obedience is better than sacrifice

Good evening/morning brothers and sisters,
We read yesterday how Saul and the Israelite army did not totally destroy the Amalekites, but took the best animals. When confronted with this, Saul claims the intention all along was to sacrifice them to God. It's hard to say if he's being honest here. In any case, Samuel claims that sacrifice isn't the most important thing to God; obedience is. In a similar way, all the worship in the world is not as important as following God's calling in our lives. We need to walk the walk and talk the talk.

Blessings,
Sam

1 Samuel 15:13-23

¹³When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.” ¹⁴But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?” ¹⁵Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” He replied, “Speak.” ¹⁷Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

²⁰Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. ²³For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

destruction

Good morning sisters and brothers,
We read one story yesterday about Saul's fall from grace. Today we get a second story. This whole idea of total destruction of an enemy by God's command is extremely troubling. The idea is that in certain settings every person, animal and piece of property had to be destroyed. It was said to be "devoted to the Lord" and the way it was devoted was through destruction. Ideas like this in the Bible are dangerous and hard to deal with constructively. For me it helps to remember that these passages were written much later than the events they describe, in a time when Israel was in danger because they were seduced by the gods and ways of life of their neighbors. Passages like this emphasize the call to be different from the world around them. There is not any archeological evidence that suggests that Israel ever actually destroyed enemies like this, so it's likely that the idea came later, in response to new threats.



Apart from the disturbing command, the thing to take away from the story is that Saul and his soldiers didn't obey God's command; instead, they kept the valuable things that their enemies had. Selfishness took the people away from following what God had commanded.

blessings as you follow God today,
Sam

1 Samuel 15:1-11

Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. ²Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. ³Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

⁴So Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand soldiers of Judah. ⁵Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley. ⁶Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites. ⁷Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

⁸He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was valuable, and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed. ¹⁰The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.” Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the Lord all night.