The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1889-08-15
SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
AUGUST rs.
Lesson Text; "saui Rejected by the
Lord" 1 Sam. xv., 1928
Golden Text: Sam. xv.,
23 - Commentary.

mites; put tnere IL n Sau statement concern
ing SAUL and a precious one concerning iona
than, his son. to each of which we ought TO
give good heed for our own profit. The first
refers to Sauls foolish conduct and disnbeii.
ence in the matter Of the sacrifice (chapter
xiii, S-iA, which brought from Samuel the
messages Now thy hngdom shall not con.
tinue; the Lord hath sought Him man after
His own heart.n 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 few" We
may, IL we will, be men and women after
Gods own heart, and daily profit by the good
word OF Jonathan. The lesson to-day is the
story of Sauls disobedience in the matter of
the Amalekites.
10. ''rhen came the word of the Lord unto
Samuel" Sauls orders were: "Go and smite
Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they
have ": 81; but he saved Agng the king
alive, and spared the best of the shoep aud
oxen. ". ~. Thus as in the matter OF the
sacrifice already referred to, he did what
seemed right 30 himself, acting upon his own
Judgment rather than the express command
OF God.
IL. at repenteth mo that have set up
Saul to be king" So In worse - 'thc Lord
rcpented that He had made saul king over
Israeli" and yet in verse % it is written:
"rho strength Of Israel will not lie or re-
pent, for He is not man that He should re-
pont.n Compare also Mum. xiii, 10. Ps.cx
4. Now the question is how to reconcile
these apparent contradictions, for the con
tradction is only seeming, not real. We
must first get firm ground on which
20 stand, and we have IL in tho fact
that u God Of Truth usa. lxv., lG
Canrgt lie; and n God To whom all His works
are known from the beginning of the world
(Acts XIV, 1S) cannot possibly mako "A
mistake or be sorry for anything lie has
done. Even the treatment by Herod, Piat1,
the Gontiles and Israel was only whnt God
had determined before to be- done tActs iv,
21,2Sl, but that did not lessen tho guilt of
4 Herod and the others. God certainly knew bc-
/ fore hand Just how Saul would turn out how
| long He would have 20 bear with him, and
| just when He would set him aside and nut
! David in his place When God. in His infinite
wisdom, doing what He always know that He
would do seems 10 us 10 change His mind and
do now thing, He is said in Scripture to re-
| pent; man, on the other hand repcnts when he
actually does change his mind. and does what
/ he had not intended before to do
| l2. saul came to Carmel, and, behold he
| set him up place. The Revised Version
says he set up monument. IL seems to have
becn, like Absalom's place III Sam. xviii, ls),
| n pillar rather for his own glory than tho
| glory Of God, rather to commemorate his
own name than the name of Jehovah.
IL. blessed DO thou of the Lord: | have
| performed the commandment of the Lord -
! This was Saurs greeting when Samuel camo
/ TO him; IL in the previous verso we see his
vanity, surely here we sec hypocrisy.
IL. what meaneth then this beating of the
sheep, and the lowing of tho oxeny'
! 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.
Is. "The people spared tho best of the sheep
and OF the oxen, to sacrifice unto tho Lord
thy God" Being cornered, as we say, he now
puts tho blaine ON the people, yet seeks to
| justify them by Naying IL was for the Lord,
but his heart is somewhat shown in his say
ing, the Lord thy God instead OF "the Lord
our God" IL is evident that Saul did not
know the Lord; he did not understand that
the Lord wants nothing that belongs To His
enemies.
lG "Stay, and I will tell thee what the
! Lord hath said TO me this night Blessed
! Samuel who talked with God and with
whom God talked, who sought only to know
the mind OF God and do it; when he came to
| die IL 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 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 ip thine own sight
the LorIi anointed thee king over Israel -
Had Saul only continued little in his own
sight and sought 10 be great in the eyes of
the Lord who had exalted him, all would
have been well, but he forgot the Lord and
thought more of Saul and his deeds.
49, 1.-The Lord sent thee on IA journey, and
said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the
Analekites.n Saul was not required to give
his opinion, or make any suggestions, but
/ only 10 do rs he was told
10 "Thou didst not obey the voice of the
| Lord, = but didst evil in the sight of the
Lord" II seems hard Cor some people b.
! realize that God sees all their actions, and
even the motives for their actions asd mo-
tices all things; yet is written that "Thc
| ways of man are before the owes of the Lord,
and He pondereth all his goings;n and again;
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, be-
holding the evil and the good" prov. W,
I'll D. ty;' aYsa, - have obovoa tho voice o, the
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 fhat God
was mistaken, and that he alone was right;
insisting that his view OF the case was the
correct one and that in doing as he did he
had indeed obeyed God. The time has not
gone by when people pervert tho words of the
| Lord der. 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 10 see the
sins of Others than 10 see our own. He had
previously said that it was the people who
spared the best of the sheep and oxen, bur
, that they had spared them for a good 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 tho next two verses, which
close our lesson ha secs his own sin and con-
fesses it, but still pleading, an an extenuation
| OF mis- guilt, that he did IL because ne feared
the people and obeyed their voice. That ke
was not truly humbled and penitent 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 honoring but rather a
loathing OF self Job xiii, 6), and the eyes
and heart are directed to God and not TO the
people.
20. behold, 20 obey is better than sacri-
fee, and to hearken than the fat of rams In
Jer. vii. 2l-23 it is written that when God
brought them out of Egypt He did not tall
to them OF burnt offerings or sacrifices but
| of obedience; and In the same prophecy the
Lord complains Of them at least fifteen times
that they obeyod not. The two words, obey
and hearken, In this verse signify, to hear and
give heed TO.
23. because thou hast rejected the word
OF the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from