Life of David: 6. Saul Disobeys God

This is lesson 6 in the Life of David Series. This takes place in 1 Samuel 15. Saul is told to completely destroy the Amalekites. But he brought back King Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen. This is an excellent lesson teaching us to do exactly as God says.

Samuel the prophet told Saul that he was sent by God to anoint him King over Israel. Samuel said to listen to what God wants. God is going to punish Amalek. Samuel explained that Amalek ambushed him. Saul is to attack Amalek and totally destroy everything they have. Destroy everything. Spare nothing.

Saul gathered the people together. There were 200,000-foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul went to a city of Amalek and waited for him in the valley.

Saul told the Kenites to leave the Amalekites. Saul told them that he didn’t want to kill them because they showed kindness to the Israelites when they came from Egypt. Saul didn’t want to hurt them accidently when they fought the Amalekites. The Kenites left and Saul attacked the Amalekites.

Saul took King Agag alive. He was king of the Amalekites. They killed everyone else with their swords. But Saul kept King Agag alive. And the best sheep, oxen, lambs and all the things that were good. Remember, God said to destroy everything. Saul and the soldiers destroyed everything that was hated and worthless.

God went to Samuel and told him that He was sorry that He made Saul the king. God said that Saul turned his back from following Him and didn’t keep His commandments. Samuel was upset and cried to the Lord all night.

When Samuel got up in the morning expecting to see Saul, someone told Samuel that Saul had gone to Carmel. Then, Saul went around them and passed on by to Gilgal. So, Samuel went to see Saul.

When Saul saw Samuel, he greeted him and Saul said that he has done the commandment of the Lord. Samuel asked Saul “What is the bleating of the sheep I hear then? And I hear oxen, too!”

Saul told Samuel that he had brought them from the Amalekite battle. The people saved the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. But, we destroyed the rest!

Samuel said for Saul to be quiet because he wanted to tell Saul what God had told him last night. God anointed Saul the king over Israel. Now God sent Saul on a mission with specific orders. God said to go and totally destroy the people and all the animals. Why didn’t Saul obey God? Why did he disobey and sin against what God had told him to do?

Saul replied to Samuel that he did obey God’s commands. He brought back King Agag and totally destroyed the Amalekites. But the people kept the sheep and oxen and the best things that should have been destroyed. They brought it to sacrifice to the Lord.

Samuel told Saul that it is better to obey God’s commands than to sacrifice. Rebellion (not obeying God) is a sin and is a rejection of God’s Word. Because of that, God has rejected you as the king.

Saul admitted that he had sinned because he was afraid of the people and had listened to them. He allowed them to keep the sheep and oxen even though God said not to. Saul asked Samuel to forgive his sin, but Samuel told him that God rejected him as the king. Samuel turned to leave and Saul grabbed the edge of his robe. It tore and Samuel told Saul that God tore the kingdom of Israel away from him that day.

Samuel killed King Agag and didn’t go visit Saul again until he died.

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Although this lesson is, some of these lessons about David are not appropriate for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle. The additional application has thought questions about how the students can apply the lesson to their daily life. There are answer sheets for all worksheets except for the last application. Everyone will have a different set of answers. Click here to download.

http://www.biblefunforkids.com/2015/09/cathys-corner-saul-disobeys-god.html

This is an application pack that I found in Cathy's supplies. She used these for this lesson, but it can be used for several others, too. The application is that God wants us to be the same on the inside as to what people see on the outside. This can be used for other lessons also. The application and directions are included and are in color only. Click here to download.