Bible Puzzle for Wisdom - True Repentance - My View

Referring to the post

Bible Puzzle for Wisdom - True Repentance,

Many thanks to all who contributed. Most considered Saul did not truly repent. He only admitted his sins so as to get Samuel to

• a. plead to God not to reject him as king.
• b. get Samuel to go back with him to worship God and so he appeared ok to his people.

However, I was not so smart. I read this verse many times in the past believing that Saul was truly repentant based on the face value of his confession. He admitted his guilt "I have sinned & transgressed God's commandment" and he even gave his reason for failure - "I feared the people and obeyed them". To top it all, he asked for forgiveness! Then he received his forgiveness very quickly by asking Samuel to go with him to worship God!

Saul actually had all the ingredients for a good repentance!

1. admission of sin
2. specific - what I did wrong
3. reason
4. ask for forgiveness
5. receive forgiveness
6. go ahead with a new life

How wrong was I. Saul did not meant what he said. He said those things to get what he wanted from Samuel - just go back with me so that I appeared to be accepted by God by joining me in the worship of God.
The conversation between Saul and Samuel is private. Saul & Samual worship together is public.

Here are some comments from other authors ...

the book

• "You can see here that Saul was greatly concerned about his image. He didn't want the people to know that he had sinned. So he said, "Samuel, why don't you come with me, and nobody will know that I've disobeyed. You just return and let's worship together like we've always done." His greatest concern was his image. Samual didn't buy it .... not for a minute......"

Matthew Henry:

How poorly he expressed his repentance. It was with much ado that he was made sensible of his fault, and not till he was threatened with being deposed. This touched him in a tender part. Then he began to relent, and not till then. When Samuel told him he was rejected from being king, then he said, I have sinned,

Gill

This confession of his sin does not appear to be ingenuous, cordial, and sincere, and was made chiefly for the sake of getting the sentence of rejecting him from being king reversed:

JFB

but his confession proceeded not from sincere repentance, but from a sense of danger and desire of averting the sentence denounced against him. For the sake of public appearance, he besought Samuel not to allow their serious differences to transpire, but to join with him in a public act of worship.

The Objective of the Sharing

1. Learn to be wise.
   Common proverb - "Smart is knowing not to believe what is heard. Wisdom is knowing which 50% to believe."
2. Don't just believe what people say on the surface.
3. Understand the context and the motivation behind what was said.
4. Motivation can be seen by the requests made or the preceding & following actions.
5. Then you shall know the truth.