1 Samuel 15 commentary

The sentence of condemnation against the Amalekites had gone forth long before, Ex 17:14; De 25:19, but they had been spared till they filled up the measure of their sins. We are sure that the righteous Lord does no injustice to any. The remembering the kindness of the ancestors of the Kenites, in favour to them, at the time God was punishing the injuries done by the ancestors of the Amalekites, tended to clear the righteousness of God in this dispensation. It is dangerous to be found in the company of God's enemies, and it is our duty and interest to come out from among them, lest we share in their sins and plagues, Re 18:4. As the commandment had been express, and a test of Saul's obedience, his conduct evidently was the effect of a proud, rebellious spirit. He destroyed only the refuse, that was good for little. That which was now destroyed was sacrificed to the justice of God.

Repentance in God is not a change of mind, as it is in us, but a change of method. The change was in Saul; “He is turned back from following me.” Hereby he made God his enemy. Samuel spent a whole night in pleading for Saul. The rejection of sinners is the grief of believers: God delights not in their death, nor should we. Saul boasts to Samuel of his obedience. Thus sinners think, by justifying themselves, to escape being judged of the Lord. The noise the cattle made, like the rust of the silver, Jas 5:3, witnessed against him. Many boast of obedience to the command of God; but what means then their indulgence of the flesh, their love of the world, their angry and unkind spirit, and their neglect of holy duties, which witness against them? See of what evil covetousness is the root; and see what is the sinfulness of sin, and notice that in it which above any thing else makes it evil in the sight of the Lord; it is disobedience: “Thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord.” Carnal, deceitful hearts, like Saul, think to excuse themselves from God's commandments by what pleases themselves. It is hard to convince the children of disobedience. But humble, sincere, and conscientious obedience to the will of God, is more pleasing and acceptable to him than all burnt-offering and sacrifices. God is more glorified and self more denied, by obedience than by sacrifice. It is much easier to bring a bullock or lamb to be burned upon the altar, than to bring every high thought into obedience to God, and to make our will subject to his will. Those are unfit and unworthy to rule over men, who are not willing that God should rule over them.

There were several signs of hypocrisy in Saul's repentance. 1. He besought Samuel only, and seemed most anxious to stand right in his opinion, and to gain his favour. 2. He excuses his fault, even when confessing it; that is never the way of a true penitent. 3. All his care was to save his credit, and preserve his interest in the people. Men are fickle and alter their minds, feeble and cannot effect their purposes; something happens they could not foresee, by which their measures are broken; but with God it is not so. The Strength of Israel will not lie.

Many think the bitterness of death is past when it is not gone by; they put that evil day far from them, which is very near. Samuel calls Agag to account for his own sins. He followed the example of his ancestors' cruelty, justly therefore is all the righteous blood shed by Amalek required. Saul seems unconcerned at the token of God's displeasure which he lay under, yet Samuel mourns day and night for him. Jerusalem was carnally secure while Christ wept over it. Do we desire to do the whole will of God? Turn to him, not in form and appearance, but with sincerity.

CHAPTER 15

1Sa 15:1-6. Saul Sent to Destroy Amalek.

1. Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee ...: now therefore hearken thou unto ... the Lord--Several years had been passed in successful military operations against troublesome neighbors. During these Saul had been left to act in a great measure at his own discretion as an independent prince. Now a second test is proposed of his possessing the character of a theocratic monarch in Israel; and in announcing the duty required of him, Samuel brought before him his official station as the Lord's vicegerent, and the peculiar obligation under which he was laid to act in that capacity. He had formerly done wrong, for which a severe rebuke and threatening were administered to him (1Sa 13:13, 14). Now an opportunity was afforded him of retrieving that error by an exact obedience to the divine command.

