And Samuel said, 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.
Saul came back from the war with Amalek claiming he had obeyed — while the animals God told him to destroy bleated behind him, spared, he said, for sacrifice. Samuel's reply asks what God delights in, and it costs Saul his throne.
Saul offered God something costly instead of the one thing God asked for. One writer treats Samuel's answer as a rule for every believer, not just for a king:
"What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?" A searching question! It is useless to fall back on the plausible matter of "sacrifice to the Lord." A miserable resource for disobedient hearts! As if the Lord would accept a sacrifice from someone walking in open rebellion against His commandment. How many since Saul's day have tried to cover a disobedient spirit with the plausible cloak of "sacrifice to the Lord." … The Lord does not seek offerings, but obedience: the submissive heart and the yielding spirit will glorify Him more than the cattle on a thousand hills. … God does not look at the amount of the sacrifice, but at the spirit from which it springs.
Samuel's answer sounds harsh until you weigh what kind of disobedience he was facing:
Disobedience that springs from carelessness or indifference is bad. Disobedience that is sheer wilfulness is worse. Worst of all is disobedience that springs from wilfulness and then dresses itself in a cloak of pretended piety and zeal for the Lord's interests. That is what Saul was now guilty of, and this is why God met it through Samuel's lips in such strong and drastic terms.
Samuel's next sentence names disobedience as rebellion, and rebellion as witchcraft — divination, the consulting of hidden powers. That comparison sets worship without obedience in shocking company, and it is not an isolated idea in Scripture:
Sacrifice without obedience — a solemn truth — is no better than idol worship. The first mark of faith is obedience. Paul had received his apostleship "to bring about the obedience of faith … among all the nations" (Rom. 1:5). And there are many things God prefers to sacrifice. "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice," He says, "the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6). "Go and learn," the Lord said to the Pharisees, "what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice'" (Matt. 9:13).
The penalty seems harsh until you remember the office Saul held:
God thought otherwise. A principle was at stake. How could Saul rule a kingdom if he did not obey God? How could he expect to be obeyed if he himself did not obey? If his subjects could improve on Saul's decrees, where would his authority be? Saul's idea that he could improve on God's decree was unpardonable. In one blow he destroyed his kingdom.
Saul's story does not stop at the spared cattle. It ends years later with the king consulting a medium. One writer reads the two scenes as one story:
Samuel's solemn words to Saul could stand as the heading over this whole account: "Rebellion is as the sin of divination." Saul had spared the spoil of Amalek against the Lord's commandment. The two parts, so far apart in time and in outward character, are really one. On the day he failed to wipe out Amalek, Saul never imagined where it would lead. The cattle he spared "to sacrifice to the LORD" — in disobedience to His word — would develop into the incantations of a woman with a familiar spirit. We do not realise the unity that underlies all evil. When one link of obedience to God is cut, the soul puts itself into Satan's hands. So it was with our first parents. To disobey God is to listen to Satan.
The verse does not condemn sacrifice. It puts sacrifice below obedience — and in Christ the two come together:
God took no pleasure in those sacrifices. In contrast, Jesus Christ presented Himself to God to do His will. That will required a sacrifice that could take away sin. It is beautiful to see Jesus, on coming into the world, presenting Himself to obey, and saying to His Father, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God."
God sets believers apart for that same obedience:
It is the character of the believer's sanctification — sanctified to obedience and to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
- Asked — God asked for one thing; Saul gave Him something else and called it worship. Sacrifice offered in place of obedience is a pretence of honouring God.
- Excused — The worst disobedience is not careless but wilful, wearing a cloak of piety. Good intentions do not improve on a command God gave.
- Named — Samuel calls it rebellion, and rebellion is like divination. Worship without obedience stands no higher than idolatry.
- Opened — Cut one link of obedience and the soul opens a door to Satan. The cattle Saul spared end in the incantations of a medium.
- Answered — Where Saul failed, Christ came saying, "Behold, I have come to do your will." In Him obedience and sacrifice meet, and He is the pattern for all who follow Him.
