1 Samuel 15:14 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

What meaneth then this bleating, &c.— There can be no excuse for swerving from the precise rule which God has prescribed to us: to obey, is better than sacrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams: 1 Samuel 15:22 nor must we compound a religion out of the good purposes and intentions of piety and devotion for our convenience, whilst, for the present, we decline a fundamental point of our religion, obedience to what he has enjoined. It will be no answer to God, that we have ransomed our lives and estates with good resolutions to employ both in his service; that we hope to be useful to our country or the church of Christ, and that we resolve charitably to assist with our fortune others who are in danger of starving. We are not judges, independent of his Providence, what is to be preserved, or which is the way of preserving. It may be, that God thinks it fit that our estates, our liberties, and lives, should be sacrificed to his truth, and for the defence of it; and then the redeeming either by our artifices and compliances is no less than sacrilege; defrauding him of his due, and presuming to think ourselves wiser than his all-seeing Providence. What he has determined shall be destroyed, or utterly lost to us, must not be kept for sacrifices; and what he has appointed for sacrifice to him must not be preserved for ourselves. What inconveniences may probably flow from our punctual and severe prosecution of our duty, and the resolute observation of the dictates of our conscience; or what advantage and benefit may result to God's service, from our temporary receding from that which is abstractedly just, are considerations of too sublime a nature for our cognizance. It is well for us that we are not trusted with a latitude for these decisions.