Saul and the Spoils

Wednesday:	Stolen Sheep: Saul and the Spoils
Story Passage:	1st Samuel 15:1-23
Other Passages:	1st Samuel 9:15-19, 10:1, 10:24, 15:26-28, 15:35-16:1, James 1:22, Exodus 17:8-16
Objective:	We should obey God's instruction.
Memory Verse:	1st Samuel 15:22 To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Introduction: Who was Saul?

Does anyone know who King Saul was? Saul was the first king of Israel, way back before King David. God had chosen Saul to be king, but one time, Saul did something that made God decide to choose someone else. Do you know what he did? He disobeyed God. God told him to do something, and he didn't do it. Worse than that, he lied about it and made excuses. Then God rejected Saul and chose David to be the next king. The story about what Saul did is found in 1^st Samuel 15.

Story: Saul and the Spoils

In Saul's time, there was a wicked group of people called the Amalekites. (Everybody say Amalekites.) They were very bad, and they did mean things to God's chosen people Israel. They were so bad, God told Saul to take the army of Israel and destroy the Amalekites, to punish them for the wrong things they had done. God said to Saul, Totally destroy everything that belongs to them. He even told Saul to destroy the Amalekites' sheep.

Saul did take the army and fight the Amalekites, but he didn't do everything God said. He kept their King Agag alive, and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and the lambs. He was greedy. Saul and his soldiers didn't want to destroy these things. They decided that some of the sheep and cattle and things were too good to destroy, so they kept them. Is that what God wanted? Is that what God said to do? (No.) Who is in charge? God, or King Saul? What is it called when you disobey God? (Sin.)

When God's prophet, Samuel, came to see Saul, do you know what Saul said? He said, I have carried out the Lord's instructions. Was that true? (No.) Samuel knew it wasn't true, so he said, What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? Oops. Saul was caught. So he blamed his soldiers: The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites... Then he made another excuse: They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest. Was that true? Did they really keep the sheep and cattle for sacrifices to God? (No.) It was just an excuse. They wanted them, because they thought they were too good to destroy. Did they really destroy everything else? (No, Saul had also kept King Agag alive.) Saul was still lying, and making excuses, even after he was caught.

Samuel told Saul that the Lord would rather have him obey, and do what he was supposed to do, than bring sacrifices. Then he said that because Saul didn't do what God said, God had rejected Saul as king over Israel. God would choose someone else to be the next king in Saul's place.

After Samuel left Saul, God sent Samuel to anoint David to be the next king.

Transition: God's Reasons

Why was God displeased with Saul? [Saul didn't obey God. He knew he did not get rid of all the sheep and cattle and things and he knew that the king God wanted killed was still alive. It wasn't up to Saul to decide what to do. If God wanted the king dead, that was Saul's job, but he didn't do it. He chose to disobey.] On Monday we learned that we all have sinned. Just like Saul we choose to disobey sometimes too. Instead of disobeying, which is sin, we need to choose to obey. God left us the choice and sometimes it's hard to obey.

Invitation: Obedience

Invite any children who want to obey God to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.