Year One, August 14

To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice1

1 Samuel 13:1-14

1Saul reigned one year (No one found fault with Saul during his first year as king. However, he was like the short winded runner who starts well, but cannot finish the race.) and when he had reigned two years over Israel,2 2Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. 3Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. (After the Philistines had defeated Israel, they placed soldiers in the region’s forts to keep the people under their control. Saul’s son, Jonathan, began Israel’s march to victory by destroying one of these groups of soldiers.) And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” (This was the normal Hebrew call to war. The blast of the trumpet was followed by fires lit from hill to hill and the country immediately banded together to fight against the Philistines.)

4And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

5And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. (The Philistines were determined to put down Israel’s revolt as quickly as possible. They called on other nations to join them against Israel. The huge army terrified Israel and many people deserted Saul. Even his regular army of 3,000 was reduced to 700 men.) 6When 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, 7and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. (Those who did stay with Saul were losing hope. They did not think there was much chance they could succeed against the huge army the Philistines had brought together.)

8He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 9So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. (King Saul had no right to do this. Only the priests were permitted to make the burnt offering. Saul was supposed to be a king who was under the authority of the Lord. He should have waited for instructions from the Lord through Samuel. Instead, in his self-will, he acted as though God’s rules did not apply to him. His impatience cost him his kingdom.)

10As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

He was a hypocrite.3 He tried to cover his rebellious act by pretending to be very eager to keep the outward form of religion.

13And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

At first sight Saul’s wrongdoing appears small, but no sin is little, because there is no little God to sin against. He had rejected Jehovah’s supremacy, and therefore the Lord would no longer allow his family to rule over Israel.

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¹ 1 Samuel 15:22

² We have used verse one from the New King James Version. According to some, the number ”one” is missing in the Hebrew and many translators believe another number (perhaps thirty or forty) precedes the number “two”. Matthew Henry understands the text to read, “Saul was the son of one year,” which he understood to mean, “Saul reigned one year.”

³ hypocrite - a pretender, deceiver, phony, fraud, fake. It is from a Latin word which means “a stage actor.”