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-- 1Samuel 15:1-23,34-35; 16:1-14; Psalm 40:6-8; Proverbs 12:2
Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you
king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice
of the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will
punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on
the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But
kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep,
camel and donkey.'"
So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim,
two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, get down from
among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed
kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of
Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur,
which is east of Egypt.
He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly
destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and
the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the
fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to
utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that
they utterly destroyed.
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, "I greatly
regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back
from following Me, and has not performed My commandments."
And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. So
when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told
Samuel, saying, "Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a
monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and
gone down to Gilgal." Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said
to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the
commandment of the LORD."
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in
my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites;
for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to
sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly
destroyed."
then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what
the LORD said to me last night."
And he said to him, "Speak on."
So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were
you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint
you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and
said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and
fight against them until they are consumed.' Why then did you not
obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil,
and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"
And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the
LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and
brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the
Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen,
the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed,
to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."
So Samuel said:
"Has 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 heed than the fat
of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as
iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has
rejected you from being king."
Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah
of Saul. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his
death.
Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that
He had made Saul king over Israel.
Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill
your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the
Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his
sons."
And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will
kill me."
And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have
come to sacrifice to the LORD.' Then invite Jesse to the
sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint
for Me the one I name to you."
So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you
come peaceably?"
And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the
LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the
sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and
invited them to the sacrifice.
So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said,
"Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him!"
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance
or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For
the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he
said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse
made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD
chosen this one." Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass
before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not
chosen these." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the
young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the
youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep."
And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will
not sit down till he comes here." So he sent and brought him
in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the
LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!"
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of
his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that
day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing
spirit from the LORD troubled him.
Worship:
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have
opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then
I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is
written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law
is within my heart." (Ps.40:6-8)
Wisdom:
A good man obtains favor from the LORD,
but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn. (Prov.12:2)
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