ABUSING RELIGIOUS RITUAL: SAUL’S IDOLATRY

Topic: How do we abuse religious rituals?  What are we doing when we abuse religious rituals? 
Saul, the first king over all Israel lost his calling due to disobedience.  David was anointed to replace him, and the Spirit of the Lord left Saul to come upon David (1Sam 16:13-14).  What was Saul’s disobedience?  (Below is a technical description of observations that led to my conclusions regarding Saul’s sin and religious rituals.  The reader may skip the technical details and skip to “Summary” and “Application.”)

Background Story
The Israelites were involved in a conflict with the Philistines.  Saul is specifically told to by the priest/prophet Samuel to go to Gilgal and wait for Samuel, who would make the appropriate offerings and tell Saul what to do (10:8).  Saul gathered his army at Gilgal, however, as his men were trembling and scattering in the face of the massive Philistine forces assembled against them, Saul makes the offerings before Samuel arrives (13:7-10).  This leads Samuel to tell Saul that because Saul did not keep the Lord’s command, God will take his kingdom away and give it to someone else after God’s heart (13:11-14).

Usual Explanation
It is generally thought that Saul’s disobedience – this first time – was that he encroached on the role of the priest by making an offering.  That is a possible conclusion.  By the time we get to the period of the Torah, the priest is to supervise and participate in such offerings.  Did Saul know that?  In the ancient Near East, kings often had a priestly, cultic role.  Maybe the ancient Israel audience would know/assume that when Samuel explained the regulations of kingship (10:25; see, too, Deut 17:14-20), it was clear that Israelite kings would have no such religious function?  This could be a partial explanation; however, I think Saul’s failing was more than that.

Observations about Saul’s Disobedience
I think the keys to understanding Saul’s disobedience are found in what he initially says and his pattern of behavior that follows.  In 13:12, as Saul defends his actions, he mentions: “The face of Yahweh [God’s favor] I had not entreated.”  Rather than wait for divine guidance through Samuel, Saul acted on his own to encourage his men and get God’s favor.  Two more events show a similar pattern.  In the first similar event, when Saul launches an attack on the Philistines in Ch 14, Saul starts to ask God what to do through the priest, but Saul stops the process (14:18-19) and prepares to attack.  First, though, Saul imposes a fast on his troops (14:24).  It has had negative consequences.  The point to note, though, is that fasts were generally religious rituals of humility and submission to God.  Again, it seems that Saul wanted God's favor, but without seeking God’s will first.  In the second similar event, Saul was commanded to destroy all of the Amalekites and their goods (15:1-3).  However, he let his soldiers keep the plunder, but he says he saved the best to be devoted to God as a sacrifice (15:20-21).  Instead of obeying, he does what he wants, probably to please his men, and plans to offer a sacrifice to gain God’s favor.  Here we get a famous and interesting speech/song from Samuel about how God wants obedience more than offerings (15:22-23).  In this song, we learn more about the sin of Saul in v 23:

For the sin of divination is rebellion,
and ‘awen and teraphim is patzar

The first line is clear.  Saul was being rebellious and that is compared to divination.  In the second line, teraphim were household, personal idols invoked for guidance and protection.  The term patzar receives translations such as “stubbornness, insubordination, presumption, and arrogance.”  It only occurs here as an infinitive in the so-call “causative” stem (Hiphil), so translators rely heavily on context.  Rather literally it has the sense “the act of causing to push, press, or urge.”  So, in the context as I see it, it means an act of coercion.  “’awen,” which falls within the semantic domains of evil, falseness, and deception is often tied to magic ritual and possibly forms a hendiadys with teraphim/idols here for something like “evil idolatry” or “deceptive idolatry,” giving us a better understanding of how God viewed Saul’s use of religious ritual:

For the sin of divination is rebellion,
And evil idolatry is the act of [attempted] coercion. (1Sam 15:23)

Summary
Engaging in religious rituals may be tantamount to the sins of divination and idolatry.  Motive is everything.  The disobedience of Saul is this: rather than seeking the will of God in submissiveness, Saul did what he thought best – in a couple of cases, probably to keep his army happy – and used religious rituals in an attempt to coerce God’s favor on his actions.  Saul rebelliously tried to use rituals of worship magically, manipulatively as one does in divination and idolatrous worship.  He was not submitted to God.  He was not fit to be king.  He lost the dynasty he could have had.

Application
I have no problem seeing parallels in my life.  I want to be in control.  I simple want what I want – and then I want God to bless it.  Prayer is used not as a time of communion with God to draw close to Jesus and hear the Spirit’s guidance.  Fasting, prayer, songs, “worship” are too frequently my attempts to gain God’s favor for my desires.  Such use of religious ritual is comparable to the sins of idolatry and divination.

Lord, have mercy on me.  In my head and heart, I know that, when I try to rule my life, my life turns to chaos.  You are God.  I am not.  I want to be your servant.  I want to serve in Your Kingdom.  Forgive me for the ways I arrogantly try to conform You to my will!  Shape me into a better servant.  Amen.