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📖 Check Your Understanding
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The Story
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A cheerful claim. Saul walked up to Samuel and said, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (15:13). He seems to have believed it.
The sheep spoke up. Behind him were sheep and cattle God had told him not to keep. Samuel answered, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (15:14). The proof was making noise right behind Saul, and he still could not see his sin.
Blaming others. Then Saul said, “the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen” (15:15). He did not say I. He said the people. He said it again in verse 21. Both times he added a religious reason: the animals were kept to sacrifice to the Lord.
Your God. Saul kept saying “the Lord your God” to Samuel. It sounded as if God belonged to Samuel and not to him.
Part of the way. Saul did some of what God said and then called it all. Obeying part of the way is not obeying.
What we learn. Excuses pull us away from God, but honest confession brings us close to Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9).
Believing his own story. Saul’s real problem in 1 Samuel 15 is not that he is caught in a lie. He seems to believe his own story.
The claim (15:13). He greets Samuel with a blessing and a claim of full obedience: “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
The evidence (15:14). Samuel answers with what he can hear: “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” The proof was standing a few feet away.
A three-part defense. Each part comes back later. First, Saul shifts the blame: “the people spared the best” (v. 15), repeated almost word for word in verse 21. Second, he dresses up disobedience as devotion: the animals were kept “to sacrifice to the Lord.” Third, twice he says “the Lord your God” (vv. 15, 21) rather than our God. Saul was already speaking as if God belonged to Samuel and not to him.
Doubling down (15:20). When Samuel confronts him directly, Saul does not back down: “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.” He calls partial obedience full obedience, and that is the heart of his sin.
Samuel’s grief (15:11). Before Samuel ever spoke to Saul, “it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.” The prophet who confronted the king had spent the night praying for him. Truth spoken by someone who loves you is a gift.
The way out. 1 John 1:8-9 warns that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
Saul told Samuel, “I have obeyed the Lord’s commands.” Saul really thought he had obeyed. But Samuel could hear sheep and cows! God had told Saul not to keep them. Saul could not see his own sin. Then Saul blamed other people. He said the soldiers took the animals. He said it two times. He called God “the Lord your God” when he talked to Samuel. Excuses push us away from God. Telling God the truth brings us close to Him. God is kind to people who are honest about their sin.
Saul said he obeyed everything God said. But Samuel could hear the sheep! Saul only obeyed part of the way.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Is obeying part of the way the same as obeying? (No!)
Little in your own eyes. In verse 17 Samuel showed Saul exactly what had changed: “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel?”
How Saul started. When Samuel first presented Saul to the people as king, Saul was hiding among the baggage. They had to bring him out (1 Samuel 10:22). He truly did not think he was anybody special, and God made him king anyway.
A monument. That same morning Samuel heard some news. Saul had gone to Carmel and “set up a monument for himself” (15:12). It was a stone to make sure people remembered what he had done.
Pride in two places. The monument and the excuse came from the same pride. When we start keeping score of how great we are, we will always find a way to call our obedience complete.
Swooping on the spoil. Samuel asked why Saul had swooped down on the spoil and done “evil in the sight of the Lord” (15:19). Saul grabbed what looked good to him instead of listening to God.
What we learn. “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The way back to God is to become small in our own eyes again and to remember how much we need Him.
What changed (15:17). Samuel’s words show what went wrong in Saul’s heart: “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?”
The young Saul. When Saul was chosen in public, he was not even there. He had hidden among the equipment and had to be brought out (10:21-22). Earlier he had protested that he came from Benjamin, the smallest tribe, and from the least family in it (9:21). Whatever else was true of the young Saul, pride was not his problem.
A hand of stone (15:12). Before Saul ever spoke to Samuel, he had gone to Carmel on his way home from the battle and set up a yad (say: YAHD), a monument, literally a hand, for himself. The man who once hid from the crown now built a monument to his own success.
Pride and the excuse. The monument and the excuse belong together. A king who honors his own achievements starts measuring everything by his own performance, and by that measure partial obedience always looks like success. Pride blinded Saul to his sin. “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).
Grabbing (15:19). Samuel asked why Saul had swooped down on the spoil. Swooping is what a hawk does when it dives on its prey. Saul treated God’s battle as a chance to take what he wanted.
The cure. Humility keeps us honest before God. “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Jesus, the true King, “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:8).
Samuel reminded Saul how humble he used to be. “Once you didn’t think much of yourself,” Samuel said. Saul used to think he was nobody special. He even hid when they came to make him king. But now Saul had changed. He put up a monument in his own honor. A monument is a big stone that helps people remember something. Saul wanted people to remember him. Pride made Saul build that stone. Pride also made him blame other people. God gives grace to people who are humble. He loves a heart that knows it needs Him. Remember how much you need God.
Saul used to think he was small. Then he made a big stone for himself. God loves hearts that are humble.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Why is it good to remember how much we need God?
Words to remember. Then Samuel spoke words God’s people have remembered for about three thousand years: “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” (15:22).
Heed. To heed means to listen carefully and then do what you heard.
An impressive gift. Saul kept the best animals and said he planned to give them to God. That would have been an expensive, public offering. But God had not asked for that. He had asked Saul to do what He said.
