Ever hear the phrase, “That boy ain’t right?” It was popularized by an animated TV show called King of the Hill, which is being revived this year. The phrase captures a parent’s exasperation with their kid. Hank, the father, comes from a time when handwork and dedication was the core of what made a man. His son, Bobby, tends to be lazy. Hank is pretty serious about things, whereas Bobby is a class clown. Hank loves football, working on his lawn, and his job. Bobby would rather play soccer, he likes growing flowers, and likes to goof off. When Hank sees Bobby doing things that make him roll his eyes, he uses the phrase, “That boy ain’t right.”
The phrase became popular because as a parent, kids do some pretty weird things. I’ve seen it in my own life, where kids, both mine and other people’s, do things like: eating dirt, licking random things, and randomly making noises out of nowhere. They’ll say things out of the blue, or cut their hair. As a parent you just shake your head and deal with whatever they throw at you.
It’s that kind of shake your head situations that brings us back into our First Samuel series, where we’ll be picking it back up in First Samuel chapter 15, verse 1. This is the final passage of the second section and where we see everything that has happened come to a head. And as we open up to the conclusion of the second section in First Samuel 15:1, let’s look back on the last five weeks, to see the lead up to where we are.
The second section began by introducing us to Saul, God’s pick for the Israelites’ desire for a human king. He had a few commendable attributes that could aid him in his calling, but it was the weaknesses that went unaddressed that would be his downfall. Commendable starts are good, but we’re also called to finishing strong. In order to finish strong, we need to bring ourselves before God to be evaluated and the weaknesses in our lives dealt with. If not, we can end up just like Saul, starting off strong, but ending poorly.
Following the introduction to Saul, we saw how God established him and his kingdom through his first victory. After Saul had won the day, we saw the transition from the era of the Judges to the era of the monarchy. Yet through it all, we could see that it was God who establishes kings and kingdoms, and it is he who removes them.
It was here that we then read through the farewell address of the final Judge, Samuel. Samuel had lived his life in front of the nation of Israel and fulfilled his calling as both Prophet and Judge. It was a life well lived, and though his sons did not follow their father’s example, and though the people of Israel rejected God’s Kingship on Samuel’s watch, he still showed what it meant to be a faithful follower of the Lord. We too are called to be faithful to God, understanding that we alone are responsible for our walk with the Lord.
Then in week nine, we read how Saul allowed his worries of the Philistine army to lead him in overstepping his boundaries as king; sacrificing an animal on behalf of the people, and breaking God’s command in the process. This was the first, in a long line of unfaithful actions that Saul took. Saul allowed the worry he felt to lead him into disobedience. In order to not allow our own anxieties to lead us into sin, we must take them before the Lord through prayer and praise of who he is and what he has done.
Finally, last week, we saw how far Saul’s spiral was going. This downward spiral was juxtaposed against Saul’s son Jonathan and his faithfulness to God. Saul’s unfaithfulness almost led to the destruction of the people through their breaking of God’s command, and the death of his own son. Saul had become someone who thought himself as the victory maker, and so lost his focus on the true God who brings about victories. In this we saw how we must look to the Lord as the one who brings victory, and while we wait on that victory, we must faithfully trust his timing.
With the last five weeks in our minds, we can now read together, starting in First Samuel chapter 15, verse 1.
1 And 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. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
Let’s stop right there, because this passage, though one thought, is separated into several parts.
The first part we just read is God’s call to Saul to take up arms against a nation, and how it actually worked out. In verses 1-4, God is reasserting his Kingly position over Saul. Remember, Saul was always to be a prince, or under-king, to the Lord, who is the King of Israel. This comes out in the language of “The Lord sent … to anoint … listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts … (v.1)” God is doing this, because Saul has shown that he has lost sight of the fact that he is an under-king. And so, God is initiating a judgment and calling Saul to play his role.
This judgment is against the Amalekites, and it was to be a total destruction. Now we might grimace, because in our modern western world, we tend to shudder at God when he carries out judgment. There is an inconsistent morality that we in the modern western world can place on God. In the modern world, we’ll accuse God of not punishing those who commit horrible acts, and then when we see that he does carry out judgment, we get mad at God for doing so. This is an inconsistent and hypocritical moral position, that is more about hating God for whatever he does, than for understanding why he does the things he does. Instead, we have to remember that God is the only one who can dole out true justice.
