The Dangers of Interpretation
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Have you ever considered the version of the Bible you read? There are several english translations, but it seems people tend to forget that each and every one of them is an interpretation of the original language.
Since the beginning of the human race, mankind has been adding their own interpretation to what God has said. Often with disastrous consequences.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Is that what God had said?
Not exactly.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God never told Adam not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, only not to eat its fruit.
That may seem like a subtle difference, but it is an important one.
Because once you start making small changes, it doesn’t take long until you’ve rewritten the whole book.
Saul
Saul
Take for example, King Saul.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
Wouldn’t it be nice if God told you plainly what He wanted in every situation you found yourself?
God gave specific instructions to Saul,
Attack Amalek,
Utterly destroy all that they have.
Kill everyone, and all of their livestock.
Sure, it sounds pretty gruesome to modern ears, but it is specific.
So what do you think Saul did?
And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Saul started out pretty well,
He gathered the people together and laid in wait to attach Amalek,
But then things changed.
We begin to see problems when Saul takes Agag alive.
That wasn’t what God had told him to do.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Not only did Saul spare the king, but the people were unwilling to destroy the spoils.
Look at that word “unwilling”.
The people took a look at the spoils and made a conscience decision.
They were unwilling to destroy the good stuff, only the worthless.
How many people do you know are only willing to donate the “leftovers”?
One church we were at had a Thrift Store,
And the majority of the things donated were junk.
Think about how we interpret Scripture today.
Do we hold on to what is good and ignore those parts that are harder to deal with?
The more gruesome bits?
The more uncomfortable parts?
Do we make excuses for those words in Scripture that don’t fit with the modern mindset?
Wives submit to your husbands? Children submit to your parents?
Submit to those who govern?
Tithing?
Look at how God reacted to Saul’s “interpretation” if His instructions.
Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.
God regrets that He made Saul king,
Put another way, God repents from having made Saul king,
He turned His back on Saul.
Samuel isn’t too happy about this either,
So he goes to see Saul.
Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
Notice, Saul doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong.
“I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
But did he?
From a certain, relativistic point of view maybe.
But not according to what God actually told him to do.
So how does Samuel respond?
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
Samuel points Saul to his mistake.
If you performed what God had commanded, then why do I hear sheep and oxen?
And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
Yeah, we spared the best of the sheep and the oxen,
But only to sacrifice to the Lord.
We destroyed everything else.
Isn’t that what God wanted?
Doesn’t He like that we saved the best to offer to Him?
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
God is much more interested in us knowing and following Him than any sacrifice we may offer.
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”
If Saul didn’t realize that he was in trouble before, he probably does now.
How often has God pulled you up short to point out a mistake you have made?
You think you’ve been following God’s will, only to find a verse or a word from a friend that points out your folly.
Here is the prophet of God telling Saul to shut up.
How would you feel if God’s messenger told you to be quiet?
That they would tell you what God had shown them.
So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
When we first encounter God, we are all small in our own eyes.
Who am I that God cares about me.
Yet He has plans for you.
Great plans, even if it is not to be king of Israel.
Often, when God gives us a command, we fight against it,
Either because we do not understand it, or because we haven’t fully submitted to God.
God told Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all of their livestock,
Instead, Saul and the people swooped down on the spoils.
When I read this verse I wonder, was the offering of the spoils to God their original plan?
Or like a child caught with their hand in the cookie-jar, is Saul trying to cover up his mistake.
But at this point, Saul thinks he has obeyed God.
Sort of.
1 Samuel 15:20–21 (NKJV)
And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
“But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord,”
These words ring in my ears like those of a petulant child.
Saul went on the mission,
But he brought back Agag.
Forgetting that God had told him to kill every man and woman, infant and nursing child.
I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Agag was a man, and therefore should have been killed.
It seems Saul has “interpreted” God’s clear command to kill everyone to not include king Agag.
Just like we make exceptions and excuses for why we do not follow God’s explicit instructions in His Word.
But notice the change in Saul’s approach,
Now It wasn’t Saul who took of the plunder, but the people.
It was the people’s idea to save the goodies to sacrifice to the Lord.
Wait, Saul, didn’t God make YOU king?
Didn’t God give YOU the authority to rule over the people?
Just like we tell God it’s not our fault that we sinned,
Someone else made me do it.
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
It’s not my fault God, this woman you gave me handed me the fruit.
It’s not my fault, the serpent deceived me.
But the people took of the plunder...
So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Why do we keep thinking God wants what we think He wants?
Was Saul thinking, “Hey, this would be great stuff to sacrifice to God.”?
But that is not what God had told him to do.
Sacrifices are nice, but what the Lord really wants is obedience.
You may say to God, “I gave offerings to the church, I gave of my time, I made sacrifices in my life.”
But what God really wants is for you to be obedient to His Word,
Whether it’s hard to not, whether it makes sense or not.
Because rebelling against God is as sinful as witchcraft.
And being stubborn is like idolatry.
How many of us have practiced idolatry via our stubbornness?
Do you think Saul learned his lesson?
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
I’m sorry Samuel. Please forgive me.
But is Saul sorry because He disobeyed the Lord, or because of something else?
Saul was more afraid of the people than of God’s command.
Saul had a choice, and he chose poorly.
But look at Saul’s reaction.
Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.”
It seems that Saul is still more afraid of the people than he is of God.
He tells Samuel that he has sinned, but he still wants to be honored in front of the people.
How many Christians are more concerned with what people think about them than what God thinks of them?
How many are more interested in being honored before the people than before their Lord?
Conclusion
Conclusion
It is easy to get wrapped up in our own ambitions and preferences,
To read into God’s Word what we want to see.
But as Saul learned, that is a very dangerous thing to do.
Although it may be hard, God wants your obedience more than your sacrifice.
He wants you to do things His way, even if you think your way is better.
While the cost of your disobedience may not be as severe as Sauls,
The consequences are just as costly.