And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
Saul came back from the war with Amalek claiming he had obeyed — while the animals God told him to destroy bleated behind him, spared, he said, for sacrifice. Samuel's reply asks what God delights in, and it costs Saul his throne.
Sacrifice Cannot Cover Disobedience
Saul offered God something costly instead of the one thing God asked for. One writer treats Samuel's answer as a rule for every believer, not just for a king:
C. H. Mackintosh"What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?" A searching question! It is useless to fall back on the plausible matter of "sacrifice to the Lord." A miserable resource for disobedient hearts! As if the Lord would accept a sacrifice from someone walking in open rebellion against His commandment. How many since Saul's day have tried to cover a disobedient spirit with the plausible cloak of "sacrifice to the Lord." … The Lord does not seek offerings, but obedience: the submissive heart and the yielding spirit will glorify Him more than the cattle on a thousand hills. … God does not look at the amount of the sacrifice, but at the spirit from which it springs.
Religion Used As A Disguise
Samuel's answer sounds harsh until you weigh what kind of disobedience he was facing:
F. B. HoleDisobedience that springs from carelessness or indifference is bad. Disobedience that is sheer wilfulness is worse. Worst of all is disobedience that springs from wilfulness and then dresses itself in a cloak of pretended piety and zeal for the Lord's interests. That is what Saul was now guilty of, and this is why God met it through Samuel's lips in such strong and drastic terms.
The Words Weighed
Samuel's next sentence names disobedience as rebellion, and rebellion as witchcraft — divination, the consulting of hidden powers. That comparison sets worship without obedience in shocking company, and it is not an isolated idea in Scripture:
H. L. RossierSacrifice without obedience — a solemn truth — is no better than idol worship. The first mark of faith is obedience. Paul had received his apostleship "to bring about the obedience of faith … among all the nations" (Rom. 1:5). And there are many things God prefers to sacrifice. "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice," He says, "the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6). "Go and learn," the Lord said to the Pharisees, "what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice'" (Matt. 9:13).
Why It Cost Him The Kingdom
The penalty seems harsh until you remember the office Saul held:
A J PollockGod thought otherwise. A principle was at stake. How could Saul rule a kingdom if he did not obey God? How could he expect to be obeyed if he himself did not obey? If his subjects could improve on Saul's decrees, where would his authority be? Saul's idea that he could improve on God's decree was unpardonable. In one blow he destroyed his kingdom.
One Broken Link
Saul's story does not stop at the spared cattle. It ends years later with the king consulting a medium. One writer reads the two scenes as one story:
Samuel RidoutSamuel's solemn words to Saul could stand as the heading over this whole account: "Rebellion is as the sin of divination." Saul had spared the spoil of Amalek against the Lord's commandment. The two parts, so far apart in time and in outward character, are really one. On the day he failed to wipe out Amalek, Saul never imagined where it would lead. The cattle he spared "to sacrifice to the LORD" — in disobedience to His word — would develop into the incantations of a woman with a familiar spirit. We do not realise the unity that underlies all evil. When one link of obedience to God is cut, the soul puts itself into Satan's hands. So it was with our first parents. To disobey God is to listen to Satan.
The Obedience God Delights In
The verse does not condemn sacrifice. It puts sacrifice below obedience — and in Christ the two come together:
J. N. DarbyGod took no pleasure in those sacrifices. In contrast, Jesus Christ presented Himself to God to do His will. That will required a sacrifice that could take away sin. It is beautiful to see Jesus, on coming into the world, presenting Himself to obey, and saying to His Father, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God."
God sets believers apart for that same obedience:
J. N. DarbyIt is the character of the believer's sanctification — sanctified to obedience and to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Summary
- Asked — God asked for one thing; Saul gave Him something else and called it worship. Sacrifice offered in place of obedience is a pretence of honouring God.
- Excused — The worst disobedience is not careless but wilful, wearing a cloak of piety. Good intentions do not improve on a command God gave.
- Named — Samuel calls it rebellion, and rebellion is like divination. Worship without obedience stands no higher than idolatry.
- Opened — Cut one link of obedience and the soul opens a door to Satan. The cattle Saul spared end in the incantations of a medium.
- Answered — Where Saul failed, Christ came saying, "Behold, I have come to do your will." In Him obedience and sacrifice meet, and He is the pattern for all who follow Him.