1 Samuel Week 12

March 17, 2026

All Scripture are in NIV format unless otherwise noted.

So, last week we saw that Saul was not just appointed king but there was a threat to the Israelites, Nahash wanted to make a treaty, but it would cause each Israelite to have their eye gouged out. Saul hears of this and is filled with the Spirit of God and the anger of God burned in him.

Saul then makes a plan and defeats the ammonites and when the people saw what he did, they had another coronation and all of the people welcomed Saul as king, after all of that, we end up here where we are now.

1 Samuel 12:16-17

“16 Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

What is going to happen now is a rebuke, a consequence here of choosing to have a man as a king. So yes, it is back to this. After the Lord blessed Saul, God is now going to show how He feels about being His peoples second choice.

We may think this is harsh, but remember the 1st commandment given?

Exodus 20:1-3

“1 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

They chose a king over God Himself, that in turn makes the king an idol. Now, Saul did not get punished for it, he was only doing what God had called him to do, but here we are going to see dire consequences.

Listen, how many things do we have in our life that we put before God? How many things do we give more attention to over God? Phones, sports, people, family, jobs, money and so on. If we see consequences that we are about to see for their sin, why would we not think there would be serious consequences for doing it now? There will be consequences!

Samuel then asks if it is harvesting time. He knows it is, but he is making a point, the harvest being affected is going to be the consequence of this great sin. They know that severe weather can wipe out their total harvest, so when it says he was going to call on the Lord for thunder and rain, it meant he was calling for weather to affect the harvest.

1 Samuel 12:18

“18 Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.”

Samuel calls on the Lord and the horrible weather rolls in, there was thunder and rain, and we can all imagine how it was affecting the harvest.

These people stood in awe, I would to if a man prayed and God listened to him and did what he asked. Now, I personally believe that God put it in the heart of Samuel to pray, or maybe even spoke to him, about this happening, but either way, Samuel prayed and God answered, that is what they were standing in awe of.

1 Samuel 12:19

“19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

So, we see here this weather was so bad that is was not just the wheat that was affected, in fact, the people stopped worrying about the harvest and started focusing on their lives.

They realized how angry God was about them choosing a king over Him, and the other sins they were involved with, and how great that sin was, so they ask Samuel to pray to God for mercy, to spare their lives.

1 Samuel 12:20

“20 Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.”

There is a lot to look at here. Samuel gives the people some assurance and comfort. He says look, even though you have been involved in all this sin, despite your shortcomings, you have still been serving the Lord with all your heart. You have not turned away.

There is a key here, you can be serving the Lord, you can be doing what God has called you to do, but if you are in sin, no matter where your heart is, there are consequences.

People believe that as long as they are doing what God wants, He will forgive their sins and they are good. But we see here clearly, if you have sin in your life, there will be consequences. Whether we like it or not, God HATES sin and each sin has a consequence. Yes, God does forgive, but the consequences are set in motion, and those consequences will not stop until they are finished, that can be painful and hurtful, but it was our decisions that brought it on us, and you have to ask yourself, what acts of disobedience do I have in my life?

Ask yourself, with all of the things going on, why are they happening, and most times, it will point to sin in our lives.

1 Smauel 12:21- “21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.”

When we continue on here, we go back to idols. Saul was an idol for the people, and don’t get it wrong, the Israelites worshipped the idols of the other people groups that they blended with, and they would worship idols of gold, silver and wood. But this context here is all about how they worshipped the king.

It also talks about how they are useless, and yes, even the king would be useless unless God was on his side and fought the battles for, and with, the king.

1 Samuel 12:22

“22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”

So, the Lord tells Samuel that He will not reject His people but look at why! God was pleased to make the people His own and the reason for that is this, it would bring glory to the great name of their God!

Make no mistake, everything in our lives, in their lives, and in everybody’s lives, is to lift up the name of our God and to bring Him glory! If your life dreams are to do anything else but bring God glory, you have to ask yourself, is your heart in the right place? To many times we do things for the wrong reasons. Yes, we may even be doing the right things for the wrong reasons, we must know where our heart is and make sure it is right before the Lord at all times!

1 Samuel 12:23

“23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”

Samuel says look, as priest, you made a request and I will not sin by not praying, so I will pray and not only will I do that, I will teach you the way that is right.

Now, we know that Samuel was a godly man, and has taught them what was right, but being merciful and compassionate, he is willing to continue to teach the things once again that will point the Israelites in the right direction.

