God's Standard of Obedience for Leaders - I Sam 15

(This was posted as an assignment, I know it is not a book review. It is just a message presented for class, that was supposed to be posted online, as a requirement)

 Is Your Obedience Half Full or Half Empty?             

 There is a choice to be totally obedient or partially obedient. But I believe that Scripture is clear that total obedience is God’s standard for His leaders. So can we find the answer to the question, "Does God Accept Partial Obedience?"          

What is the last command you had to obey? There is a choice to be totally obedient or partially obedient. That choice comes up every time we are presented with obedience.

My Dad always told me to check the oil. Every stop, every chance, always check the oil. Maybe it was the fact that our cars were old and suspect to oil leaks, maybe it was because oil was important. But the message was always the same. Check the oil. So I did, sometimes, when I remembered.

            Of course before any trip, I would check the oil. One afternoon before my trip home for the weekend, when I checked the oil, I didn’t really see oil on the dip stick, per se. This was the first time I had encountered a dry dipstick. I knew that this was something that my dad would have to deal with. I, however, had a to speak at a youth rally back at my home church. The oil part would be dealt with later, I had to get to the Lord’s house.

            You can probably guess what happened. My father’s 1979 Mercedes 240d at mile marker 142 on I80W gave up the ghost in a series of violent screaches and a final screeching halt. (I did manage to get it into neutral in time to coast to the side of the road.  My relationship with my father has never quite been the same since that weekend. Apparently just CHECKING the oil was not enough, I had to follow through and get oil INTO the car. Checking was only half the battle. 

Doing something halfway was, and still is not enough when it comes to oil in my car, but what about God? He is a loving God, he looks at the heart, and after all, halfway is still part way, isn’t it? Isn’t it the thought and the heart that counts?

Scripture is not silent in terms of God’s expectations, so we must look to scripture for the answer to the question: Does God Accept Partial Obedience?

In I Samuel, God gives us a very full picture of three key figures in the transition into the transition of Israel to being a people with a king. The promised monarchy of old, promised from Abraham forward was about to be instituted.

The three characters of I and II Samuel are the key figures in this great transition. They are Samuel, Saul, and David.

First God places Samuel into the priesthood, and soon God is leading him to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. Saul, however would prove to be a failure, and by the time we reach I Samuel 15, Saul has been nailing the last three nails into the coffin of his kingship. In Chapters 13 and 14, he had shown himself to be impatient and proud. In chapter 15, he would be given one more chance to past the test of leadership; and in the process, he will discover if partial obedience would count for anything when it came to God.

 This Chapter contains four truths concerning his standard of obedience. The first truth we see, is that God communicates His standards for obedience. Look at the first 3 verses of I Samuel chapter 15.

I.                    God Communicates His Standards for Obedience (I Sam 15:1-3)

Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. ² Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. ³ Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

One of the great truths about Scripture and contained in Scripture is the truth that God speaks to man. He is not silent, he communicated. We serve a God who communicates with His children.

God here, through Samuel, graciously reminds Saul of where he came from, and what that implied. Saul had been anointed by God to be the king, and that meant he was under God.  going to use Saul to punish Amalek. God wanted Saul to go, smite, and utterly destroy them.

How could God make a command like this? He is God. The term for utterly destroy, was the word for dedicating, or even sacrificing for the Lord. It was to be a total destruction, as was commanded for a holy war, something only God could command. God was specific. He did not need to clarify, but he did. The children of Israel were to slay men, women, infants, sucklings, ox, and sheep, can all the animals. This was God’s command, a complete removal of Amalek. God had used Balaam to prophecy this in Numbers 24, when Balaam said in verse 20, “…Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish forever.”

This kind of warfare, called ḥerem, was practiced only against peoples who had come under the Lord’s severest judgment (e.g., Jericho). It required the destruction of all people and possessions captured in battle. The task was a solemn and holy one since those Israelites who carried it out functioned as the Lord’s agents of judgment.^[1] God was about to use Saul as the instrument of destruction.

Not only did God communicate His standards for obedience to Saul, he also provided the means for obedience.

II.                  God Provides the Means for Obedience (I Sam 15:4-9)

How exactly did God provide the MEANS for obedience? We see that first he provided the resources for battle. Look at verses 4 and 5.

a.      Resources for Battle - 4-5

⁴ And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley

Saul gathered the people together. So this is obviously Saul’s doing, right? Well, not really. Who’s people were these? They were the children of God. In verse 2 Samuel had called God the LORD of hosts. He is the God of armies. This army was God’s army.

