Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-11-14
NUMBER IA
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON vi, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, NOV. 17.

TERNATloNAL SERIES, NOV IL.
Text or the Lesson, sam. XIV, 1O-23-Mem-
ory Verses. 10. 1I-Golden Text, sam.
XIV, 2e- Commentary By the Rev. ID. M.
Stearns.
10. II. "It repenteth Me that / have set
up Saul to be king, for be is turned back
from following Ne and hath not performed
My commandments. - When the kingdom
was given to Saul, both he and the people
were reminded by Samuel that IL they
would only obey the Lord and serve Him
In truth ell might be well (chapter xii, a.
24). But saul had only reigned two years
when he proved disobedient and was told
that the Kingdom would be given to an
other, even man after GOds own heart
(chapter xiii, l, 13, 14). In the chapter for
today another act of disobedience is record
ed, which brings matters to d crisis. As
to the Lord s repentings 50 often referred
10, we must remember that He never
changes His mind, nor Is sorry for any
thing He does (yerse 20; Num- xiii 19)
but when He comes to point where He
seems to rs to make new departure,
which from eternity He knew that He
would just at that point, He Il said to re-
pent. See Acts XIV, Is.
IL. she Set him up a place" Or, a. ID
II Sam. xviii, IS, pillar after his own
name 1t was not, a. in chapter xiv, 30, an
altar unto the Lord but something to
magnify himself Jesus never magnifled
Himself, but always His Father John
xvii, 4). Paul determined that Christ
should DC magnifed id hi body either by
life or death (PhiL i, POI
10. Blessed be Thou the Lord; have
performed the commandment Of the Lord. %
When we G pare verses 3 and 8 Of this
chapter, we wonder how Saul could say
that he had performed the commandment.
Either be misunderstood the command Or
perverted it, or deliberately lied There is
a generation that are pure in their own
eyes, but whose covereth his sins shall
not prosper prov. Xxx, II; xviii, 49,
Unless we have a heart right with God
and honestly seek only His pleasure the
devil Will make Us believe that black il
white (II Thess. ii, 10, ~.
IA. what meaneth then this bleating
Of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing
Of the oxen which l hear?7 1t is an old
word, but true as God Himself. "Be sure
your sin viii find you out" (Num. xxi,
23)- The word was to smite Amalek and
utterly destroy all that they had Cverse 81.
Dead sheep and oxen tell no tales, but these
were telling that Saul had not obeyed God.
Is. The people spared the best Of the
sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the
Lord thy God" Under the plea Of for
good object" Saul seeks to Justify rhe
thing done That hi heart l. wrong, and
he knows il, is seen in his saying that the
r1flf ta viii "a "a T-r ml
saying "the Lord thy God, " instead OF
THE Lord our God 4" God wants nothing
from the enemy either for sacrifice OF serv-
ice.
16. "Then Samuel said To Saul, Stay
and I viii tell thee what the Lord hath
said 10 me this night. And he said unto
him, say on" We look back to the morn
ing when Samuel said to Saul, "Stand
thou still awhile that I may shew thee the
word Of God" (chapter ix, 20, but what
a contrast Then it was message Of
grace, but now one Of Judgment Observe
that as in Samuel's childhood, so now in
his advanced years God still talks with
him in tine night season.
~. when thou vast little in thine own
sight, the Lord anointed thee king over Is
rael- I'M See chapter TX, 21, and compare
Judg. vi, II. 1t + good to be and to
continue little in our own estimation. 1t
is better to say with Paul, I'll know that in
me-that is, in my fiesh-dwelleth no good
thing from. vii, 1sl. We read that King
Uzziah was marvelOusly helped till he
was strong but when he was strong his
heart was lifted up to his destruction (II
Chron. XVI, 10, 16) My highest place is
lying low at my Redeemer's feet.
IS. "The Lord sent thee on a journey,
and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sin
ners the Amalekites. 7" The reason OF this
command is seen in Ex. xvii, s-l6, and
the Lords determination j. in verse ia.
But He is long suffering not willing that
any should perish. and ID He suffered them
to COZ inue over 400 years-surely an
abundant time for repentance, but they
continued sinners before God.
19. Wherefore then didst thou not obey
the voice Of the Lords' Being redeemed
to God by the precious blood Of Christ, the
great word for all the rest of our life Is
willing and obedientH Isa. /, Is, 49,
See Ex. xix, 3, @. IL is not ours to ques-
tion or reason OF to put our construction
upon His commands, but simply and
cheerfully To obey Consider the obedience
Of the Levites in Ex xxi 26-2S, and see
the commendation in NAL ii, 4-6.
20. Yea have obeyed the voice ~ the
Lord and have gone the way which the
Lord sent me, and have brought Agag. the
king Of Amalek" Here be confesses to
have saved the king, who was certainly in
cluded in the destruction, and vet insists
that be had obeyed the Lord 1t is the old
story ID common today W peryerting tile
word Of the Lord (.Ier xiii 36l and Of
thinking that He does not mean Just what
He says but his.language il generally fig
urative or has some other meaning.
2I. But the people took of the spoil To
sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. - He still
puts some blame upon the people, but now
acknowledges that the sheep and oxen
should have been utterly destroyed. An
opinion of our own as to how the Lord
wants things done is very dangerous His
commands are very plainly stated Deut.
xvii, S; Hab. ii, p, and our part is
prompt, implicit and unquestioning obedi-
ence His thoughts and ways are a. far
above and better than ours as heaven than
earth. Why. then, question themf
% Behold, to obey is better than sac
rifce and I'd hearken than the fat Of rams n
Mercy and the knowledge " God are more
desirable than sacrifice OF burnt offering
Hos vii 6l see The Saviours indorSe-
Lltul AA NAA1 Al MAUI. IA los All. a. All
sacrifice and burnt offering pointed To
Him, and He was the perfection Of obedi-
ence and submission TO Hi Father, who'll
" yielded to Him that He might do All the
works and speak all the words The com
mand t0 obey the voice w God preceded
any reference whatever to burnt Offering
and sacrifice Ger. Vii, ~, 23)
% Because thou hast rejected the
AsI.- 4 4. a., 14r.-
from being king See also verse 25.
Truth is the characteristic of Father son
and Holy Spirit, but whoever rejects the
word Of God makes Him a liar II John '.
10) and thus cuts himself Off from all fell
lowship with God saul now confesses his
sin and acknowledges that he sought 70
please the people rather than God verse
pa. That he was not, however, a truly
humhlcd man il seen in that he desired
SaWuel to honor him before the people
(versa 30). See Gal. 40; Thess- IL 4.