BEHOLD, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, AND TO HEARKEN THAN THE FAT OF RAMS

Once Saul had been genuinely humble; ‘little in’ his ‘own sight’, v. 17. But now, having been king for some time, he had come to view himself as the ultimate authority in Israel. As such, he felt free to ‘adjust’ and ‘interpret’ God’s command as it best suited him. He had failed to grasp that being a king in Israel was a very different matter from being a king in the surrounding nations. Let us learn that no-one and nothing is above scripture! In our reading, Saul has to face:

Samuel’s challenge ; ‘Hath the Lord as great delight… as in obeying the voice of the Lord?’ By both his words and actions, Saul was saying that going through the motions of religious rit­ual was the most important thing. To him, offering a sacrifice to God was more important than obedience to God. Samuel’s rhe­torical question attacked this way of thinking. Samuel’s contention ; ‘To obey is better … than the fat of rams’. While not strictly a command, Samuel’s words clearly express God’s will and assessment. It was not that sacrifices were worthless; Samuel was simply comparing sacrificial offerings with obedience to the command of God, and declaring that the latter was of greater worth in His sight than the former. Formal worship is no substitute for an obedient life. External devotions are no substitute for inward submission. Samuel’s comparison ; ‘Rebellion is as . .. iniquity and idola­try’. Samuel made two points. First, Saul’s sin must be correctly labelled. His action was not ‘failure’ or ‘weakness’; it was ‘rebel­lion’ and ‘stubbornness’, arrogance, self-will. Second, Saul’s sin must be correctly evaluated. It fell into the same category as pagan spiritism and idolatry. Samuel’s condemnation ; ‘Because thou hast rejected … he hath also rejected thee from being king’. To reject Jeho­vah’s word was to reject the authority of Jehovah Himself. And because Saul had effectively rejected Jehovah as King over him Jehovah rejected Saul as king over His people. Saul found to his cost that the price of obedience is nothing compared with the price of disobedience.