But we would be amiss if don’t address the question, “Why would God call for the destruction of the men, women, children, and livestock?” We might think, the men make sense, they’re the warriors, but what about everyone else?
In order to answer this, we have to put the situation into the context of its day. First, God has allowed the sin of the Amalekites to go unpunished for several hundred years. In this case, the Amalekites sin, that is mentioned, happened during the time of the Exodus, which was several generations prior to this moment. God had given them ample time to repent. Which we know God wants, due to the stories of non-Israelite people like Rahab and Ruth.
Secondly, we have to understand what the Amalekites continued to do. The Amalekites were engaging in random killings of the Israelites. They would raid the Israel’s lands, murdering and stealing food supplies. Also, like other Canaanite groups, the Amalekites engaged in kidnapping children from other nations. In the broader religious and moral side, these children were most likely used for child sacrifices. In addition to this, sexual sins such as prostitution, which kidnapped girls and boys were forced into, bestiality, and homosexuality were running rampant. Schalar Robert D. Bergen states of the condition of the Canannites, that, “These cultures had become spiritually gangrenous and had been that way for hundreds of years. Since they refused to change, the only way to keep their deadly influences from spreading to other societies was through the complete elimination of every object and person associated with them.”
Finally, the phrase “utterly destroy” (charam [khaw-ram’]) may not mean the lost of life, but rather to destroy the means of rebuilding their society and religious orders. God was eradicating the society which was producing horrible pain and suffering to other nations.
To the inconsistent moralist of today, if God didn’t do anything and allowed these sins to go unpunished, they would accuse God of being complacent and not a good God. Yet when he acts in mercy, allowing the people hundreds of years to repent, and then when they don’t, he judges them, the inconsistent moralist, accuses God of being unjust. Yet in all of it, what we see is a consistent balance of mercy and justice from God throughout the Bible. Mercy first, and then judgement when people don’t get their act together.
Returning back to the passage, Saul does not fulfill God’s call to destroy the Amalekite society. Instead, the situation plays out that Saul allows the Kenites, who were Moses’ father-in-law’s people, to leave the area. This is because there was no judgment on them, so this was a good thing. Yet when it comes to the Amalekites, Saul spares the king, and the best livestock. It is then that we get this interesting statement that connects back to the book of Judges, “All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. (v.9)” The people decided what was to be destroyed and what wasn’t. Just like in the era of the Judges where the people did what was right in their own eyes; here the people are not listening to God, but deciding what to destroy and what not to.
Then, starting in verse 10, we get God’s response to what has happened.
10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.”
Let’s talk about the regret language. The word Hebrew word, nacham (nah-kham’), means to let out a strong sigh, as if one is exasperated with the situation. In this understanding, regret does not mean a mistake of purpose, but rather irritation or outrage over the outcome. Many parents have felt the regret of their child’s actions, and have sighed in exasperation. Yet for a free person to act, they have to be given room to make a choice. Saul had the makings of a good king, and his son had the makings of being a great king. However, Saul is accountable for his own actions, and it is those actions that the Lord is exasperated with. In other words, God regrets that Saul made the choices he did.
It is in verses 12-33 that we get the back and forth between Samuel and Saul, as the prophet has to confront the king. Dropping down to verse 13 where Saul greets Samuel when the prophet arrives.
13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17 And Samuel 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. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul 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 devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “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. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
This is where the hammer has been brought down on Saul for his repeated disobedience to the Lord. Let’s walk through this conversation real quick.
Saul is joyful thinking that he has done everything the Lord required.
But Samuel points out that they kept livestock.
Saul responds that the people kept the livestock to sacrifice them to God.
However Samuel rebukes Saul and tells him, “The Lord anointed you king … The Lord sent you on a mission … (v.18)” Samuel presses Saul to take responsibility as the appointed king. In the last chapter he was willing to kill his own son for disobedience, but now he wasn’t interested in holding the people to their obediences, and he wanted to hide his own disobedience by passing the responsibility on others.
