Saul
came to Gilgal as directed by Samuel. Remember the instruction to him found in
1 Samuel 10:8 was “…you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I
will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace
offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what
you should do.” He took the instruction seriously and waited for seven
days. We won’t be wrong to think that he was very anxious with every passing
minute. Few things must have filled his mind every moment of the seven days.
When would Samuel arrive? When and what would be the Philistines’
next move? What’s on the mind of the men with him? For with each passing day,
the number of men that came with him kept decreasing for they were leaving because
of fear. When seven days had passed, and Samuel was still nowhere in
sight. Saul must have felt justified to call for the burnt offering and peace
offering. So 1 Samuel 12:9 tells us that he asked for the burnt offering
and the peace offerings and offered them himself.
Dramatically,
the moment he had finished offering the burnt sacrifice and peace offering
sacrifice, Samuel turned up. He should have known better. He was ordained
as a king and not a priest. Offering burnt sacrifice and making peace offering
was not his to do. He had violated the instruction of the Lord. Humanly
speaking, we can sympathize, yes, even empathize with the dilemma
Saul was confronted with. But nobody says that obeying God is an easy thing.
Trusting God must never be because it is convenient to do so. We must learn to
obediently trust Him regardless, and especially when the circumstance
confronting us is most tough.
Verse
10 tells us that “As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold,
Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him and to greet
him.” Though we don’t know how Samuel’s countenance looked like, we can imagine
how quickly the smirk look on Saul’s face evaporated. In a firm and no-nonsense
voice, the prophet asked, “What have you done?” Saul then responded saying
in verses 11-12, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and
that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines
were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will
come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered
the burnt offering.” Saul’s excuse was, “What option do I have? You didn’t
come on time and the people were scattering. Besides I was not about to go out
and fight the Philistines without seeking God’s favor.” All these excuses tell
us how self-centered a person he was, in seeking the approval of men because
the people were scattering. He offered the sacrifices to try and retain the men
with him. What Saul did leaves us with the lesson that it is best to have
the approval of God than the approval of man, no matter how threatening our
circumstances in life may be.
The crux of the whole matter was that Saul did not obey the commandment of God and
this is a foolish thing. We can imagine Samuel pointing his bony finger at him
saying, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment
of the Lord your God,
which He commanded you, for now, the Lord would
have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your
kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has
sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler
over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” Saul had committed a serious
mistake and had miscalculated. Obeying God should never be a casual thing.
Though the act expected of us may seem foolish, the importance of obeying God
with all seriousness can never be overstated. Trusting God means
holding on to what He had said, even when the circumstance appears unfavorable.
God wants us to be His obedient people, and such we must be!
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