Why is obedience better than sacrifice?

"What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?" Solemn, heart-searching inquiry! In vain is recourse had to the plausible matter of "sacrifice to the Lord." Miserable resource for disobedient hearts! As if the Lord would accept a sacrifice from one walking in positive rebellion against His commandment. How many since Saul's day have sought to cover a disobedient spirit with the plausible mantle of "sacrifice to the Lord." Samuel's answer to Saul is of universal application, viz.: "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 hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." The Lord seeks not, offerings, but obedience: the subject heart and acquiescent spirit will glorify Him more than the cattle upon a thousand hills.

How important to have this great principle pressed home upon the conscience, when so many are cloaking all sorts of disobedience with the word, sacrifice, sacrifice! "To obey is better than 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 will take its due place; but for one whose will is in rebellion against God to talk of sacrificing to Him is nothing but deadly delusion. God looks not at the amount of the sacrifice, but at the spirit from which it springs. Moreover, it will be found that all who, in Saul's spirit, speak of sacrificing to the Lord, have concealed — beneath some selfish object — some Agag or other — the best of the sheep — or something attractive to the flesh, which is more influential than the service or worship of the blessed God.

Samuel's famous dictum that "to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22) will never be forgotten. If Saul learned nothing from the prophet's words, multitudes have profited by them since his day. "To obey," and "to hearken" give the essence of holy living. The most costly sacrifices are no substitute for "obeying the voice of the Lord."

It was useless for Saul to blame the people for what had occurred, and to plead that the sheep and oxen which had been spared were to be offered in sacrifice to Jehovah. Samuel brushed the excuses aside sternly, saying, "Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Here we have a principle of vital importance to the people of God in all ages. There is no substitute for obedience. The Man Christ Jesus delighted from first to last in all the will of God, and He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. Our innermost thoughts; the motives of our hearts, and our actions both at home and abroad, should be under the control of the revealed will of God. No plea for usefulness in service can be accepted in extenuation of what we know to be contrary to God and His word. Toleration of evil in our ecclesiastical surroundings, in the hope that good may somehow be wrought, will not do for God. Whatever the consequences to ourselves and to others, we must obey.

Samuel stripped the disobedience bare, and revealed it's true character as God saw it. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness (i.e., self-will) is as iniquity and idolatry. Saul himself in his better days recognised the evil of witchcraft, and sought to suppress it (1 Sam. 28:3-9) and no graven image appears to have been set up during his reign. But he is now told that his self-will was the equivalent of both witchcraft and idolatry. Why? Because it displaced God for something else. The supremacy of God was thereby challenged by a creature. Self-will — the refusal to hear the divine voice — is as serious an evil today as when Saul stood arraigned by the prophet of God in Gilgal.

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 verse 20 we shall see him excusing himself, and in verse 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?” (v. 14). Saul, who had just said, “I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah,” now acquits himself of the fault and transfers it to the people although he and the people (v. 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” (v. 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” (vv. 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” (vv. 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. 1:5). 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” (Hosea 6:6). “Go and learn,” the Lord said to the Pharisees, “what that is — I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” (Matt. 9:13)

There is immense power in Samuel's brief but pointed reply to Saul, "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 hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22). Saul's word was "Sacrifice." Samuel's word was "Obedience." No doubt the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen were most exciting. They would be looked upon as substantial proofs that something was being done; while on the other hand, the path of obedience seemed narrow, silent, lonely, and fruitless. But oh! those pungent words of Samuel! "to obey is better than sacrifice." What a triumphant answer to the most eloquent advocates of expediency! They are most conclusive — most commanding words. They teach us that it is better, if it must be so, to stand, like a marble statue, on the pathway of obedience, than to reach the most desirable ends by transgressing a plain precept of the Word of God.

In spite of the exposure, Saul protests that he actually had obeyed the Lord, had taken captive Agag, the Amalekite king, and had utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But why had he spared Agag? Was this obedience to God's word? Partial obedience is not obedience at all. Then a second time he tries to excuse the sparing of the sheep and oxen by blaming it on the people, but insisting that they did so with the object of sacrificing these to the Lord. But when God had given orders to him, then he was responsible to give the same orders to the people, and see that they were followed. God rightly makes him responsible for the whole matter.

Samuel therefore speaks as God had directed him, questioning Saul if the Lord has as great delight in offerings (even burnt offerings) and sacrifices as in obedience to His word. He answers the question himself, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." When there is plain disobedience to God's word, then sacrificing is a mere pretense of honoring Him. But there is still stronger condemnation of this evil. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry." One who is guilty of this is therefore opening the door for Satan, for he is virtually closing the door against God's word. This is the very reason for the flood of evil with which the world is filled today, which is all too sadly seen even in the professing church.

The Lord repented that he had set up Saul to be king, and Samuel was grieved, and cried unto the Lord all night; but not Saul, for he had gone his way. Again, Saul has himself and his doings to excuse or to defend, so that Samuel confronts him by asking, "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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." The spring of this disobedience is thus traced to ignorance of God, and in what He delights; or in self-will, which is rebellion. And Samuel said, "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king."

Samuel’s words in chapter 15:22 are well known: ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’. They are just as true today as when he spoke them. ‘But what about …’, ‘What are we to do …’, ‘These are difficult times …’, ‘This is only for a short period until everything returns to normal …’, ‘We are doing the best we can in the circumstances …’ — such expressions reflect human reasoning, which has no place when it comes to the Lord’s things, particularly what is most precious to Him — our worship. As Samuel said, obedience comes first, even if this means that sacrifice must be postponed or may even be impossible. Further, it is clear that the sacrifices which Saul offered did not please God. When it comes to worship (or obedience generally), we do not get any credit for getting it partially right when God’s revealed word is also contravened.

Sometimes a faithful servant of the Lord needs to speak plainly, as Samuel did in verse 23: ‘rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [or self-will] is as iniquity and idolatry’. Let us be thankful for the servants who may, as led of the Lord, use a similar tone with us today, whether individually or collectively, for our correction and blessing.

Disobedience which springs from carelessness or indifference is bad; that which is sheer wilfulness is worse. Worst of all is that which while springing from willfulness — yet arrays itself in a cloak of pretended piety and zeal for the interests of the Lord. It was that of which Saul was now guilty, and hence the strong and drastic way in which God met it through the lips of Samuel, saying, "Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord? … Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected thee from being king" (1 Sam. 15:19-23)

Take another case. Saul was ordered to destroy the Amalekites with their flocks and their herds. Instead of simple obedience, he acted according to his own thoughts of what was right. He was not regardless of the Lord. Far from it: he and "the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord." It was the wisdom and religion of the flesh, judging for itself in the things of the Lord, instead of letting the Lord judge; preferring service, in man's way, to obedience in God's way. What does God reply? "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 hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:22-23). Have these Old Testament narratives no voice for us? Is God more indifferent about obedience now than He was in the days of Saul? Or are we better able to judge of what is right than Saul was, that, like him, we should set up our judgment against God's? Let us consider against whom we are matching ourselves, and ask, with the apostle — "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?"