Excuses

July 23, 2007

We now skip ahead a year in our study of Saul. He has taken over as king because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him to gather Israel to defeat the Philistines. Now a year later, they are better prepared to go to war with Israel.

1Sa 13:4-14 BBE
(4) And all Israel had the news that Saul had made an attack on the Philistines, and that Israel was bitterly hated by the Philistines. And the people came together after Saul toGilgal.
(5) And the Philistines came together to make war on Israel, three thousand war-carriages and six thousand horsemen and an army of people like the sands of the sea in number: they came up and took up their position inMichmash, to the east of Beth-aven.

We see that the Philistines came prepared for battle. They were ready to take revenge for what happened to them last year. And it was not lost on the men of Israel.

(6) When the men of Israel saw the danger they were in, for the people were troubled, they took cover in cracks in the hillsides and in the woods and in rocks and holes and hollows.
(7) And a great number of the people had gone over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people went after him shaking in fear.

Saul as a king was responsible for making these men ready for the battle. It is pretty obvious that he had not really done his job. Israel was hiding every place they could find. It is obvious that by what follows, Samuel had been what was keeping the kingdom going. Saul was waiting for Samuel to come down to do the sacrifice so the could go to war, but Samuel, for what ever reason, was delayed.

(8) And he went on waiting there for seven days, the time fixed by Samuel: but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were starting to go away from him.
(9) Then Saul said, Come here and give me the burned offering and the peace-offerings. And he made a burned offering to the Lord.

Like many of our elected officials, he wanted to do what pleased the people. It was not a smart move. It never is when you know what to do so that you do the right thing, and you choose to please the people instead.

(10) And when the burned offering was ended, Samuel came; and Saul went out to see him and to give him a blessing.
(11) And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were going away from me, and you had not come at the time which had been fixed, and the Philistines had come together atMichmash;
(12) I said, Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal, and I have made no prayer for help to the Lord: and so, forcing myself to do it, I made a burned offering.

Saul knew the law. He was not a member of the Levite priesthood. He had no permission from God to do what he did. And because he did it, he was going to suffer. But look what he does. He tries to weasel out of it. You were late getting here Samuel, we had to go to war, so I forced my self to do it for the good of the people. You see, excuses like that will not fly with God. They did not work when Adam tried to tell God it was Eve's fault and they will not work at any time. As people of God, when we do wrong, we need to stand up and take responsibility. Of course, our results when we do not take responsibility may not be as bad as Saul's.

(13) And Samuel said to Saul, You have done a foolish thing: you have not kept the rules which the Lord your God gave you; it was the purpose of the Lord to make your authority over Israel safe for ever.
(14) But now, your authority will not go on: the Lord, searching for a man who is pleasing to him in every way, has given him the place of ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord gave you orders to do.

Do you realize that if Saul had waited an hour more, he would not have had the kingdom taken away from him. In our lives, we may need to avoid that sin just one more hour. God has a reward waiting for you. Will you receive it?

== Translation Information
1949/1964 Bible In Basic English

The Bible In Basic English was printed in 1965 by Cambridge Press in England. Published without any copyright notice and distributed in America, this work fell immediately and irretrievably into the Public Domain in the United States according to theUCC convention of that time.


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