Bleating of Sheep I Samuel 15

I Samuel 15:14 "And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"

Saul had been commanded by the LORD to totally destroy the Amalekites and all they had. Saul decided (and the people) to save the best of the herds as spoils of war. They also saved Agag, a king of the Amalekites, alive.

v9 "But 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."

Amelak was the one who laid wait for the children of Israel as they marched from Egypt toward the promised land. They attacked the end of the marchers where the sick and elderly were walking. It was a cowardly thing to do and it angered the LORD.

Deuteronomy 25:17 "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God."

Amalek's day came but Saul did not obey the LORD fully. Samuel is there to tell Saul of his sin. Saul objects by saying that he did obey but Samuel asked Saul. Then why do I hear sheep bleating if you obeyed? Why do I hear oxen? Saul did not obey and he had brought the evidence with him from the battle.

Saul then explains that he did offer burnt-offerings of the things not destroyed. Samuel makes a very profound statement and one which explains well what the LORD expects.

v22-23 "And 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. For 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."

So Saul lost the kingdom because of disobedience and for not obeying the word of the LORD.

Psalm 50:16-17 "But unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee."

keywords: Bible, Study, Old Old Story, Old Testament, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, David, Agag, Amalek, Milton Southerland