The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 273

1 rcjcction of God. The important interview between the disobedient king and tl,o 11r0phd of God brings out seYcral great truths. I. :\IAN'S !'REFERENCE OF RIS OWN WILL TO THE CLEARLY-DECLARED WILL OF Goo JS POSITIVE REBELLION AGAINST THE SUI'REME AUTHORITY. Saul's sin wns known to himself as a preferenre of his own course in dealing with the Amalekites. He thouglit it best to modify the command in its detailed execution. No doubt there '<'Pre reasons which seemed to render such a course useful. It is clear that he di<l r1ot realise itll tliat it involved, though that was his own fault. To him ns n kino' w!_ltlse ~-ord was supposed t<;> be l~w to his s~bjects, there is something very appr~~ pnatc m the prophet assurmg 1nm that tins preference of his own will .however plausi_ble the reasons for it, w~s 1'.ot a simple weakness or fault, but nothing less tha 11 rebellion-a term of fearful s1g111ficance under a properly-constituted government. The preference _was virtually a setting up a counter-authority, impeaching the wisdom •,f God. Saul 1s not the only one to whom God has plainly declared his will. More (Jr less he has spoken to all men (Rom. i. 20). To those blessed with the revealed will :is contai11ecl in the Scriptures he has given commandments as precise and emphatic ,is that to Saul to <lest~oy the Amalekites. Every believer in Christianity knows as well a~ he ~nows anything- that G?d commands_ him to repent of sin (Acts xvii. 30) ; ro heheYc m the Lord JeRus Chnst for salvation from the curse of sin (John xr. ;--;J ; Acts xvi. 30, 31; 1 John v. 10-13); to exterminate all evil-all Amalekites-.- from the soul (Rom. viii. 13; 1 Thess. iv. 3; 1 Pet. i. 16); o.nd to submit heart "·ill, and intellect to the authority of Christ (Matt. xi. 29; John v. 23 •1 Acts x'. 3G; Phil. ii. 10, 11). Now is it not a fact that men often prefer not to do this? They do not dispute in formal terms the authority of God, any more than did Saul; yet for reasons known to themselves they prefer not to repent of sin, not to commit themselves to Christ, not to cast out sinful desires, not to. bow in all things to the yoke of the Saviour. It is possible that reasons may be forthcoming· to, at least, show that there is no violent antagonism. But when carefully looked at it is nothing but the positive setting up of man's will as a better, more-to-be-desired will than ·God's; it is positive rebellion of a subject against a king-a setting· at nought of the supreme authority of the universe. II. M.!N'S ESTBIATE OF THE SIN OF REDELLION IS IN STRIKING CONTRAST WITH Gon's. Whether Saul was self-persuaded that he had not committed any sin (ver. 13) is, as we shall yet see, doubtful. The probability is that he was conscious of uneasiness, but had no true conception of the enormity of his sin. His feeling was that he had no wish to disown the authority of God, that it was a mere matter of -detail, that his general conduct was exemplary, and that he followed the inner light which seemed just then to indicate another way of ultimately and ·substantially carrying out the command. So do men tone down their sins and regard them as venial. The prophet's wordB reveal God's estimate of the sin of disobedience. , It is .the cardinal sin (vers. 22, 23). It cuts at the root of all authority. It is the assertion -of a power and a wisdom over againBt the power and wisdom of the Eternal. It makes man a worshipper of himself rather than of God. It ignores the solemn-truth that we "cannot serve two masters." It does dishonour to him whose command- ments are holy, just, and good. It sows in the moral sphere seeds of evil, which, taking root, must widen the aberration of man from God.• It claims for the desires and dim light of a sinful creature a higher value in the determination of actions than is to be attached to tl1e purposes of the All-Perfect. To render its heinous clrnracter more clear, the prophet asserts that it renders useless and.even wicl:ed the 1nost solemn acts of worship (ver. 22; cf. Isa. i. 11-15). No profession of religion; !IO self-denial in surrender of choice property; no conformity with venerable cus- ton,~, or obedience in other particulars, will for a moment be accepted in lieu ?f full and implicit obedience to the clear commands which God lays O? man b~th m relation to himself and mankind. God will have no reserve of our will. Agam, to :n,cke it more impressive, the prophet assures Saul that this rebellion is in its evil '1at,1Te eq11al to the sins which men are led by education and custom to regard as the m1Jst abominable and indejensi.ble. "As the sin of witchcraft, . . . . as ii,iquity and idolatry." There are men still who shrink in horror at heathenism and vile arts. Are they prPpared to believe that not to obey the clear command to repent, to 'Oil. xv. 1-35.J THE FlltST UOOK OF SAMUEL. 275