil” when he knew that wasn’t allowed. That was going contrary to the direct command of God for that specific mission. Knowing God’s will couldn’t have possibly been any clearer.

Saul again shifts blame, taking credit for where the mission followed God, but claiming that the people took the animals “for sacrifice” (yeah right. Translation - call it a peace offering so that I can get the priest to do the hard work of slaughtering the animal for me.)

IV. The Sentence

Saul was very careful to follow the ritualistic provisions of the law - except when it wasn’t convenient. He thought that it wasn’t a big deal to disobey such a severe command of God, because for him, what the people thought was much more important.

Saul did partially obey. But partial obedience is also partial disobedience, and disobedience has consequences. Its not that the sacrifices aren’t important. Its just that the sacrifices don’t matter if the heart isn’t right.

We don’t really have a parallel to the sacrificial system in the church. But we do have certain things we must do. For example, God wants us to go to church. But if you are living in known disobedience to God, going to church won’t fix your relationship with God. Obedience is the prerequisite to worship.

Saul already lost his dynasty in the last chapter. But now he loses his legitimacy as Israel’s King. He continues as king for many years, but if he were following God, he would have abdicated here. The kingdom suffers and Saul slips into insanity because he refused to do so.

Saul is so concerned about appearances that he finally says the words he should have said earlier. But it’s too late. Saul hasn’t really repented. He’s just trying to save face, which we see because he asks “honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.” Saul knows he can’t really remain without Samuel’s blessing. He does get Samuel to return to worship, but the sentence cannot be reversed.

The classic verse on the immutability of God occurs right here. God doesn’t have regret (29) yet he did regret making Saul king (11, 35). God doesn’t ever go back on his word or change his mind on what he did earlier. He does feel sorrow when we sin even when he must punish it.

V. The Aftermath

Samuel finishes the job Saul wouldn’t do.

Samuel grieved over Saul, showing just how deeply he cared for the man. But for the old prophet to go visit him would legitimize his reign, when God declared it illegitimate.

No one is happy with Saul’s sin - Saul, because of the punishment; Samuel, because of what he had to say and because he cared about Saul; and God himself, because he cared about Saul, too. Sin doesn’t benefit anyone, though we think it will benefit us at the time.