It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.
And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
All Commentaries on 1 Samuel 15:11 Go To 1 Samuel 15
John Cassian
AD 435
These texts declare that we should not cling stubbornly to our promises, but that they should be tempered by reason and judgment, that what is better should always be chosen and preferred and that we should pass over without any hesitation to whatever is proven to be more beneficial. This invaluable judgment also teaches us above all that, although each person’s end may be known to God before he was born, he so disposes everything with order and reason and, so to say, human feelings, that he determines all things not by his power or in accordance with his ineffable foreknowledge but, based upon the deeds of human beings at the time, either rejects them or draws them or daily pours out grace upon them or turns them away.
The choosing of Saul also demonstrates that this is so. Although, indeed, the foreknowledge of God could not be ignorant of his miserable end, he chose him from among many thousands of Israelites and anointed him king. In doing this he rewarded him for his deserving life at the time and did not take into consideration the sin of his future transgression. And so after he became reprobate, God as it were repented of his choice and complained of him with, so to speak, human words and feelings, saying, “I repent that I set up Saul as king, because he has forsaken me and not carried out my words.” And again: “Samuel grieved over Saul, because the Lord repented that he had set up Saul as king over Israel.”
