The concise depiction of Saul’s reign ends with the last verse of chapter 14 (1 Sam. 14:5252And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him. (1 Samuel 14:52)). The chapter we shall now speak of gives a sort of separate history because of its contents’ importance. Here we find the reason for Saul’s final rejection, a rejection making necessary the introduction of David—the king according to God.
We have seen that Saul represents the flesh professing to serve God, and, as such, engaged in His work. In order to prove its incapacity in these conditions, God has been putting it to the test in many ways ever since 1 Samuel 9. One final trial remains. What will the flesh, which pretends to act for God, do in the conflict with Amalek?
It was written: “Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; how he met thee on the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all the feeble that lagged behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God. And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; thou shalt not forget it” (Deut. 25:17-1917Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; 18How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. 19Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it. (Deuteronomy 25:17‑19)).
Now God had seen to it, in spite of all Saul’s faults, that Israel had “rest... round about.” The hour had struck for Amalek, that cruel and cowardly enemy who had massacred those of Israel who straggled behind. The Lord had sworn that there would be war between Himself and Amalek from generation to generation (Ex. 17:1616For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exodus 17:16)). Therefore whoever had God’s glory and that of His people Israel at heart must, when the time was come, completely destroy and not spare Amalek who had lain in wait for the people of Israel when they had come up from Egypt (1 Sam. 15:2-32Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. (1 Samuel 15:2‑3)). “His latter end,” according to the prophecy Balaam had been forced to utter, “shall be for destruction” (Num. 24:2020And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever. (Numbers 24:20)). Doubtless God had been able to use him as a rod to chasten His disobedient people (Num. 14:39-4539And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. 40And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. 41And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. 42Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. 44But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. (Numbers 14:39‑45)), but for all that, he remained the pre-eminent enemy, a type of Satan who from the beginning of the wilderness journey seeks to oppose the people of God. There is no truce in the Christian’s conflict against him: the Christian is called upon to stand fast against the wiles of the devil and to fight against the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:11-1211Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:11‑12)). In this conflict Israel had once been the victor, after they had drunk the water from the rock—that is, after in figure they had tasted the presence of the Holy Spirit following the death of Christ. Led by Joshua, who represents Christ in the power of the Spirit, they had then been called upon to face this great enemy. Would the flesh be able to fill this role now, or would it prove that it was incapable of so doing?
At the beginning, in appearance, the flesh displays its capacity to do so. At God’s command Saul rises up, places himself at the head of the people, separates the Kenites who had shown themselves to be friends of God’s people (Judg. 4:1111Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. (Judges 4:11)), and smites Amalek and all his people. Only he does not thoroughly execute God’s command. This the flesh will never do. The flesh cannot remain inactive to the end when God bids it do so: we have the witness of this fact in the seven days at Gilgal (1 Sam. 13:88And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. (1 Samuel 13:8)); nor can it be active to the end, as our chapter’s account witnesses. To fail to execute His commandment thoroughly for the Lord, is to fail to execute it at all. God declares: “It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned away from following Me, and hath not fulfilled My words” (1 Sam. 15:1111It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. (1 Samuel 15:11)).
What deep sorrow for Samuel! Though knowing this man to be rejected, he intercedes for him all night long. Samuel, as we have often noticed, is always praying and interceding — for the disobedient, for the wicked, and for everyone. He mourns, he prays, but he obeys; this is peculiar to faith — the most absolute contrast with Saul’s behavior. It says: Samuel “cried to Jehovah all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning.” The latter had in the meantime set up a monument, attributing his victory to himself, for the flesh, even when engaged in the work of God, cannot do this work for Him.
As Samuel comes to meet him, Saul says: “Blessed art thou of Jehovah: I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah.” How prompt he is to vaunt himself! In 1 Samuel 15:2020And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. (1 Samuel 15:20) we shall see him excusing himself, and in 1 Samuel 15:2424And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. (1 Samuel 15:24), accusing himself with the same quickness. This quickness is stamped on everything. But God is not to be bought off by words: “What means then,” says Samuel, “this bleating of sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of oxen which I hear?” (1 Sam. 15:1414And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? (1 Samuel 15:14)). Saul, who had just said, “1 have fulfilled the word of Jehovah,” now acquits himself of the fault and transfers it to the people although he and the people (1 Sam. 15:99But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. (1 Samuel 15:9)) had acted in accord. “They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed” (1 Sam. 15:1515And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. (1 Samuel 15:15)). In these few words we see Saul vaunting himself, accusing his accomplices, and coloring his disobedience with the name of service to the Lord. What blindness! Samuel will convict him of this; but first he reminds Saul that at the beginning he had been modest, little in his own eyes; that was his natural character, and God had blessed it. Why had he now rebelled against Jehovah’s commandment? Saul answers: “I have indeed hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and [I] have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and [I] have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and [I] have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God in Gilgal” (1 Sam. 15:20-2120And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. (1 Samuel 15:20‑21).)
For Saul, sacrifice is better than obedience; but, “Has Jehovah delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in hearkening to the voice of Jehovah? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, attention than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and selfwill is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:22-2322And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:22‑23)). Sacrifice without obedience — solemn truth — is no better than idol worship. The first attribute of faith is obedience. Paul had received his apostleship “for obedience of faith among all the nations” (Rom. 1:55By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: (Romans 1:5)). Moreover, there are many things that God prefers to sacrifice. “I delight in loving-kindness,” He says, “and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:66For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)). “Go and learn,” the Lord said to the Pharisees, “what that is — I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” (Matt. 9:1313But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13).)
Obedience is what characterizes all the men of faith, from Abraham onward, the father of the faithful, who “obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
How does Saul receive this sentence? He confesses his sin, but without humiliation, without contrition, still hoping to he able to avoid the consequences. “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of Jehovah, and thy words, for I feared the people, and hearkened to their voice.” Always some excuse, but an astonishing quickness to confess the evil he had denied a few moments earlier. In all this there is no exercise of conscience. Saul prefers to plead his cowardice before the people as a mitigating circumstance than to take full responsibility for the sin. What a contrast to the exclamation: “I have sinned against Jehovah” out of David’s mouth after his fall! Saul hopes thus to obtain pardon and be restored. It is too late; the sentence is conclusive, for God is God, and “the Hope of Israel will not lie nor repent.” “I have sinned,” says the poor king a second time; “honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel” (1 Sam. 15:3030Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. (1 Samuel 15:30)). To the end he has himself and his own reputation in view. Samuel does, in fact, honor him, but then leaves him. As long as God has not executed His sentence on the powers established by Himself, we are to acknowledge them.
“Saul worshipped Jehovah” without benefit to God or to himself. From now on God’s sentence against Amalek is confided to Samuel’s hands; it is he who hews Agag in pieces at Gilgal. Then he goes to Ramah, his father’s house, but for him it is the place of weeping and mourning. Saul goes to his own house and from this point onward there is a complete separation between him and the prophet.