1 Samuel 13:9-12 - What have you done?

13:9

In response Saul decided to take charge of making an offering himself. He probably got priests to carry out the actual offering, but Saul was overseeing the event and so was responsible. There are two main possibilities for Saul’s offence here. One is that he was stepping outside his remit. He was the king, not a prophet or priest. So he had no authority to offer the sacrifice. The other is that he did not seek the Lord, and was disobeying the words of the prophet. The whole picture of Saul that is presented in 1 Samuel is of a very double minded man, who does not know his own mind, and does not know God. As mentioned earlier, Saul’s agitation at Samuel’s delay was understandable, and we can all experience such moments. However, when we do, regardless of the inward pressure that we experience, we must not act outside of God’s word.

13:10-12

Just as Saul finished making the offering Samuel arrived. I think that this makes it most likely that Samuel arrived late on the seventh day. Samuel immediately asks Saul “What have you done?”. Saul says that he reacted in response to Samuel’s late arrival and that the men were scattering. In addition the Philistines were gathering at Michmash. Saul then seeks to put a religious gloss on his actions, saying “I have not sought the Lord’s favour”, so he is seeking to cast his actions as though he was trying to please the Lord. What he was actually doing was acting in response to his own fears. “So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering”. Saul was indeed compelled, compelled by the fears within. Decisions based on fear are rarely good decisions. Saul saw the burnt offering as a superstitious act, rather than an act of faith.