1 Sam. 15:9 tells us, “But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”
Why is this significant? Because of the Lord’s command that came before it. The Lord had expressly told Saul “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them but kill… [all the animals and people].” 1 Sam. 15:3
Sounds harsh and a bit extreme, doesn’t it? At least from our human point of view. From God’s perspective, with the whole context, though, we can understand why He commanded this:
First, the evil among the Amalekites was too far gone to redeem, and so the “whole thing” had to be removed. Think of cancer. When you or a loved one gets that dreaded diagnosis and the surgeon operates to remove it, what do we want to hear? – “They got ALL of it OUT!” Destroyed. No more destructive and evil cancer. No more threat.
Come on, we even throw out potatoes, onions, bananas, etc., that are “all rotten”!
Second, the Lord also had a specific reason—“’I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way…’” 1 Sam. 15:2 When you mess with God’s people, you mess with God!
Third, that word “devote” to destruction in v.3 means “set apart as an offering to the Lord”. In other words, “Don’t keep any for yourselves.” Is this because the Lord is an “all-mine” selfish hog? No! It’s because He knew how dangerous anything or anyone from there was for the Israelites. Poison, no matter how good it looks or smells, still kills people.
Which brings us back to Saul and the Israelites. Notice what they spared—“…everything that was good”—the king and the best animals and other stuff! The “despised”, “weak”, “worthless”, people and stuff they destroyed.
Uh oh. Who decides what’s good enough to keep or destroy? People? As noted above, our judgment is faulty. What looks good and beneficial to us is often just “beautiful” sin! You can put lipstick on a pig, but don’t go kissing it!
Then, how many of us, like Saul, use the excuse, “We kept it to sacrifice to the Lord!”? 1 Sam. 15:15 No matter how good sin looks or feels it can never be “sacrificed” this way. There’s no such thing as giving “the best” of wrong and sinful thinking and action to Him. Imagine a mafia godfather tithing from the proceeds of his drug-dealing and gambling profits. What kind of offering is that?
Every time we insert a “but” into our obedience it becomes partial obedience. And partial obedience is DIS-obedience. Parents, we all know this. “I cleaned part of my room, mom. Just not the part with…”! “I ate one fourth of my vegetables. Thought I’d save the rest for…”!
Here’s another excuse we use to convince ourselves we obeyed when we really didn’t—selective hearing/memory concerning the instructions. Note what Saul told Samuel when Samuel asked him why he didn’t obey the voice of the Lord— “’I have obeyed…I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me… (lists what he did).” 1 Sam. 15:19-20
The problem is what He DIDN’T do, because of his selective hearing. I can picture Samuel in modern times asking Saul, “What part of ‘destroy ALL’ did you not understand?!”
This led to another big “but” we all use to excuse ourselves—blaming someone else for the parts of obedience that we didn’t do. After Saul realizes he’s “busted”, he continues with “BUT the people took of the spoil… the best… devoted to destruction, to sacrifice…” 1 Sam. 15:21
In other words, “It’s THEIR fault the job wasn’t done right/completely!” Have we ever said this to pass the buck of blame? Who hasn’t?
This reminds me of when I was growing up. Our oldest sister had her own room, which she was completely responsible to keep clean. She had no one else to blame if it was found messy upon inspection. She knew it, and so did the rest of the family. Clear, and therefore simple.
My middle sister and I (the youngest) shared a room, which meant shared responsibility to keep clean. Not so clear, therefore not so simple, when it came to whose fault it was when my mom came into our room to inspect it.
Every week followed the same script, with a little variation:
Mom— “This room looks like a cyclone struck it!”
Middle Sister— “That’s because Julie’s stuff is all over the place!” Or, “That’s all Julie’s stuff!”
Mom— “I don’t care whose it is, this mess needs to be cleaned up!”
It never occurred to me to contest my older sister’s declaration of where the “strewn debris” in our room from the “cyclone” had come from. She had seniority, spoke with authority, so I assumed she was right.
Until one day I decided to check. Upon investigation I discovered that most of the mess was actually my sister’s. Knowing that attempting to argue that point would be futile, I just cleaned up my part of the mess.
That’s when the script changed:
Mom— “This room looks like a cyclone struck it!”
Middle Sister— “Oh, that’s all Ju… uh… oh…”
Mom (smiling)– “Clean it up.” (to my sister). Julie, you can go out and play.”
I don’t remember if my sister tried to make up for her blunder by offering something to my mom to win back favor with her. Probably not. First, because she wasn’t the type of person to do that. Second, because we kids all knew our mom loved us no matter what and we couldn’t lose favor with her. She only, rightly, asked for our obedience to her as our mom.
Too bad King Saul didn’t realize this about the Lord. Otherwise he wouldn’t have felt the need for so many “but”s.
And Samuel wouldn’t have had to reply to his attempt to substitute sacrifice for obedience–
“…to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” 1 Sam. 15:22
Why? Because when we listen and follow the Lord, we show our hearts are really His and our allegiance to Him is more than just lip-service.
It’s not about sacrifice. It’s not about what someone else did or does. It’s about us and our own obedience. That comes from really listening to what the Lord tells us to do and doing it, completely. With no “if”s, “and”s, or “but”s, big or small!
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