EXPOSITION:
Israel requested for a king and God gave them Saul. Saul in effect became the first king chosen for Israel. However, he who was chosen was later rejected due to disobedience. Not only was he rejected, we are also told that the Spirit of the LORD left him (1 Samuel 16:14).
Our first reading has to do with the decision Saul took in the face of Samuel’s delay when Israel had gone to battle against the Philistines. When Saul realized his army was becoming smaller by day, He disobeyed God by offering the sacrifice, a task that was meant to be performed by the priest, Samuel. He could not wait for Samuel to arrive to perform this sacrifice. His impatience led him to disobey God.
In another instance, Saul disobeyed God when he refused to carry out to the latter, God’s instruction concerning the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a people whom God had vowed to eliminate from the earth (Exodus 17:14), and He at this point sought to use Saul to accomplish this judgement. One might have thought that after the incident at Gilgal, Saul could have taken this opportunity to make up to God; but he again disobeyed God fully.
Because of Saul’s disobedience, God rejected him from being king. Samuel told him, “You acted foolishly, you have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure…” (1 Samuel 13:13-14 NIV). Consequently, God instructed Samuel to anoint David as a king as Saul’s replacement.