Better Than Sacrifice

A king stands proudly to greet the prophet. “I have done everything the Lord commanded.” And just then, from somewhere behind him, a sheep bleats.

Saul had been king for some years now. He had won battles, and he had made mistakes. Once already Samuel had warned him that impatience and disobedience would cost him. Now the old prophet came with another message, and it began with a reminder. “The Lord sent me to anoint you king. So listen to the words of the Lord.” The command concerned the Amalekites, a raiding people of the southern desert, the first nation to attack Israel after they came out of Egypt.

The command was stark. Saul was to destroy Amalek completely and take nothing for himself. No plunder. No livestock. Nothing kept back. Saul gathered a huge army. Before he attacked, he sent word to the Kenites, who lived among the Amalekites. “Get away from them, because you showed kindness to Israel when we came out of Egypt.” So the Kenites left. Then Saul defeated the Amalekites. But he did not do what he had been told. He spared Agag, their king. And he and the people kept the best of the sheep and cattle, the fattened calves and lambs, everything that was good. Only what was worthless did they destroy.

That night the word of the Lord came to Samuel. “I regret that I made Saul king. He has turned away from following me.” Samuel was deeply troubled. He cried out to the Lord all night long. Early the next morning he went to find Saul, and he was told that Saul had gone to Carmel and set up a monument there, in his own honour, and then moved on to Gilgal.

When Samuel arrived, Saul greeted him warmly. “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord's command.” Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul had an answer ready. “The soldiers brought them. They spared the best to sacrifice to the Lord your God. The rest we destroyed.” Notice the words. The soldiers did it. For your God. And the rest, we destroyed. Samuel stopped him. “Enough. Once you were small in your own eyes. Didn't the Lord make you head of the tribes of Israel? Why didn't you obey?” “But I did obey,” said Saul, and he told the story again.

Then Samuel spoke the words this story is remembered for. “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying his voice? To obey is better than sacrifice.” Because Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord had rejected him as king. At last Saul said, “I have sinned. I was afraid of the people, so I listened to them.” He begged Samuel to come back with him. As Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel looked at the torn cloth. “The Lord has torn the kingdom from you today, and given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you.” Even then, Saul's worry was how it looked. “Honour me in front of the elders.” Samuel went back with him, and Saul worshipped. Then Samuel himself put Agag to death, hewing him in pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. He went home to Ramah, and he did not go to see Saul again. But he grieved for him.

Who were the Amalekites? The Bible remembers them as a nomadic people of the desert south of Canaan. Deuteronomy says that when Israel came out of Egypt, Amalek attacked them on the road, picking off the stragglers at the back, the faint and the weary. The command in this chapter used a solemn word, herem, meaning something given over wholly to God, so that no one could profit from it. Jewish and Christian readers have long wrestled with commands like this one. What the chapter itself stresses is that Saul kept the spoil.

Better Than Sacrifice. You'll find it in First Samuel, chapter 15. Saul did part of what God asked, and then dressed up the rest as worship. But God was never after the sheep. He wanted Saul's heart. So here's the question to carry with you. Is there something God has asked of you that you've only half done?