1 Samuel 15 shows us the God never forgets what he has declared. He has made promises that are immutable, and declarations that will always be fulfilled.
1 Samuel 15
Samuel says to Saul:
‘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. 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.’
1 Samuel 15:2-3
This enemy of God was going to be wiped out utterly. How dare they come against God’s people in their moment of weakness? The right moment was here to rectify that irrepairable breech.
Remember in Exodus 17:18?
‘Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim’
And Deuteronomy 25:17-19?
‘Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when you were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou waste faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it’.
Wow. You do not want to be an enemy of God.
Now Saul is being given the task, deal with it utterly – nothing left. Wipe them out.
The story unfolds in Chapter 15 until you get to verse 9 and you want to smack Saul on the head. Because he decides to save the things which were good. Can people never learn to obey God?
How many of us do this? We reason that there is some good there, some value? Something that we gain, even as we rid ourselves of the ‘bad’?
Samuel hears the word of the Lord! God is sorry that he ever let Saul be king. Samuel was so grieved, he cried to the Lord all night.
He calls Saul, and Saul brags ‘look what I did, I’ve done everything God said’ and Samuel replies ‘what are the noises of sheep I hear?’. And Saul justifies himself saying, ‘all these valuable things we have kept so we can offer them to the Lord…’.
God, do we make the same mistakes today? Do we fear the Lord? Can we obey him?
Saul even tries to blame the people for doing it.
But Samuel states that stunning ageless phrase:
‘Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…For rebellion is as the win of witchcraft and stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast reject the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.’
1 Samuel 15:22-23
Saul looks for forgiveness. But it’s too late. The consequences are pronounced.
It’s such a sad chapter. Makes me wonder how many times things like this still happen between God and the people he has chosen for a task.
But spectacularly God’s identity as the ‘Strength of Israel’ is stated. It’s a beautiful name for Him.
1 Samuel 16
God is not lingering in sadness. He shakes up Samuel, get going, I have provided me a king!
Samuel knows Saul will kill him if he hears about what’s about to take place, but God gives him a strategy. The Holy Spirit always gives a strategy to outwit the enemy. That’s why we all need to walk in the spirit and not in the wisdom of men!
Chapter 16 we see how God calls and anoints David as king.
‘For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart’
1 Samuel 16:7
Again, God is defying the logic of humans, and their concepts of what ‘leadership’ looks like. He calls whom he calls. He anoints whom he anoints. The Spirit of the Lord will bear witness to that anointing.
But sadly, simultaneously, we see that the spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
And then we see how David is favoured, and how his worship to God helps refresh Saul.
The heart is everything. The anointing is everything.