Refusing God. Verse 23 says, “Refusing to obey is as bad as the sin of sorcery. Being stubborn is as bad as the sin of worshiping idols.” Sorcery means trying to use magic powers. Saying no to God is as serious as turning to magic or idols, because both put something else in God’s place.
The same trap. We can fall into the same trap. You can be generous at church on Sunday and unkind to your sister on Monday and feel as if it balances out. It does not. God is not running a shop where good things buy off bad things.
What we learn. God wants you, not just your gifts. Obeying Him is how loving Him shows on the outside. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Poetry at the center (15:22-23). Samuel’s answer is Hebrew poetry, pairs of lines that say the same truth twice: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”
Hearing is obeying. The Hebrew verb for obey here is shama (say: shah-MAH), the same word that means to hear. In Hebrew thinking, hearing God and doing what He says belong together. If you have not obeyed, you have not really heard.
The right order. Samuel is not throwing out sacrifice. God commanded the sacrifices, and Samuel himself offered them. He is putting things in the right order. An offering was meant to express a relationship with God, and it could never replace the obedience that relationship was supposed to produce. An offering brought in place of obedience is not worship. It is an attempt to pay God off.
Rebellion and stubbornness (15:23). Verse 23 says rebellion is as the sin of “witchcraft,” and “stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” Witchcraft tries to get results from spiritual powers on our own terms. Idolatry gives our trust to something other than God. Rebellion and stubbornness do the same thing quietly: they put our will on the throne where God belongs.
Rejected for rejecting (15:23). “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” Saul’s kingship depended on listening to the King above him.
A broken heart. David later learned what God wants: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). God is not against worship. He is against worship used to try to buy Him off.
Samuel asked Saul a big question. What pleases the Lord more, gifts or obeying? Then he gave the answer. “It is better to obey God than to offer a sacrifice.” A sacrifice was an animal given to God. Saul had kept the best animals. He said they were gifts for God. But God had not asked for those gifts. God had asked Saul to listen and obey. God does not want gifts in place of obeying. He wants our hearts. Obeying is the best gift we can give God. When we love God, we listen and do what He says.
God does not want our presents most. God wants us to listen and obey. Obeying God shows that we love Him.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
What is one way you can obey God this week?
A start. Saul finally said, “I have sinned” (15:24). That is a start. But here is his whole sentence: “I have sinned… because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” He was still handing the blame to someone else.
Worried about looks. Then in verse 30 he asked for one thing: “honor me now, please, before the elders of my people.” Even his apology was about how he would look in front of everybody.
Two kinds of sorry. Being sorry for what you did is different from being sorry it came out. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation… but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Real repentance turns to God. Worldly sorrow only worries about what people think.
The robe tore. As Samuel turned to walk away, Saul grabbed at his robe to stop him, and it tore. Samuel told him the same thing had just happened to his kingdom: “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you” (15:28).
A better neighbor. That better man was David, and in the next chapter God sends Samuel to anoint him.
Tears for Saul. “Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul” (15:35). God’s judgment came with real sadness.
What we learn. When you sin, do not just be sorry you got caught. Turn to God, tell Him the truth and trust His mercy.
Incomplete repentance (15:24-25). Saul does confess, but he is sorry mostly for himself. Verse 24 begins with a real admission, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord,” but he quickly shifts the blame: “because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” “The fear of man brings a snare” (Proverbs 29:25).
Keeping up appearances (15:30). “Honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel.” He wants to keep his position, not to be restored to God. Compare David’s prayer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10). David never mentions his reputation at all. Paul says that godly sorrow leads to repentance, but worldly sorrow leads to death (2 Corinthians 7:10).
The torn robe (15:27-28). Saul seizes the edge of Samuel’s robe, and it tears. Samuel tells him what it means: the Lord has torn the kingdom from him and given it to a better neighbor. Saul tried to cling to a prophet who was leaving, and he was left holding a piece.
Regret and relenting (15:11, 29, 35). Verse 29 says, “the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.” Yet verses 11 and 35 say the Lord regretted making Saul king. The Hebrew word in all three verses is nacham (say: nah-KHAM). In verses 11 and 35 it describes God’s grief over a relationship gone wrong. In verse 29 it says God does not change His settled purpose because a person pleads or bargains. God truly grieves, and yet no one can manipulate Him.
Agag (15:32-33). Samuel carried out the judgment Saul had refused, naming Agag’s own violence: “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” God had judged Amalek for attacking the weak and weary at Israel’s rear (Deuteronomy 25:17-18).
Samuel mourned (15:35). Judgment did not make Samuel cold. He mourned for Saul for the rest of his life.
Saul did say, “I have sinned.” But then he said, “I was afraid of the people.” Next he asked Samuel to honor him in front of the leaders. Even his sorry was about how he looked. Being sorry for your sin is one thing. Being sorry you got caught is different. As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed his robe. The robe tore right in his hand. Samuel said God had torn the kingdom away from Saul. God would give it to someone better. Samuel was sad about Saul for the rest of his life. God was sad too.
