1. When the angels are sent to gather God's elect, whom will they take? "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." (Psalm 50:5)
2. What does God regard more highly than sacrifice? "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 hearken than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22)
3. How is disobedience described? "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:23)
4. When Samuel first came to Saul, how did the latter feel respecting what he had done? "And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him, Blessed be you of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord." (1 Samuel 15:13)
5. After Samuel reproved him, what did he say? "And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." (1 Samuel 15:15)
6. How was Saul deceived? He thought that by making a sacrifice to the Lord, He would excuse him for not doing just as He had commanded.
7. Was there any way by which the people would benefit themselves pecuniarily by this disobedience? They could use these cattle for sacrifice, and save their own for themselves. "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, and the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord your God in Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:21)
8. What was the final result of Saul's course? "And Samuel said unto him, The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, that is better than you. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent. ... And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel." (1 Samuel 15:28-29,35)
9. In what manner was the ark to be conveyed from place to place? "But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none; because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders." (Numbers 7:9)
10. By what means was it carried from the Philistines to Beth Shemesh? "And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods." (1 Samuel 6:10-11)
11. How were the men of Beth Shemesh dealt with for looking into the ark? "And He smote the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even He smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter." (1 Samuel 6:19)
12. What arrangements did David make for taking the ark from the house of Abinadab? "And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. ... And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals." (2 Samuel 6:3,5)
13. Why was Uzzah smitten by the Lord? "And when they came unto the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God." (1 Chronicles 13:9-10)
14. What was the real sin here committed? "For because you did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the due order." (1 Chronicles 15:13)
15. When the ark was removed from the house of Obededom, in what manner was it carried? "So the priests and Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord." (1 Chronicles 15:14-15)
16. If God's miraculous care was over the ark when it was brought from the Philistines on a cart, why was He displeased when it was placed upon a new cart prepared expressly for that purpose by David?[1]
17. What practical lesson can be learned from this?
Although men may have zeal and care for God's cause, the Lord will not accept that in the place of obedience.
Note:
1. It is a great mistake to presume that our property or anything we possess belongs to us to use upon our lusts. Whatever talents men possess, either natural or acquired, are loaned them of God, and those who are not faithful in that which has been loaned them will never receive the true riches which Christ has purchased for us; for if we have not been faithful in that which is another man's, none will give us that which is our own.
Nothing in this life belongs to us, but an inheritance to eternal life in the kingdom of God has been purchased for us by Christ. We were God's by creation, and after having lost the privilege of children by the fall, we have been purchased, or redeemed, by the blood of Christ. We have no right, therefore, to devote our powers or possessions to our own selfish interests. Every sacrifice made to the glory of God will meet its reward in the kingdom of God. Hence God will accept nothing but that obedience which proceeds from the heart.
Saul was a rash man, and his case fitly illustrates the course of many professed Christians at the present time. Although apparently conscientious, he was impetuous, and could not wait for God's providence when brought into straitened circumstances. He had never learned the important lesson of quiet trust in God, and in consequence, his entire life was one of fitfulness.
"Saul had not a high and exalted sense of the excellence and terrible majesty of God. He had not a sacred regard for His appointed ordinances. With an impetuous spirit because Samuel did not appear at the appointed time, he rushed before God presumptuously, and undertook the sacred work of sacrifice. While equipped for war, he built the altar and officiated for himself and the people. This work was sacredly given to those appointed for the purpose. This act was a crime in Saul, and such an example would lead the people to have a low estimate of the religious ceremonies and ordinances sanctified and appointed of God, prefiguring the sinless offering of His dear Son. God would have His people have a holy regard and sacred reverence for the sacrificial work of the priests, which pointed to the sacrifice of His Son."--Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume One, p. 357-358.
"God proved Saul by entrusting him with the important commission to execute His threatened wrath upon Amalek. But he disobeyed God, and spared the wicked, blasphemous king Agag, whom God had appointed unto death, and spared the best of the cattle. He destroyed utterly all the refuse that would not profit them. Saul thought it would add to his greatness to spare Agag, a noble monarch splendidly attired; and that to return from battle with him captive, with great spoil of oxen, sheep, and much cattle, would get to himself much renown, and cause the nations to fear him, and tremble before him. And the people united with him in this. They excused their sin among themselves in not destroying the cattle, because they could reserve them to sacrifice to God, and spare their own cattle to themselves."--Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume One, p. 362.
"Samuel informed Saul that his rebellion was as the sin of witchcraft. That is, when one commences to travel in the path of rebellion, he yields himself to be controlled by an influence that is in opposition to the will of God. Satan controls the rebellious mind. Those who are thus controlled lose a calm trust in God, and have less and less disposition to yield loving obedience to His will. Satan becomes more and more familiar with them, until they seem to have no power to cease to rebel. In this respect, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
Saul's stubbornness in persisting before Samuel that he had obeyed God, was an iniquity and idolatry. His love to carry out his own will was more desirable to him than to obtain the favor of God, or the approbation of a clear conscience. And when his sin was opened clearly before him, and his wrong definitely pointed out, his pride of opinion, his excessive self-love, led him to justify himself in his wrong course, in defiance of the reproof of Samuel, and the word of the Lord by the mouth of his prophet. Such obstinacy in a known transgression, separated him forever from God.
He knew that he had gone contrary to God's express command; yet when reproved by God through Samuel, he would not humbly acknowledge his sin, but in a determined manner uttered a falsehood in self-justification. If he had humbly repented, and received the reproof, the Lord would have had mercy and forgiven Saul of his great sin. But the Lord left Saul for his stubbornly refusing to be corrected, and for uttering falsehoods to Samuel, his messenger. Samuel told Saul that, as he had rejected the word of the Lord, God had rejected him from being king."--Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume One, p. 365-366.
There is one thing noticeable in the case of Uzzah's being smitten before the Lord. It cannot be said that David did not have a proper sense of the sacredness of the ark. It seems that a new cart was especially prepared upon which to convey the ark. It probably had never been used for any other purpose. David also sang and gave praises before the ark with all his might.
But the sin committed was in the disregard of the law which said that the ark should be borne by the priests. Uzzah was a Levite but not a priest. All the circumstances seemed to be in harmony with the mind of God except this provision for carrying the ark upon a cart, instead of by the proper means, which would have avoided all danger, such as Uzzah apprehended from the stumbling of the oxen, and the shaking of the ark. This incident illustrates the grand truth that a conscientious zeal never can take the place of obedience in God's sight.
Another important truth is brought out by this circumstance, namely, that God does not hold people responsible when they do not have the light. God's miraculous providence was over the ark when it was first sent to Beth-Shemesh, although it was then drawn upon a cart; for the Philistines had no knowledge of how the ark should be carried. But to the people of Israel, God had made known the manner in which He was pleased to have it conveyed.--Signs of the Times, June 2, 1887--Sabbath, June 18--1 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 15
E.J. Waggoner