Thank you for the interpretative question about King Saul offering the sacrifice in I Samuel 13:9–13, “Why was is wrong for Saul, a Benjamite (1 Sam. 9:1) to offer a sacrifice (1 Sam. 13:9-13) but it would have been fine for Samuel, an Ephramite (1 Sam. 1:1)?”
Here are some thoughts for your consideration as to why it was wrong for King Saul to offer the sacrifice in I Samuel 13:9–13:
A. God allowed any Israelite to bring an offering to him (Lev. 7:11–21).
B. God prescribed that the priests were to offer the animal sacrifice (Lev. 3:1–17).
C. Samuel, the prophet/seer, was viewed as being God’s representative and spokesman to the nation of Israel. He was raised by Eli as part of the priesthood (I Sam. 2:18), wearing a linen ephod. King Saul was anointed by Samuel which showed that Saul was to listen to the seer of God.
D. Samuel commanded King Saul to wait seven days for him to come and to offer the sacrifice I Sam. 13:8.
E. Saul’s motivation for offering the fellowship and burnt offering wasn’t to honor God but for self-preservation. He saw his men fleeing and the mounting Philistine’s preparing to engage him. It was an act of desperation, not of faith (I Sam. 13:11–12).
King Saul didn’t listen to the command of the Seer Samuel. It is not so much about the offering but his heart attitude and faith in God’s promise. This is reflected again when Samuel commands Saul to destroy the Amalekites.
I Samuel 15 says this, “Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (NIV).
King Saul’s offering of the Fellowship Offering and Burnt Offering was in disobedience to the command of the Seer Samuel to wait for him to offer the sacrifices. The Fellowship Offering represented trust in God and the Burnt Offering represented total surrender to God. Saul failed in both points.
SUMMARY: God looks at the heart of a person, not just the action of the person. King Saul overstepped and disobeyed the command of God in waiting for Samuel to offer the Fellowship and Burnt Offerings.
For more perspectives: