Here are the notes and discussion questions from LightHouse last night:
1. What is worship and what does it look like for us to worship God? What’s the connection between worship, heart and obedience?
2. Someone says to you ‘I can’t read the Old Testament, the God I see there is a vengeful monster. I much prefer the God I see in the New Testament in Jesus.’ What would you say to them?
There are a number of questions which jump out as we read this passage; does God make mistakes? Is God just or harsh? We will look at those as we go through but I think this chapter shows us a contrast between the two kings of Israel; God the ultimate King and Saul his anointed regent. In Ch12 Samuel tells Saul that he is to rule Israel by obeying God here we see again that he doesn’t. God keeps his word but Saul will not follow God’s word and then we see the contrast between God’s heart and Saul’s heart.
1. A God of justice or a vengeful monster?
(1-3)Confront us with God commanding Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites, we find(3) particularly unappetising as he is told to wipe out men, women, children, infants and animals. War is one thing but children and animals, to decree total destruction, how can that be just? In our day if perpetrated by a president or king we would want to see them on trial for war crimes. So what is going on?
(2)Gives us a potted history, this is punishment for a previous evil. Turn to Exodus 17:8-16, there we see an embryonic Israel freshly redeemed from slavery in Egypt and setting out to Sinai. When suddenly the vultures are circling looking for plunder, and the vultures are the Amalekites who see Israel as easy pickings and attack. Israel win the battle but God promises that one day the Amalekites will pay for their attack. Because it isn’t just a case of one nation attacking another it is opposition to God’s people and therefore to God and his promises, plans and purposes.
Now 300 years later God will keep his word and Saul is his chosen instrument to do so. I guess another objection might be; ‘these aren’t the same people, it is unfair to wipe them out’. The Amalekites are Israel’s enemies throughout history, Exodus 17 isn’t a one off, they keep on attacking Israel in Numbers 14:45, Judges 3:13, Judges 6:3, and 10:12 and here. And they haven’t changed, look at how they are described (18)they are a wicked people and (33)Agag their king is a ruthless butcher. God is just in dealing with those who oppose him, keeping his word to judge.
(6)Provides a counterpoint which reinforces God’s justice. **Why are the Kenites spared? Because they showed kindness to the Israelites when they left Egypt. God doesn’t forget kindness to his people either.
God is just and we mustn’t be afraid of boldly contending for God’s justice. If God didn’t punish sin then he would be a monster, who would want a God like that. But God is holy and just and keeps his word not only of judgement but also his promise to bring salvation and only in that is there hope for sinners.
2. How do you spell worship? O-B-E-Y
Listening and obedience are repeated themes in this chapter. (1)Saul is called to listen, (11)God’s regret is because Saul hasn’t listened and obeyed, (13)Saul claims he obeyed, (14, 19)Samuel challenges that claim to obedience, (20)again Saul claims he obeyed, (22)Samuel pronounces God’s delight in obedience, until finally Saul recognises that he didn’t obey(24).
**How do you think of obedience? Restrictive, limiting, etc... Our society has a negative view of obedience, viewing it as slavish, joyless, drudgery, something you have to do but don’t enjoy.
But obedience in the Bible is never slavish drudgery, it’s never mechanistic, it is always a response to the love, grace and work of God, and obedience or disobedience is always a window into the heart and relationship with God. Even for Saul here he is king only because God made him king, God raised him up, empowered and equipped him to rule. His response to such amazing grace and love ought to be a heart that loves God and is keen to obey because he trusts God. As we see his actions and response to God’s word we see his heart.
God’s instructions were clear, everyone and everything was to be destroyed, yet twice in(7, 8) it is emphasized that Saul took Agag alive, and the “But”(9) highlights the partial obedience of Saul. His obedience went so far but no further and **what do they destroy and keep? They destroy whatever is despised and weak but keep whatever is best. The things it is easy to destroy they do, the things it would be costly to destroy they don’t.
Saul’s actions reveal his heart and God through Samuel confronts Saul with exactly what it reveals. Disobedience isn’t just disobedience. So what do Saul’s actions show about his heart? (11)He has turned away from God, and we know that there is never a worship vacuum, we always worship something, something always causes our actions and reactions. If it is not God that he loves, what is it?
I guess it would be tempting to conclude that it is fear of man, that after all is what Saul confesses later on, but God through Samuel takes us even deeper. (12)Gives us a clue, **what does Saul do immediately after the battle? He sets up a monument in his own honour and then goes to Gilgal to make offerings to God. That is fascinating and very deliberately recorded, he claims the offerings were for God but first stops to build a monument to his own glory.
And when Samuel confronts Saul he is quick to cut through the bluster and excuses Saul makes to get to the heart of the issue. (22-23)He contrasts God’s heart and Saul’s. God delights in obedience not external rituals, why? Because real obedience is a window to the heart whereas ritual and sacrifice can just be external actions. God delights in those who trust him and therefore obey his word because they have experienced his grace and mercy and live depending on him and his word.
(23)Is the scalpel that brutally pulls back the layers of Saul’s heart, cutting through the bluster and excuses, the claims of obedience and smug contentment with partial obedience. Partial obedience is rebellion and it is not trivial; divination is seeking to know what to do apart from God’s word and carried the death penalty! And arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. Saul in determining what is right and wrong for himself, in picking and choosing which of God’s words he would obey has revealed his heart, and God is not enthroned there Saul is. God’s word doesn’t rule Saul’s heart Saul’s word does. Saul’s heart is laid bare and exposed. He loves and worships himself that is what partial obedience shows.