2-3. Amalek--the powerful tribe which inhabited the country immediately to the eastward of the northern Cushites. Their territory extended over the whole of the eastern portion of the desert of Sinai to Rephidim--the earliest opponent (De 25:18; Ex 17:8-16)--the hereditary and restless enemy of Israel (Nu 14:45; Jud 3:13; 6:3), and who had not repented (1Sa 14:48) of their bitter and sleepless hatred during the five hundred years that had elapsed since their doom was pronounced. Being a people of nomadic habits, they were as plundering and dangerous as the Bedouin Arabs, particularly to the southern tribes. The national interest required, and God, as King of Israel, decreed that this public enemy should be removed. Their destruction was to be without reservation or exception.

I remember--I am reminded of what Amalek did--perhaps by the still remaining trophy or memorial erected by Moses (Ex 17:15, 16).

4. Saul gathered the people together--The alacrity with which he entered on the necessary preparations for the expedition gave a fair, but delusive promise of faithfulness in its execution.

Telaim--or Telem, among the uttermost cities of the tribe of Judah towards the coast of Edom (Jos 15:21, 24).

5. Saul came to a city of Amalek--probably their capital.

laid wait in the valley--following the strategic policy of Joshua at Ai (Jos 8:4).

6. Kenites--(See on Jud 1:16). In consequence, probably, of the unsettled state of Judah, they seem to have returned to their old desert tracts. Though now intermingled with the Amalekites, they were not implicated in the offenses of that wicked race; but for the sake of their ancestors, between whom and those of Israel there had been a league of amity, a timely warning was afforded them to remove from the scene of danger.

1Sa 15:7-9. He Spares Agag and the Best of the Spoil.

7-9. Saul smote the Amalekites--His own view of the proper and expedient course to follow was his rule, not the command of God.

10-11. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul--Repentance is attributed in Scripture to Him when bad men give Him cause to alter His course and method of procedure, and to treat them as if He did "repent" of kindness shown. To the heart of a man like Samuel, who was above all envious considerations, and really attached to the king, so painful an announcement moved all his pity and led him to pass a sleepless night of earnest intercession.

12. Saul came to Carmel--in the south of Judah (Jos 15:55; 1Sa 25:2).

he set him up a place--that is, a pillar (2Sa 18:18); literally, a hand, indicating that whatever was the form of the monument, it was surmounted, according to the ancient fashion, by the figure of a hand, the symbol of power and energy. The erection of this vainglorious trophy was an additional act of disobedience. His pride had overborne his sense of duty in first raising this monument to his own honor, and then going to Gilgal to offer sacrifice to God.

13-23. Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people. Samuel saw the real state of the case, and in discharge of the commission he had received before setting out, proceeded to denounce his conduct as characterized by pride, rebellion, and obstinate disobedience. When Saul persisted in declaring that he had obeyed, alleging that the animals, whose bleating was heard, had been reserved for a liberal sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, his shuffling, prevaricating answer called forth a stern rebuke from the prophet. It well deserved it--for the destination of the spoil to the altar was a flimsy pretext--a gross deception, an attempt to conceal the selfishness of the original motive under the cloak of religious zeal and gratitude.

24-26. I have sinned ... turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord--The erring, but proud and obstinate monarch was now humbled. He was conscience-smitten for the moment, but his confession proceeded not from sincere repentance, but from a sense of danger and desire of averting the sentence denounced against him. For the sake of public appearance, he besought Samuel not to allow their serious differences to transpire, but to join with him in a public act of worship. Under the influence of his painfully agitated feelings, he designed to offer sacrifice, partly to express his gratitude for the recent victory, and partly to implore mercy and a reversal of his doom. It was, from another angle, a politic scheme, that Samuel might be betrayed into a countenancing of his design in reserving the cattle for sacrificing. Samuel declined to accompany him.

I feared the people, and obeyed their voice--This was a different reason from the former he had assigned. It was the language of a man driven to extremities, and even had it been true, the principles expounded by Samuel showed that it could have been no extenuation of the offense. The prophet then pronounced the irreversible sentence of the rejection of Saul and his family. He was judicially cut off for his disobedience.

