¹⁰ The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.” Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal.” ¹³ When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.” ¹⁴ But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” He replied, “Speak.” ¹⁷ Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²² And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 

Poor Saul. It wasn’t his idea to leave some of the “spoil” alive rather than put everything to death. V.21 tells us some of his fellow Israelites decided to take some of the choice animals to sacrifice to the Lord. Normally this might be just fine, except in this case God had commanded that everything be destroyed. Saul was caught between the command of God and the desires of his warriors who, in defeating the Amalekites, would have expected to enjoy the spoils of war. Saul could either disappoint God or disappoint his own people. He chose the former and was dismissed by God from being king. In his place would rise a young man named David, the one who would battle Goliath.

One of the hardest things to do as a leader is to disappoint your own people – but that’s part of the job. Leadership is hard. We can only hope that when we disappoint, we do so for the right reasons. Lord I ask your blessing today on all leaders, especially the leaders in the church around the world. Give us grace to choose wisely, and forgive us when we fail to do so. Amen.