1 Samuel 15
15
The Lord Rejects Saul
1And Samuel said to Saul, #ch. 9:16“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel #See Ex. 17:8-16; Deut. 25:17-19in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek and #Lev. 27:28, 29; Josh. 6:17, 21 devote to destruction#15:3 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 21 all that they have. Do not spare them, #[ch. 22:19]but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6Then Saul said to #ch. 27:10; Judg. 1:16 the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. #[Ex. 18:10, 19; Num. 10:29, 32]For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7#ch. 14:48 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from #Gen. 2:11; 25:18 Havilah as far as #ch. 27:8; [Gen. 16:7; Ex. 15:22]Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive #[ch. 27:8, 9; 30:1]and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9#ver. 15, 21; [ch. 28:18]But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves#15:9 The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11#See Gen. 6:6 “I regret#15:11 See also verses 29, 35 that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and #ver. 3, 9; [ch. 13:13]has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to #Josh. 15:55Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, #See Ruth 2:20“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 14And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, #ver. 9, 21for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17And Samuel said, #[ch. 9:21]“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? #ch. 14:32Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20And Saul said to Samuel, #ver. 13“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21#ver. 15But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22And Samuel said,
#
Ps. 40:6-8; 50:8, 9; Prov. 21:3; Isa. 1:11-13, 16, 17; Jer. 7:22, 23; Mic. 6:6-8; Heb. 10:6-9 “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, #Eccles. 5:1; Hos. 6:6; Matt. 9:13; 12:7; Mark 12:33to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and #See Gen. 31:19, 34 idolatry.
Because #ver. 26 you have rejected the word of the Lord,
# ch. 13:14 he has also rejected you from being king.”
24Saul said to Samuel, #[2 Sam. 12:13]“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin and #ver. 30return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. #ver. 23 For you have rejected the word of the Lord, #ch. 16:1and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27#[1 Kgs. 11:30, 31]As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28And Samuel said to him, #ch. 28:17, 18“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. 29And also the Glory of Israel #Num. 23:19; [Ezek. 24:14]will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet #[John 5:44; 12:43] honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, #ver. 25and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.#15:32 Or haltingly (compare Septuagint); the Hebrew is uncertain Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33And Samuel said, #[Judg. 1:7] “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord #ver. 12, 21in Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went #[ch. 1:19] to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in #ch. 11:4Gibeah of Saul. 35#[ch. 19:24] And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, #ch. 16:1 but Samuel grieved over Saul. #ver. 11And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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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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