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Saul’s confession in 1 Samuel 15 sounded spiritual—but it wasn’t repentance. Learn how fearing people replaces fearing God, why obedience is better than sacrifice, and how true confession brings mercy.
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Maybe you’ve noticed that when public figures or large corporations apologize, their apologies sound, let’s say, strange. They say things like, “Mistakes were made,” or “If anyone was offended, we’re sorry.”
It’s the kind of apology that sounds good at first, until you realize nobody’s actually taking responsibility for anything. It’s carefully worded to protect image and reputation. The goal isn’t ownership of fault; instead, it’s damage control. There’s an appearance of humility without actually being humble. They want forgiveness without admitting guilt.
We might roll our eyes at these kinds of hollow apologies, but, if we’re honest, we can do the same thing spiritually. We say, “I’m sorry, Lord,” but what we really mean is, “I don’t like the consequences.”
This is precisely what happened with Saul. When he said, “I have sinned,” he didn’t mean, “I am broken over my sin.” He meant, “I’ve been caught, and I want to look good in front of the people.” His confession wasn’t repentance; it was reputation management.
The Background to Saul’s Hollow Confession
God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites and everything that belonged to them. He defeated the Amalekites but allowed some to live and kept some of their valuables. One of Saul’s most significant problems is that he didn’t understand that partial obedience is disobedience, and if I had more room in the sermon, I would have made that a lesson. God sent the prophet Samuel to confront Saul:
1 Samuel 15:12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”
This is unbelievable: Saul was in the midst of disobeying God, yet he set up a monument for himself. Hopefully, I don’t have to tell you that even when we obey God, it is a bad idea to set up a monument for ourselves. Clearly, Saul is feeling pretty good about himself:
1 Samuel 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
I don’t know whether Saul thought he obeyed the Lord or if he was just trying to convince Samuel that he obeyed. He seems to me like the kid who’s sent to clean his room, and when his parents walk in, he exclaims, “Look, I cleaned my room!” hoping to convince the parents he actually did. It didn’t work with Samuel:
1 Samuel 15:14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”
Let’s think the best and imagine that Saul really believed that he obeyed God. But when Samuel said this to him, it’s obvious he didn’t, so this is when he should have confessed and repented. Instead, he made excuses, shifted blame, and even argued:
1 Samuel 15:15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
Saul blamed the people for everything that was spared and took credit for everything destroyed:
Samuel wouldn’t put up with Saul’s excuses, so he interrupted him. Samuel didn’t really need Saul’s permission to speak. It reminds me of children telling their parents, “Continue,” after their parents have told them to be quiet and listen.
1 Samuel 15:17 And 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, devote to destruction 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 pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”
Now Samuel reminded Saul how good God had been to him, and clearly told him he had disobeyed:
1 Samuel 15:20 And 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 devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
Saul still didn’t confess. He argued with Samuel and again blamed the people and took credit for anything good:
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, “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 listen than the fat of rams.
Saul said they kept the animals to sacrifice them, so Samuel says, “God doesn’t want sacrifices. What he really wants is obedience.”
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
I can’t say for sure that if Saul had repented earlier, he would have been able to remain king, but I can say Samuel didn’t tell Saul he was rejected as king until after all the excuses and arguing.
1 Samuel 15:24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.”
After learning he’s lost the throne, Saul said, “I have sinned,” without repenting.
A Confession With An Excuse Is An Excuse
Saul said he disobeyed because he feared the people. He was an excuse-making machine. His first failure occurred in 1 Samuel 13, when Samuel told him to wait seven days before he would come and offer the sacrifice, but Saul offered it himself. Samuel confronted Saul, and he said:
1 Samuel 13:11 And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.
Saul blamed the people, Samuel, and the Philistines and concluded with, “I didn’t want to do it, but I had to!” He’s no better in this chapter, but interestingly, he told the truth in his confession: “I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”
We Obey What We Fear
Saul wasn’t afraid of dying. They weren’t going to kill him because he didn’t let them keep the plunder. Instead, he’s afraid of upsetting them. He fears being unpopular. And because of that, he obeyed them. Consider these examples showing we obey what we fear.
Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, and when the Angel stopped him:
Genesis 22:12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
Abraham obeyed God because he feared Him.
The Hebrew midwives were commanded to murder the baby boys:
Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
The Hebrew midwives must have feared disobeying Pharaoh, but they feared God more and obeyed Him.
Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Hebrews go. We might assume it’s because he’s an evil man who was willing to enslave an entire group of people for his own pleasure, but:
Exodus 9:29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.”
The point is, we obey what we fear:
- Abraham and the Hebrew midwives obeyed God because they feared Him
- Pharaoh disobeyed God because he didn’t fear Him
And Saul admitted that he obeyed the people because he feared them, which really means he didn’t fear God, or at least didn’t fear God as much as he feared the people. At least he was honest about this.
Reject God and Be Rejected By God
1 Samuel 15:26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
I think Samuel wouldn’t go with Saul because he was God’s representative, and if God rejected Saul, then he thought he should reject him too. The word “rejected” is repeated in these verses. It occurs:
- Twice in the second half of verse 23: “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
- Twice in verse 26: “For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
The simple application is that if we keep rejecting the Word of the Lord, there can come a point when the Lord rejects us. It’s as though God says, “You won’t listen to Me. Fine. I’m done with you.” This is known as reprobation:
Romans 1:23 [They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images…24 Therefore God gave them up…26 For this reason God gave them up…28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up.
Saul was an Old Testament reprobate. A reprobate is someone God has given up pursuing. We don’t know when it happens, but we do know it does happen, and because of that, we want to ensure we don’t test the Lord’s patience with us.
We Should Submit To God’s Discipline
1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
This was the wrong way to respond to God’s discipline. This wasn’t the same as inviting Samuel to stick around or tapping him on the shoulder when he tried to walk away.
Imagine you rebuke someone, try to walk away, but the person reaches out and grabs your clothes so firmly that they tear. That would show you how rebellious the person was, which was the case with Saul. Back in verse 23, Samuel told Saul, “Rebellion is as the sin of divination.” Instead of taking this to heart, Saul further rebelled. He wouldn’t accept God’s discipline.
Saul’s Ongoing Rebellion
This isn’t the end of Saul’s resistance to God’s discipline. It’s the beginning of it. He’s going to spend the rest of his life trying to stop the throne from being given to David, and ultimately, it will ruin his life. I have to wonder what Saul’s life would’ve looked like and how he would’ve finished if he had submitted to God’s discipline instead.
Before doctors give you a shot, they say, “Relax. Try to stay as calm as possible. This will hurt, but it will hurt more if you resist.” Essentially, the doctor is advising us to accept what’s about to happen because if we don’t, we will cause ourselves more pain. It’s the same with God’s discipline.
I think about children when we discipline them. We tell them to accept it, and if they resist, pout, or throw a fit, these are all forms of rebellion, and it will only make things worse. It is the same with God. He wants us to receive His discipline well. Hebrews 12 is the discipline chapter:
This is worded interestingly. It doesn’t say that God’s discipline produces the fruit of righteousness for everyone. Instead, it’s only for “Those who have been trained by it,” which I take to mean those who have accepted it. It is our acceptance of God’s discipline that allows us to repent and grow.
Saul’s Second Hollow Confession
1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
Because Saul’s actions were rebellious, Samuel didn’t feel sorry for him. Instead, he used his defiant act to show what was to come. The torn robe illustrated the kingdom being taken away from him.
1 Samuel 15:29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
I think we know bad parents who give in to their children when they push. Samuel tells Saul that God isn’t like those parents. He isn’t going to change his mind just because Saul threw a fit.
1 Samuel 15:30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.”
This is another time Saul was honest. He said why he wanted Samuel to return with him: “To be honored before the elders [and the people of] Israel.”