In response to the rebuke, Saul digs in that he did everything the Lord required, but it was the people who took the livestock. We see the weakness of passing reasonability onto someone else that we first saw in Saul when we were first introduced to him back in chapter 9.
Samuel counters that what God delights in is obedience to his voice, not the sacrifice of animals. The late John MacArther wrote, “This is an essential Old Testament truth … The sacrificial system was never intended to function in place of living an obedient life, but rather to be an expression of it.”
It is in verse 24 Saul finally comes clean, “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.’ (v.24-25)”
Saul let’s Samuel know that the real reason he didn’t stop the people was because he feared the them. Now we might think that Saul is repenting here. He’s asking for forgiveness, but it doesn’t seem like Samuel believes it, because he at first deny’s Saul’s request in verse 25.
26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.
Saul pleads on his knees for Samuel to go with him, and ends up tearing Samuel’s rob. Samuel then uses his torn robe to illustrate how God has torn Saul’s kingdom from him.
Yet, Samuel relents and goes with Saul to the elders of Israel.
Here we must address the second time the word repent is used in the passage. Except Samuel states that God does not repent, yet God himself had said he did earlier in the passage. So what does this mean? The same Hebrew word is used again, but in this context Samuel is saying that God is not lying about taking the kingdom away, and God will not regret doing so. Samuel is telling Saul, that God will not pine for the days of Saul in anyway. That when he does this, he will move on in a better direction, never to give another thought to the once king.
In other words, Samuel is letting Saul know, that even though he is going to go with him to the elders, this doesn’t fix anything. Saul won’t get his kingdom back no matter what he does now.
Then in verse 32-33, Samuel shows that the power of Saul’s monarchy has been broken. Samuel does this by taking back his role of Judge for the moment and passes a gruesome judgment on the Amalekite king; killing the king himself.
Finally, the chapter ends very somberly. Verse 34 reads, “Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. (v.34-35)”
Samuel leaves Saul, and won’t see him again until the day he dies. Their mentorship and friendship had basically ended. Yet, Samuel grieved over Saul, and in doing so, shows his love for the man he anointed king. Samuel is disappointed, but has not stopped caring for Saul. Like Samuel’s dedication in praying for the people, he was still dedicated to Saul, and knowing what we know about Samuel, he probably continued to pray for him until the day he died.
Then, for the third time in the passage, we hear the words, “The Lord regretted …(v.35)” Again, this regret is that Saul did not live up to his potential. Saul didn’t end the race well.
It is moments like these throughout the Scripture that point to God giving us room to make free decisions. Saul was chosen because God had purpose through him. There were both commendable attributes and weaknesses in Saul that could lead him to being a good, or bad king. Saul chose not to be faithful and allowed his weaknesses to turn into sin, and that sin led to unfaithfulness. Saul is his own downfall. Instead of seeking the Lord and being faithful to his orders, Saul went his own way, shucking his responsibilities and allowing the fear of men to overcome him. Saul had no one else to blame except himself for the downfall of his kingdom. And though it was still a ways off, his reign had been broken.
It’s the same with us. If we had nothing else, but what God has given us in his word, we would have all we need to know to follow him. But God also gives us the nature around us, and a conscience as additional directions to him. Due to this, Paul writes, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)”
We are all accountable for the decisions we make, which at the root of most of our decisions is, “Will I faithfully walk with God or not?” We’re either moving closer to God, or further. We’re either bringing joy to the Lord, or making him sigh in exasperation. God’s desire is that we freely chose his path, that we may experience all the blessings he has in store for us. But in the end, it is our choice.
My challenge for you this week is to look at the choices you make and ask the question, “Will this bring me closer to or further from God?” Not every choice leads us to more or less faithfulness; the color of your socks, or what type of toothpaste. But the choices of how we respond to people, how we vote, how we engage in moral and eternal discussions should all be asked and answered through the lens of God’s word. In so doing, we can walk more faithfully everyday, using our free choices to honor and not exasperate God.
So let us be a people who bring a smile and not a sigh to the Lord. Amen.
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