27-28. he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle--the moil, upper tunic, official robe. In an agony of mental excitement, he took hold of the prophet's dress to detain him; the rending of the mantle [1Sa 15:27] was adroitly pointed to as a significant and mystical representation of his severance from the throne.

29. the Strength of Israel will not lie--Hebrew, "He that gives a victory to Israel," a further rebuke of his pride in rearing the Carmel trophy, and an intimation that no loss would be sustained in Israel by his rejection.

31. Samuel turned again after Saul--not to worship along with him; but first, that the people might have no ground, on pretense of Saul's rejection, to withdraw their allegiance from him; and secondly, to compensate for Saul's error, by executing God's judgment upon Agag.

32. Agag came unto him delicately--or cheerfully, since he had gained the favor and protection of the king.

33. Samuel hewed Agag--This cruel tyrant met the retribution of a righteous Providence. Never has it been unusual for great or official personages in the East to perform executions with their own hands. Samuel did it "before the Lord" in Gilgal, appointing that same mode of punishment (hitherto unknown in Israel) to be used towards him, which he had formerly used towards others.

The Lord sent me to anoint thee - This gave him a right to say what immediately follows.

I remember that which Amalek did - The Amalekites were a people of Arabia Petraea, who had occupied a tract of country on the frontiers of Egypt and Palestine. They had acted with great cruelty towards the Israelites on their coming out of Egypt. (See Exo 17:8 (note), and the notes there). They came upon them when they were faint and weary, and smote the hindermost of the people - those who were too weak to keep up with the rest. (See Deu 25:18). And God then purposed that Amalek, as a nation, should be blotted out from under heaven; which purpose was now fulfilled by Saul upwards of four hundred years afterwards!

Slay both man and woman - Nothing could justify such an exterminating decree but the absolute authority of God. This was given: all the reasons of it we do not know; but this we know well, The Judge of all the earth doth right. This war was not for plunder, for God commanded that all the property as well as all the people should be destroyed.

Two hundred thousand - and ten thousand - The Septuagint, in the London Polyglot, have Four Hundred thousand companies of Israel, and Thirty thousand companies of Judah. The Codex Alexandrinus has Ten thousand of each. The Complutensian Polyglot has Two Hundred thousand companies of Israel, and Ten thousand of Judah. And Josephus has Four Hundred thousand of Israel, and Thirty thousand of Judah. All the other versions are the same with the Hebrew text; and there is no difference in the MSS.

Saul came to a city of Amalek - I believe the original should be translated, and Saul came to the city Amalek; their capital being called by the name of their tribe.

Said unto the Kenites - The Kenites were an ancient people. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. Hobab his son (if the same person be not meant) was guide to the Hebrews through the wilderness. They had a portion of the promised land, near to the city Arad. See Jdg 1:16; and for more particulars concerning them and the Amalekites, see the notes on Num 26:20-21 (note).

From Havilah - to Shur - From Pelusium in Egypt, unto the Red Sea. - Josephus. But Havilah lay eastward from the Red Sea; the Amalekites lay between this and the way to Egypt towards Shur.

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul - That is, I placed him on the throne; I intended, if he had been obedient, to have established his kingdom. He has been disobedient; I change my purpose, and the kingdom shall not be established in his family. This is what is meant by God's repenting - changing a purpose according to conditions already laid down or mentally determined.

He set him up a place - Literally, a hand, יד yad. Some say it was a monument; others, a triumphal arch: probably it was no more than a hand, pointing out the place where Saul had gained the victory. Absalom's pillar is called the hand of Absalom, 2Sam 18:18.

The people spared the best of the sheep - It is very likely that the people did spare the best of the prey; and it is as likely that Saul might have restrained them if he would. That they might not love war, God had interdicted spoil and plunder, so the war was undertaken merely from a sense of duty, without any hope of enriching themselves by it.

Little in thine own sight - Who can bear prosperity? Is it not of the Lord's great goodness that the majority of the inhabitants of the earth are in comparative poverty?

