LENT 2020: Day 20

• Lent 2020: Day 20 Thursday, March 19, 2020:
  Psalm 23; 1 Samuel 15:10-21; Ephesians 4:25-32

This is an interesting episode, for we know upfront that Saul has not obeyed God.
    “I repent that I made Saul king.”

But Saul’s first word is this:
    “I have fulfilled the word of the LORD.”

Samuel’s response is humorous:
    “And what is this sound of sheep in my ears,
          and the sound of cattle that I hear?”

You see, there should be no sheep, and there should be no cattle, for Saul was supposed to have killed them. But Samuel can hear them. And that’s the humor, for Saul did not listen to the word of the LORD. And what Samuel hears indicts Saul.

Saul tries to justify his disobedience. Then, shifting to the third person, he deflects responsibility to the people. 

Brueggemann notes, however, that Saul’s report contradicts the narrator’s report in v.9. And he notes, too, that Saul’s language (the LORD your God, rather than my God or our God) symbolizes his distance from God.

Samuel is having none of it, though, and emphasizes again that Saul has not listened:
    “And why did you not heed the voice of the LORD?”

Saul, again, defends himself:
    “But I did heed the voice of the LORD.”

And he goes on, once again, to justify his actions and to blame the people.

Of course, this all proves that he really has not listened closely to Samuel and to God. He heard, but he hasn’t truly listened.

On our Lenten journey, may we learn to listen, not superficially like Saul, but deeply and truly.