We are all just like children, how many times do we have to be taught, and told, over and over again to do the right things and the way to go, and even after being told, our feet get off the right path. We must be retaught, we must relearn and we must grow.

1 Samuel 12:24-25

“24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25 Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”

We close out chapter 12 with a strong statement, Samuel says look, make sure you continue to serve the Lord faithfully and with what? ALL YOUR HEART! Not part of it, all of it. On top of that, REMEMBER!!!! Remember all the things that the Lord has done for you and do not put them in the bag of then but keep them at the forefront of your minds and hearts. If you do that, you will remain faithful.

Samuel then warns, if you all persist in doing evil and keeping up what you are doing, you will all perish. You and the king.

Perish – Hebrew word is “TISSAPU” which means swept away or consumed or being destroyed indicating a total end.

This can have two meanings, loss of their lives or once again being carried off into bondage, or both. Either way, the Israelites have been warned of what the consequences of their sin will be.

This is why willful sin is so dangerous, keep doing it, see what the consequences are here, and since God does not change, why would we think our sin has any less impact? It does not!

SIN SEPERATES US FROM GOD AND THE CONSEQUENCES ARE REAL!!!

1 Samuel 13:1-2

“1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.” 2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.”

So, we see how old Saul was when he became king, and how this is the beginning of his reign. We see here and an army is established and we also see how he starts to organize it. The first thing he does is put his son, Jonathon in charge of 1000 men while he was in charge of 2000 men. The rest were sent home, but believe, these were the best of the best of fighting men.

I would also this was not the smartest move, 3000 men total is not enough to fight any battle that may take place, so Saul was very unwise in doing, and if he had sought the Lord, he may have received different instructions.

Remember how important it is to remember how God changes Saul, you can see it here once again and he starts to build his military and organize it. He just needed more men.

1 Samuel 13:3-4

“3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.”

We see here how the son, Jonathon, goes and attacks the Philistines, as we already know, was a continuous enemy of the Israelites.

I want you to see something KEY here, not anywhere does it say that Saul, or Jonathon sought the Lord, before they attacked, on what he was supposed to do. Saul and Jonathon just went out and did what he did without first seeking the Lord. This is a violation of the duties of the king which were for the king to serve under the Lord, not do whatever he wants.

We see a problem brewing here, we see the pride of Saul beginning to build here. Jonathon goes out and attacks their enemy, with the knowledge of his father, king Saul, and what does Saul do? He takes credit for it. Now, the king often got credit in those days, but it was not taking the credit that was the problem, it was the fact that Saul was starting to have a spirit of pride in his heart, and we all know if that grows, it will lead to big problems.

The problem now is, the Philistines have a problem with Saul and his attitude towards them, and we see what happens next.

1 Samuel 13:5-7

“5 The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.”

Instantly we see a huge problem, the philistines assemble an army, now remember, Saul has 3000 people in his army, 1000 with Jonathon and 2000 with him.

Look at the army that the Philistines put together. 3000 chariots, 6000 people to man those chariots and people that were to numerous to count so we are in the hundreds of thousands.  A battle that Saul cannot win without the Lord.

The Israelites see this massive army, and what do they do, including Saul, they go into panic with fear. They go and hide, and some of the army abandoned their posts and crossed over the Jordan.

1 Samuel 13:8-10

“8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.”

So, Saul sits back and now he waits, just as Samuel had told him to do, but this pride that creeped into Samuel and caused him to try to do things without listening to instruction from people he needed to listen to, the one who heard from God, Samuel.

Samuel had instructed Saul to go and wait for seven days, remember we talked about this before, and the first time Samuel waited, but this time, he sees the armies scattering, so his armies are getting smaller and Saul felt like he had to take it into his own hands.

Listen, how many times do we as believers do the same things? Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek FIRST the kingdom of God, but to many times, we either go to God with our minds made up, or we get to a point where we think we can do it better than God, which happened here, and that pride is what will cause a downfall.

Proverbs 16:18

“18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

This is why it is so crucial to keep ourselves humble before the Lord and obey what He tells us. We do not know better!

So, instead of Saul waiting for the priest to come and make the offering, which was the custom, the law, Saul says, you know what, just bring it to me, Samuel is not here, and I will sacrifice to the Lord.

