Importance of Obedience to God in the Old Testament

Obedience to God is described as one of things that God values most in the Old Testament. The case of Saul, which is described in 1^st Samuel 9-31, illustrates the importance of Obedience to God. In fact, the case demonstrates that God values obedience to what he instructs human beings to do, more than even sacrifice to Him. Importantly, the case of Saul demonstrates that human beings should focus on obeying God more than adhering to the requirements of earthly customs, even if the customs are meant to please God.

Before Saul became a king, Israelites were ruled by judges and priests. Samuel was a prophet and a judge at the same time. He had two sons who were supposed to take over leadership from him. However, the people of Israel did not want Samuel’s sons to rule them and thus, they requested that a king be selected to rule them. Consequently, Samuel chose Saul, who ultimately became the first king in the history of Israelites. Through Samuel, God ordained Saul to take up the role of a king.

When Saul became a king, he led his military in a series of fights against enemies of Israelites. He became quite popular after defeating Palestine and also due to his exceptional leadership skills. However, Saul started facing problems when he failed to obey God’s instructions. As instructed by Samuel, Saul was always supposed to make sacrifices with the help of a priest. However, Saul once made a sacrifice without the presence of a priest when he was preparing to fight against Philippines. He was supposed to wait for Samuel in order to give sacrifice to God. When Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul due to his failure to obey God’s instructions. Samuel told Saul that obeying God is more important than offering sacrifice to Him.

Saul faced another major problem when he went to fight Amalekites. Samuel instructed Saul to destroy all Amalekites and their properties. However, Saul did not kill the ruler of the Amalekites. In addition, Saul took part of the flock of animals owned by the Amalekites, expecting to offer it as sacrifice to God. In doing so, he failed to obey the command that required him to destroy all Amalekites and their properties. Consequently, God was annoyed with Saul’s failure to obey Him. As a result of the disobedience, Samuel told Saul that God would not establish a dynasty for him in Israel. Saul’s dynasty would end and God would choose another leader. Ultimately, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to select another king of Israel. He selected David to take over leadership as a king after the death of Saul. God punished Saul further with psychological distress. Saul was disturbed by an evil spirit for the rest of his life. During that time, David played music in order to cool down Saul’s psychological distress or the evil spirits that were disturbing him.

Remarkably, the case of Saul demonstrates that seemingly small actions that lead to disobedience to God can attract hefty repercussions. Even though God appreciates sacrifices, He values obedience to his instructions more than the sacrifices. The case indicates that God can bless the leaders that he ordains and can also punish them for committing intentional errors that are against His instructions. Also, the case demonstrates that human beings should be more concerned with obeying God’s commands than obeying the requirements of earthly customs. The sacrifice that Saul made in absence of a priest was an earthly custom. As well, Saul gave the custom priority to the instructions given be God by failing to destroy all Amalekites and their properties.