1 Samuel 13:8-14

Saul's disobedience and its penalty

8. the set time that Samuel had appointed It seems clear that the historian intends to refer to Samuel's injunction in 1 Samuel 10:8, although in all probability the interview there recorded had taken place many years before. But the command may have been repeated now, and in any case the spirit of it survived. Chosen by Jehovah expressly to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, Saul was not at liberty to begin the war of independence upon his own authority, but was to wait until duly commissioned to do so by Samuel.