What does our reaction to God’s word reveal about our hearts, about who rules, about our idols? Our obedience or disobedience is a window into our hearts never simply a reaction.
Turn to Romans 12:1-2. Here we see again this connection between obedience being a result of an awareness of God’s mercy and what he has done for us fleshed out in our everyday lives lived in light of God’s will. We don’t live life to earn mercy, we live worshipping because we have received mercy. It is not a slavish obedience but the result of living out what he has done for us and made us in Jesus. We live out our sonship, by living as loved sons who love a loving Father.
3. Beware superficial repentance
Back to 1 Samuel and it looks as if this heart surgery has worked, Saul looks to be repenting, but is he? Idols are rarely things which are torn down in a moment. Samuel’s intransigence seems unfair in(26) until we see Saul’s real motives(27-30). This is not genuine repentance his concern is his reputation and standing before the elders and people, appearance matters. Saul’s idol is still firmly in place.
And the chapter ends in tragedy, not the tragedy of Agag’s death, the real tragedy is(35). Samuel leaves and Saul never sees him again. Saul the king of Israel, God’s people, is no longer God’s king and is left without God’s word. He really is just what the people wanted a king like all the other nations, because the thing which distinguished him from them was his access to God’s word, without it he is a king just like all the other nations.
Real repentance is costly, it is not a quick decision made in a moment. Saul warns us not to pursue superficial repentance because there is no such thing, it is dangerous for us to ignore God’s word doing its surgery in our hearts. Saul’s heart is hard and it ought to be a warning us, Saul starts so well yet ends so badly – rejecting God’s word and rejected by God.
But maybe as we read this we recognise this in ourselves, those sins, those idols we seem to fight the same battle with over and over again. We hear God’s word and are convicted by it but despite trying to battle it we find ourselves committing the same sin, ripping out the same idol over and over again. Saul’s issue here is that he doesn’t listen, he pays no attention to what God’s word reveals. We do fight a battle with sin, with idols, and as God’s word comes to us and highlights it again and again the question is ‘what will we do with it?’ We need to run to Jesus. The Bible recognises this ongoing battle and doesn’t condemn us for it but exhorts us to run to Jesus and find in him all we need. Turn to Romans 7:25 Paul writes “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” He then goes on to expound what is ours in ch8, we are not condemned because of Jesus, we are given the Spirit in Jesus and he gives us life and enables us to realise that we are sons freed from slavery to sin. It is not inevitable that we sin and we need to reassert our new identity in Christ whenever we sin. When we sin, when an idol is revealed we allow God’s word to do its work in convicting us of our sin, thanking God for his new grace and mercy to us, so that we run to Jesus and repent and pray, depending on him, living by the Spirit being changed and transformed and yet not crushed but secure, thankful and joyful in him.
4. A God worth praising or one who makes mistakes?
There is an elephant in the room with this chapter. We could skip it but it’s vital we don’t. We see that Saul doesn’t repent even though he makes loads of mistakes. But we also see a God who regrets, it’s veiled in most translations because they translate the same word in(11, 29, 35) different ways. The word regret and changed his mind is the same word. So how can it be that God regrets what he has done, and yet Samuel says God doesn’t change his mind or regret?
(29)Makes the point that God’s regret is not like ours and it is in context of God’s judgement in removing the kingship from Saul, he will not regret it and change his mind, his word stands. That is emphasized by the way God is described “The glory of Israel” a title that speaks of God’s power and eternal nature. God isn’t like us and therefore even his regret isn’t like ours. God won’t change his mind about his promise and his word.
But the bigger question is has God made a mistake in making Saul king, does God get things wrong, does he have regret like we do, or is he sovereign?
That word takes us back to Genesis 6:6 “The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” We need to keep in mind God isn’t like us so his regret isn’t like ours. God doesn’t make mistakes but he does grieve over sin and what it does to his creation and his people. I think that ought to lead us to praise God, he is not indifferent to sin, what kind of God would he be if he was. His heart is deeply troubled by sin, here in 1 Samuel God is grieved over Saul’s decision to rebel and its consequences. Saul isn’t merely a pawn God moves unfeelingly around. God grieves over it but is not impotent in the face of sin, Saul’s rebellion will not derail God’s salvation plan, God doesn’t have to go to plan B, God is so sovereign that he will work through the rebellion and sin of Saul to bring another king to the throne from whom will come the Messiah who will end sin’s reign. Even as God is grieved over Saul’s sin and rebellion and its effect on his people he is at work through it to bring about an end to sin.
God doesn’t make mistakes, that ought to cause us to praise him, but he does not make us robots. That is liberating because it means if we sin we are not stepping out of God’s plan A. But it also ought to warm our hearts because God doesn’t lie or change his mind, his word stands we can trust it and live by it, God’s word is like the pole star which you can navigate life by, yet he is not indifferent to sin and its effects.
Do you see the contrast? Do you see the glory of God magnified all the more by the failings of Saul? God keeps his word and mourns sin, God will deal with sin in compassion and even in the midst of the failings and sin of his people works all things so that in Jesus sin will be decisively conquered.
1. Where are you tempted to partial obedience to God?
2. How can we ensure that God’s word does its work as a scalpel with our hearts and the sin there? How might we try to blunt its effects?
3. What is there simply to praise God for in this passage?
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