The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-08-16
SABBATH SCHOOL.
LESSON FOR
AUGUST i3.
Lesson Text, "SauI Rejected by tho
Lord" I Sam. xv., 1929
Golden Text: I Sam. xv.,
% Commentary.

sou and the last ono are chiefly occupied with
SauTs first victories over tine Phiiistines. and
also over the Moabites, Ammopites and Edo
mites; but there Is n sad statement concern
| ing Saul, and q precious ono concerning yono-
than. hi. son. 60 each Of which we ought to
refers to Saurs foolish conduct and disobedi-
euce I'm the matter Of the sacrifice Chapter
xiii, $40, which brought from Samuel tho
message: "Now thy kingdom shall not con-
tinue; the Lord hath sought Him n man after
His own heart" The second Is the noble
conduct of Jonathan and his armor bearer
and the good words: There is no restraint TO
tho Lord to save by many or by few" We
may, IL we will DC men and women after
Gods own heart, and daily profit 10y the good
word of Jonathan. Tho lesson today il tho
story of Saul's disobedencc in tho patter of
the Amalekites.
10. 'Then came the word Of tho Lord unto
Samuel" Saurs orders were: Go and smito
hmalek, and utterly destroy oil that they
have ". -; but no saved Agag tho king
alive, and spared tho best of the sheep and
oxen ". 81. Thus, as In tho matter of the
sacrifice already referred to, he did what
seemed right to himself, acting upon his own
Judgment rather than the express command
of God.
II. ut repenteth mo thot havo sot up
Saul To be king" SO in verso IS 'the Lord
rcpented that He had ma,lo Saul king over
Israeli and yet I'm verse % it Is written:
'Tho strength of Israel will not lie or rs-
pent, for Hc Is not man that He should re
pent." Compare also Num- xStff, 10; Ps.cx.,
.: Now tho question is how to reconcile
these apparent contradictions, for the con-
tradiction Is only seeming, not real. We
must first get firm ground on which
to stand, and we have It in tho fact
that II God Of Truth lisa. lxv., ,16
cannot lie; and God to v hom all His works
nrc known from the beginning of the world
tActs XIV, 1S) cannot possibly make a
mistake or bc sorry for anything He has
done: Even the treatment by Hcrod, PLATE,
the Gentilcs and Israel was only what God
hal determined before to bc done tActs iv.,
212S), but that dill not lessen the guilt of
lIerod and the others God certainly knew be-
fore hand just how Saul would turn out how
long III" would have to bear with him, and
just when He would set him aside and put
David in his place. When God, In His inflnito
| wisdom, doing what He always knew that He
would do seems to us to change His mind and
do n new thing, He is said in Scripture to re-
pent; man, on the other hand repents when hc
actually does change his mind, and does what
he had not Intended before to do.
12. Saul came 10 Carmel, and, behold no
set him up place" The Revised Version
says ho set up monument. 1t seems to have
apillar rnthcr for his own glory than the
| glory of God, rather to commemorate his
| own name than the name OF Jehovah.
l3. blessed be thou of the Lord: havo
performed the commandment of the Lord"
This was Suurs greeting when Samuel camo
to him; IL in the previous verse we see his
vanity, surely here wo SEQ hypocrisy.
II. What meaneth then this bleating OF tho
! sheep. and the lowing OF the oxenY,
All things are naked and open to the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do; ard from Him
who scarchcth heart and veins no secrets can
be hid.
IL. The people spared the best of the sheep
nnd of the oxen, to sacrifice uutn the Lord
thy God." Being corncrrI, uS we say, he now
puts the blame on the people, yet seeks to
| justify them 10y saying it was for the Lord
| but his heart is somewhat shown in his say
ing, the Lord thy God, instead "r "the Lord
| our God" 1t is evident that Saul did not
| know the Lord; he did not understand that
the Lord wants nothing tt,nt belongs to His
enemies.
H. "Stay, and I will tell thee what tho
Lord hath said to mo this night" Blessed
Samue! rho talkel with God and with
whom God talked, who sought only to know
tho mind Of God and do it; when he came to
die 1t would not be n very great change for
him, for he had from his youth lived with
Goo and served Him. Why should we not
in our daily life thns .-a!k with God, careful
above all things to know what He hath said,
that wo may believe 1t and do it.
II: when little In thine own sight,
. the Lord anointed thee king over Israel"
Had Saul only continued little in his own
sight and sought to be great In tho eyes of
tho Lord who had exalted him, oil would
have been we'll but he forgot the Ief,t and
thought Hicre of Saul and his deeds
lN. nc lFDTu ScnU tn'S on "a journey, ana
said, Go, and utterly destroy tho sinners the
Amalekites." Saul was not required to aivc
his opinion, ur make any suggestions but
only to dn as liz, was told
~. 'Ihou ddSt not obny tn" voice Of tho
Lord, " but didst evil in the sight of the
Lord" Il seems hard for some people to
realize that God sees all their actions, and
even the motives for their acticns and no.
ticcs all things; yet it is written that "The
ways of man arc before tho eyes of the Lord
4 4 a. -
''Thc eyes of the Lord are in every place be-
holding tho evil and the good" prov. W,
81; Sv., 81
20. Yea, have ob"ycd the voice Of tho
Lord and have gone the way which the Lord
sent me-" Still justifying himself, and re-
fusing to humble himself before God; making
out that Samuel was wrong and that God
was mistaken, and that he alono was right;
insisting that his view OF the case was the
correct one, and that in doing he did no
had indeed obeyed God. The time has not
gone by when people pervert the words of the
Lord tJer xiii, 3r) and yet insist that they
are right. Saul had to learn that God meant
just what He said.
81. THE people took OF the spoil,
things which should have been utterly de-
stroycd." 1t is sometimes easier To see the
sins of others than t. see our own. IIe had
previously said that it was the people who
spared the best of the sheep and oxen, hut
that they had spared them for good end,
coufesSes that the deed on the peoples part
was wrong and that sheep and oxen should
have been utterly destroyed His eyes are
opening out very slowly; II" secs now the
peoples sin. but not his own After the
piercing words of the next two verses which
close our lesson, he sees his own sin and con-
fesS,% 1t, but still pleading, an an cxtenuation
of his guilt, that he did il because he feared
the people and obcyed their voice That he
was not n truly humbl"d and pcnitent man
thpll iS y,l,n h,,
bcSs Samuel TO turn and honor him before
tn" people. Where there is true hrokenncss
of spirit, there is no honoring hut rather a
and h"art are directed to God and not to the
people.
-. "Bchold, T." obey Is better than sacri-
i"" and (" hrark"n than the fat Of rams" In
der vii, 2l-23. il is written that when God
h:"iiGht them out Of Egypt lie did not talk
tn them of burnt offerings or sacrifices, hut
Lord complains Of them at least fifteen times
ard h"arkcn i'll this verse signify, to hear and
give herd TO-
23. "B"ars" thou hast rejected the word
of IN" Lord, iie hath also rejected thee from
h"I:lg king by this rejecting the word of
,nT LORD. he had proved himself guilty of re-
lclliOn and stuhDOrnnrSs, or willfulncss md
standing in the way of the salvation of anv
but his own will.-LcsSon HciDer.