Lesson #15

1SAMUEL 15
Lesson #15
PARTIAL OBEDIENCE IS NOT OBEDIENCE AT ALL

• Memory Verse: 1Sam 15:22

• Read 1Sam 15:1-11 Saul’s Disobedience and His Second Rejection
• Samuel came to Saul to give him a command from God
• God remembered His promise of annihilation of the Amalekites that He had never fulfilled. God wanted Saul to fulfill that promise.
• Read Exo 17:8-16
• Read Deu 25:17-19
• Saul and his army was supposed to completely devote the city, the people, the animals, and all the possessions to God for destruction.
• Read Deu 7:2-6 (Deu 12:2-3)
• This was God’s command to Israel that they must do to all the inhabitants of the land when they entered the promised land under Joshua.
• This command was not completely carried out by the Israelites until the days of King Hezekiah many years after Samuel.
• Saul gathered his army and went to the city of Amalek
• Saul spared the Kennites who were living among the Amalekites.
• Who were the Kennites and why did Saul spare them?
• Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was a Kennite.
• The Kennites were kind to Israel when they came out of Egypt.
• What specific things did Saul do to disobey God?
• =1= He did not kill King Agag. Instead he took him prisoner.
• =2= He did not kill the sheep, the oxen, and the lambs. He only killed those animals that he did not want for himself.
• A review of King Saul’s sins:
• In our study of 1Sam we have seen in Saul the following sins:
• The sin of pride (1Sam 13:4)
• The sin of presumption (1Sam 13:8-9)
• The sin of compromise (1Sam 15:8-9) in not having a Godly value system.
• The long-term results of Saul’s sin of compromise:
• =1= King Agag’s descendant was Haman. Who was Haman?
• Read Est 3:1, 8-10
• Haman was intent on an annihilation of the Jews and almost got away with it.
• If it had not been for Saul’s disobedience, there would never have been the book of Esther.
• =2= Saul’s own death.
• Read 2Sam 1:1-16
• “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king:…”

(11)

• Usually we do not think of God repenting for we use the word repentance for man in relationship to some sin.
• Obviously that is not what is meant here when it says that God repented.
• The word, repent, means to turn in the opposite direction. In other words, God changed courses and began to move in a different direction.
• Application:and Principles:
• We see in this chapter that God keeps long accounts. He does not forget a wrong done or a word of prophecy given. Eventually God brings it all around.
• He remembered the Kennites’ kindness to Israel.
• He remembered His promise to destroy the Amalekites because of their hatred for Israel.
• He remembered Saul’s disobedience that reaped the consequences of Haman’s persecution of the Israelites.

• Read 1Sam 15:12-23
• What was Saul’s response to his sin?
• Saul’s response is the usual response from man’s human nature:
• Pride (12)
• Cover up (13)
• Rationalization (13, 20)
• Passes the blame (15, 21)
• This response is the result of a person’s distant relationship to God.
• Notice Saul’s distant relationship to God in verse 21.

• “…the LORD thy God in Gilgal.”

(21)

• Saul refers to God as Samuel’s God.
• Why is obedience better than sacrifice? (22-23)
• Disobedience is called rebellion in verse 23.
• God wants a loving heart, not an outward form of conformity.
• Read Joh 14:15
• Love is the motivation for obedience to God.
• Why is rebellion like the sin of witchcraft?
• Disobedience takes a person out of the authority of God and places him under the authority of Satan. Witchcraft does the same thing for witchcraft is the worship of Satan.
• Both rebellion and witchcraft are accompanied by seducing spirits.
• Both rebellion and witchcraft carried with it capital punishment as God considered both of them capital crimes. (Deu 18:9-14 Exo 22:18-20 Exo 21:15,17 Lev 20:6, 27)
• How is stubbornness like idolatry?
• Read 2Cor 6:14-16
• Remember that God called the Israelites a stiff-necked people to indicate their stubbornness. As a result the Israelites were prone to all kinds of idolatry.
• Stubbornness makes an idol of self-will which opens a person to Satan’s temptations.

• Read 1Sam 15:24-35
• Saul’s first confession, but not a heart-felt repentance.(24)
• Why was Saul disobedient?
• Saul’s pride and desire for popularity kept him from seeing God. Instead he focused on himself.
• Saul’s second confession, but not a heart-felt repentance (25)
• Who is the neighbor?
• David.
• Although Saul remained in power for years while God prepared David, Saul was no longer the man of choice.
• “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent

..”(29)

• We find a prophetic illusion to Jesus Christ in this verse. David was God’s choice to be a king who would prefigure Jesus Christ and His eternal kingdom. Jesus Christ is the Strength of Israel.
• Pontius Pilate was like King Saul. He sought to compromise because of his pride in an attempt to indulge his thirst for power. However, after he gave Jesus to be crucified, his grasp on power was short-lived.
• Saul’s third confession but there was no heart-felt repentance.
• We see his motive for confession in verse 30. What is it?
• He sought honor above God.
• How do we knot this is not a heart-felt repentance?
• He has wrong motives.
• He does not correct his actions, for Samuel had to kill the Ammonite King, Agag.
• The fact that King Agag was cut in pieces before God indicates that his death was a fulfillment of the judgment of God. (32-33)
• Saul’s death is thought to have been at the hands of an Amalekite.
• Read 2Sam 1:1-16
• Read 1Sam 31:4

HOMEWORK
1 SAMUEL 16
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of 1Sam 15
• Examine your life and see if there are any areas of rebellion present.
• If there are, write down in what areas have you been rebellious.
• Pray for forgiveness, then thank God for His forgiveness according to 1Joh 1:9.
• Preparation for 1Sam 16
• Read 1Sam 15:1-13
• What responsibility does Samuel have for Saul’s failure as a king?
• Read 1Sam 16:14-23
• Why is Saul still king when God had given word of the end of his reign and directed Samuel to anoint David as king?
• What do you know about the character of David from this passage?
• Read Psalms 78:70-72
• What was David’s commission by God?
• Memory Verse: 1Samuel 16:7b