And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also
rejected thee from being king. And Saul
said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment
of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I
may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with
thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected
thee from being king over Israel (I Sam. 15:22-26).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
“How can we explain Saul’s repentance and
pious words apart from a common grace of God operating within him? For the natural man would never say such things
… for there is no fear of God in the unregenerate and no desire to worship God
either …”
(I)
George Martin Ophoff (1891-1962)
[Source: The Standard Bearer,
vol. 24, no. 3 (November
1, 1947), pp. 62-63]
Samuel’s
communication to Saul that the Lord has rejected him takes him by
surprise. It frightens him. Gone is that air of flippancy, indifference,
and arrogancy that has characterized all his speaking. He stands there now as a man transfixed,
worried and crestfallen. Samuel’s words
have moved him to the core. For their
import flashes upon his mind. Not that
he is sorely troubled by the thought that he has sinned and is now rejected of
God. He refuses to believe that he is
rejected of God, though his heart tells him that the seer spake the truth. But Saul is the kind of a man who in unbelief
holds the truth under in unrighteousness.
Hence, he continues willingly ignorant of his rejection as long as he
lives. What troubles and surprises Saul
now is Samuel’s great indignation. He
had not thought that the seer would take his defection that serious. What troubles Saul now is that the seer has
as much as told him that, seeing the Lord has rejected him, he, Samuel, has
come with him to the parting of the ways.
Saul is afraid that as forsaken of Samuel, he will lose the following of
the people. By all means therefore he
must get himself restored to Samuel’s favor. Hence, to hold Samuel, he
confesses all and implores the seer to pardon his sin. But God is not in all his thoughts. As always, he is absorbed only in self. These are his words, “I have sinned: for I
have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared
the people, and obeyed their voice. Now,
therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may
worship the Lord.” As to the form of the
words, the confession of sin to which Saul gives utterance is superbly correct:
it cannot be improved upon. Apparently,
the Lord, too, is in his thoughts now.
Does he not pray, “I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord”? And in a formal sense, he is perfectly honest
with the Lord and Samuel. He lays bare
his heart before them both in admitting that it was fear of the people, fear of
losing their good-will that accounts for his allowing them to transgress the
Lord’s command. Yet, no prayer ever uttered
by human lips could be more abominable.
For what brings this prayer over Saul’s lips is the same vile ambition
under the impulse of which he fights the Lord’s wars. What cares Saul whether he has sinned or
not. Saul denies it. But if the seer will have it so, it is well; Saul
will yield the point. For by all means
he must hold Samuel. He will confess to
almost anything under the sun, he will be as honest as gold with Samuel and
with the Lord, too, if he will only agree to pardon his sin and turn again with
him, that he may worship the Lord, mark you, worship the Lord. Had Saul only greeted Samuel with this
confession, better still, had he only sought out the seer in his place of residence
and there made this confession to him of his own accord, all would have been
different. But as pressed out of him
solely for the purpose of holding the seer to his person, it, the prayer, is a
filthy thing.
Samuel
sees through the man. It can therefore
be understood that he replies as he does.
Said he to Saul, “I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected
the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected thee from being king over
Israel.” Here the seer tells Saul in
plain words that henceforth he will have to go his way alone; and this of
necessity; for as the Lord has rejected Saul, Samuel henceforth will be
speechless as far as the king is concerned.
He will have no word of the Lord to speak to him. He could of course have concealed the rupture
between him and the Lord on the one hand and Saul on the other, by continuing
to honor the king before the elders of the people, but Samuel is not that kind
of man. He is a true servant of the
Lord.
But
Saul nevertheless insists that he do this very thing. Samuel turns him about to go away, and Saul
is frantic. His words have no effect on
the seer, so now he resorts to force. He
lays hold on the shirt of the seer’s mantle.
The seer attempts to free himself from the hold of the king. The strain on the shirt is too great, and it
rends. The Lord puts another word in the
seer’s mouth—a word of prophecy symbolized by the rending of the shirt, “The
Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a
neighbour of thine that is better than thou. And also the strength of Israel will not lie
nor repent: for he is not a man that he should repent.” But Saul hears as not hearing. He is occupied in his mind with but one
thing: how to induce the seer not to forsake him. He repeats his confession and again goes to
begging Samuel to honor him before the elders of his people and before Israel,
and turn again with him, “that I may worship the Lord thy God.” And Samuel yields—whether out of pity or
because of Saul’s importunity, the text does not state. After all, Samuel is human. But instead of honoring Saul before the
elders of the people, he publicly protests against his disobedience, by hewing
Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
Then he goes to Ramah; and Saul goes to his house in Gibeah. And Samuel comes no more to see Saul until
the day of his death.
---------------------------------------------------
(II)
More
to come! (DV)
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