To sacrifice unto the Lord - Thus he endeavors to excuse the people. They did not take the spoil in order to enrich themselves by it, but to sacrifice unto the Lord; and did not this motive justify their conduct?

Hath the Lord as great delight, etc. - This was a very proper answer to, and refutation of Saul's excuse. Is not obedience to the will of God the end of all religion, of its rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices?

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry - This is no translation of those difficult words, כי חטאת קסם מרי ואון ותרפים הפצר ki chattath kesem meri veaven utheraphim haphtsar. It appears to me that the three nouns which occur first in the text refer each to the three last in order. Thus, חטאת chattath, Transgression, refers to און aven, Iniquity, which is the principle whence transgression springs. קסם kesem, Divination, refers to תרפים teraphim, consecrated images or telesms, vulgarly talismans, used in incantations. And מרי meri, Rebellion, refers evidently to הפצר haphstar, Stubbornness, whence rebellion springs. The meaning therefore of this difficult place may be the following: As transgression comes from iniquity, divination from teraphim, and rebellion from stubbornness, so, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. All the versions are different.

I have sinned - because I feared the people - This was the best excuse he could make for himself; but had he feared God more, he need have feared the People less.

Pardon my sin - Literally, bear my sin; take it away; forgive what I have done against thee, and be my intercessor with God, that he may forgive my offense against him; turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.

I will not return with thee - I cannot acknowledge thee as king, seeing the Lord hath rejected thee.

The Strength of Israel will not lie - What God has purposed he will bring to pass, for he has all power in the heavens and in the earth; and he will not repent - change his purpose - concerning thee.

We may say it was some extenuation of Saul's fault that the people insisted on preserving the best of the prey; for who could resist the demands of a victorious mob? But his crime was in consenting; had he not, the crime would have been theirs alone.

Agag came unto him delicately - The Septuagint have τρεμων, trembling; the original, מעדנת maadannoth, delicacies; probably איש ish, man, understood; a man of delights, a pleasure-taker: the Vulgate, pinguissimus et tremens, "very fat and trembling."

Surely the bitterness of death is past - Almost all the versions render this differently from ours. Surely death is bitter, is their general sense; and this seems to be the true meaning.

As thy sword hath made women childless - It appears that Agag had forfeited his life by his own personal transgressions, and that his death now was the retribution of his cruelties.

And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces -

1. What Samuel did here he did in his magisterial capacity; and,

2. It is not likely he did it by his own sword, but by that of an executioner. What kings, magistrates, and generals do, in an official way, by their subjects, servants, or soldiers, they are said to do themselves; qui facit per alterum, facit per se.

And Samuel came no more to see Saul - But we read, 1Sam 19:22-24, that Saul went to see Samuel at Naioth, but this does not affect what is said here. From this time Samuel had no connection with Saul; he never more acknowledged him as king; he mourned and prayed for him, and continued to perform his prophetic functions at Ramah, and at Naioth, superintending the school of the prophets in that place.

Hearken - Thou hast committed error already, now regain God's favour by thy exact obedience to what he commands.

I remember - Now I will revenge those old injuries of the Amalekites on their children: who continue in their parents practices. Came from Egypt - When he was newly come out of cruel and long bondage, and was now weak, and weary, and faint, and hungry, Deut 25:18, and therefore it was barbarous instead of that pity which even Nature prompted them to afford, to add affliction to the afflicted; it was also horrid impiety to fight against God himself and to lift up their hand in a manner against the Lord's throne, whilst they struck at that people which God had brought forth in so stupendous a way.

Destroy - Both persons and goods, kill all that live, and consume all things without life, for I will have no name nor remnant of that people left, whom long since I have devoted to utter destruction. Spare not - Shew no compassion or favour to any of them. The same thing repeated to prevent mistake, and oblige Saul to the exact performance hereof. Slay, &c. - Which was not unjust, because God is the supreme Lord of life, and can require his own when he pleaseth; infants likewise are born in sin, and therefore liable to God's wrath. Their death also was rather a mercy than a curse, as being the occasion of preventing their sin and punishment. Ox, &c. - Which being all made for man's benefit, it is not strange if they suffer with him, for the instruction of mankind.

