1 Samuel 13:8 Commentary and Bible Study

So the events build up, and Saul has been instructed by Samuel to wait seven days. ‘He tarried [waited] seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed.’ That takes us a little by surprise, because back in chapter 10 verse 8 we read that Samuel had this arrangement with Saul that he would wait for him for seven days for instructions; it gives the impression it was just for that occasion. But here in chapter 13, we learn that it was obviously a standing order: that Saul must never go to war without consulting Samuel, and seeking the Lord's will through him. We understand that Samuel had said to him, ‘You can do all sorts of things as king according to your own wisdom, but when it is war, you send for me and in seven days, I will come and we will consult and you are under orders.’ This is clearly implied by the narrative. Samuel must have said, ‘If we go to battle, you must wait seven days, and I will come and give thanks, pray and seek direction, and offer up sacrifices. But the people were melting away on every hand and Saul panics, because Samuel hasn’t come. He wasn't a man who could hold people up. He wasn't a strong pillar of the man. Samuel is late intentionally. But it seems that that was the arrangement and this is the reason why Saul was punished by God for his disobedience. He waited seven days, but he didn't wait a full seven days – maybe six and a half days, maybe six and three-quarter days. He did come, we believe, in seven days, but right at the end of the seventh day, and Saul couldn't see that day out, so he offered a sacrifice. What he decides is, I will disobey God's command, and create my own strategy. We will quickly get this sacrifice done; we will not leave that out.Now people jump on that, and they say, ‘Saul wasn't a priest; this was his great sin.’ But the narrator often puts things like this, and there is no reason to believe otherwise than that Saul got hold of a priest. And when it says Saul made the offering, he didn't necessarily make it – he may well have had a priest with him; we shall see that in due course – but his fault was that he ordered it without Samuel. He didn't wait for Samuel. God's instructions were not entirely followed, and it was done at Saul's direction. And it is not surprising. Saul wasn't truly a believer. He thought what happened in the house of God – in what was now a building where worship was offered and sacrifices were made, and the priests had to wash their garments, and everything had to be meticulously done; he thought this was a lot of rigmarole. He didn't have to do all that. Just call upon God, and offer the sacrifice. That will give the remaining people some encouragement. Let's get on with it! He was an impious man. He would himself engage in spiritual activities which he didn't understand, and he didn't fully trust.