Saul’s Concern with Appearances
Think about the situation we see in our day that’s similar to Saul’s: Politicians want the support of important people, and it doesn’t look good when they lose that support. As far as I know, I think Samuel was the only person in Scripture to occupy three offices:
- He was a priest; he replaced Eli and his evil sons.
- He was the last judge, making him the nation’s ruler until Saul.
- He was also the first prophet.
So, nobody in Israel was more critical than Samuel, and if it ever looked like Saul lost Samuel’s support, it would’ve been disastrous for him.
Saul set up a monument for himself earlier. He cares about appearances more than anything else. So, it’s like he says, “Please return with me so I keep looking good in front of everyone.” It’s shocking that despite losing the throne, the kingdom, and being rejected by God, his most significant concern was his image. He didn’t care what God thought about him. He only cared about what people thought of him.
We Shouldn’t Confess To Get Something
When Saul confessed in verse 24, he asked Samuel to return with him, and he did the same thing here. Both times he confessed, he was trying to get something, and it can be tempting for us to do the same.
He’s a prime example of people who do something wrong, don’t feel guilty, but then learn about the consequences and wonder: “What can I do to avoid this punishment?” There’s no shame or brokenness over their sin. It’s simply manipulation: “I will say whatever I can to get out of this.” That was Saul, and if we confess just because we want something, we’re acting like him.
Why David Was Not “Better” Than Saul
In 1 Samuel 15:28, Samuel told Saul that God was taking the kingdom away from him and giving it to someone better — David. David was not better than Saul because he sinned less than Saul:
- In 1 Samuel 13, Saul offered a sacrifice he shouldn’t have offered, and then he spared some Amalekites and took some of their stuff.
- David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah, to cover his sins.
If anything, David looks worse. In fact, I think most people would say that if Saul lost the throne, David really should’ve lost it.
David Was Better Than Saul Because He Repented
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
The ESV uses “presumption,” but other translations, such as the NKJV, read “stubbornness,” and the NIV reads “arrogance.” Divination and idolatry were among the wickedest sins in the Old Testament, and Samuel told Saul that his rebellion, stubbornness, or arrogance was as bad as those sins. Saul was a rebellious and proud man. He wouldn’t humble himself or take responsibility for his actions.
For all of David’s faults, he was a repentant man. And that made David better than Saul, despite what David did. David wasn’t better than Saul because he sinned less than Saul. David was better than Saul because of what he did after he sinned: he humbled himself and repented.
The grace and mercy God has for humble, repentant people is immense and seems to be only matched by the judgment He has for proud, unrepentant people. This is the main lesson of the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee:
Luke 18:14 I tell you, [the tax collector] went down to his house justified, rather than the [Pharisee]. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
David Was Better Than Saul Because He Knew God
1 Samuel 15:15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”
1 Samuel 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
1 Samuel 15:30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.”
I probably wouldn’t have drawn attention to it if Saul had said it only once, or maybe even twice, but three times he referred to God as “The Lord your God,” rather than “the Lord my God.” There is a world of difference between God being someone else’s God and being our God. And God was not Saul’s God. Saul might be the best example in Scripture of someone who knew of God without knowing God.
There are many verses David wrote that I could provide, but here’s just one:
Psalm 18:1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer…”
David’s personal address, “my rock,” “my fortress,” reveals a deep personal relationship.
For all David’s faults, he knew God. He deeply loved God and knew Him intimately. This speaks to religious people, people going to church, perhaps for years, who know of God but don’t know God.
Saul’s story is tragic because it didn’t have to end the way it did. He had every opportunity to humble himself, confess his sin, and submit to God’s discipline, but instead, he chose pride over repentance, image over integrity, and popularity over obedience.
Each of us faces the same temptation:
- When confronted with sin, will we make excuses like Saul, or will we humble ourselves like David?
- Will we fear people more than God, or fear God enough to obey Him no matter what others think?
True confession does not say, “I have sinned, but…” True confession says, “I have sinned, Lord, have mercy.” And when that’s our heart, God is gracious.
