1 Samuel 15:23
in 1 Samuel 15For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
KJV
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
⋯
This verse in 1 Samuel 15
Commentary
13 notes on this verse24. What is it that those who resist and refuse to comply are likened by the prophet to diviners and idolaters, except that diviners strove to know divine things and to divine hidden matters, while idolaters subjected themselves to figments by venerating them? But those who resist the commands of their superiors resist precisely because they judge that they know the divine will better.
This site's exposition
Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice
on 1 Samuel 15:22-23
Samuel’s answer is one of Scripture’s clearest statements, that "obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams." Verse 23 sets rebellion "like the sin of divination." The verse closes with the sentence the chapter carries out, that the LORD "has rejected you as king."
This site's exposition
For rebellion is like the sin of divination
Gregory the Great asked why resistance is set beside divination, and answered that the man who refuses judges he knows the divine will better. John Wesley reads He has rejected you as a sentence pronounced. Saul keeps the throne for years, and David still owns him as king.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
This is the greatest fault under which humanity labors, that after sinning they take refuge in excuses rather than prostrate themselves with repentant confession. Clearly such wickedness is to be reckoned amongst the worst sins, for its true source also seems to occasion slower progress …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, etc. Just as the other parts of this reading, so too this rejection of Saul, according to the allegory, can be applied to the synagogue, and according to the tropology of the law to any false …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,.... Or divination (e), in whatsoever way it was exercised; for there were various sorts of it among the Heathens, and all condemned by the law of God, Deu 18:
Stubbornness - Contumacy in sin, justifying it, and pleading for it. Iniquity - Or, the iniquity of idolatry. Rejected - Hath pronounced the sentence of rejection: for that he was not actually deposed by God before, plainly appears, because not only the people, but even David, after this, owned him as king.
Obedience is enjoyed by the eternal law of nature, but sacrifice only by a positive law. Obedience was the law of innocency, but sacrifice supposes sin come into the world, and is but a feeble attempt to take that away which obedience would have prevented. God is more glorified and self more denied by obedience than by sacrifice.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Those that are governed by their own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim (as the word here is for idolatry) or the diviners. It was disobedience that made us all sinners ( Rom. v. 19 ), and this is the malignity of sin, that it is the transgression of the law, and consequently it is enmity to God, Rom. viii.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry - This is no translation of those difficult words, כי חטאת קסם מרי ואון ותרפים הפצר ki chattath kesem meri veaven utheraphim haphtsar. It appears to me that the three nouns which occur first in the text refer each to the three last in order. Thus, חטאת chattath, Transgression, refers to און aven, Iniquity, which is the principle whence transgression springs. קסם kesem, Divination, refers to תרפים teraphim, consecrated images or telesms, vulgarly talismans, used in incantations. And מרי meri, Rebellion, refers evidently to הפצר haphstar, Stubbornness, whence rebellion springs. The meaning therefore of this difficult place may be the following: As transgression comes from iniquity, divination from teraphim, and rebellion from stubbornness, so, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. All the versions are different.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The meaning is “Rebellion is as bad as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as bad as worshipping false gods (iniquity), and teraphim (idolatry).”
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
John BevereThe Fear of the Lord (excerpted in Charisma Magazine, "Partial Obedience Is Disobedience") (1997)
He probably did 99 percent of what he was told to do. Yet God called his nearly complete obedience—rebellion (1 Sam. 15:23)!
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חַטַּאת־ | chatat- | [is the] sin of | H2403 → | 295 times |
| קֶ֙סֶם֙ | kesem | divination | H7081 → | |
| מֶ֔רִי | meri | rebellion | H4805 → | |
| וְאָ֥וֶן | veaven | and [is] wickedness | H205 → | |
| וּתְרָפִ֖ים | uterafim | and teraphim | H8655 → | 15 times |
| הַפְצַ֑ר | haftzar | presumption | H6484 → | |
| יַ֗עַן | yaan | because | H3282 → | |
| מָאַ֙סְתָּ֙ | maasta | you have rejected | H3988 → | 76 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דְּבַ֣ר | devar | [the] word of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַיִּמְאָסְךָ֖ | vaiyimasekha | and he has rejected you | H3988 → | 76 times |
| מִמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ ס | mimelekh | from king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חַטַּאת־[is the] sin of
chatat-H2403 →295 times
קֶ֙סֶם֙divination
kesemH7081 →
מֶ֔רִיrebellion
meriH4805 →
וְאָ֥וֶןand [is] wickedness
veavenH205 →
וּתְרָפִ֖יםand teraphim
uterafimH8655 →15 times
הַפְצַ֑רpresumption
haftzarH6484 →
יַ֗עַןbecause
yaanH3282 →
מָאַ֙סְתָּ֙you have rejected
maastaH3988 →76 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דְּבַ֣ר[the] word of
devarH1697 →1440 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַיִּמְאָסְךָ֖and he has rejected you
vaiyimasekhaH3988 →76 times
מִמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ סfrom king
mimelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 13:14But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD.”
it leads to
- Acts 13:22
After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in…
- 1 Samuel 15:28
So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.
- Psalms 89:19–37
You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
- Psalms 78:70
He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
- 1 Samuel 16:1
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending…
- Acts 13:22
Through
Leviticus 20:6Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:31
You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 19:31
Through
Galatians 5:20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 11:19
And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
- Titus 3:10
Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition,
- 1 Corinthians 11:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this chapter
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 140.4; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Bevere, The Fear of the Lord (excerpted in Charisma Magazine, "Partial Obedience Is Disobedience"); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.