For rebellion is [as] the sin of divination, And selfwill is [as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He hath also rejected thee from being king.
God told Saul to destroy Amalek completely, but he came back with the best of the flocks and the captured king, saying the animals were for sacrifice. Samuel refuses the excuse and gives the disobedience two names: divination and idolatry.
Older translations read "witchcraft" and "stubbornness" here, where the ESV reads "divination" and "presumption." One reference work separates the Hebrew word for witchcraft from the word used in this verse.
The word kashaph means "to use magical formulas or incantations," "to practise sorcery." A witch was not allowed to live. In 1 Samuel 15:23 the word is qesem, divination.
The verse's second charge is self-will. One writer points out the irony: Saul had worked to stamp out witchcraft himself.
Samuel stripped the disobedience bare and revealed its true character as God saw it. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness (that is, self-will) is as iniquity and idolatry." In his better days Saul recognised the evil of witchcraft and tried to suppress it (1 Samuel 28:3-9). No one seems to have set up a carved image during his reign. But now he is told that his self-will was the equivalent of both witchcraft and idolatry. Why? Because it displaced God for something else. A creature was challenging the supremacy of God.
Saul planned to turn the spared spoil into an offering.
For Saul, sacrifice is better than obedience. But, "Has 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 listen than the fat of rams." Sacrifice without obedience — a solemn truth — is no better than idol worship. The first mark of faith is obedience.
One writer sorts disobedience into grades.
Disobedience that springs from carelessness or indifference is bad. Disobedience that is sheer wilfulness is worse. Worst of all is disobedience that springs from wilfulness but then dresses itself up. It wears a cloak of pretended piety and zeal for the Lord's interests. That was what Saul was now guilty of, and that is why God met it so strongly and drastically through the lips of Samuel.
Another writer names what hides behind the word "sacrifice."
It is far better to have the will in subjection to God than to load His altar with the costliest sacrifices. When the will is in subjection, everything else falls into its right place. But for someone whose will is in rebellion against God to talk of sacrificing to Him is nothing but deadly delusion. God does not look at the size of the sacrifice, but at the spirit it springs from. What is more, everyone who talks about sacrificing to the Lord in Saul's spirit has an Agag of some sort hidden away, under some selfish aim. It may be the best of the sheep, or something else attractive to the flesh, which has more hold on them than the service or worship of God.
Saul had spread the blame onto the people. The second half of the verse ends that.
There is nothing vague now, no mixing him up with the people. The guilty king is convicted and singled out for the fresh sentence from the Lord: "Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
This was not the first warning Saul had received.
In earlier days at Gilgal the LORD had said to Saul through Samuel, "Your kingdom shall not continue." Now the final blow has been struck: "God has rejected you."
One writer explains why God ordered Amalek's complete destruction.
Amalek pictures "the lusts of the flesh" which war against our souls. God will not allow such things to be spared. It is important that we take sides with God against these desires. They dishonour God and harm our own souls. Saul won the victory over Amalek, but he spared their king, Agag, and the best of the livestock. If we spare our own sinful desires, we are in no condition to lead others.
The same test comes in quieter forms, wherever we act on our own judgement without a word from God.
No temptation is more subtle than this. Circumstances seem to call for action, but God has given no word, no sign of His will. Yet if we act without knowing God's will, we are certainly doing our own. And this is the essence of sin. Nothing in man is right except obedience.
- Displaced. Self-will ranks with divination and idolatry for one reason: it puts something else in God's place and challenges His supremacy.
- Disguised. Self-will rarely looks ugly. The worst disobedience wears a cloak of pretended piety and zeal for the Lord.
- Detected. Behind Saul-like talk of sacrifice hides an Agag — some selfish aim with more hold on the heart than God has.
- Declined. Sacrifice without obedience is no better than idol worship. God weighs the spirit it springs from, not its size.
- Deposed. Saul rejected God's word, so God rejected him as king. The blame he spread onto the people landed on him alone.