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meaning is not, that God was sorry for what he had done because he did not know the consequences beforehand; but he would act as men do when they repent, he would treat Saul in a different manner, revoke his favours, and lay him aside. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night, beseeching him to 12 pardon Saul. And 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, a monument of his victory, to his own honour, and not to God, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal in great pomp, with Agag, and the good 13 things of the Amalekites, in triumph. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said unto him, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. Saul begins, wishing him all happiness from God, thanking him for the service he had done him in sending him on such an honourable expedition, and boasting of his performance, without being sensible of his fault. 14 And Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear. Surely this is an evidence of guilt, not consistent with your profes15 sion of obedience. And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen; he lays the fault on the people, when he had the chief hand in it; but urges that they did it with a very pious design, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God, whom thou lovest and servest, and therefore undoubtedly thou wilt be pleased with this; 16 and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then 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. This answer looks as if Saul was confident of his own righteousness, and fully satisfied with his own achievement; he no doubt hoped to hear himself com17 mended, and never expected this thundering lesson. And 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? He reminds him of his low beginning, and the humility, and modesty he formerly expressed. 18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, on an honourable expedition, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amale19 kites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, like a ravenous bird or beast, and take the ac cursed thing like Achan, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD, 20 who can easily see through all thy pretences? And 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. With the greatest insolence he gave Samuel the lie, while 21 he in effect confessed what Samuel charged him with. But 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; he again lays the blame upon the peo

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ple, who, he says, did it with a good intention, to sacrifice to God; though it is probable neither he nor they had any such design. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? A question which Saul could not dispute; the sacrifices were intended to promote obedience, to be the means of religion, obedience was the end. Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams, than the best and most 23 costly sacrifices. For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, that is, divinations or enchantments, which were contrary to the law of God, and looked upon as renouncing him; and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry, as bad as the iniquity of idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king; as idolaters were to lose their lives, so Saul, by his rebellion against God, lost his kingdom.

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E hence learn, that the judgments of God will, sooner or later, come upon wicked men; especially upon those who are enemies to his church and people. He bore long with the Amalekites; but when their iniquity was full, he executed his rightcous vengeance upon them. The sentence against evil doers is not always speedily executed; yet judgment will surely come; and the longer it is delayed, the heavier it will fall. Divine justice, though sometimes slow, is always sure.

2. We see that it is a dangerous thing to associate with God's enemies. The Kenites would have suffered greatly by living among the Amalekites, if they had not had timely notice to withdraw. This should be a caution to us against keeping wicked company, and forming alliances with those who have no religion. God has given us warning to come out from among them, and be separate; and if we do not, we are in danger of partaking of their sins and their plagues. Solomon hath said, a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

3. See from hence what a dangerous thing the love of the world is. They spared the beasts, in direct violation of the divine command: covetousness seems to have been at the bottom of all. We see too many instances of this; men are obedient to God when nothing is to be lost by it; but are ready to disobey him when any temporal advantage is to be obtained. The love of money is the root of all evil; which some having coveted after, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. This was Saul's case.

4. It is no uncommon thing for men to boast of piety, when they are notorious transgressors of God's commands. How proudly and impudently does Saul boast of his obedience, because he had done part of his duty! So men think themselves very good, commend themselves, and lift up their faces with confidence to God's ministers, because they have some good qualities, because they are not idol.

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aters, or have opposed the enemies of religion, or have destroyed what was vile. They have parted with some sins, to which they had little or no temptation, and with which they could dispense without loss or reluctance. But the best of the sheep and oxen, the things that are dear to them as a right hand or a right eye, these they are unwilling to be without. They live in the breach of some of God's laws, and yet boast, and are confident of their goodBut their boasting is a very bad symptom, and a mark of hypocrisy; for true obedience is always joined with humility, and low thoughts of ourselves. If men are really as pious as they pretend to be, what mean these bleatings, these sinful indulgences, this worldly spirit, these ungoverned passions, this love of pleasure and vanity? They should remember, that rebellion is as great a sin as witchcraft, and stubbornness as idolatry. But wicked men will dis、 tinguish where there is no distinction, and serve God in that manner only, and in what instances they please; thus they are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

5. See how prone men are to lay the fault upon others, when themselves are principally, if not only, guilty. This was Saul's case; the people were scarce blameable at all, or else Samuel would have reproved them; what they did was by Saul's direction, and yet he endeavoured to throw the blame upon them. This is too often the case with confident men; they are ready to censure any body, rather than take shame to themselves. It is to be feared this is too much the disposition of men in general; the descendants of the first transgressor are apt to adopt his language, The woman which thou gavest me tempted me, and I did eat. This proves the inward conviction men have that sin is a real evil, because they are so unwilling to own it, and so forward to censure and condemn others.

