Saul | Whose Voice Are You Listening To? | 1 Samuel 15

December 12, 2019

INTRODUCTION

1 Samuel 15:1 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord.”

Listen to the message from the Lord.

Hebrew: The voice of the words of the Lord.

Why this redundancy, this duplication? The voice of the words of the Lord.

Biblical narratives rarely ever waste words. So, these auditees should cause us to take notice here. Something is going on over here, the voice of the words of the Lord.

1 Samuel 15:3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

The account with the Amalekites was one that had to be settled. It was an old account, a pending account from the days of the Exodus. Several centuries before Saul & Samuel. The Amalekites had stood in the way of God’s people escaping Egypt. They had done so in a particularly treacherous way. God had had mercy on them all these years but they just gone from evil to evil and bad to worse and it was time to close that chapter.

Notice how they are labelled wicked in v18

1 Samuel 15:18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’

The name Amalekites was equivalent to wickedness. It was the epitome of evil. Their hour had now come. The time was now at hand. The order to Saul is emphatic. The total nature of the extermination is mentioned in many ways as possible in 1 Samuel 15:3. Not only is the command stated positively, utterly destroy. It is also repeated negatively, “do not spare.”

The list man & woman; child & infant; oxen & camel and donkey. It is complete, no if, no ands, no buts. In essence, this command was saying ‘utterly destroy everything. Do not take anything for yourselves. Don’t touch anything. Don’t pocket anything. Don’t even think of it. Get rid of it all. All you need is me. I alone am good enough for you. Anything else, destroy.’

1. Decree

The decree leaves no room for misunderstanding. It leaves no room for any question as to what exactly what God wanted Saul to do.

1 Samuel 15:4 So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah.

This is a huge army. It is enormous. He won’t have any trouble obeying God. This is to be a cakewalk.

1 Samuel 15:7-8 ⁷Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. ⁸He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.

As expected Saul defeated the Amalekites. He captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive.

Yes, Saul has done what he is supposed to do. Or has he?

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

He spared something and somebody. God said, “Do not spare in v3, but in v9 it says ‘but Saul spared.

Directly disobedient. Diametrically opposed. To God’s do not spare, Saul said, “I will spare.”

Saul spares Agag and the best of the animals.

Why did Saul spare Agag the king? Was it some kind of trophy for him? The price, POW that he could display?

Why the best of the animals? Later on, in v15 Saul claims that all of this was for sacrifice. Notice how God divides the population and the property of the Amalekites in v3.

God divides them into humans large and small: Men, women, children and infants.
God divides animals into productive animals: Cattle and sheep. Transportation animals: Camel and donkey.

Saul, changes that arrangement. He has only 2 categories:

1 Samuel 2:9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

So, Saul had one category, ‘everything that was good,’ but destroyed the despised and weak.

Humans according to Saul are divided into worthy Agag and worthless everybody else.

Animals are divided into good ones, best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs; worthless ones all the rest.

Saul is only concerned about the worthy, the best, the good, the profitable good ones. He is not interested in what God wants. He is opposed to God’s agenda, serving instead his own. He spares the worthy, destroys the worthless.

1 Samuel 15:10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:

The word of the Lord coming, this verb is used only once, here in 1 Samuel. Nowhere else the word of Lord is literally said to come. This is serious. God is not pleased. The word of the Lord has now come. Saul is in trouble.

This is God speaking:

1 Samuel 15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

The grief caused to God by disobedience. God is regretful.

What is Saul doing all this time? He is busy with bigger and more importance things than obeying God. He was not worried about obeying God.

1 Samuel 15:12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

The guy sets up a monument, a billboard for himself with his picture on it, announcing to the world and all that pass by, “I am great. I am first.”

1 Samuel 15:12b There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

He could not even wait until after he had worshipped God. No, he has to worship himself first. Then he goes to Gilgal to worship and to sacrifice God in thanks for the battle. He said, “Why not? I am the greatest. I am the best. I am Saul, the Agag catcher and the Amalekite killer.”

He is completely oblivious to his disobedience.

Look at his report to Samuel: 1 Samuel 15:13

When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

God had just said in v11 that Saul had not carried out the word of the Lord and Saul uses the same words in v13 ‘I have carried out the word of the Lord.’

Completely opposed to God’s agenda was Saul.

2. Defiance

Saul is in trouble. Not only does he think he can disobey now he thinks he can get away with it. But God sees, God hears.

1 Samuel 15:14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Samuel said, “What then that is if you did obey God as you said as you did what then is this voice of the sheep in my ear and the voice of the oxen which I hear?” Frequently translated as bleating and lowing.

I wanted to catch the original there, ‘the voice of the sheep and the voice of the oxen.’