Kenites - A people descending from, or nearly related to Jethro, who anciently dwelt in rocks near the Amalekites, Numb 24:21, and afterwards some of them dwelt in Judah, Judg 1:16, whence it is probable they removed, (which, dwelling in tents, they could easily do) and retired to their old habitation, because of the wars and troubles wherewith Judah was annoyed. Shewed kindness - Some of your progenitors did so, and for their sakes all of you shall fare the better. You were not guilty of that sin for which Amalek is now to be destroyed. When destroying judgments are abroad God takes care to separate the precious from the vile. It is then especially dangerous to be found in the company of God's enemies. The Jews have a saying, Wo to a wicked man, and to his neighbour.

To Shur - That is, from one end of their country to the other; he smote all that he met with: but a great number of them fled away upon the noise of his coming, and secured themselves in other places, 'till the storm was over.

All - Whom he found. Now they paid dear for the sin of their ancestors. They were themselves guilty of idolatry and numberless sins, for which they deserved to be cut off. Yet when God would reckon with them, he fixes upon this as the ground of his quarrel.

Vile - Thus they obeyed God only so far as they could without inconvenience to themselves.

Repenteth - Repentance implies grief of heart, and change of counsels, and therefore cannot be in God: but it is ascribed to God when God alters his method of dealing, and treats a person as if be did indeed repent of the kindness he had shewed him. All night - To implore his pardoning mercy for Saul, and for the people. Is turned back - Therefore he did once follow God. Otherwise it would have been impossible, he should turn back from following him.

A place - That is, a monument or trophy of his victory.

They - That is, the people. Thus, he lays the blame upon the people; whereas they could not do it without his consent; and he should have used his power to over - rule them.

A journey - So easy was the service, and so certain the success, that it was rather to be called a journey than a war.

The king - To be dealt with as God pleaseth.

But the people, &c. - Here the conscience of Saul begins to awake, tho' but a little: for he still lays the blame on the people.

Sacrifice - Because obedience to God is a moral duty, constantly and indispensably necessary; but sacrifice is but a ceremonial institution, sometimes unnecessary, as it was in the wilderness: and sometimes sinful, when it is offered by a polluted hand, or in an irregular manner. Therefore thy gross disobedience to God's express command, is not to be compensated with sacrifice. Hearken - That is, to obey. Fat - Then the choicest part of all the sacrifice.

Rebellion - Disobedience to God's command. Stubbornness - Contumacy in sin, justifying it, and pleading for it. Iniquity - Or, the iniquity of idolatry. Rejected - Hath pronounced the sentence of rejection: for that he was not actually deposed by God before, plainly appears, because not only the people, but even David, after this, owned him as king. Those are unworthy to rule over men, who are not willing that God should rule over them.

I have sinned - It does by no means appear, that Saul acts the hypocrite herein, in assigning a false cause of his disobedience. Rather, he nakedly declares the thing as it was.

Pardon my sin - Neither can it be proved that there was any hypocrisy in this. Rather charity requires us to believe, that he sincerely desired pardon, both from God and man, as he now knew, he had sinned against both.

I will not - This was no lie, though he afterwards returned, because he spoke what he meant; his words and his intentions agreed together, though afterwards he saw reason to change his intentions. Compare Gen 19:2,3. This may relieve many perplexed consciences, who think themselves obliged to do what they have said they would do, though they see just cause to change their minds. Hath rejected thee, &c. - But he does not say, he "hath rejected thee from salvation." And who besides hath authority to say so?