It would have been very easy for Saul to think this was his army. Imagine standing before an army of 210,000! The sights, the sounds, the war cries; all would have awakened the warrior spirit in Saul. God provided a vast army to carry out HIS command. To carry out His task of the destruction of Amalek.

Not only did God provide the resources for battle, he provided the victory.

b.      Victory in Battle - 6-9

⁶ And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷ And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. ⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed 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 fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly

After fulfilling a promise concerning the Kenites, who we understand from Judges 1:16, were the desendents of Jethro, Saulattacks and smites the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, against Egypt.

Saul’s attack extended “all the way from Havilah to Shur” (v. 7), an expression apparently referring to the entire geographic extent of Ishmaelite territory (cf. Gen 25:18), a distance stretching from Arabia to Egypt. Such a widespread attack would have been technically possible due to the large numbers of Israelite troops mustered. This massive, sweeping attack was successful, and since no prisoners were to be taken, “all” Amalekites who were caught were “totally destroyed with the sword” (v. 8)—all, that is, except Agag, the Amalekite king (v. 9).^[2]

Saul was victorious! The battle belonged to HIM! Right? Saul was in charge of these mighty men. No, every victory and every defeat is of the Lord. In just two chapters, we would see young David proclaiming, 

“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle [is] the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.” (I Sam 17:47)

Verse Nine, however gives us a second problem to be dealt with. Saul had achieved, by the Lord of hosts, a great victory. He was an instrument of God! BUT…Agag and the best were spared. He WOULD NOT utterly destroy them. How would God respond?


We do not have to wait for the response. It becomes clear that God rejects partial obedience.

III.                God Rejects Partial Obedience  (I Sam 15:10-31)

a.      God Responds - 10-12

Look at verses 10-12.

¹⁰ Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, ¹¹ It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. ¹² And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal

THEN came the word of the Lord to Samuel. God repented. The only other occasion in Scripture where the Lord stated that he was “grieved” (from nḥm) over peoples’ actions was when he observed the wickedness of humanity that led to the universal flood^[3] 

Gen 6:7 “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.^[4]”

            What was the cause of this repenting? Saul had not performed God’s commandments. Now, Saul HAD performed SOME of God’s commandments, but those are not mentioned. It is as if partial obedience was the same as no obedience at all.

Samuel, however, did not show the same emotional response. The text says it grieved Samuel, but this is the only time we see this word used lie this. Every other time it is used to describe anger, with words used in the KJV such as ‘hot, wroth, angry, incensed, and burning.’ We could rightfully say, Samuel was hot, and he brought it to the Lord all night. But a lack of a good night’s sleep did not keep Samuel from doing what needed to be done. Much like Abraham to sacrifice his son of promise, Samuel got up early to proclaim the end of the kingship of Saul.  But Samuel had to do a bit of wandering to find him. Saul was not where the prophet had expected to find him. Instead the king had set out on a journey that took him initially deep into the Negev to Carmel (Khirbet ’el-Kirmil, seven miles south of Hebron), where he “set up a monument in his own honor” (v. 12) commemorating the recent victory he had achieved in the area. Yet Saul had not remained there; instead, he had gone “down to Gilgal,” an important military staging site that was also of great religious significance at this time (cf. 1:15; 7:16; 10:8; 13:4–15). The sequencing of Saul’s actions—performing acts of self-interest prior to those of devotion to God—was reflective of his entire life.^[5]

Finally, Samuel finds Saul, and the fireworks begin.

b.      Accusation and Excuses - 13-15

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. ¹⁴ And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? ¹⁵ And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Explanation and Argumentation

            I love this scene…when Samuel finally reaches of Saul’s location, he has a , and as we will learn, fateful, final confrontation with the errant king. As on the earlier occasion (13:10), Saul initiated the dialogue with a blessing.^[6]

            But wait, what is that noise? Oh, well, THEY brought them. Yet in verse 9 we saw that Saul and the people had brought them. And, it was ok, the disobedience had good intentions. The rest were destroyed. We had a BETTER plan!

            Samuel would bring all this into perspective for Saul

c.       Explanation and Obedience Claim - 16-21

¹⁶ Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. ¹⁷ And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? ¹⁸ And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. ¹⁹ Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? ²⁰ And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal

Explanation and Argumentation

            “Saul”, Samuel said, “you went from being little in your eyes to big in your eyes.” And when who sent Saul out? The Lord. He set the standards, and you did not meet that standard, and did what? EVIL. What is partial obedience? Evil.