Remember in 15:1 the voice of the word of the Lord.

The voice of the word of the Lord and we wondered why the narrator was using such a strange wording? Now we know. Saul should have been hearing the voice of the word of the Lord. Instead, he has been listening to the voice of the sheep and the voice of the oxen. They are more important to him then the voice of the Lord.

ILLUSTRATION

Jorge Rodriguez is one of the most notorious bank robbers in the early settling of the west in 1900. He lived across the border in Mexico from where he frequently crept into Texas towns to rob banks and then return to Mexico before the Texas Rangers could apprehend him. This frustrated the lawmen so much that one day illegally crossed over the border in order to capture the bandit. Eventually they cornered Jorge Rodriguez in a Mexican tavern. Unfortunately Jorge spoke no English and the Rangers, who knew no Spanish, asked the bartender to translate for them. The bartender explained to Pepe who these men were and the outlaw began quaking with fear. The Rangers with their guns drawn, told the bartender to ask Pepe where he had hidden all the money he had stolen. That if he does not tell us where the money is right away, we’re going to shoot him dead right here on the spot. The bartender duly translated. Immediately, Pepe explained in Spanish that the money was hidden in a town well across the street. They could get the money by counting down seventeen stones from the handle and behind the 17^th stone was little spot where he had hidden all the loot.

The bartender then turned to the Rangers and said, “Jorge, he us very brave man. He says Rangers are a bunch of stinking pigs and he said he’s not afraid to die. He says, ‘Go ahead and shoot.’”

See that’s what happens to when you listen to unreliable voices.

Whose voice are you listening to ?

The voice of the word of God or the voice of the oxen and sheep?

The voice of the world that tempts us to indulge in its pleasures.
The voice of the world that invites us to part take of its passions.
The voice of the world that beckons us to inflate our pride.

What voice are we listing to? What then is this voice of sheep in my ears and the voice of the oxen which I hear?

Now did you wonder why Samuel asks Saul about this pretending ignorance? God had just told him before he met Saul, that Saul had disobeyed in verse 11.

1 Samuel 15:11 I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

So why all go through this rigmarole of questioning Saul? It is to give Saul a chance to repent. God is gracious. We may have sinned and fallen flat on our faces but God doesn’t write us off. He wants us to return to Him and repent. He did not write Saul off. He gave him an opportunity to come clean, but did Saul take that chance?

1 Samuel 15:15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

Saul’s going, “What, what voice is you talking about Samuel? All that bleating and the lowing of the cattle? Well, you know they did it. They brought them from the Amalekites. It is all their fault. The people spared them.”

The people spared?

1 Samuel 2:9 But Saul and the army spared Aga….

Saul was one who was primarily responsible but he tells a the different story, “I didn’t do nothing wrong, they did it and it was only a few sheep and oxen.” He conveniently omits the fatlings and lambs and all that was good, minimizing his disobedience and of course he also conveniently forgets to mention that he captured a POW.

“Oh! Yeah and we did it all for the good cause. We just wanted to sacrifice to God. I would be honest we spared a few of the animals, but we had a good plan, a pious plan. You would like this Samuel. We wanted to sacrifice to the Lord your God.”

Now he’s trying to blame Samuel and his God for all this. It sounds like Adam in the Garden of Eden, “The woman you gave, she caused me all this trouble.” Or like Eve, “The devil made me to do it.”

Saul is the picture of innocence.

Look at what he says, “But the rest we have utterly destroyed.” That’s almost oxymoronic the rest we have utterly destroyed. Utterly destroyed means utterly destroyed, not partially destroyed. What part of the utterly destroyed did you not understand Saul? He had problem with the definitions.

ILLUSTRATION

A couple of year ago I attended one wedding at a CSI Church in Vellore. I was at stage ministering with the CSI pastors. I did the preaching and the pastor of the church had to do the solmization. The parents kept the ring in the open Bible the pastor was ministering. The pastor led all of us to pray for the ring and we all closed our eyes and prayed. But the time the prayer was over, one ring was missing from the Bible. The pastor searched the Bible and the floor but could not find the ring. There was a small commotion among the relatives as to who was responsible for the ring, was the ring kept in the first place? The father asked the mother,” Did you really take the ring from the home?” Finally, after verifying again that the ring was kept in the Bible before the prayer, we all had to search for the ring on the stage. One assistant pastor lifted the stage carpet and the ring was stuck between two carpets. Apparently the Bible tilted while praying and rolled down the stage and got stuck in between two carpets. The pastor finally announced, “The ring was not missing or stolen; we just didn’t know where it was.”