Strength of Israel - So he calls God here, to shew the reason why God neither will nor can lie; because lying proceeds from the sense of a man's weakness, who cannot many times accomplish his design without lying and dissimulation; therefore many princes have used it for this very reason. But God needs no such artifices; he can do whatsoever he pleaseth by his absolute power. Repent - That is, nor change his counsel; which also is an effect of weakness and imperfection, either of wisdom or power. So that this word is not here used in the sense it commonly is when applied to God, as in Jer 11:1 - 23, and elsewhere.

Turned - First, that the people might not upon pretence of this sentence of rejection, withdraw their obedience to their sovereign; whereby they would both have sinned against God, and have been as sheep without a shepherd. Secondly, that he might rectify Saul's error, and execute God's judgment upon Agag.

As, &c. - Whereby it appears, that he was a tyrant, and guilty of many bloody actions. And this seems to be added for the fuller vindication of God's justice, and to shew, that although God did at this time revenge a crime committed by this man's ancestors 400 years ago, yet he did not punish an innocent son for his father's crimes, but one that persisted in the same evil courses. Hewed - This he did by divine instinct, and in pursuance of God's express command, which being sinfully neglected by Saul, is now executed by Samuel. But these are no precedents for private persons to take the sword of justice into their hands. For we must live by the laws of God, and not by extraordinary examples.

To see Saul - That is, to visit him, in token of respect or friendship: or, to seek counsel from God for him. Otherwise he did see him chap.19:24. Though indeed it was not Samuel that came thither with design to see Saul, but Saul went thither to see Samuel, and that accidentally.

SAmuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people , over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

The Lord made thee King, and therefore thou art highly obliged to serve and obey him.

Th[illegible: 1+ letters] hast committed one Error already, for which [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]verely rebuked and threatned: now therefore ma[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] for [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]mer Error, and regain Gods Favour by thy exact [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] to what he now commands.

Marginal references: Chap. 9. 16.

2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalck did to Israel , how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt .

I seem to have forgotten, but now I will shew that I remember, and now will revenge those old Iniuries done 400 Years ago, which now I will punish in their Children: which was the more just, because they continued in their Parents cruel Practices, below, v. 33.

When he was newly come out of cruel and lorig Bondage, and were now weak, and weary, and faint, and hungry, Deut. 25. 18. and therefore it was Barbarous and Inhuman, instead of that Pity which even Nature prompted them to afford, to add affliction to the afflicted; it was also horrid Impiety to fight against God himself, and to lift up their Hand in a manner against the Lord's Throne, as some Translate these words, Exod. 17. 16. whilst they struck at that People which God had brought forth in so stupendious and Miraculous a way.

Marginal references: Exod. [illegible: 1 word] Num[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have , and spare them not ; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling , ox and sheep, camel and asse .

Both Persons and Goods, Kill all that live, and Consume all things without life, for I will have no Name nor Remnant of that People whom long since I have Cursed and Devoted to utter Destruction.

Shew no Compassion or Favour to any of them. The same thing repeated to prevent mistake, and oblige Saul to the exact performance hereof; or, to leave him without excuse, in case of neglect.

For their Parents Crime and Punishment: which was not unjust, because God is the Supreme Lord and giver of Life, and can require his own when he pleaseth; Infants also are Born in sin, Psal. 51. 5. and therefore liable to God's wrath, Eph. 2. 3. and to death, Rom. 5. 12, 14. Their death also was rather a Mercy than a Curse to them, as being the occasion of preventing the vast increase of their Sin and Punishment.

Which being all made for Man's benefit, it is not strange nor unjust, if they suffer with him, and for him, and for the instruction of Mankind.

4 And Saul called the people together, and numbred them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah .

Who are particularly Noted here, as also chap. 11. 8. either as Select Persons of extraordinary Strength and Courage: or to commend that Tribe, which though the Kingdom had been promised to their own Tribe, yet were forward in serving and obeying a King of another, and that a far meaner Tribe.

5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek , and laid wait in the valley.

Their chief City, where their King was, as is probable from v. 8.

