1 Samuel 15
15
Saul Rejected as King
1Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people Israel. # 1Sm 9:16 Now, listen to the words of the Lord. 2This is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed # LXX reads I will avenge what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt. # Ex 17:8-16; Nm 24:20; Dt 25:17-19 3Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. # Nm 24:20; Dt 20:16-18 Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ” # Jos 6:17-21; 1Sm 22:19
4Then Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men from Judah. 5Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi. 6He warned the Kenites, # Jdg 1:16; 4:11 “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, # Ex 18:9-10; Nm 10:29-32 go on and leave! Get away from the Amalekites, or I’ll sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.
7Then Saul struck down the Amalekites # 1Sm 14:48 from Havilah # Gn 16:7; 25:17-18 all the way to Shur, # Ex 15:22; 1Sm 27:8 which is next to Egypt. 8He captured Agag # Nm 24:7; Est 3:1 king of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword. # 1Sm 27:8; 30:1; 2Sm 8:12 9Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, cattle, and choice animals, # Lit and the second as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.
10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 11“I regret that I made Saul king, # Gn 6:6-7; Ex 32:14; 2Sm 24:16 for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” # 1Kg 9:6-7 So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night. # Ex 32:11-13; Lk 6:12
12Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel # Jos 15:55; 1Sm 25:2 where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.” # 1Sm 13:13-14 13When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you. # Gn 14:19; 2Sm 2:5 I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
14Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep # Lit sheep in my ears and cattle I hear? ”
15Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God, # Gn 3:12-13 but the rest we destroyed.” # Ex 32:21-24
16“Stop! ” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” he replied.
17Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant, # 1Sm 9:21 have you not become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel 18and then sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’ 19So why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder # 1Sm 14:32 and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight? ”
20“But I did obey the Lord! ” Saul answered. # Lit answered Samuel “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder — the best of what was set apart for destruction — to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” # Ex 32:22-23
22Then Samuel said:
Does the Lord # Ps 40:6-8; 51:16-17; Is 1:11-15; Mc 6:6-8 take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,
to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. # Heb 10:5-7
23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, # Dt 18:10
and defiance is like wickedness # Gn 31:19,34 and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He has rejected you as king. # 1Sm 8:7
24Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned. # Nm 22:34; 2Sm 12:13; Ps 51:3-4 I have transgressed the Lord’s command # Pr 29:25; Is 51:12-13 and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them. 25Now therefore, please forgive my sin # Ex 10:17 and return with me so I can worship the Lord.”
26Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, # 1Sm 13:14; 16:1 the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today # 1Sm 28:17-18 and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. # 1Kg 11:30-36 29Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel # 1Ch 29:11; Ps 18:1-2 does not lie or change His mind, for He is not man who changes his mind.” # Nm 23:19; Ezk 24:14
30Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me # Jn 12:43 now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the Lord your God.” # Is 29:13 31Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the Lord.
32Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of Amalek.”
Agag came to him trembling, # Hb obscure for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.” # LXX reads Is death bitter in this way? # Lit turned
33Samuel declared:
As your sword has made women childless,
so your mother will be childless among women. # Gn 9:6; Jdg 1:7; Mt 7:2
Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
34Samuel went to Ramah, # 1Sm 7:17 and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah # 1Sm 11:4 of Saul. 35Even to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. # 1Sm 19:24 Samuel mourned for Saul, # 1Sm 16:1 and the Lord regretted He had made Saul king over Israel.
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1 Samuel 15: HCSB
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1 Samuel 15
15
1Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king of his people Israel. So now pay attention to what the Lord has to say. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: I observed what the Amalekites did to Israel when they ambushed them on their way from Egypt. 3Go and attack the Amalekites and exterminate all of them. Don't spare anyone, but kill every man, woman, child, and baby; every ox, sheep, camel, and donkey.”
4Saul called up his army at Telem.#15:4. Here spelled Telaim, but thought to be the same town called Telem in Joshua 15:24. There were 200,000 Israelite infantry and 10,000 men from Judah. 5Saul advanced on the town of Amalek and set up an ambush in the valley. 6Saul sent a message to warn the Kenites, “Move out of the area and leave the Amalekites so that I don't destroy you with them, because you showed kindness to all the people of Israel on their way from Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away and left the Amalekites.
7Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, to the east of Egypt. 8He captured Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but exterminated all the people by the sword. 9Saul and his army spared Agag, together with the best sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and everything else that was any good. They didn't want to destroy those, but they completely destroyed all that was unwanted and worthless.
10The Lord sent a message to Samuel, saying, 11“I'm sorry I made Saul king, for he has given up following me and hasn't done as I ordered.” Samuel was upset, and he cried out to the Lord all through the night.
12Samuel got up early in the morning and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul's gone to Carmel. There he's even erected a monument to honor himself, and now he's left and gone down to Gilgal.”
13When Samuel caught up with him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have done what the Lord ordered.”
14“So what's this bleating of sheep my ears are picking up? What's this lowing of cattle that I'm hearing?” Samuel asked.
15“The army brought them from the Amalekites,” Saul replied. “They spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we completely destroyed the rest.”
16“Oh, be quiet!” Samuel told Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord told me last night.”
“Tell me what he said,” Saul replied.
17“Once you didn't use to think much of yourself, but haven't you become the leader of the tribes of Israel?” Samuel asked. “The Lord anointed you king of Israel. 18Then he sent you out to do something, telling you, ‘Go and exterminate those sinners, the Amalekites. Attack them until they're all destroyed.’ 19Why didn't you do what the Lord ordered? Why did you swoop down on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord's sight?”
20“But I did do what the Lord ordered!” Saul replied. “I went and did what the Lord sent me to do. I brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21The army took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was consecrated to God, to sacrifice them to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22“Does the Lord prefer burnt offerings and sacrifices, or obedience to what he says?” Samuel asked. “Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice. Paying attention is more important than offering the fat of rams. 23Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft, and arrogance is as bad as the sin of idolatry. Because you have rejected the Lord's commands, he has rejected you as king.”
24“I have sinned,” Saul confessed to Samuel. “I disobeyed the Lord's orders and your instructions, because I was afraid of the people and followed what they said. 25So please forgive my sin and come back with me, so I can worship the Lord.”
26But Samuel told him, “I'm not going back with you. You have rejected the Lord's orders, and the Lord has rejected you as king of Israel!”
27As Samuel turned away to leave, Saul grabbed hold of the hem of his robe, and it ripped.
28Samuel said to him, “The Lord has ripped the kingdom of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor—someone who is better than you! 29In addition, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind!”
30“Yes, I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel—come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel went back with Saul after all, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag, king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him confidently, for he thought, “The threat of being killed must have passed.”
33But Samuel said, “In the same way that your sword has made women childless, so too your mother will be childless among women.” Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
34Samuel left for Ramah, and Saul went home to his town called Gibeah of Saul. 35Until the day of his death, Samuel never visited Saul again. Samuel mourned over Saul, and the Lord regretted he had made Saul the king of Israel.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com