            Saul tries to explain and tries to make excuses. I obeyed, I went the right path, He TECHNICALLY didn’t say anything about kings…and the PEOPLE took the spoil. We did it for HIM! For the LORD thy God in Gilgal. (I won’t even get to the significance of the use of the Lord THY God.)

The response, like before is swift and clear.

d.      God’s Response and Overview- 22-23

²² And Samuel said,

Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams.

²³    For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,

      And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

      Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,

      He hath also rejected thee from being king.

Obedience is BETTER than sacrifice, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. (a sin which Saul WOULD commit later, as seen in Chapter 28). Stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry (another sin that Saul would be connected with, when we read chapter 19), you set yourself up as above God. Partial obedience is REJECTION of the word of the LORD Jehovah, and REJECTION of Jehovah results in rejection BY Jehovah.

            Saul, here cries out as he comprehends the consequences.

e.      Saul’s Cries – 24-31

                                                              i.      For Forgiveness – 24-26

²⁴ And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. ²⁶ And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

                                                            ii.      For Honor – 27-31

²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. ²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. ²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. ³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. ³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.

Explanation and Argumentation

Saul cries for forgiveness, and for the presence of the Lord through the presence of Samuel. Saul knew what was about to happen; Samuel would leave. And Saul was right, Samuel would leave as the Lord had rejected Saul as king. But first Samuel make a striking statement…the Strength of Israel – the ETERNAL one of Israel, nēṣaḥ, “the Everlasting One” (NIV “the Glory”) will not lie nor repent…he should not repent.  Basically, he is saying that God should not have to do with anyone what He had to do because of Saul.

Saul GRABS Samuel as Samuel turns to go. And the Illustration goes into effect. Saul BEGS for one last honor, and something happens, that we miss sometimes. In mercy, Samuel turns again, and after this declaration as to the irrevocable character of the determination of God to reject Saul, Samuel yielded to the renewed entreaty of Saul, that he would honour him by his presence before the elders and the people, and remained whilst Saul worshipped, not merely “for the purpose of preserving the outward order until a new king should take his place” (O. v. Gerlach),

 - but also to carry out the ban upon Agag, whom Saul had spared.^[7]

IV.               God Finds Someone Else Committed to Obedience (I Sam 15:32-35)

a.      Samuel Executes Agag – 32,33

³² Then said Samuel, Bring you hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. ³³ And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

Explanation& Argumentation

            Oh the wonder of scripture. From, “Bring me Agag” to “Agag spoke to him delicately.” Samuel was still a man of emotion, and conviction. One of my favorite statements in the Bible from my teenage years, “Samuel hewed, or hacked, or divided up, Agag to pieces.”

            How did he do it? Before the Lord in Gilgal. Obedience is to be done before the Lord.

And the relationship was over, Samuel, at this point, separates from Saul.

b.      Samuel Separates from Saul – 34,35

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Explanation& Argumentation

TRANSITION: So what can we learn from this story?

Narrative Conclusion: God rejects partial obedience

There are a four things that help us understand what God expects out of us in terms of obedience. First,

1.      God Communicates His Standards for Leaders

a.      Application – He Demands Full Obedience

God clearly spells out his demands in leadership. It is found all throughout scripture in narratives, directives, and even specific leadership standards for the offices of the local church.  

b.      Illustration - God makes His standards clear to us. All Christian leaders are ‘under God’ just as Saul was.

2.      God Provides the Means to Meet His Standards for Leaders

a.      Application – He Provides for Full Obedience

b.      Illustration – God has given us all things we need. He supplies our needs, he gives us Scripture, the HS, a way of escape from temptation.

We are not to do it on our own. We come to Him for grace and mercy daily.

3.      God Rejects Partially Standards for Leaders

a.      Application – He Rejects Anything other than Full Obedience

b.      Illustration – Like stated in the intro, halfway was not enough

4.      God Replaces Those who do not meet His Standards for Leaders

a.      Application – He Finds Someone who will display Full Obedience

b.      Illustration – Neither my father or I ever used that 1979 Mercedes 240d again. It had to be replaced, it was disqualified for use do to the internal damage done…

Conclusion:

Who would do the work of God now?

I Sam 16:1 - And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons^[8]

God would provide a king, just like he would in our eternal king, King Jesus.

TOTAL Obedience is God’s Standard for His Leaders