The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-08-16
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
AUGUST lS.
Lesson Text, "snul Rejected by tho
Lord" I Sam. xv., 1O-28-
Golden Text; Sam. xv.,
2S - Commentary,


Golden Text: I Sam. xv.,
% Commentary.
The intervening chapters between this les
son and the last one are chiefly occupied with
SauIs first victories over the Phfiistines, and
also over the Moebites, Ammopites and Edo
mites; but there Is q sad statepnent concern
ing Saul, and a precious ono co4cerning yona-
than. hi. sons 8 each Of whioA, ue ought TO
give good heed for our own profit The first
refers to Saups foolish conduct and disobedf-
ence I'm tho matter Of the sacrifice Chapter
xiii, S-14), which brought from Samuel tho
message; Nov thy kingdom shall not con-
tinue; the Lord hath sought Him 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
the Lord to save by many or by tew." We
may, IL we will, be men and women after
Gods own heart, and daily profit by the good
word of Jonathan. Tho lesson to-day is the
the Amalekites.
10. Then came the word of tho Lord unto
Samuel" Saurs orders were: 'Go aud smito
Amalek, and utterly destroy oil that they
alive, and spared tho best of the sheep and
oxen ". 3D.. Thus, as In the matter of the
sacrifice already referred to- he did what
seemed right to himself, acting upon his own
Judgment rather than the express command
ii: 1T repenteth me that have set up
Saul to be king" So In verso 35 ''the Lord
repented that He had made Saul king over
Israeli" and yet In verse 90 it is written:
''The strength of Israel will not lie or re-
pent, for He Is not q man that He should re-
pent." Compare also Mum. xxtff., 10; ks.cx.,,s
4. Now the 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 1t in tho fact
that a God of Truth Gsa. lxv,, .18
cannot lie; and God to vi hom all His works
orc known from the beginning Of the world
mistake or be sorry for anything He has
done. Even the treatment by Herod, PLATE,
the Gentiles and Israel was only what God
had determined before to be done (Acts iv.,
272s). but that did not lessen the guilt Of
Herod and the others. God certainly knew be-
fore hand just how Saul would turn out how
long He 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 new thing, He is said I'm Scripture to re-
pent; man, on the other hand repents when he
| actually does change his mind, and does what
he had not intended before to do.
~. Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he
set him up a place" The Revised Version
says he set up a monument. It seems to have
| pillar rather for his own glory than the
glory of God, rather to commemorate his
| own name than the name of jehovah
13. blessed be thou Of the Lord: have
performed the commandment of the Lord"
This was Saul's greeting when Samuel came
to him; II In the previous verse we see his
vanity, surely here we SEQ hypocrisy.
IA. What meaueth then this bleating Of the
sheep. and the lowing of the oxenYn
All things are naked and open to the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do; and from Him
who searcheth heart and veins no secrets can
be hid.
IL. THE people spared the best Of the sheep
and OF the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord
thy God" Being cornered us we say, he now
puts the blame on the people, yet seeks to
Justify them by saying it was for the Lord,
but his heart Is somewhat shown I'm his say
ing, the Lord thy God, instead of 1.-THE Lord
our God" 1t is evident that Saul did not
know the Lord; he did not understand that
the Lord wants nothing that belongs to His
enemies
10; Stay, and will tell thee what tho
Lord hath said to mo this night" Blessed
Samuel who talked with God and with
whom God talked, who sought only to know
the the mind @ 9d God and an do Il: when he came to
him, for he had from his youth lived with
Goo and served Him. Why should we not
in our daily life thus walk with God, careful
above all things to know what He hath said
that we may believe 1t and do it.
IL. "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 I'm tho eyes of
tho Lord who had exalted him, all would
Thought more OF Saul and his deeds
1S. "The Lord sent thee on a journey, and
said Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites." Saul was not required to atS:
onlS oI SPnlSn to Sn as or b nse any but
10. "Thou ddst 10 T., a.. ,.;. -. A..
Lord *Sas ddst evil | in I the sS.eS sisst of the
70 3-fbrcS seems hard for some people to
re-. ...Le that God sees all their actions, and
even the motives for their actions, and no
tices all things; yet it is written that 'The
ways of man are before the eyes OF the Lord,
and He pondereth all his goings;" and again
''The eyes of the Lord are in every place, be-
holding the evil and the good" prov. W,
20 "Yea, have obeycd 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 alone was right;
correct one, and that in doing as he did he
had indeed obeyed God. The time has not
gone by when people pervert the words OF the
Lord Jer xiii, 36) 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
stroyed." 1t is sometimes easier to see the
| sins or others than To see our own. He had
previously said that it was the people who
spared the best of the sheep and oxen, but
that they had spared them for rood end,
making the end to justify the deed; now he
confesses 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; he sees 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-
fesses it, but still pleading, an an extenuation
of his guilt, that he did it because he feared
the people and obeyed their voice. That he
| was not a truly humblcd and pcnitent man
even then is evident from verse 30, where he
| begs Samuel to turn and honor him before
| the people. Where there is true brOkenness
| of spirit, there is no honor'ng hut rather a
loathing of self Job xiii, o., and the eyes
and heart are directed to God and not to the
| people.
%. "Behold, to obey is better than sacri-
| flee, and to hearken than the fat of rams" In
! Jer. viii, 21-23, it is written that when God
brought them out of Egypt He did not talk
, to them of burnt offerings or sacrifices, but
Of obedience; apd In the same prophecy the
Lord complains Of them at least fifteen times
II AI..