Judged (Session Six) - 1 Samuel 15

What’s this lesson all about? While we rightfully focus most of our talk on the grace of the Lord and how we can trust Him in tough times, this week’s lesson reminds us that God is a righteous judge and His judgment awaits those who reject His Word. Saul’s sin led to a gut-wrenching judgment that saw both his rejection as king and public disgrace for his disobedience and serves as a powerful reminder that God desires our obedience above our good intentions; He will not be mocked by our attempts to justify sin. It is in Christ alone that we can be justified of our sin, not by our works or intents. How does this fit into 1 Samuel? 1 Samuel 15 serves as the conclusion of the section spanning from chapters 13-15 of Saul’s decline as king over Israel. In many ways, Saul’s reign was successful, as the king ruled for 42 years (13:1) and carried out the mission of defending and delivering the people of Israel from their enemies (14:47-48). For a king that was called to bring security to his people, Saul was given the greatest compliment in 14:47: wherever he turned among his enemies, he caused havoc. Yet, what endures of Saul’s record is not his number of military conquests, but his willingness to turn away from the Lord. Chapters 13-15 chronicle three major episodes in Saul’s reign that demonstrate Saul’s wavering faith in the Lord as commander over Israel. The first episode in chapter 13 recounts a battle between Saul and his constant enemy, the Philistines. While Saul had built somewhat of a standing army, the Philistines had come against Israel with great force, bringing “troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore” (13:5) and forcing the Israelites to pull back in retreat. Saul was awaiting Samuel the priest in Gilgal to offer sacrifices to the Lord before marching into battle, but began to get restless as troops began to desert his cause while he waited on Samuel; the king took matters into his own hands (13:9), offering the sacrifices, even as Samuel arrived on the scene. Saul’s actions did not result in a boost of morale as he had hoped, but rather, in the pronouncement that another man will take Saul’s throne from him and his family on account of his disobedience (13:13-15), setting the stage for David to come later in the narratives, but also firmly positioning Saul as a lame-duck king of sorts. His rashness led to disobedience and his sin separated him from the royal line of Israel. Yet, Saul still reigned as king for many years following this event, being used greatly to fight off Israel’s enemies. Chapter 14 recounts various scenes from Saul’s campaign against the Philistines, contrasting the faithful actions of his son, Jonathan, with his wavering and unfaithful actions. As Saul waits an hour’s march away in the presence of the priests descended from Eli (it’s interesting that Ichabod [“glory gone”] is mentioned in relation to Saul following his loss of glory as king in chapter 13), Jonathan and an armor bearer attack and defeat a Philistine garrison under the cover of darkness, a move that spread terror throughout the Philistine camp and led them to know that God was handing them over to Israel (14:11-16). Upon joining the battle himself, Saul again makes a rash oath, swearing a curse on any soldier who would cease fighting to eat before evening; what appeared initially as piety was quickly seen for the foolishness it was as the fighting men were famished and noble to gain strength from the flowing honey God had generously provided for them. Unaware of the oath, Jonathan took of the honey, renewing his own strength, but bringing the curse upon himself (14:27-30). Believing that sin had entered the camp on account of God’s silence toward himself, Saul began to cast lots to determine who had brought the sin upon the people, landing on Jonathan, who courageously admits that he had eaten of the honey and was ready to die for his sin (14:43). Seeing Jonathan facing death, the people of Israel step in on account of their hero and deliverer, calling Saul to spare his son and vouching for his righteousness; Saul relented, but the event also ended his pursuit of the Philistines, showing another incidence of Saul’s rashness and foolishness allowing the enemies of the Lord to escape.

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Walking into chapter 15, then, it is clear that Saul, while valiant as a warrior, was a rash leader who acted first and asked if he was right by the Lord later. His penchant for action and carelessness with the ways of God would come back to haunt the king, though, as they would serve as his downfall in chapter 15. What are the key parts of this passage? Understanding the events of chapter 15 begins with understanding the command God gives Saul through Samuel in 15:1-3. Saul was commissioned to utterly destroy the Amalekites, sparing no living thing from the people as judgment for the way they had treated Israel in the Exodus. While we may struggle to understand why God would call for the complete destruction of a people, it was known in those times that wars had a religious element and that a battle between 2 armies was truly a battle between the gods of those nations. The Amalekites, a group of raiders from the south of Israel, were a cruel people who had refused to fear God; as Israel departed from Egypt in the Exodus, the Amalekites attacked them from behind, targeting women, children, and the elderly as a way to lute the tired and faint Israelites (Deuteronomy 25:17-19), leading the Lord to declare even then that He would blot out the people of Amalek. Sometimes God’s wrath comes impersonally, though measures like the Flood or the fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodom, but sometimes He delivers His wrath personally through His people, as was the case here. The focus of this chapter is not the justice of the command, though, but the command itself: Saul was told to destroy everything that breathed of the Amalekites. With that in mind, then, the chapter rolls out responsively, meaning the first section (Saul on the battlefield) responds to God’s command, Samuel’s confrontation responds to Saul’s battlefield work, and Saul’s rejection and disgrace responds to Samuel’s confrontation. It may be easier to visualize this back and forth interaction between Samuel and Saul in a flow chart as follows: Samuel Delivers God’s Command (1 Sam. 15:1-3)

Saul on the Battlefield (1 Sam. 15:4-9)

Saul spares the Kenites (Good!)

