The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-07-25
GOLDEN TExT-To obey is better
than sacrffice.-1 sam. 1922.

Saups rejection. Sam, 15.17-2S.
Saurs humiliation. j Sam, l5:24-3o.
TIME.--The exact date is uncertain, pos
Hlbly about 1866 B. c.
PLACE. -Gilgal and Michmash
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
When Saul was made king he was
charged to implicitly obey the COM
mands of Jehovah. For disobedience
he was twice rejected; first, as to his
house (13:13, 1D, and, second, as to
himself (15). One will have to study
the whole story of Sauls reign in order
to ascertain AL the reasons that led to
his rejection.
The news Of the union of the scat
tered clans of Israel under King Saul,
and their victory in Gilead, soon
reached their longtime oppressors,
the Philistines. They immediately
plan to invade the land, to reassert
their authority and again to terrorize
the people into subjection. The He
brews fee, some finding refuge in the
mountains, Others leaving the 'eoun-
try. -.,~'
Saul bravely recruits the faithful
ones at Gilgal where Samuel had in
structed him to wait before strik-
ing the first blow for independence.
After waiting a week, in impatience
at the e'non-arrival of the prophet, the
king prepares to begin the campaign,
and as the initial step, sacrifices burnt
offerings At this juncture Samuel
appears and severely rebukes Saul for
disobedience, threatening to wrest the
kingdom from him. Saul's sin was not
the mere act of assuming priestly
functions, as has been traditionally
supposed. 1t was his impatient self
assertiveness in failing to wait for
Samuel's advice as to Gods will in this
great national crisis.
Yet Sauls little army succeeds in re-
pulsing the Philistines, through the
personal bravery of his son Jonathan
and the strange panic he causes among
the foe. Saul leads the triumphant
pursuit, with constantly growing
forces. This chapter shows plainly
that Sauls devotion was to the forms
of religion, rather than its spirit,
Some years after this first campaign
with the Philistines. the events of to-
days lesson occurred. Samuel still
supreme as the adviser Of the king,
brought word to Saul that Israel's
ancient foe, the AmaleIites, must be
destroyed. Such Wholesale slaughter
could not be justified In Christian
times The Cambridge Bible says:
"Such commands were an accommoda-
tion to the moral and religious state
of the nation to which they were
given. Revelation is progressive, and
Gods dealings with the chosen people,
while designed to raise ard educate
them, were necessarily conditioned by
their moral state at the given period"
Meeting Samuel awkwardly on his
return. Saul greets him with a pious
expression of welcome lays upon the
soldiers the blame for his own dis
obedience. and untruthfully claims
that all the animals spared were in
tended for sacrifice.
"Jehovah anointed thee:" Saul Is
reminded that he is answerable to One
higher than himself; yet he has dis
obeyed Gods prophet ''Didst fly upon
the spoil" Descriptive Of wild
carnival Of eager. selfish greed. Yet
Samuel had intended the expedition to
be religious one. to execute what he
believed to be the divine win ITO
obey is better than sacrifice" Moral
conduct is more than ritual-one Of
the loftiest thoughts of the Old Testa-
ment and the keynote Of al prophetic
teaching. "God rejects Saul from be-
ing king over Israel. since he had re-
iected God from being King over
Saul Adams.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
God rejects one only after ones acts
show that he has the disobedfent
spirit.
By disobeying God one misses the
highest career ttatis open TO him.
Vt is not so much God who rejects
man as II is man who reiects God