Saul first appeared to have great potential for leadership, but because of his rebellious attitude, became a petty and jealous king. Close to the end of his life — humility was replaced by arrogance and hate (1 Samuel 18:6-11; 1 Samuel 19:10; 1 Samuel 20:33). Samuel even went so far as to declare Saul a rebellious individual — and God takes rebellion very seriously (1 Samuel 15:23).
At first glance it may be difficult for us to appreciate the significance of Samuel’s statement in 1 Samuel 15:23 — that rebellion and stubbornness are equivalent to witchcraft and idolatry. The two pairs are duplicated for the purpose of stress — rebellion and stubbornness convey the same kind of attitude toward God’s word, while witchcraft (soothsaying) and idolatry both depict an allegiance to a power other than God.
Why is rebellion as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness similar to idolatry and witchcraft? The answer is that all conscious disobedience to God’s will is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will a human god. All evident opposition to God’s commandments is similar to idolatry — thus a rejection of the one true God. God will not tolerate the worship of any other god (cf. Exodus 20:3-5; Jeremiah 35:15; Romans 1:21-24).
In looking at this story, we note that God never requested sacrifices of Saul — he merely instructed Saul to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites and all they possessed (1 Samuel 15:3). Samuel’s reply to Saul’s rebellious attitude and self-justification was, “Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Beloved, all of our attempts to give God something other than total obedience is likewise viewed by God as rebellion and witchcraft — making our own will our god (Colossians 2:23 KJV) — bringing us to a catastrophic end (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Philippians 3:18-19).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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