1 Samuel 15:30

1 Samuel 15:24 , 1 Samuel 15:30

We have here the confession of a backsliding man, going down the slope of sin at the same time that these godly words were on his lips. Saul was on the incline, and these words, spiritless and untrue, only precipitated him further.

It was one of those strange reactions of which the experience of every man is full that he who began in shyness committed his first great recorded sin in presumption.

Saul's confession had not reality. There was no religion in it. It was simply remorse, the child of fear. It curried favour with man, and it sought to appease God for a temporal end. Notice some of the marks of a spurious confession. (1) It does not isolate itself, as true confession always does. (2) It seeks honour from men rather than from God. (3) It gives a religious cloak to sin. "He did it to sacrifice to the Lord."

J. Vaughan, Sermons,7th series, p. 85.

References: 1 Samuel 15:32. J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation,vol. ii., p. 425. 1 Samuel 15:32. G. B. Ryley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 260. 1 Samuel 15:35. R. Lorimer, Bible Studies in Life and Truth,p. 93.