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January 1, 2012 |
| Obedience | ||
In John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commands." Then in verse 21, he says, "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me."
1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel says, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams."
This lesson will compare two stories where one of the characters had a problem with obedience. The first story begins with the first of mankind that were born - Cain and Abel. This story comes from Genesis 4.
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh." 2 And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground.
3 So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:1-7)
Q1. Why was Cain's offering unacceptable?
We don't know how he knew what was right, whether by God's verbal command or from the heart. But it is plain that he knew what was right. So Able's offering was acceptable because it was what God had commanded. But why was that offering acceptable? It contained the symbolism of the blood sacrifice for sin that Jesus would be. This symbolism would carry on into the Law of Moses.
Q2. Why do you think Cain is so angry?
He had interpreted God's request for a particular offering as only an example of an offering and that other offerings of the fruits of labor were equal.
He is the firstborn but he would always have to exchange his produce for Abel's lambs for sacrifices.
Q3. At that time mankind was eating only the "seed-bearing plant and seed-bearing
fruit"1. Why is Abel raising
sheep?
Note how close their relationship is to God. They are on speaking terms.
God warns Cain that he is on the edge. If he does not correct this, sin will result. Apparently it goes uncorrected.
8 Then Cain spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:8)
Cain was never able to be obedient to God.
For the next story we jump from Cain's time far into the future to the time when Saul was king over Israel. The story comes from 1 Samuel 15. God has commanded Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites and everything they have2. At first this story will seem unconnected to the earlier story, but wait …
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of Yahweh! I have established the word of Yahweh."
14 But Samuel said, "What then is this sound of the sheep in my ears and the sound of the oxen which I am hearing?"
15 And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; but the rest we have devoted to destruction." (1 Samuel 15:13-15)
Q4. Unlike Cain in the earlier story, Saul is bringing God the kind of sacrifice God would want. Why is God not
happy with him?
Why do you think Saul says "your God" rather than "my God" or "our God"?
Q5. When Cain was told of his error, he didn't correct it. What does Saul do when Samuel points out his
error?
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what Yahweh spoke to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"
17 And Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel, 18 and Yahweh sent you on a mission and said, 'Go and devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?"
20 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of Yahweh and went on the way on which Yahweh sent me and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek and have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:16-21)
Q6. Once again Saul insists that he followed God's instructions
… with a few improvements, personal touches, you might say. Saul knows that he
hasn't done exactly what he was told to do, but he tries to defend what he has
done. Instead of insistence, what should Saul's attitude have been?
Q7. How would you sum up Saul's problem here?
As we continue in the scripture, we see that Samuel is about to deliver God's verdict. In doing so he will make some very important points.
22 And Samuel said,
"Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of Yahweh?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And insubordination is as wickedness and idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
We've all heard that God wants obedience from us more than he wants our sacrifices. When we obey him we become tools that he can use. Believing in God should begin a cascade of events in our lives. If we believe in him, we should want to know him. As we get to know him we should want to know what he expects from us. If we know what he expects of us we should obey.
Unfortunately some people don't follow through that chain of events. In the verses above Samuel addresses the reason for that, which is the problem we see with both Cain and Saul - rebellion and arrogance. In some translations, like the LSB used here, Samuel says rebellion and arrogance are "like" or "as" other sins. In other translations he says they are those sins. The translations that use "like" or "as" are trying to be clearer, but they are adding words that aren't in the original text.
Samuel says rebellion is in fact the sin of divination. To understand what he means, we need to understand what he means by divination. The dictionary says divination is consulting the spirit world for guidance. But God defines divination a little more broadly - consulting anyone or anything other than God. That's why God hates divination. He should be the only one we consult. The text also refers to rebellion, which is doing something other than what you were told to do. So Samuel's point is that divination and rebellion can be consulting yourself for guidance … not God, and doing what you want … not what God said.
In the cases of both Cain and Saul, they consulted themselves (their own thinking) for guidance and naturally got fallible human advice, and then they acted on it.
Samuel also says that arrogance is idolatry. In this case the idolatry referred to is self-worship. Both Cain and Saul thought highly enough of themselves that they felt justified in overriding God's command with their own ideas.
As we continue, Samuel is about to deliver God's judgment, but in the process, we will see more evidence of Saul's problem.
Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, He has also rejected you from being king."
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed trespassed against the command of Yahweh and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 So now, please forgive my sin and return with me, that I may worship Yahweh." (1 Samuel 15:23-25)
Note that God considers modifying his commands as equal to rejecting his commands. Mixing in our own ideas is completely wrong. We cannot understand the entirety of his plan, and the things we think are wise may actually interfere.
Saul also tries to shift some of the blame onto his men. But notice the deeper meaning of his words. That is, I was more afraid of my men than I was of God.
Also notice that Saul has just been told that he has been rejected by God for what he has done, but he still tries to get Samuel to go along with his plan for sacrificing the animals - the very plan that resulted in his rejection. Saul intends to continue on with his plan despite all that has happened.
1 Genesis 1:29
2 1 Samuel 15:3