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Scripture Reading: 1 Sam. 15
First Samuel 15 is a record of Saul's disobedience in his conquest of the Amalekites. He conquered the enemy, yet he was altogether disobedient to God. Here Saul was absolutely, thoroughly exposed, and then he was given up by God and also by Samuel. This chapter contains an important lesson for us today.
In typology the Amalekites signify the flesh — the fallen man (Exo. 17:8-16; Gen. 6:3a; Rom. 3:20a). The divine revelation in the Bible shows us that God did not create the flesh. God created a man. However, man became fallen and eventually became flesh. Genesis 6:3 indicates that because man had become flesh, God could not do anything with him. Romans 3:20a says, "Out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him." Here "no flesh" means no fleshly man. All men have become flesh. We, the believers in Christ, have been saved, but most of us are still living in the flesh.
In the entire universe, God's real enemy is not Satan but us. As long as we remain in the status of the flesh, we are an enemy to God (Rom. 8:7). Our flesh is altogether one with Satan. Without the flesh, Satan would have no way to fight against God. In the church life all the troubles come from the flesh. The hardest thing for God to deal with is the flesh.
In our daily life we may be either in the spirit or in the flesh. When we exercise our spirit, the vision is clear. But if we remain in the flesh, the vision will become dim. When we are in our spirit, we may regard the church, the elders, and the recovery as wonderful. However, when we are in the flesh, we may be critical of certain elders, or our flesh may be so bothered that we may even consider leaving the recovery. Whenever we realize that we are in the flesh, the enemy of God and the source of troubles in the church life, we need to pray and ask the Lord to forgive us.
In 1 Samuel 15:2 Jehovah said, "I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they set themselves against them in the way as they came up out of Egypt." In the war with Amalek described in Exodus 17:8-16, Moses stood on the top of a hill with the rod of God in his hand, and Joshua went out with chosen men to fight against, and to defeat, Amalek. While Joshua was fighting, Moses was praying. After Joshua defeated Amalek, God declared that He would "have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (v. 16). This shows how seriously God regarded the frustration caused by the Amalekites. At the time of 1 Samuel 15:2, He declared that He would punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel.
After Saul was anointed to be the leader of God's people, he defeated the Ammonites and the Philistines. Eventually, the Amalekites rose up to frustrate the establishing of God's kingdom, and Saul was charged to destroy them. In verse 3 Jehovah said to him, "Go now and strike the Amalekites; and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey." In charging Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites, which typify the flesh as God's unique enemy, God wisely put Saul on the spot in order to test him.
Verses 4 through 9 describe Saul's attacking of the Amalekites. Saul summoned the people and mustered them, 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah (v. 4). Saul then came to the city of the Amalekites and set an ambush in the river valley (v. 5). Before striking the Amalekites, Saul sent the Kenites away from the destruction of the Amalekites, for they showed kindness to the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt (v. 6). Then Saul struck the Amalekites and captured Agag their king (vv. 7-8a). Saul utterly destroyed all their people, but he "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 everything that was despised and worthless, this they utterly destroyed" (vv. 8b-9). For Saul, this was an opportunity to make himself rich. He was trying to build up his own monarchy within God's kingdom.
Verses 10 through 31 are concerned with the matter of Saul's disobedience.
Jehovah told Samuel that He repented of appointing Saul as king, for he did not fulfill His words. Samuel became angry and cried to Jehovah all night long (vv. 10-11).
In verses 12 through 31 we see Samuel's dealing with Saul.
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. It was told Samuel that Saul had gone to Carmel and had set up a monument for himself (v. 12). Saul built this monument not for the kingdom of God but for the remembrance of himself because of the victory that made both him and his monarchy rich. This was a strong indication that Saul's intention was to build up his monarchy.
