“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of Jehovah thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would Jehovah have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
3 sermons cite this verse
This is the beginning of the end for Saul. After this, the kingdom unravels, his family unravels, and he ends up falling on his sword, dying for himself, a coward. See, in many ways, and the reality is, Saul is dead. We can't talk with him, we can't ask him, what are your five points on what you did wrong and how you would do it differently? This is all we have. But we as followers of Jesus, we do not follow a dead king, but a king that is alive. And our example is not found in some disobedient man who did it half right, but in the king of kings, Jesus. See, I wanna close with this tonight. Saul is the worst Jesus. And here's what I mean. Jesus is the better Saul. Jesus was perfectly obedient. Jesus is perfectly between God's people and himself. Saul was a king of a nation. Jesus is king of kings. Saul was a self-interested ruler. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. …
It says, you have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. but now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's command. he would have established your kingdom over Israel of all time. I mean, that's like, he would have. If you would have just obeyed, you wouldn't have been stuck or stagnant. I think sometimes being stagnant isn't just about being stuck, but it can be about settling, where God called you to move, but you don't want to move that way. and Saul knows what his instruction is, but he's just deliberately being like, nah, I don't want to do that. So I'm stuck. And this is the road that he chose for himself. and it seems like a little bit of a sad story, but I think that what is so encouraging is that in the New Testament, God sends the helper. …
That step was as follows: since Samuel had not come, he determined to offer the burnt sacrifice instead of him; he determined to do what he could not do without a great sin; viz. intrude into a sacred office to which he was not called; nay, to do what he really could not do at all; for he might call it a sacrifice, but it would not be really such, unless a priest or prophet offered it. You know how great a crime it is for persons now to become teachers and preachers, or to baptize or administer the Lord's Supper without authority; this was Saul's crime, he determined on sacrificing, without being an appointed minister of God. This is a crime often denounced in Scripture, as in the case of Korah, and Jeroboam, and Uzziah. Korah was swallowed up by the earth on account of it; Jeroboam had his hand withered, and was punished in his family; and Uzziah was smitten with leprosy. Yet this was Saul's sin. "And Saul said," in the words of the text, "Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings; and he offered the burnt offering." Now observe what happened immediately afterwards. "And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him." You see, if he had waited but one hour more, he would have been saved this sin; in other words, he would have succeeded in his trial instead of failing. But he failed, and the consequence was, he lost God's favour, and forfeited his kingdom. …