Saul grabbed Samuel’s robe, and it tore. The kingdom was going to someone else. God had a better king coming soon.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Who was God getting ready to be the next king? (Someone better!)
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📚 Story Questions
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The Gospel Connection
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The problem. Saul obeyed most of the way and called it obeying. We do that too. None of us has obeyed God all the way: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).
Gifts cannot fill the gap. Saul thought the best animals would cover his disobedience. They could not. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Our good deeds cannot pay for our sins either.
The One who obeyed. Hebrews 10 takes a psalm of David and shows that it describes Jesus coming into the world. God did not want sacrifices in place of obedience, so Jesus came to do God’s will. Jesus said, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). Where Saul failed, Jesus obeyed, and He did it in our place.
The cross and the empty tomb. Jesus “became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Sanctified means made holy. Then God raised Him from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4).
The response. When you obey God now, you are not paying Him back or buying anything. Jesus already did the obeying. Turn to Him, confess your sin and trust Him. Then obey because you are loved, not so that you will be. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
The problem 15:22 leaves. 1 Samuel 15:22 shows that God wants obedience more than sacrifice, and that leaves a problem. If God requires obedience, and sacrifices cannot take its place, then Israel needs more than better rituals. It needs a new heart. Saul’s failure is one example of what is true of all of us: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (Romans 5:19).
What sacrifices could not do. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sacrifices were real and commanded by God, but they pointed beyond themselves.
The obedient Son. Hebrews 10:5-9 quotes Psalm 40:6-8 as the words of Christ coming into the world: God did not desire sacrifice and offering in place of obedience, and so the Son came to do God’s will. The psalm sets offering against obedience, just as Samuel did, and Hebrews shows that Christ is the One who finally gave God the obedience He desired. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).
Obedient to death, and raised. Hebrews 10:10 gives the good news: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The obedience is Christ’s, and the holiness is ours. He “became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8), and Romans 5:19 sets Him against Adam: “so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Then “this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12), risen and reigning.
Obeying from love. So 1 Samuel 15 is more than a warning to obey better than Saul did. It points to the one obedience that was complete. Our obedience flows from His; it never replaces it. Come to Him with the broken and contrite heart God does not despise (Psalm 51:17). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We obey because we love Him, not to earn His love.
Saul obeyed God part of the way. Then he made excuses. We do the same thing sometimes. All of us have sinned.
Saul tried to give God the best animals. He thought a nice gift would fix things. It did not. Gifts cannot wash away sin.
Jesus came to do what God wanted. He obeyed God every single day. He never sinned at all. He obeyed God all the way to the cross.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was buried, and three days later He rose again! Now God makes us clean because of Jesus.
We do not obey to earn God’s love. We obey because Jesus already loves us. Tell Him you are sorry, and trust Him. He will forgive you.
Saul obeyed God only part of the way.
We do not always obey God either.
Gifts cannot fix our hearts.
Jesus obeyed God all the way!
He died on the cross and rose again.
Jesus did it for us because He loves us.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Who obeyed God all the way? (Jesus did!)
📖 Complete the Open Bible section first!
✝️ Gospel Questions
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Memory Verse
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“To obey is better than sacrifice.”
— 1 Samuel 15:22 (NKJV)
💡 What This Verse Means
“To obey” means to listen to God and do what He says. “is better than sacrifice”: a sacrifice was an animal you gave to God. It was an expensive, public thing to do. Saul had a whole flock ready, and Samuel says God would rather have had him just do what he was told. That is not God being hard to please. It is God saying He is not for sale. You cannot do something nice for God to make up for ignoring Him, any more than you can hand your mom flowers instead of doing what she asked. God gave sacrifices to His people, and He wanted them, but only from hearts that loved and obeyed Him. Today Jesus has made the one sacrifice that takes away sin, so we do not bring animals. But we can still try to trade with God, like going to church to make up for being mean all week. God wants your heart and your obedience, not a trade. Say this verse when you want to make excuses instead of obeying.
This verse compares two things; it does not throw one of them away. God commanded sacrifices, and Samuel offered them himself. What the verse forbids is bringing an offering in place of the obedience it was meant to express. The full verse is Hebrew poetry: “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.” The verb shama (say: shah-MAH) means both to hear and to obey, so real listening to God always ends in doing. The prophets repeat this message again and again, and Jesus Himself used Hosea’s version of it against people who used religious rules to avoid showing mercy. A scribe once told Jesus that loving God and neighbor “is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices,” and Jesus said he was “not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:33-34). God is not against worship. He is against worship used to try to buy Him off. Jesus is the only one who obeyed perfectly, and His obedience is the sacrifice that saves us (Hebrews 10:10). To memorize the verse, picture a balance: on one side a big gift, on the other a listening ear, and the ear wins.
A sacrifice was an animal you gave to God. It cost a lot, and everybody could see it. Saul had a whole flock of them ready. But God wanted Saul to obey Him. You cannot give God a gift to make up for disobeying. God wants your heart. When you love God, you listen and do what He says. Obeying is better than any present. Jesus obeyed God for us.
God does not want our presents most. He wants us to listen to Him and obey. Obeying God shows that we love Him.
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