I believe Saul thought he was doing what needed to be done, maybe even what was best, but I go back to it, the best is being obedient to what the Lord tells us to do, and Saul was told to wait for seven days. This is one of those things that once it is done, it cannot be undone, and we are going to see the consequences of what he does.

As soon as Saul makes the sacrifice he was supposed to wait for Samuel to do, Samuels shows up. Saul is so happy and excited to see Samuel, he runs out to greet him, and the bottom line is, he is not going to like what he is told, and what is about to happen.

1 Samuel 13:11-12

“11 What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

Notice when Samuel shows up there is not a greeting, he already knew Saul had messed up, God has shown that to him. Saul then tries to make excuses as to why he did what he did, the men were scattering, he had fear, he did not know what to do because he did not see Samuel show up when he thought he should show up, yet it was the same day Samuel showed up, Saul should have waited.

Saul says he felt compelled to make the sacrifice. Let me say this, if you feel compelled, it is not always the Holy Spirit leading you to do what you are thinking. We must wait and test the spirit. Saul was given an instruction, and nobody told him to do anything different, he was moved by fear, nothing else. It was triggered but what he saw, not what he was told. God will always confirm what He wants done and it will NEVER contradict Scripture.

1 Samuel 13:13

“13 You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “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.”

We see the rebuke here, he told Saul he did a foolish thing.

Foolish – Hebrew word is “NISKALTA” which means a lack of spiritual understanding and obedience, which we see to be true here with Saul.

Saul is already given the consequence for his disobedience. Samuel says look, if you had obeyed and done what God wanted, your kingdom would have not lasted just with you, but for generations to come, and we will see what God does with all of this.

1 Samuel 13:14

“14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

We see here the consequences of disobedience to God, the kingdom that Saul could have established forever has been torn away. Not only that, Saul has been put on notice that God has already selected someone to take his place.

This is interesting to me here as well, notice how it says this new guy is a man after God’s own heart.

Never was this said about Saul and it alludes here that Saul was not a man after God’s own heart. Remember, the people wanted a man who looked like a king by appearance, by their standards, and God gave them that. But now, since their way did not work, which did not surprise God, He has chosen a man, one who will do what God asks of him.

We all know this future king is David, but let me say this, David made some HUGE mistakes in his kingship, but yet, God still said he was a man after Gods heart. Just because we make mistakes, and there are consequences of those mistakes, we can still be people that want to please and follow the Lord.

It is all about the condition of one’s heart!

1 Samuel 13:15

“15 Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.”

We see here the results of disobedience, a major loss of people in Saul’s army from 2000 to 600.

We also see Samuel leaving Saul which represents the removal of God’s favor from Saul as well.

When we look at this passage, we MUST understand how disobedience to God has great consequences. Saul had it all, and could have had so much more, but one act, it cost him all of it.

1 Samuel 13:16-18

“16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash. 17 Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18 another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.”

We see Saul’s army waiting at Gibeah, and if that is not bad enough, we see three raiding parties sent out by the Philistines.

These parties were sent out to do one thing, surround the Israelites to completely destroy them and wipe them out. This was a strategic army plan and honestly, it was a good one. But remember, the Israelites, even in their rebellion, still had the God of everything on their side.

1 Samuel 13:19

“19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!”

We see that all the blacksmiths of the Israelites had all left, the philistines, and fear, caused them to leave and go and live among the Philistines. The Philistines wanted them gone so that no weapons could be made, nor could shields, chariots or anything else, another good strategic move by the Philistines.

1 Samuel 13:20-21

“20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. 21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.”

So, we see that the Israelites had to go to the philistine towns to get their weapons sharpened and/or made by the blacksmiths that left the Israelites.

You may ask why the philistines allowed them to do that? Think about this, and we will see this in the next passage. First, they will take the money from the Israelites which could make their lives difficult and make the abilty to get the basic needs to survive more difficult to buy with less money, and the prices were steep to get the weapons taken care of as it is.

Second, the plan of the Philistines is to get the Israelites, for a time, to not have weapons.

1 Samuel 13:22

“22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.”

We see here that the whole regiment of Jonathon and Saul had no weapons, just think how that must have looked to the philistines. But remember, again, Saul disobeyed God, not everybody, and we do not know that God will abandon the armies, this is why we have to keep going.

1 Samuel 13:23

“23 Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Mikmash.”

Here we see a Key to what is going on, this does highlight the vulnerability of the Israelite army, but this is also preparing us for what Jonathon is going to attempt to do.