Intending to draw them forth of their City by [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ like that of Ioshua, I[illegible: 1+ letters]sh▪ 7. an I then to intercept them, and so surprize their City: which hapily they did, though it be not here Recorded, it being not worth whi[illegible: 1+ letters]e to mention all the minute Circumstances of such matters.

Marginal references: Or, fought.

6 ¶ And Saul said unto the Kenites , Go, depart, get ye down from among the Amalekites, le[illegible: 1+ letters]t I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness [illegible: 1 word] all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

A People descending from, or nearly related unto Iet[illegible: 1+ letters]o, who anciently dwelt in Rocks near the Amalekites, Numb. 24. 21. and afterwards some of them dwelt in Iudah, Iudg. 1. 16. whence it is probable they removed, (which, dwelling in Tents, they could easily do) and retired to their old habitation, because of the Wars and Troubles wherewith Iudah was annoyed.

Some of your Progenitors did so, Exod. 18. 12. Numb. 10. 31. and for their sakes all of you shall fare the better. You were not Guilty of that sin for which Amalek is now to be Destroyed.

7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

q i. e. From one end of their Country to the other, he s[illegible: 1+ letters]ote all that he met with: but a great number of them [illegible: 1+ letters]led away upon the noise of his coming, as is usual in such cases, and secured themselves in other places, until the Storm was over, when they returned again: of whom we read before, chap. 13. 6. and 14. 22.

Marginal references: Gen. 16. 7.

8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive , and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Whom Saul spared, either out of foolish pity for the goodliness of his Person, which Iosephus Notes: or, for his respect to his Royal Majesty, in the preservation of which he thought himself concerned: or, for the Glory of his Triumph: Compare v. 12.

To wit, the Body of the People, but▪ not every individual Person, as hath been shewed. Universal Particles are commonly thus understood, as is confessed.

Marginal references: Se[illegible: 1+ letters] Chap. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1.

9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good , and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile, and refuse, that they destroyed utterly .

The one proposed to do so, and the other consented to it, and so both were Guilty.

Which it is more than probable they reserved for their own use, rather than for Sacrifice; because they knew God would not accept a Sacrifice contrary to his own command.

Thus they obey God onely so far as they could without inconvenience to themselves; they Destroyed onely what was not worth keeping, nor fit for their use.

Marginal references: Or, of the second sort.

11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the LORD all night .

Repentance properly Notes grief of heart, and change of Counsels, and therefore cannot be in God who is unchangeable, most Wise, and most Blessed; but it is ascribed to God in such cases, when men give God cause to Repent, and when God alters his Course and Method of dealing, and Treats a Person as if he did indeed Repent of all the kindness he had shewed to him.

To implore his Pardoning Mercy for Saul, and for the People; so far was he from rejoycing in their Calamities, as an envious and self-seeking Person would have done.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Sam. 24. 16.; Heb. con [illegible: 1+ letters].

12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel , and behold, he set him up a place , and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

Not Mount Carmel, of which Iosh. 12. 22. but another Mountain or Town in the Tribe of Iudah; of which see I[illegible: 1+ letters]sh. 15. 55.

i. e. A Monument or Trophy of his Victory, as the same Hebrew word is used, 2 Sam. 18. 18. And this may be here Noted by way of censure, That he set it up not to God's honour, but to himself, i. e. to his own praise; which he minded in the first place, and afterwards went to Gilgal, as it here follows, to offer Sacrifice to God.

Marginal references: Heb. hand.

13 And Samuel came unto Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD , I have performed the commandment of the LORD .

I thank thee, and I beg that God would Bless thee, for sending me upon this Employment, and giving me this opportunity of manifesting my Obedience to God.

To wit, for the main and substance of it, to wit, the Extirpation of that wicked People: for he thought the sparing of Agag and the Cattel very inconsiderable in the case; though indeed it was expresly contrary to Gods command: but self-Interest made him exceeding partial in his own Cause: or else like a bold Hypocrite, he pretends that for his part he had obeyed God; resolving, it seems, to cast the blame upon the People, as he did.

