The well-known phrase “obedience is better than sacrifice” comes from 1 Samuel 1. In this part of the Bible, the prophet Samuel confronts King Saul, who seems to be ignoring the entire commandments of God.
1 Samuel 15:22 says, “And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in hearing the voice of the LORD? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, Attention than the fat of rams.”
The Good News Translation puts it this way: “Samuel said, “Which does the Lord prefer: obedience or offerings and sacrifices? It is better to obey him than to sacrifice the best sheep to him.”
What does Samuel mean by ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice’?
The historical context of this verse is the reign of Saul. He is the first king of Israel, and he was known for his victorious battles against Israel’s enemies, including the particularly hostile Amalekites: “And he did valiantly and smote the Amalekites and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them” (1 Samuel 14:48). Around this time, Samuel came to anoint Saul and bring him “the words of the Lord” (1 Samuel 15:1). God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites, keeping nothing for themselves.
Instead, “Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and did not want to destroy them at all. Everything despicable and vile they dedicated to destruction” (1 Samuel 15:9). When Samuel confronts Saul about this disobedience, Saul blames the people by saying that he allowed good things to be kept to sacrifice to God as an offering. Samuel was not fooled by this rationalization. Instead, it is here that he spoke the words quoted above, with the main point being that “obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). After this, Samuel and Saul parted ways, never to see each other again, “but Samuel was sad for Saul. And the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:34).
What does the Bible say about obedience and sacrifice?
The themes of obedience and sacrifice are found throughout the Scriptures. Animal sacrifice began in Genesis 3:21 when God clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins to cover their nakedness and foreshadow the way Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice would cover sinners (see Genesis 3:15). Animal sacrifices were often part of making a covenant, including the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis, where we are told that God promised Abraham a childless offspring that would be more numerous than the stars, “and he believed the Lord, and he counted. him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
After giving the ten commandments in Exodus 20, God tells his people: “You shall make an altar of earth for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen’” (Exodus 20:24). . Despite this expectation of sacrifice for the atonement of sin, God is frequently recorded elsewhere as telling the Israelites that they had not understood that these sacrifices were not an end in themselves. In fact, the idea of sacrifice is internalized in many passages in both the Old and New Testaments, making it almost synonymous with the various aspects of obedience to God:
Psalm 51:16-17: “Because I did not delight in the sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not like the holocaust. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heartoh God, you will not despise him.”
Proverbs 21:3: “Make justice and judgment it is more pleasing to the Lord than sacrifice.”
Hosea 6:6: “Because I desire firm love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of god before holocausts.”
Matthew 9:13: “’Go and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Philippians 2:17: “Though it should be poured out as a libation on the offering of your faithI rejoice and rejoice with all of you.”
Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrificeholy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Hebrews 13:15: “By means of , let us continually offer sacrifice of praise  ;to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
1 Peter 2:5: “You yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Why is obedience so important to God?
Obedience is very important to God. Jesus told his disciples from the book of John: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Elsewhere, John says, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And the commandments of him are not grievous” (1 John 5:2-3). God’s commandments are given because he loves us. Sin promises power or peace, but it only leads to pain. But how is it possible to walk in obedience? Due to sin, this is impossible by ourselves. And even the sacrifices provided in the Old Testament to atone for sin were not enough to truly remove it:
“Because the law has but the shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it will never be able, by the same sacrifices continually offered each year, to make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to offer themselves, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer be aware of their sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of the sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4).
But when Jesus came, he offered himself once as a perfect sacrifice “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). While “every priest is at his service every day, repeatedly offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins… When Christ had offered forever one single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from then until his enemies be made his footstool. For he by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:11-14).
Because of the work of Jesus and the sending of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God working in believers, a life of obedience to God’s commandments is now possible and is summed up in “love.”
Ephesians 5:2: “And walk in loveas Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
1 John 5:1-4: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves The Father loves those who are born of him. In this we know that we love to the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. because this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. Because everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.”
Obedience is very important to God because it implies a right relationship with him as our loving Father. But obedience is impossible for humans because of sin. Since the Garden of Eden, God has been reminding his children of the seriousness of sin, but at the same time giving them a substitute in the form of a sacrifice. The sacrifices were never intended to be an end in themselves, but instead pointed to the foretold coming of Jesus, who through his perfect life and atoning death would make atonement for sin once and for all and empower those born of Him to love, which represents the sum total of obedience to God’s commandments and is also the means by which we obey them. Because of his obedience, we can obey, offering our own lives as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” as our “spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1).
A prayer to be Focused on Obedience
Father, my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. I say I want you to guide me, but often in the past, when you revealed your will to me, I moved forward in half-obedience or disobedience. I know you didn’t like this, Father.
Please continue to transform my thinking as I spend time in Your Word and apply its truth to my life. Show me how I can obey you to the praise of your glory. Give me greater discernment and a stronger desire to commit to Your plans. Make me more like Jesus in obeying you. I pray this in his name. Amen. (by Dawn Wilson, Prayers to discern God’s will)