Just a few thoughts on 1 Samuel 15 the climactic passage of Saul's term being King over Israel. In this passage, Saul is rejected as King by God through the prophet Samuel. The grounds for rejection is Saul's disobediance to God's word. In effect he traded in "the Glory of Israel" (a title used in reference to God) for his own glory.
As I think through this passage I am reminded of the central place God's word has in my life. The situation of Saul starts with a command given to him by God in verse 3 to destroy everything that Amalek had. The problem: He disobeyed the Word of the Lord by saving the good stuff. The motivation: It may have been to build his own kingdom instead of God's. See, in his eyes he was doing the right thing or the pragmatic thing by saving what he thought was good. But according to the text God had another plan. God's reaction: To send the prophet Samuel to relay the message that Saul would be dethroned because he had disobeyed the "voice of the Lord," which is synonomous with God's word, "My commands" (15:11), and "words of the Lord" (15:1).
The story continues with Samuel's message where in effect says: Saul has rebelled, been insubordinate, and rejected God's word.
After Saul has been exposed he could do one of two things. He could either repent or shift the blame. He chose to shift the blame to the people. Ironically, to the people he himself was leading (v. 24). This reveals a lot about the heart of Saul. First, instead of commiting true repentance (according to what we know it to be in later revelation) he denies responsibility. Second, it shows that he feared the people implicating that it was more about him, his wealth, fame, power and popularity. It was not about God. Third, it shows that he did not have a true knowledge of God from the begining for if he did he would have feared the God who created him and sustains his very existence. Fourth, it shows that he was more interested in creating his own kingdom not God's. Fifth, it shows that he wanted to be the glordy of Israel and not promote the "Glory of Israel". Sixth, it shows his method of defense, which is undergirded by his self-centeredness, that being tradition or the traditional understanding of sacrifices. For he uses tradition as a means of defending his actions. This is subtle for much of what he said was true and sounded good. Sacrifice was an excuse often used by Israel. This was a partial truth.
How does this apply to the rest of scripture? One could apply the positive implication that being to obey the voice of the Lord for the purpose of promoting the "Glory of Israel". It could be connected to the Psalms and Proverbs, which serve as spiritual guides. Also one could connect it to the words of our Lord in Matthew 15:1-20.
I believe the exhortation of the text is to obey the Word of God. I think it is also important to examine ourselves, our lives, our motivations in light of this text. If we are being led by our own pragmatic interests then we must repent. If we fear men more than God then we must repent. If we have sought to justify ourselves using partial truths then we must repent. Finally, we must obey the Word of God. | 