Saul spares some animals and the king of Amalek (Bad!)

Samuel’s Confrontation (1 Sam. 15:10-23)

Samuel hears from God

Saul and Samuel argue over Saul’s obedience

Saul’s Rejection and Disgrace (1 Sam. 15:24-34)

Samuel pronounces God’s rejection

What am I aiming for in teaching this passage? As a teacher with this text, you must decide how much of the passage you want to cover. The Explore the Bible material chooses to focus its attention on the section we’re calling “Samuel’s Confrontation” above, but it’s not a stretch to try to cover the chapter as a whole and may give you a fuller picture of what is taking place. The clear theme that comes through in this passage is damage that sin and disobedience causes in our relationship with God and our lives. It may not seem like a happy, upbeat lesson, but we need to understand that sin separates us from God, so He takes it very seriously; though our human instinct is to try to cover our guilt or justify our actions with our intentions, God is not fooled. Saul’s judgment and disgrace should remind us of the holiness of our God, while also humbling us to consider

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ourselves in a proper light. After all, the only way that our sin is made right before the Lord is through Christ’s atoning work on our behalf. So, our lesson should focus on the need for obedience and the consequences of disobedience, but it should be sprinkled with the message of grace that God has offered His Son in our stead. Thus, my lesson aims are: - Students will grasp the importance and the result of Saul’s disobedience by carrying out an inductive study of 1 Samuel 15. - Students will understand the contrast between obeying God and having good intentions by discussing Samuel’s confrontation. - Students will pray for one another to remain obedient by committing to pray for 2-3 people this week. How can I teach this? Here is a flow chart to give you an overview of how I’m going to lead this lesson, followed by the explanation of that plan below. Use this as a guide as your create your own lesson plan for your class!

Sights and Sounds Group Projects

Driving Directions Poll Interactive Lecture on 1 Sam. 15:1-9

Pray for one another

Class Discussion on 1 Samuel 15:22-35

1. Driving Directions Poll: To Hook the class this week, we are going to pick up on the idea of following directions or obeying directions by taking a poll. I am using the board as a scoreboard of sorts to tally votes, with one side labeled “GPS” and the other side labeled “Printed directions.” A. Let’s get started today with a poll to see the preference of our class. When you are going on a trip to a new destination where you need directions, do you prefer using a voice-directed GPS or do you prefer following printed, step-by-step directions? Let’s go around the room and share our name and your vote and I’ll tally our results on the board! B. It’s great to have directions and now we can see which way our class prefers to receive them! But have you ever had the experience of getting lost because you didn’t follow directions? Who would like to share that experience? C. We’re not talking about traveling today, but we are going to be talking about the importance of following directions today. We’re not concerned with just any directions, though; today we’re going to see the importance of obeying God’s direction by seeing what happened to Saul in 1 Samuel 15 when he didn’t follow God’s commands. 
 2. Interactive Lecture on 1 Samuel 15:1-9: I’m choosing to lecture through this section so that I can overview the background, but I’m dropping in class discussion questions throughout to allow for some interaction, which are placed in bold as usual. A. As it has been with most of the characters we have encountered in 1 Samuel, Saul is a hard person to put a label on. In many ways, he was a good king; 14:47-48 describes how Saul delivered Israel from her enemies and how we was bear of warrior to deal with, causing havoc amongst every enemy that he faced. Yet, Saul was also a flawed king in many ways with a penchant toward making rash

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decisions that often involved disobeying or bringing shame to God. He had been bitten before for his actions, but as we enter 1 Samuel 15, we’re going to see that he had not learned his lesson. B. Chapter 15 begins with Samuel’s delivery of God’s command to Saul; would someone read 1 Samuel 15:1-3 for us? 1. This is a pretty strong command, isn’t it? God has told Saul to wipe out everything that breathes among the Amalekites. He was not to leave anything with life and he was not to take the spoils of war for himself. 2. The Amalekites were a group of raiders who lived south of Israel and were a cruel people who had refused to fear God. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 summarizes the actions of the Amalekites, who attacked Israel from behind following their Exodus from Egypt, targeting women, children, and the elderly as a way to lute the tired and faint Israelites. In Deuteronomy 25, the Lord declared that He would blot out the people of Amalek and He is planning to use Saul for this purpose. 3. This may seem too much for us today, but for the people of the land, every battle was a spiritual battle; the call to utterly destroy the Amalekites was the means God used to judge them for their sin, just as He had used impersonal means like the flood and brimstone in the past. The point to grasp here, though, is that God has given Saul a clear command; what was that command? C. So, as we continue in our text, we’ll see Saul move into the battlefield to carry out this command. 1. Can I have a volunteer to read 15:4-6? The Kenites were close to the Amalekites, but unlike their condemned friends, the Kenites had been kind to Israel and Saul, knowing his Israelite history, rewarded that kindness by offering them a chance to retreat. That was a good thing! 2. Having cleared out friends, Saul is ready to direct his fury against the Amalekites; would someone read 15:7-9 for us? 3. What did Saul do and what did he not do? 4. Saul is going to talk about his motive for not obeying God in a moment, but notice what he saved and what he didn’t save. He had no issue slaughtering the people, but he saved the King and the best of the animals. The King was probably brought back for a public execution, a move that was often taken as a sign of victory, but allowing the best of the animals to live speaks of Saul’s intent; the text says that he was “not willing” to destroy them.
 3. Sights and Sounds Group Projects - 1 Samuel 15:10-21: For this group project, I’m dividing the class into two groups (or two sets of groups for larger classes) and giving each group a different passage to cover. A. The bulk of the narrative we are looking at today is full of vivid images and sounds. What I want you to do is break up into 2 groups and I’m going to give each group a passage to cover. I’m going to give you a piece of paper and I want you to do 2 things for me: 1. I want you to look through your passage and write down every sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch that is described in this text. Think with your senses on your first run through. 2. Write down anything that catches you off guard, surprises you, or leaves you with questions. B. I’ll give you a few minutes to read your passage and work through the assignment and then we’ll get together and share what happened in your text and your responses. Your passages are: 1. Group 1: 1 Samuel 15:10-14 - The word of the Lord comes to Samuel and he finds Saul 2. Group 2: 1 Samuel 15:15-21 - Saul and Samuel argue C. To say that God regrets making Saul king is not to say that God was surprised or that God changed His mind (we’ll see that in a moment in Samuel’s response!), for God knew what would take place He’s all-knowing. God is speaking this way to Samuel to help him understand the pain that Saul’s rejection has brought to the Lord. God desires to be united with us, but our sin separates us. D. Saul seems awfully desperate as we read through his argument with Samuel. Even in trying to justify himself, Saul admits that he didn’t carry out the commands of the Lord. Notice especially the two

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reasons he gives for his disobedience: it was the people’s fault and we were trying to give God a good sacrifice. On one hand, Saul is deflecting blame; on the other hand, Saul is trying to argue that his good intentions should trump his disobedience. Neither is an acceptable answer, which is why we see Samuel’s response in 15:22-23.
 4. Class Discussion on 1 Samuel 15:22-35 - The idea here is a classroom discussion to focus on Samuel’s confrontation. For larger groups, you may want to convert some of these questions into a buzz group format by asking smaller groups to answer the question and respond back to the class. A. Let’s read 15:22-23 together. 1. How does Samuel describe Saul’s actions? It is interesting to not that the similes of verse 23 are actually metaphors in Hebrew, meaning that rebellion is not “like the sin of divination,” but the right understanding is that rebellion is the sin of divination and defiance is wickedness and idolatry. 2. What is the Lord’s position concerning Saul’s justifications for his disobedience? 3. It wasn’t wrong to offer sacrifices, but the problem was that Saul thought he could obey part of God’s commands (offering sacrifices) without obeying all of it. Partial obedience, though, is a fancy way of saying disobedience. Saul may have had good intentions for leading the people to offer sacrifices to God, but he had disobeyed the Lord in the process; he overlooked sin and even tried to argue that he was in the right. 4. What are some ways that people justify not dealing with sin today? 5. If people have good intentions, do you think it is alright to overlook sin? B. While it is the mark of our day to say that it only matters if someone follows their heart or if they mean well, the truth is that it doesn’t matter what their intent was; it only matters if they obeyed the Lord. Saul, having been rejected as king, realized that he has sinned, but even in admitting sin, he is still trying to work around his sin instead of dealing with God; let’s read 15:24-29 together. 1. Verse 29 has an amazing term here that is translated in the HCSB as the “Eternal One;” the Hebrew literally calls the Lord the “Glory of Israel.” How does Samuel describe the Lord, the Glory of Israel, here? 2. You can see the contrast between the ever wavering Saul and the unchanging God in this passage, but I want to ask you: how does it help to know that the Lord does not lie or change as man does? C. Yet, even with the face of the Lord bearing upon him, Saul is concerned about his public persona; he has been rejected as king, yet he’s worried about Samuel not publicly endorsing his worship before the elders. Let’s look at 15:30-35 for the gruesome end to the story. 1. Rather than putting on a show for Saul’s sake, Samuel brings public disgrace to Saul by doing the very thing that Saul was commanded to do: killing Agag. Hacking the king sent a message loud and clear that God would not accept sin in the midst of his people. 2. Does God still hold this view toward sin?
 5. Pray for one another A. God takes sin very seriously; so seriously, in fact. that He sent his Son to die to pay the penalty of our sin. The truth is that we need not justify our sins by our works or our intents, for we are only justified in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. But God’s grace is not a license to deal softly with sin; rather, it shows us how treacherous sin is, both to our relationship with the Lord and in our own lives. B. Take the remaining moments in class to gather with 2-3 other people and commit to pray for one another this week that we might obey the Lord and flee from sin. Exchange phone numbers and send one another text messages this week to encourage one another to follow the Lord.

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