"Oh that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways!" saith the Lord. Psalm 81:1313Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! (Psalm 81:13). It is He alone who knows the loss incurred by the disobedience of His people.
Saul proved a failure. There is something pathetic in the way the Lord addressed Samuel: "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."
There was nothing ambiguous in the commandment given to the king about his dealings with the Amalekites. He was to "utterly destroy" them and their possessions. Many years before, Jehovah had said that the remembrance of Amalek was to be blotted out from under heaven (Deut. 25). Although Jehovah is slow to execute judgment-enters this place with reluctant step-the time was now come. The cup was full. Saul, instead of doing as he was commanded, spared Agag, the Amalekite king, and also spared "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." Disobedience pure and simple. It was in vain for him to assure Samuel that he had performed the commandment of the Lord-the bleating of the sheep gave the lie to the statement. "And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" 1 Sam. 15:1414And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? (1 Samuel 15:14).
If in another day the dumb ass spake and forbade the madness of the prophet, so at this time the poor sheep in their innocent bleating convicted the disobedient king, who, instead of judging himself, made excuses, and meanly blamed the people. This was useless, for the Spirit of God says, "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep," etc. The falling king pleaded that these latter had been spared to sacrifice unto the Lord-a lame excuse, and he was assured in solemn tones by the prophet, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
Saul was here plainly shown to he a complete failure, utterly coming short in laying hold of the mind of the Lord. He had been weighed and found wanting. If previously he failed as to prayer, he then completely failed as to the commandment of the Lord. The prophet reminded him of the time when he was little in his own eyes, and clearly indicated that he was so no longer. His magnanimity, as he supposed, might have been shown in the sparing of Agag. It, however, ought not to take us long to decide what grave results must follow magnanimity being shown to the devil. Moreover, the Lord wants His people's obedience more than their property.
With Saul there was no self judgment. He was a great contrast to his successor. When David was in a strait he said, "Let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man." 1 Chron. 21:1313And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. (1 Chronicles 21:13). There is nothing in this about King David. Nothing! Since Saul had but the approval of the people, little care had he for the approval of the Lord. This is only too plainly seen in the desire he expressed, "Honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people."
Saul, however, was allowed to continue for some time, as many others are. But the link was broken, the die cast, the tree fallen. Rejected of the Lord and forsaken of Samuel, he gradually sank lower and lower. It is possible that some readers may find difficulty in the saying of the Lord that it bad repented Him that He had set up Saul to be king, especially when put beside the statement used elsewhere (v. 29), "The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent." Neither indeed does He; that is to say, He never repents of His original purpose. When man's responsibility is in question, then the matter is different and easily understood.
God knows everything, but His knowledge does not clash with the responsibilities of men. For instance, God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh to cry to the people of that city, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The Ninevites repented, judgment was averted, and the Ninevites were spared. Saul's sparing of Amalek meant that they only lived to plunder and destroy later on (see 1 Sam. 30). So much for the result of his magnanimity!
W. R. C.