1 Samuel 15:27 Commentary and Bible Study

‘As Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.’ Samuel used it as a symbol and says to him, ‘The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.’ And then he adds this: that it is God's decision, not his: ‘And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.’ ‘The Strength of Israel’ – the Hebrew says something like ‘the splendour’ or ‘the light of Israel’, and our translators have – and I think quite rightly – altered that a little to ‘the strength of Israel’, because they are seeing it in the context of the passage. That is exactly right. Saul's problem is that he has become proud, and he thinks, he is the one who delivers Israel; he is the winner of battles; he is the great leader. And he has to be reminded, ‘No, the splendour or the shining light of Israel, in this connection, the real strength and the power is the Lord, and he doesn't change his decrees and his utterances. And when he says something like a warning that if you do wrong, you will no longer be king, he means it; he doesn't lie in those warnings.’ The rending of the kingdom from Saul was revealed then, but it wouldn't actually be fully affected until the death of Saul. Nevertheless, from that moment Saul was to know it wasn't rightfully his. ‘The strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent.’ Saul cannot keep his kingdom, however many concessions he makes which fall short of true repentance. Then Saul tried again: ‘I have sinned.’ It is a balder statement than ever, but you immediately see how defective even this repentance is by what follows. He says it only so that he won't be publicly shamed, only to get something in exchange, and so he doesn’t really mean it. The truly repentant do bargain with God; they admit they have nothing to bargain with; they are bankrupt. ‘Yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me,’ – continue to recognise me, and let the people recognise me – ‘that I may worship the LORD thy God.’ His initial reluctance to be king had turned into a strong need to have the people honour him. This is just damage limitation. Don't put me to shame right now. Samuel relents on this limited point. A new king has to be located by the guidance of God, and this actually will take time, longer than Samuel realises. But in the meantime he is not inclined to depose Saul on the spot. It will be in God's time. But it wouldn't be for long. ‘And Saul worshipped the Lord.’