Verses 13 through 23 are a record of the conversation between Samuel and Saul after Samuel came to Saul. When Saul declared that he had fulfilled the word of Jehovah, Samuel asked, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear?" (vv. 13-14). Saul explained that they had been brought from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Jehovah and destroyed the rest. Samuel then told Saul to stop and he would tell him what Jehovah had spoken to him the night before. Then he went on to say, "Though you are small in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? And Jehovah has anointed you as king over Israel. And Jehovah sent you on a journey 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 Jehovah, but flew upon the spoil and did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah?" (vv. 17-19). Saul responded by claiming that he did obey the voice of Jehovah, but that the people took sheep and oxen of the spoil to sacrifice to Jehovah (vv. 20-21).
In verses 22 and 23 Samuel continued by speaking a very strong word to Saul: "Does Jehovah delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices/As much as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? /Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,/And to heed, than the fat of rams./For rebellion is like the sin of divination,/And insubordination is like idolatry and teraphim." Here Samuel seemed to be saying, "Saul, you say that you spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Jehovah, my God. But God prefers that you obey His word. He told you to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all that they have. Instead of obeying this word, you kept some of the sheep and oxen for yourself. This morning you raised up a monument for yourself. You did not raise up anything for God. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed, to take care of, God's speaking is better than the fat of rams. Saul, you have rebelled against God, and rebellion is like the sin of divination, like the sin of witchcraft. What you did was just as evil as contacting an evil spirit for the purpose of carrying out the intention of that spirit, not God's intention. You did not subordinate yourself to God as your Head but acted presumptuously, according to your ways and by your will. Now your kingship is over. Because you have rejected the word of Jehovah, He has rejected you from being king." Saul was thus exposed as being a rebel against God and an enemy of God.
Saul confessed his sin to Samuel with the excuse that he had transgressed the commandment of Jehovah and Samuel's words because he "feared the people and obeyed their voice" (v. 24).
Saul begged Samuel to pardon his sin and return with him, but Samuel refused to do so because of Saul's rejection of Jehovah's word and Jehovah's rejection of Saul's kingship (vv. 25-26).
When Samuel turned around to go, Saul seized the corner of his cloak, and it tore. Then Samuel told him that Jehovah had torn the kingdom of Israel away from him that day and had given it to an associate of his, who was better than he. This associate was David. Samuel went on to say, "Moreover the Eminence of Israel does not lie nor repent, for He is not a man that He should repent" (vv. 27-29).
Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. Honor me now, I beg you, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me so that I may worship Jehovah your God" (v. 30). Then Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshipped Jehovah (v. 31).
Samuel asked that Agag the king of the Amalekites be brought near to him. Agag came to him cheerfully, saying, "Surely the bitterness of death has turned" (v. 32). Samuel said to Agag, "Just as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women," and then he hewed Agag to pieces before Jehovah (v. 33).
Chapter fifteen concludes with Samuel's departure from Saul (vv. 34-35). Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah. Samuel never again saw Saul unto the day of his death, though Samuel mourned for Saul, because Jehovah repented that He had made Saul king over Israel.
We should be warned by this account of Saul's disobedience not to do anything in the kingdom of God by our flesh. We need to fear God and remember that we are flesh. But the Son of God has crucified the flesh and He has come into us to regenerate our spirit. Now He is living in our spirit, moving, acting, and taking the lead to guide us into the line of life for the building up of His organism, the Body of Christ. This is the kingdom of God, God's eternal kingdom, which will consummate in the upcoming New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. This should be our goal. We should not try to build a monarchy for ourselves in God's kingdom. This is the lesson that we need to learn from our study of this portion of the history in the Old Testament.
We thank the Lord that, under His mercy, He has opened up the intrinsic secrets in the Word to show us the real lessons. We have to learn the lesson of the cross and crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts and leave it on the cross always and in everything (Gal. 5:24). We should faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord, who is the life-giving, consummated Spirit indwelling our spirit and who is one with us. Then the kingdom of God, the church as the intrinsic Body of Christ, will be built up.
