Was it fair for God to punish Saul for something that was Samuel’s fault?

 Q. In one of your articles, you explain why Saul was punished when he offered sacrifices himself after Samuel told him to wait seven days.

But Saul, did wait for seven days. Samuel did not do what Samuel was supposed to do by arriving on the seventh day. Saul was, therefore, left wondering where in the world Samuel was and why he was not keeping his end of the deal.

Then Saul’s army scattered. It was a dire situation.

Then Samuel finally shows up and all the punishment goes on Saul.

I am having a hard time seeing how all this is just and right. However, I know that God is perfectly just, so there’s obviously something I’m not understanding. Can you help me understand this situation better?

Thank you for your question. Here is how I understand what happened in the passage you are asking about.

Samuel told Saul to “wait seven days” until he was able to come to the Israelite military camp at Gilgal and offer sacrifices in order to seek God’s favor in the fight against the Philistines. On the seventh day, the day by which Samuel said he would arrive, Saul decided that Samuel actually was not coming and so he offered the sacrifices himself. In the post you mention, I explain how this violated God’s design to separate the kingship from the priesthood in Israel and how it made Saul more of a Canaanite-style priest-king.

But this bad outcome was completely avoidable. Samuel actually did arrive on that seventh day. When the Bible says that Saul “waited seven days,” this does not mean that he waited seven whole days, Samuel did not come, and on the eighth day Saul offered the sacrifices. Rather, Samuel came on the seventh day itself. In fact, he arrived just as Saul was finishing offering the sacrifices. In other words, if Saul had waited only a little while longer, Samuel could have offered the sacrifices and, as he told Saul, “the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel permanently.”

So why didn’t Saul wait? Impatience. And a lack of faith in God. But we ourselves are in no position to judge Saul for these things, since we too often exhibit them ourselves. However, we can at least seek to learn from Saul’s unfortunate example. Many times, if we would just wait a little longer and trust God just a little bit more, we would see God bring help and deliverance in situations in which we feel just as desperate as Saul did.