Just like Saul what part of missing don’t you understand? According to Saul utter destruction is after he as skinned of all the good stuff from the top, the rest not utterly destroyed.

Suppression, invention, manipulation: This is the story of disobedience and unrepentance. I dare say that we have engaged in it ourselves far too often, not willing to confront our own misdeeds. But neither God nor Samuel will have any of this wriggling.

1 Samuel 15:17-19 ¹⁷Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ ¹⁹Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

While Saul tries to separate and distances himself from the culprits, they the people. Samuel assigns him full responsibility, “You were anointed, you were sent, you were to utterly destroy. This is what you were called to do, to obey. Instead you did not obey, you rushed on the spoil, you did evil and you thought all of this was good. Let me tell you something Saul, this is not good, but evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

That’s what sin always is. Sin is evil in the eyes of the Lord. No matter how great or how small, it is always evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Amazingly even after all this, Saul refused abandon his lying and his deceptions. He persists in making excuses.

1 Samuel 15:20 ²⁰“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. ²¹The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

I did obey, I just brought back Agag the king. It is the people, they did it to sacrifice to your God. He is still making excuses.

Then comes Samuel’s reply. This is one of the greatest verses perhaps in all of the old Testament.

1 Samuel 15:22-23 ²²But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. ²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

Rituals are worthless if we are disobedient.

It doesn’t matter if we give all our money to church. It doesn’t matter if we have attended church all our lives or sat for a Bible study. All those are not bad in themselves, but without obedience to God’s word, they are merely rituals.

What pleases God is obedience. What displeases God is disobedience. And notice what disobedience is equivalent to: Rebellion, divination, insubordination, iniquity, idolatry. These are strong words. Obedience is at the very least a demand, a mandate to a life of integrity, an imperative for us to be like Jesus Christ.

A recent survey revealed that 60% have called sick when they are not.
Another 60% have taken offices supplies from work for personal use.
40% have illegally downloaded music.
70% have knowingly broken the speed limit.
30% have lied to their spouse about a relationship with another.
70% of college students have engaged in some form of academic cheating.

Disobedience.

I don’t know what sin you are toying with or what sin has you in its grasp. I know mine. Whatever it is give it up, give it up. Listen to God’s voice instead. If you need help giving it up, you can find it here with the Pastors and ministers and many other godly men and women all around you. Whatever it is give it up and listen to God’s voice, otherwise the consequences can be disastrous.

3. Disaster

1 Samuel 15:23b Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

Saul rejected God, God rejects Saul.

It only ends in disaster. He is removed from his position of influence and power, no longer a light in a dark world, his lamp has been extinguished.

Sin results in disaster, loss of respect, loss of your ministry, loss of your witness to others, loss of peace, loss of fulfilment, grief all around family, neighbors, friends those who are mentoring your children, your parents and even worse. That’s what sin always results in, disaster. Extinguished, not a light in a dark world.

Finally looks like Saul gets it:

1 Samuel 15:24 ²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. (But notice what he says) I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. ²⁵Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

He passes over the voice of God and listens to the voice of animals and people. But notice what he said, “I feared the people.”

If we look at the description of the Amalekites in Deuteronomy, we find something rather interesting.

Deuteronomy 25:17-18 Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.

Amalekites did not fear God.

Saul in 1 Samuel 15:24 I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.

Saul didn’t fear God either. Really, Saul is no better than the Amalekites, he had been asked to destroy. They are the same and the story ends on a tragic note.

Saul’s Character Flaws:

Greed
Feared People
Did not fear God

1 Samuel 15:35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Samuel mourned for Saul. God mourned for Saul. That’s what sin can do to you.

CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATION

For years Sally was the Romero family pet. When they first got her several years ago she was only 1 foot long. But Sally eventually grew until she reached 11.5 feet and weighed over 80 pounds. On a July day in 1993; Sally, a Burmese python turned on 15-year-old Derek Redmond strangling the teenager until he died of suffocation.

Sins that seem little and harmless, will grow and kill you.

Sins that seem cute and fun, will only lead to disaster.

We’re all guilty, all of us. There is no one except one.

Jesus listened to his Father:

Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Jesus saw his Father

John 5:19 Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

Whose voice are you listening to today? The voice of the world, your friends, internet? Or are you listening to the voice of God today?

In Proverbs 2 God’s word addresses me as a son:

Proverbs 2:1-8

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, ²turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— ³indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, ⁴and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, ⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, ⁸for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

As a token of our response to the story of Saul, I’d like for us to engage in a few minutes of silent confession.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” Says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Psalms 32:5 I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I do not hide.

Please take a moment to silently confess your sins.

City Harvest AG Church

Saul | Whose Voice Are You Listening To? | 1 Samuel 15