Sin Might Stink Like Cabbage

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I’ve always wondered if the smell of sin in the nostrils of God is somewhat like the smell of cabbage cooking was for me when I was little. The odor is distinctive and pungent, and if you don’t like eating cabbage, I feel quite sure the smell is totally repugnant. In I Samuel 15, God has rejected Samuel from being king because of his disobedience. When called on his sin, Saul first said that he did obey God’s instructions (vs. 21), but when faced with the truth (vs. 22-23), he admitted his sin (vs. 24). Verse 23 often gets overlooked in the light of verse 22, which says that obedience is better than sacrifice, but the first part of verse 23 has a powerful message on its own; Samuel tells Saul, “Rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry” (NASB). Even if we manage to be free of the sins of divination, iniquity, and idolatry, which seem huge in our culture today, it is unlikely that any of us can claim to have lived a life totally devoid of rebellion or insubordination. The message is clear: all sin is the same to God, and it’s not graded on a sliding scale. I bet it smells like cabbage to God.

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