6. It concerns all to attend to that important truth of an inspired prophet, that obedience is better than sacrifice; and that rebellion against a known command of God, is a most heinous crime. Humble, conscientious obedience, is better than all sacrifices. Exactness ́in ritual observances and ceremonial forms, is nothing, without a holy life; this is the main thing. Our Lord refers to this passage when he would convince the pharisees that God loveth mercy better than sacrifice. The end is better than the means. Prayer and sacrifices are good things in themselves, but piety, justice, and charity are the end. And lest any should imagine that positive commands may be safely neglected, while they obey moral precepts, let them consider, that rebellion is as witchcraft and idolatry. Refusing to obey the true God, is as bad as serving a false one. From hence it follows, that to neglect baptism and the Lord's supper, which are expressly commanded by our Lord, though they are only positive institutions, (that is, depend on the will of the lawgiver) is rebellion, as well as fraud, drunkenness, and idolatry. And it is to be wished that those who live in the neglect of the Lord's supper would consider this, for Saul was rejected for disobeying a plain command of the Almighty.

CHAP. XV. 24, to the end.

We have here Saul's fruitless humillation; Samuel's execution of the divine sentence against Agag; and the parting of Saul and Samuel.

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ND 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. This was a ridiculous excuse, because the people were at his command; and in several instances before recorded, he seemed to stand 25 in no awe of them. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me to Gilgal, that I may worship the LORD there, and that thou mayest pray for me, and assist me in implor26 ing forgiveness of God. And 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. Samuel, according to his present view of things, peremptorily denied his request, lest he should seem to approve or allow what he 27 had done. And as Samuel turned about to go away, in great indignation, at discovering so much meanness and hypocrisy in a king of Israel, Saul thought the people would imagine he was greatly under God's displeasure, and therefore he laid hold upon the skirt of his, Samuel's, mantle, and it rent. This casual rent 28 was a proper emblem of Saul's rejection. And 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 29 than thou. And also the Strength of Israel, who is not weak, like men, and therefore can execute all his purposes, or rather, who giveth victory to Israel, will not lie nor repent: for he [is] not 30 a man, that he should repent.* Then 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. He now acknowledges his guilt, without excuse or alleviation, and submitted to his sentence; but desired, that while he was king, he might not lose the honour and submission of his subjects, which was what he was chiefly concerned 31 about. So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul wor shipped the LORD. Samuel probably did this by divine direction, lest the people should withdraw their obedience if they saw him quite rejected.

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Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. He spoke to the people before Saul, that he might see what he ought to have done. And Agag came unto him delicately, effeminately both in his dress and walk. And Agag said,

* God is said to repent when he alters his dispensations as men alter their conduct. But he cannot repent, as that denotes weakness and imperfection, and want of sufficient knowledge. There was no 100m for it in this case, because he had declared the Amalekites should be destroyed, and confirmed it by an oath; so that Saul's breaking the command of God in this case was the highest affront to him.

Surely the bitterness of death is past; being spared by Saul and his soldiers, he thought there was no danger from an old prophet, 33 and that he would only reprove him. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. This shows that he had been a cruel, bloody tyrant. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal: he ordered him to be executed on the spot, as Elijah did Baal's prophets, 1 Kings xviii. 40.

84 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his 35 house to Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; he saw him afterward accidentally, but probably nothing passed between them: nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul; he had so much pity for him, and love for his country; that he continued to lament the condition of both and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel; that is, he changed the manner of his dealing with him, and all Samuel's prayers and tears could not reverse the sentence.

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hard is it to bring men to a sense of their guilt, and to acknowledge their crimes! What poor subterfuges does Saul shelter himself under! How many idle excuses, when his guilt was so glaring! Thus do the children of disobedience run from one excuse to another; and it is really melancholy to see, as we often do, especially ministers, when they visit sick and dying persons, how backward men are to acknowledge those evils which all the world beside can see. The pride of their hearts hath deceived them; and there are no words uttered with more difficulty than these, I was mistaken, I have done evil. But let us not be deceived, God is not mocked; he that hideth his sins shall not prosper; but he that confesseth and forsaketh them, skall find mercy.

2. God is just and righteous, and will not alter his threatenings against the wicked. The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. His threatenings indeed are conditional; if men persist and continue impenitent, they will be executed; if they repent, the Lord will pardon. He is not weak, so as to forget sin; he is not fickle, to alter his mind; nor feeble, so as to be unable to execute his threatenings : his sentence upon impenitent sinners is irreversible; and those who abuse his long suffering and goodness, will find at last no place for repentance, though they should seek it carefully with tears.

3. We see that sinners are more solicitous about their own credit and honour, than of God's acceptance. We never find in Saul any marks or fruits of genuine repentance, and very little concern to regain the favour of God; but he was extremely loth to lose his credit with his people; expressing great respect for Samuel, merely to save appearances before them. Thus men often seem zealously affected toward God's ministers, and desire to be at peace with them and the church, merely for the sake of their own reputation

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