Saul’s Disobedience

 

1Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. 2Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember thatwhich Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

4And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

Samuel Denounces Saul

10Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, 11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. 12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. 14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? 18And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

22And 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.

23For 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.

Saul's Confession

24And 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. 25Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. 26And 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. 27And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28And Samuel said unto him, 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. 29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. 31So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.

32Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 35And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.     1 Samuel 15

We do not consider that our dangers are any less than those of the Hebrews, but greater

The apostle Paul plainly states that the experience of the Israelites in their travels has been recorded for the benefit of those living in this age of the world, those upon whom the ends of the world are come. We do not consider that our dangers are any less than those of the Hebrews, but greater. There will be temptations to jealousies and murmurings, and there will be outspoken rebellion, as are recorded of ancient Israel. There will ever be a spirit to rise up against the reproof of sins and wrongs. But shall the voice of reproof be hushed because of this? If so, we shall be in no better situation than are the various denominations in our land who are afraid to touch the errors and prevailing sins of the people.     Testimonies Vol 3 p. 358

Retreating toward Egypt

I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.  

The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from His word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us.  

Let each put the question to his own heart: “How have we fallen into this state of spiritual feebleness and dissension? Have we not brought upon ourselves the frown of God because our actions do not correspond with our faith? Have we not been seeking the friendship and applause of the world rather than the presence of Christ and a deeper knowledge of His will?” Examine your own hearts, judge your own course. Consider what associates you are choosing. Do you seek the company of the wise, or are you willing to choose worldly associates, companions who fear not God and obey not the gospel?      Testimonies for the Church Vol 5, pp 217

If I am not separated from sin, I can not meet the Lord at all in peace.

 

The profession of being an Adventist, of being a Seventh-day Adventist, looking for the coming of the Lord, telling people that the coming of the Lord is near, watching the signs of the times,—all this is right, absolutely and forever right.  But, though I have all this, and have not that one thing,—the sole ambition to be completely separated from sin, and from the service of sin,—my profession of the Adventist faith is a fraud; for if I am not separated from sin, I can not meet the Lord at all in peace. Therefore if my sole ambition is not separation from sin, and from the service of it, I am not preparing at all to meet the Lord. 

A. T. Jones, Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, January 31, 1899.

The ecumenical language of Rome for sin

By Father Paul Keller, C.M.F.| 

Are you living in sin? The answer to that question is “Yes”—we are all living in sin. We are all sinners. We all live in a world that forces us to deal with the consequences of our own sins and the sins of others. However, the phrase “living in sin” has traditionally been applied to couples who live together without being validly married. This phrase has normally been applied to: 1) Couples who are living together but are not married, 2) Catholics who are civilly married, but not married in the Catholic Church, and 3) Catholics who, after being married in the church, have divorced and remarried civilly (although anyone, not just a Catholic, who is divorced and remarried would fall into this same category). Of course, it is not sinful to merely live with someone else. In order for these couples to be “living in sin,” they must be sexually intimate.

 

Last October in Rome, the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family took place. During this synod some bishops suggested the church drop the use of language such as “living in sin,” “intrinsically disordered,” and “contraceptive mentality.” The final report from this synod, which also serves as the working document for the Ordinary Synod to take place this October, does call for a critical examination of the language the church uses when addressing the people who would normally have these terms applied to them. Many of those critical of this idea see it as a cowardly concession to political correctness. However, there are good reasons to drop this kind of language. 

 

First of all, this phrase is used inconsistently. As I previously noted, we are all “living in sin.” We are all sinners. To apply a phrase like this to only one kind of human behavior, as if others are not also “living in sin,” is an arbitrary and deceptive misrepresentation of people’s circumstances and the reality of sin. For example, are not those who fail to care for the poor also living in sin? Why should we apply this phrase to only one kind of misbehavior? The church is not fairly representing all the complexities of any relationship when it focuses on only one aspect of that relationship (i.e., sexual intimacy outside of a valid marriage), as important as this aspect might be, and tells the couple they are “living in sin.” 

 

The church loses credibility because most people know couples who are not married in the church. The experience of these couples is that they can be committed, prayerful, generous, loving, and kind to each other, to their children, and to others. It sounds insulting, dismissive, and inaccurate when the church labels these couples as merely “living in sin.” Identifying sinful aspects of any (or all) relationships is very different than claiming that there is only one significant aspect of the relationship, or that the entirety of the relationship can be fairly categorized as only sinful, which is what this phrase seems to imply.

 

Do you know what Catholics used to call Protestants? Heretics. Technically speaking, according to Catholic teaching, Protestants are still heretics. However, when was the last time you heard your priest or bishop use that term to refer to Protestants? There was a big shift during the Second Vatican Council. In the decree from Vatican II on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio (1964), the church began referring to Protestants as “brothers [and sisters] in the Lord” or “separated brothers [and sisters].”  Notice the difference? Without changing doctrine, the church changed its language. The church recognized that the term heretic, with all its associated emotions and images, was not an adequate or appropriate description for our Protestant brothers and sisters. The church recognized that using a word that comes across as an insult is not a fitting way for members of the Body of Christ to speak. As the psalmist pointed out, it is God’s will that truth and kindness must always accompany one another (Ps. 85:10). Truth without kindness can be arrogant and cruel. Kindness without truth can be cowardly and cruel. Both are ineffective when it comes to proclaiming the gospel. It is not enough to only proclaim truth; it is absolutely essential to make sure that our proclamation of the truth is wrapped in the language and reality of loving kindness.

 

Just as the Catholic Church has changed the language it uses concerning our Protestant brothers and sisters in the Lord, the church should also change the language it uses concerning couples whose relationships fail to symbolize the fullness of marriage. It is time to recognize the reality that holiness and sin coexist in the life of every human person and in every human relationship. Language that obscures that truth should be abandoned. It is time for kindness and truth to meet.

 

This column appeared in the August 2015 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 80, No. 8, pages 37–38).

Published: 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Father Paul Keller, C.M.F. is a Catholic priest and a Claretian Missionary. He received a master of divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union and a master of arts in marriage and family therapy from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. He is currently a doctoral student in theology and the philosophy of religion at Claremont Graduate University.
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