1S13-9: ‘Lawlessness’ Is The Chief Characteristic Of An Ungodly King

“He waited seven days, as Sh’mu’el had instructed; but Sh’mu’el didn’t come to Gilgal; so the army began to drift away from him.  Sha’ul said, ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings,’ and he offered the burnt offering.As soon as he had finished sacrificing the burnt offering, there was Sh’mu’el — he had come, and Sha’ul went out to meet and greet him.”-1 Samuel 13:8-10

For the first time since Saul became king, we now get a glimpse at why he was unfit to be Israel’s ruler.

Well, actually we get more than a glimpse.

We get a full-blown presentation.

And wouldn’t you know it?

It has everything to do with being a lawbreaker, someone who pays little heed to God’s Torah.

Here’s what happened.

Samuel had informed Saul that in seven days he would arrive at Gilgal to officiate over the pre-battle ceremonies.

Well, seven days came and went, and Samuel was nowhere to be found.

Saul grew tired of waiting for Samuel to arrive at Gilgal.

So what did he do?

Since there was an altar and a sanctuary at Gilgal, he took it upon himself to offer sacrifices to the Lord.

Right there, Saul demonstrated his disregard for God’s commands and ritual protocols.

How so?

Well, if you possessed even a basic understanding of Torah, you’d understand the only Hebrews allowed to offer sacrifices were the priests.

Not even the regular Levite workers were allowed to do this.

And certainly, no king nor any other member of political leadership was allowed this special privilege.

Here’s another thing.

There’s no doubt there were priests at Gilgal because it was considered Israel’s holiest place at the time.

So why didn’t Saul just allow them to offer up the sacrifices?

Well, that’s where a little knowledge of Biblical Hebrew becomes very useful.

The original Hebrew says that Saul offered up the OLAH (Burnt Offering) and SHELAMIM(Gratitude Offerings).

Again, this is Torah 101, but recall that the OLAH is the supreme offering and only the High Priest is allowed to offer it up.

And technically speaking, only the priests were allowed to offer up the Shelamim sacrifices.

But the reality was that they were regularly offered up by laymen as family-centered sacrifices.

This was a carryover from those days when each family’s firstborn son officiated over sacrifices at the altars in their homes. 

Anyway, I don’t wanna get off track here.

The point is Saul, in a reckless display of total disrespect and disregard for God’s commands, offered up the chief sacrifice that only the High Priest was permitted to do.

So of course, when Samuel showed up, he was like “Just what in the freakin’ heck do you think you’re doing man?!”

Here was Saul’s ridiculous response:

 “When I saw that the men were scattering,
and that you did not come at the set time,
and that the Philistines were assembling
at Mikmash,I thought, ‘Now the Philistines
will come down against me at Gilgal,
and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’
So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”
-1 Samuel 13:11-12

In a nutshell, Saul says he was getting worried because many of his men were packing up and leaving at the same time the Philistines were building up their forces, and Samuel still hadn’t arrived.

He then says to Samuel that he “felt compelled” to perform the sacrifices in order to gain favor from God.

How ironic that the action Saul took to gain favor with God would have the exact opposite effect.

Of course, Samuel had zero patience for Saul’s excuses and told him what he did was both stupid and rebellious.