1 Samuel 15:23

1 Samuel 15:23

I. At the end of 1 Samuel 8, we find all arranged by the Divine command for a king being appointed over Israel, and at the beginning of chapter ix. we first read of Saul. His bodily stature and personal beauty prepossess us in his favour, and as the story goes on his good sense and modesty increase the prepossession. When chosen to the kingdom, we find him with a band of men whose hearts God had touched; and when the children of Belial said, "How shall this man save us?" he held his peace. We can hardly conceive a more promising commencement to a reign, or one more calculated to gather power and work deliverance for Israel. Saul's is just the character of many a young man, full of high and noble feeling, modest, and distrustful of self, coming from a religious home or the influence of religious impressions, and placed in a post of responsibility, of activity. All is promise; we look for high distinction of the best kind, and for bright and blessed deeds for God and for good.

II. In the thirteenth chapter it appears that during the first two years of Saul's reign the man of grace in him had been waning, the man of nature had been waxing stronger. The tendency of the man was to emancipate himself from God's law and make himself supreme, to follow his own bent and natural impulse, to the setting aside of God's positive commands. Saul desired to be his own master, and he was left to himself by God. (1) The first thought which occurs to us is this: in this its first king, as in a mirror, behold Israel itself. Israel, like Saul, has turned to his own way. Because he hath rejected the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected him from being king. (2) The second thought is: in this character, behold multitudes among ourselves reflected. How many there are with whom everything for time and for eternity trembles in the balance, and the question is whether they will serve the Lord in life or whether they will not. How many follow the example of Saul. They live for the world, and by degrees God's grace is quenched; there is remorse behind and misery before, death inexorable and coming on with rapid strides, and eternity a dismal blank, the thought of which carries terror to the soul.

III. This picture of ourselves should teach us two especial cautions: (1) against forgetfulness of God; (2) against self-will.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons,vol. ii., p. 44.

Reference: 1 Samuel 15:23. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xiv., p. 16.