Commentaries:
Saul had convinced himself that God would accept an extravagant offering of animal flesh, bestowing on Him great honor and glory for their victory over the Amalekites, in place of his simply doing what He said. Put another way, the king had prioritized a pious demonstration of worship (read, appeasing gift) over obedience. Samuel's inspired response is essentially, "Sorry, Saul, but you got it completely backward!"
As the prophet says, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (see Mark 12:33). God looks more favorably on a person who takes His Word at face value and single-mindedly follows its direction than on someone who blithely excuses his failures and reframes them as "opportunities" to bring God glory. This latter attitude is perilously close to the apostle Paul's rhetorical question, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:1).
The explanation for Samuel's declaration of God's priorities appears in I Samuel 15:23: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." Not doing as God says is not merely disobedience but rebellion: "open opposition toward a person or group in authority," as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it. In other words, it is a manifestation of an individual's active, anti-God nature. Disobedience to God's commands puts a person on the wrong side of the battle line dividing right from wrong. Such a one may as well have taken up arms against God!
His comparison of rebellion to witchcraft can seem strange at first, since insurrection and sorcery appear to have little in common. However, the comparison is not focused on the kinds of sin they represent but on their magnitude: Rebellion is just as bad as witchcraft. Disregarding God's clear commands is just as spiritually dangerous as getting involved in demonism. In fact, rebellion is one of the demons' great sins. Both rebellion and divination lead a person away from God, and without repentance, open a place for him in the camp of the demons. This is why God rejected Saul as king over His people. He would not have a declared enemy ruling over Israel.
A few clues in the chapter show that this singular act of rebellion over the punishment of the Amalekites was not the first, although it may have been the worst. For one, Saul speaks to Samuel of "the LORD your God" three times (I Samuel 15:15, 21, 30), suggesting that the LORD was not truly his God but Samuel's. By this time, he appears to have begun going through the motions of serving God, but he had no personal devotion to Him.
For another, despite being the undisputed leader of the nation, he blames the people for failing to do as God commanded (I Samuel 15:15, 21, 24). His shifting of blame is just an evasion, since he could have ordered the animals and other plunder destroyed at any time. He probably did not want Agag and the spoils of war destroyed because he had other plans for them—most likely to enrich himself and to reward his soldiers to keep their loyalty.
In this light, his seeking of pardon for his sin and his worship of God are a sham (I Samuel 15:24-25, 30). He is merely saying the right words, but they are not from his heart. There is no contrition for his grievous sin. In fact, in the second instance, after Samuel tears the kingdom from Saul, the king does not even bother to ask for forgiveness. Instead, he requests that the prophet join him as he worships God—a cynical act of political theater.
Undoubtedly, God knew Saul's heart had been trending away from Him for a long while, and his willingness to compromise in the Amalekite matter was simply the last straw. The man had declared himself a rebel and would not return to Him. So, Samuel proclaims:
The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent. (I Samuel 15:28-29)
God's decision was final because Saul's rebellion had hardened into permanent character. He was as apostate as a witch.
This vignette has dire ramifications for those nominal Christians who believe that it is no longer necessary to obey God's commandments, many of whom do not keep even those from Jesus Himself! While God desires that we worship Him and wants us to be sincere in doing it, He wants us even more to take His commands seriously and make obeying them an integral part of our lives.
It is so vital that Jesus tells the rich, young ruler, "If you want to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17). Reason tells us that refusing to keep them will deny us eternal life. Later, Jesus commands His disciples in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." If we strive to do this in faith and without compromise, He will provide the grace we need and lead us to salvation.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Rebellion as Witchcraft
God hates rebellion! He hates the attitude of lawlessness it produces, as well as the crop of wicked fruit that results from it.
The prince of all rebellion is Satan the Devil, also known as "the sum of all moral impurities." Though we do not see this demon physically, the influence of this arch-rebel permeates our society. We need not look far to see children rebelling against their parents, artists rebelling against the status quo, and fringe groups rebelling against the government.
Satan personifies rebellion. It was rebellious action of Helel that saw him tossed out of heaven and renamed Satan, Adversary:
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [Hebrew Helel], son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God [angels]; I will also sit [rule] on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north [God's government]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)
Helel rebelled against the laws of God, thus he rebelled against God Himself. Desiring independence from God's legislation, he tried to depose God and become the sovereign ruler of the universe. Great chaos and destruction resulted among the heavenly bodies and on earth (Genesis 1:2) when God "cast [him] as a profane thing out of the mountain of God" (Ezekiel 28:16).
Because of his rebellion, we are today experiencing its evil fruit. Notice how Isaiah describes the reaction of people who will look back upon Satan's career after God casts him into the Lake of Fire:
Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying, "Is this the man [Hebrew ish, male, individual, person] who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?" (Isaiah 14:16-17)
These people are describing the effects of Satan's rule on this earth now!
John O. Reid (1930-2016)
Should We Obey the Laws of Our Government?
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 1 Samuel 15:23:
Genesis 10:8-12
Genesis 19:26
Leviticus 19:31
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
1 Samuel 15:22-23
1 Samuel 28:14-20
Matthew 18:20
