1 Samuel 13 · a question people ask
What exactly did Saul do wrong at Gilgal?
Samuel names it in his own words: "You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you" (13:13), and again, "because you have not kept that which the LORD commanded you" (13:14). The chapter doesn't spell out which command. Christians read it in three main ways. All agree on what happened: Saul offered the burnt offering (13:9), Samuel came as soon as he had finished (13:10), and Samuel told Saul he had not kept the LORD's command (13:13-14).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
He offered what wasn't his to offer
Those who read it this way point to what Saul did: "He offered the burnt offering" (13:9), and in his own words, "I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering" (13:12). In 10:8 Samuel had said, "I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings". The LORD said to Aaron (Numbers 18:1), "You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar" (Numbers 18:7). A later king, Uzziah, is told, "It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron" (2 Chronicles 26:18).
1 Samuel 13:9 · 1 Samuel 13:12 · 1 Samuel 10:8 · Numbers 18:1 · Numbers 18:7 · 2 Chronicles 26:16-18
He didn't wait for Samuel's word
Those who read it this way point to what Samuel had told Saul to do: "Wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do" (10:8). Saul "stayed seven days, according to the time set by Samuel" (13:8), then acted on what he saw: "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn’t come within the days appointed" (13:11). They hear the same point in Samuel's later words to Saul: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice" (15:22).
1 Samuel 10:8 · 1 Samuel 13:8 · 1 Samuel 13:11 · 1 Samuel 15:22
Both at once
Those who read it this way take 10:8 as one instruction with two parts: Samuel would come "to offer burnt offerings", and Saul was to "Wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do" (10:8). On this reading, when Saul "offered the burnt offering" (13:9) before Samuel came (13:10), he set aside both parts together, and Samuel's "You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God" (13:13) covers the whole.
1 Samuel 10:8 · 1 Samuel 13:9-10 · 1 Samuel 13:13
The verses
“Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering to me here, and the peace offerings.” He offered the burnt offering. It came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.”
“Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you; for now the LORD would have established your kingdom on Israel forever. But now your kingdom will not continue. The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which the LORD commanded you.””