“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind…”

Contrasts…the Scriptures are full of them.  One could hardly find a more striking contrast than in 1 Samuel 15.  On a human level the primary contrast in this chapter is between the high priest Samuel, who represents God and his values, and Saul, representing the people of Israel and their values.

In verse one Samuel has a message for King Saul: Kill all the Amalekites.  In other words, let everything breathing among them breathe no more.  Everything.  It was to be total and final.  The command was clear and unmistakable.  Saul, however, somehow didn’t get it.  So he “and the army spared [king] 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” (v. 9).  The motive seems to be admirable: “The soldiers…spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God…”

Good motive or not, the difference between the command and its fulfillment was huge to say the least.  Samuel couldn’t help but noticing “this bleating of sheep in my ears…and lowing of cattle” (v. 14) and charged Saul with disobedience.  Only after he told the king that God had rejected him (v. 23) does Saul admit his sin.  But by this time it is too late.  What is it with Saul?

When you read up on the life of Israel’s first king, Saul comes across as petty, anemic and pathetic.  The reason for this and the reason Saul didn’t quite understand the Lord’s command in the first place is found in the second-to-last word in the second paragraph — your.  The Lord was Samuel’s God, not Saul’s.  You don’t find Saul saying, “my God,” or even “our God.”  He says the same thing in verse 30: “the Lord your God,” not “the Lord my God.”  That is quite revealing.  It shows why he couldn’t quite grasp the importance of literal obedience to God’s commands that show God’s values and God’s priorities.  To Saul, God was a God who is really into animal sacrifices and offerings.  God is powerful, far away and hard to understand.  “But this much I’ve figured out,” we can hear Saul saying, “He wants his people to offer animals.  So I’ve brought the best ones back from the Amalekites.  No sense using our own animals when theirs will do!”  Don’t you love such “bottom line” thinking?  But the Amalekites had become detestable in God’s eyes, thus the command to exterminate them.  Wicked and unrepentant, they would never surrender and never change.  They would not yield to God under any circumstances.  So God wanted nothing of them except their destruction.  So for Saul to return wanting to offer their animals was “like the sin of divination and…the evil of idolatry” (v. 23).

Even after his confession of sin in verse 30, notice Saul’s request of Samuel:  “But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel…”  See who his eyes are on?  “Honor me (!)”.  He seems to be saying, “OK, I’ve blown it, but I’m still king, at least for a while, so how about helping me keep my honor until God decides to act?”  Petty, anemic and pathetic.  Never do we see Saul getting his eyes off of himself and onto the Lord.  Never do we see a real relationship between God and Saul.  In fact, I wonder what God felt when “Saul worshiped the Lord” (v. 31).  It certainly brought him no joy (v. 31).

In dazzling contrast, Samuel says that God is “the Glory of Israel” (v. 29).  This is the only time this Hebrew word is used as a title of God in the whole Old Testament.  It means “sparkling and permanent brilliance.”  It speaks of power, strength, purity and hope.  This Glory of Israel “does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”  Could we finish this verse with, “like Saul”?  Or “like you or me”?  For myself, though I do enjoy a growing relationship with the Lord, I find myself too many times looking like Saul rather than either Samuel, who represents God, or God himself.  He is not a man, and I am not a god!  He is everything I’m not, and he has everything I need.  This contrast and this need summarize exactly who the Glory of Israel is and what he is for.  Unfortunately, Saul never got it.

Do you find yourself too often like Saul being petty, anemic and pathetic?  Do you realize that the Glory of Israel is your only hope and deliverance?  How is your relationship with him going?