I Samuel 15
15
Saul Spares King Agag
1Samuel also said to Saul, #1 Sam. 8:11“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, #1 Sam. 9:16; 10:1how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go and #Ex. 17:8, 14; Num. 24:20; Deut. 25:17–19attack Amalek, and #Deut. 25:19utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6Then Saul said to #Lev. 27:28, 29; Num. 24:20; Deut. 20:16–18; Josh. 6:17–21the Kenites, #Num. 24:21; Judg. 1:16; 4:11–22; 1 Chr. 2:55“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For #Gen. 18:25; 19:12, 14; Rev. 18:4you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7#Ex. 18:10, 19; Num. 10:29, 32And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from #1 Sam. 14:48Havilah all the way to #Gen. 2:11; 25:17, 18Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8#Gen. 16:7; Ex. 15:22; 1 Sam. 27:8He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and #1 Sam. 15:32, 33utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people #1 Sam. 27:8, 9spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul Rejected as King
10Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11#1 Sam. 15:3, 15, 19“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has #Gen. 6:6, 7; 1 Sam. 15:35; 2 Sam. 24:16turned back from following Me, #Josh. 22:16; 1 Kin. 9:6and has not performed My commandments.” And it #1 Sam. 13:13; 15:3, 9grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. 12So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to #1 Sam. 15:35; 16:1Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” 13Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, #Josh. 15:55; 1 Sam. 25:2“Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
14But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; #Gen. 14:19; Judg. 17:2; Ruth 3:10; 2 Sam. 2:5for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17So Samuel said, #(Gen. 3:12, 13; Ex. 32:22, 23); 1 Sam. 15:9, 21; (Prov. 28:13)“When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20And Saul said to Samuel, #1 Sam. 9:21; 10:22“But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21#1 Sam. 15:13; (Prov. 28:13)But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22So Samuel said:
#1 Sam. 15:15“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, #Ps. 50:8, 9; 51:16, 17; (Prov. 21:3; Is. 1:11–17; Jer. 7:22, 23; Mic. 6:6–8; Heb. 10:4–10)to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
#(Eccl. 5:1; Hos. 6:6; Matt. 5:24; 9:13; 12:7; Mark 12:33)He also has rejected you from being king.”
24#1 Sam. 13:14; 16:1Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I #Num. 22:34; Josh. 7:20; 1 Sam. 26:21; 2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 51:4feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, #(Ex. 23:2; Prov. 29:25; Is. 51:12, 13)for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27And as Samuel turned around to go away, #1 Sam. 2:30Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28So Samuel said to him, #1 Kin. 11:30, 31“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29And also the Strength of Israel #1 Sam. 28:17, 18; 1 Kin. 11:31will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet #Num. 23:19; Ezek. 24:14; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33But Samuel said, #(John 5:44; 12:43)“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to #(Gen. 9:6); Num. 14:45; Judg. 1:7; (Matt. 7:2)Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at #1 Sam. 7:17Gibeah of Saul. 35And #1 Sam. 11:4Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
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I Samuel 15: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 15
15
Disobedience of Saul. 1Samuel said to Saul: “It was I the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the message of the Lord.#Jos 3:9; 2 Kgs 20:16; Is 28:14. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish what Amalek did to the Israelites when he barred their way as they came up from Egypt.#Ex 17:8–10, 16; Dt 25:17–19. 3Go, now, attack Amalek, and put under the ban#Put under the ban: this terminology mandates that all traces of the Amalekites (people, cities, animals, etc.) be exterminated. No plunder could be seized for personal use. In the light of Dt 20:16–18, this injunction would eliminate any tendency toward syncretism. The focus of this chapter is that Saul fails to execute this order. everything he has. Do not spare him; kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.”#1 Sm 27:8; 30:17; Ex 17:16; Nm 24:20; Jos 6:17.
4Saul alerted the army, and at Telaim reviewed two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.#The numbers here are not realistic; compare 14:2. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi. 6#Nm 24:21. He warned the Kenites: “Leave Amalek, turn aside and come down so I will not have to destroy you with them, for you were loyal to the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.”#The Kenites honored the terms of an alliance with Israel. After the Kenites left, 7Saul routed Amalek from Havilah to the approaches of Shur, on the frontier of Egypt.#1 Sm 27:8. 8He took Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but the rest of the people he destroyed by the sword, putting them under the ban. 9He and his troops spared Agag and the best of the fat sheep and oxen, and the lambs. They refused to put under the ban anything that was worthwhile, destroying only what was worthless and of no account.
Samuel Rebukes Saul. 10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11I regret having made Saul king, for he has turned from me and has not kept my command. At this Samuel grew angry and cried out to the Lord all night.#1 Sm 15:35; Gn 6:6–7. 12Early in the morning he went to meet Saul, but was informed that Saul had gone to Carmel, where he set up a monument in his own honor, and that on his return he had gone down to Gilgal. 13When Samuel came to him, Saul greeted him: “The Lord bless you! I have kept the command of the Lord.” 14But Samuel asked, “What, then, is this bleating of sheep that comes to my ears, the lowing of oxen that I hear?” 15Saul replied: “They were brought from Amalek. The people spared the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord, your God; but the rest we destroyed, putting them under the ban.” 16Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Speak!” he replied. 17Samuel then said: “Though little in your own eyes, are you not chief of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king of Israel#1 Sm 9:21. 18and sent you on a mission, saying: Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.#1 Sm 28:18. 19Why then have you disobeyed the Lord? You have pounced on the spoil, thus doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight.”#1 Sm 14:32. 20Saul explained to Samuel: “I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, the king of Amalek, and, carrying out the ban, I have destroyed the Amalekites. 21But from the spoil the army took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”#Lv 27:28. 22#Prv 21:3; Hos 6:6; Am 5:21–25; Zec 10:2; Mt 9:13; 12:7; Heb 10:9. But Samuel said:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obedience to the Lord’s command?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
to listen, better than the fat of rams.#Samuel’s reprimand echoes that of the prophets. Cultic practice is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless accompanied by an attentiveness to God’s will.
23For a sin of divination is rebellion,
and arrogance, the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
the Lord in turn has rejected you as king.”#Dt 18:10.
Rejection of Saul. 24Saul admitted to Samuel: “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the command of the Lord and your instructions. I feared the people and obeyed them.#1 Sm 26:21. 25Now forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.” 26But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you as king of Israel.”#1 Kgs 11:11, 30–31. 27As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized a loose end of his garment, and it tore off.#1 Sm 24:6; 1 Kgs 11:29–31. 28So Samuel said to him: “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.#1 Sm 28:17; 2 Sm 7:15–16. 29The Glory of Israel neither deceives nor repents,#Nor repents: the apparent contradiction between this verse and vv. 11, 35 leads some scholars to consider it a gloss (cf. Nm 23:19). However, this phrase can be understood to underscore the definitive character of Samuel’s declaration that Saul has lost the kingship. for he is not a mortal who repents.”#Nm 23:19. 30But Saul answered: “I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Return with me that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31And so Samuel returned with him, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Samuel Executes Agag. 32Afterward Samuel commanded, “Bring Agag, king of Amalek, to me.” Agag came to him struggling and saying, “So it is bitter death!” 33And Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so shall your mother be childless among women.”
Then he cut Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.#Ex 21:23; Jgs 8:21. 34Samuel departed for Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35Never again, as long as he lived, did Samuel see Saul. Yet he grieved over Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king of Israel.#1 Sm 28:15.
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