The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 282

hud spared. And "it is no new thing for the plausib!e pretensions and prote~tations of hypocrites to be contradicted and disproved by the most plain and undeniable evidences." 2. Checks tlte multiplication of vain excuses. "Stay" (ver. 16); pro- ceed no further in thy endeavour to justify thyself. "And I will tell thee," &c. When the voice of truth, of conscience, and of God speaks, it must perforce silence all other voices. 3. Recalls the requirements of the Divine commission (ver. 18), which had been kept out of sight and evaded in the attempts made in self-defence. "Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites" (see ver. 3). 4. Reveals the '11'1,(Jtives _of outward conduct (ver. 19), viz, self-will, pride (eh. ix. 21), avarice, rapacity, 11 love of the world" (Col. iii. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 10), rebellious opposition to the will of Jehovah, and daring ambition to reign independently of him. In all thi9 Samuel sought to rouse the ~lumbering conscience of the king, and lead him to see his -sin and repent. If even yet he had fallen-upon his face and given glory to God, there might have been hope. But the reiteration of his previous assertions, his repudiation of what was laid to his charge,1and his blindly pointing to his main offence ( 11 and have· brought Agag the kin~ of Amalek ") as an evidence of his fidelity and zeal, showed that he was insem1ible to reproof. What should have humbled him served only to harden him in rebellion and obstinacy. And nothing was left but his rejection.· His excuses were- 111. UTTERLY FUTI'LE, sinful, and injurious. They-I. Failed of their intended effect. 2. Increased his delusion, and prevented the light of truth from shining into his mind. 3. Deepened his guilt in the sight of Heaven. 4. Brought upon him heavier condemnation. "As he returned with his victorious troops the prophet met him. That sorrow-stricken countenance, round which hung the long Nazarite locks, now whitened by the snows of ninety years, pale and worn with the long nighfs unbroken but ungranted intercession, might have told all. Now the thunder-cloud, which began to gather fourteen years before, breaks and peals over the sinner's head. 'Stay,' is the sad and terrible voice as it breaks through foe cobweb limits of self-deception and excuse, ' and I will tell thee what the Lord said to me tl1is night,' &c. . . . . 'The people took of the spoil,' &c.-the very utterance of dark superstition and mean equivocation. Then the lightning cawe. The prophet's voice, gathering itself up into one of those magnificent utterances which, belongi11g to another and a later dispensation, antedate the coming revelation, nnd are evidently launched forth from the open ark of the testimony of the Highest, said, ' Hath the Lord,"' &c. (' Heroes of Heh. Hist. ').-D. Vers. 22, 23. (GrLGAL.)-The sentence of 1·ejection. "Hath Jehovah (as much) delight in burnt offerings nnd sacrifice,, As in obeying the voice of Jchovnh ! Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to give heed than the fat of rams. For (like) the sin of divination is rebellion, And (like) nn idol and ternphim is obstinacy. Because thou hast rejected the word of J chovah, He bath rejected tI1eo from bei.ng king." fne cns1s has now fully arrived. The aged prophet confronts the sel£-dece1ve4 king, whom he looks upon as no longer reigning as servant of Jehovah, in conse- quence of his endeavour to rule according to his own will nnd pleasure, though in connection with the outward forms of the religion of Israel. He has striven in vnin to turn him from his way, and can hen<:eforth only regard him as a rebel against the supreme Ruler. Inasmuch aB Saul, in seeking to justify himself, showed that he estimated moral olJedience lightly in comparison with ritual worship, Samuel first of all asserts the incomparable superiority of the former to the latter. He then declares that disobedience is equivalent to he11thenism aud idolatry, against which Saul, in offering sacrifices to Jehovah and other ways, exhibited such zeal. And, finally, he pronounces, as a judge upon a criminal, the sentence of his rejection. 11 There is a poetical rhythm in the original which gives it the tone of a Divine oracle uttered by the Spirit of God, imparting to it an awful solemnity, nnd making it sink deep into the memory of the hearers in all generations" (Wordsworth). Notice--  284 THE FrnST BOOK OF SA,\lUEL. [rn. xv. 1--35.