269
August, 1944
Internat ional Lesson Com meritary * September 3,1944
Outline and Exposition B. B. S utcliffe Points and Problems H omer A . K ent Golden T ext Illustration A lan S. P earce Blackboard Lesson G retchen S ibley Children s Division M ildred M . C ook Object Lesson • E lmer L. W ilder
S A U L REJECTED 1 S amuel 13, 15, 3l
Gen. 36:12; Ex. 17:8-14; Deut. 25:17-19; Rom. 8:13; 13:14; Gal. 5:24, 25; 6:8). But he spared the best of them, partic ularly their king, Agag. Then Samuel was told that God would depose Saul as king. Saul lied to Samuel saying, “I have performed the commandment of the 'Lord” (v. 13). But when convicted by the lowing of the cattle, he shifted the blame to the people, saying, “ they have” disobeyed the Lord. It was a confession of his failure as king when he allowed the people, over whom he should rule, to rule him. Moreover, he tried to excuse his dis obedience by saying to Samuel that the people had spared the “best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God” (v. 15). But .God had ordered the destruction of the best along with the worst, and such a sacrifice as Saul proposed would be only an abomination in God’s sight. II. S aul R ejected G od ’ s W ay (16-21) Saul was told it was the Lord, not Samuel, with whom he had to deal primarily, and the Lord had something now to say to him (v. 16). He was reminded of the grace that had made him king, and had placed him at the head of the nation (v. 17). It was grace that chose him as king when he was “little in thine own sight . . . and the Lord anointed thee king overlsrael.” Moreover, he was reminded of the Lord’s command, and was charged BLACKBOARD LESSON
I Samuel 15:1& Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, II 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. And It grieved Samuel; and he cried Unto the Lord all night. v 12 And when Samuel rose early to meet . Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gllgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, BlesSed be thou of the^-Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which 4 hear? 15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekltes; for the people spared the best of thè sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17. And Samuel said, ’ When thou wast little In thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? 18 And the Lord sent thee on a Journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? 20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekltes. 21 But the people took of the spoih sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacri fice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as # great delight in burnt offerings and sacri fices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and tò hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witch craft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. LESSON T E X T : 1 Sam. 15:10-23 , GOLDEN T E X T : “ For rebellion Is as the sin of witchcraft, and .stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast re jected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king“ (1 Sam. 15: 23). D E V O TIO N A L READ ING : Psa. 15. Outline and Exposition I. S aul R efused G od ’ s W ill (10-15) S AUL HAD been told to “ go and smite Amalek, and utterly de stroy all that they have, and spare them not” (v. 3). Amalek came from Esau,' and is a type of the “flesh,” which must be utterly destroyed (cf.
G ladys B owman , I llustrator Lesson material is based on outlines of International Sunday School Lessons, copyrighted by International Council of Reli gious Education; used by per mission. with disobedience of the Lord (vs. 18, 19). But all that Samuel said had no ef fect upon Saul (vs. 20, 21). He persist ed in making excuse for his own dis obedience by again shifting the blame to the people, saying, "l have obeyed . . . But the people . . .” He implied that he had performed all the Lord told him to do. But what God had commanded he had not done. Such disobedience followed by such excuses revealed that Saul’s heart was opposed to God’s way. This is ever the way of human nature; Saul excused himself by blaming “the people” ; Adam blamed “ the woman whom thou gav- est” ; we blame our circumstances. But at the end, “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). III. S aul R esisted G od ’ s W ord (22, 23) Nothing ever can take the place of obedience to God. Disobedience is re bellion against God’s direct word. Even with human laws, the highest duty is to obey. IJt is so with the soldier in the armed forces, the workman in the factory, the citizen in the communi ty; everywhere obedience is the first duty. And concerning God’s com mands, we know they are “for our good always” (Deut. 6:24). Saul presents a picture of the nat ural man resisting God’s commands. He is also a picture of that sinister cpming “wicked one.” It is a solemn thing for the unsaved perspn to resist the overture of love that God sends out; it is rebellion, as the sin of witch craft, and, when persisted in, becomes settled idolatry. »
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