Marginal references: Heb. con [illegible: 1+ letters].

14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ?

How can this Evidence of Guilt consist with the profession of thy Innocency?

15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sh[illegible: 1+ letters]ep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God , and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

i. e. The People. Thus, after the manner of all Hypocrites, he excuseth himself, and lays the blame upon the People; whereas they could not do it without his privity and consent; and he should have used his Power and Authority to over-rule them for God's sake, as he had done formerly for his own sake. But the truth is, he was zealous for his own Honour and Interest, but luke-warm where God onely was concerned.

It is not likely that this was his and the Peoples Design; but this he now pretends, and ascribes that to his Piety, which was indeed the effect of his Impiety and Avarice.

Whom thou Lovest and Servest, and therefore must needs be pleased with our Pious respect to him and his Service.

17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight , wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

i. e. Modest, Humble and Submissive, as 1 Sam. 9. 21. and 10. 22. Whereby he implies, that now he was grown Proud, and Stubborn, and Impudent, both to commit sin, and justify it.

18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them, until they be consumed.

So called by way of Eminency, as that word is used, Gen. 13. 13. Matth. 9. 19. Iohn 9. 24, 31.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] consu[illegible: 1+ letters] them.

19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst flye upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD ?

Who cannot be deceived by thy fair professions of Religion, but knows very well, that thou didst not seek Sacrifices for God, but Prey to thy self.

20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD , and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek , and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

He addeth Obstinacy and Impenitency to his Crime, and justifies his Fact, though he hath nothing of any Moment to say, but what he said before. So he gives Samuel the lye, and reflects upon him, as one that had falsly Accused him.

To be dealt with as God pleaseth, and as thou thinkest [illegible: 1 word].

21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed , to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

Heb. the chief of the devoted things: which being devoted to Destruction, I thought it most proper to destroy them by way of Sacrifice to God. But God had commanded Saul himself to smite and slay all upon the place, above, verse 3.

22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice : and to hearken , than the fat of rams .

Because Obedience to God is a Moral Duty, constantly and indispensably necessary; but Sacrifice is but a Ceremonial Institution, sometimes unnecessary, as it was in the Wilderness; and sometimes sinful, when it is offered by a polluted hand, or in an irregular manner. Therefore thy gross Disobedience to Gods express command, is not to be compensated with Sacrifice.

i. e. To obey, as hearing is oft used in Scripture.

Then the choicest part of all the Sacrifice, to wit, the Fat, which was appropriated to God, Levit. 3. 16. Whereas the Offerer might partake of other parts of it.

Marginal references: Psal. 50. 8, 9. Isa. 1. 11.; Eccles. 5. 1. Hos. 6. 6. Matth. 5. 24. and 9. 13. and 12. 7.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry : because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king .

i. e. Disobedience to Gods express Precept, which was Saul's case.

Is, though not so great, yet as inexcusable and impudent a sin, as Witchcraft; as plainly Condemned, and as certainly Destructive and Damnable.

Either, wilful and presumptuous sin, whereby a man violently breaks loose from Gods command, and resists his Authority: Or rather, Perseverance or Contumacy in sin, justifying it, and pleading for it, which was Saul's present crime.

Or, the Iniquity of Idolatry; this being an Hendiadis; as Iudgment and Iustice, Deut. 16. 18. is put for the Iudgment of Iustice, or Iust Iudgment. Or, Idolatry (for so the Hebrew word Aven, signifies, as Ier. 10. 15. Hos. 4. 15. and 10. 5. Compare with 1 King. 12. 29.) even the Teraphim, which is here mentioned as one of the worst kinds of Idolatry.

i. e. Hath pronounced the Sentence of Rejection: for that he was not actually Rejected or Deposed by God, plainly appears, because not onely the People, but even David, after this, owned him as King; and Samuel, at Saul's desire, did honour him; i. e. own him as King, before the People, v. 30.

Marginal references: Heb. divination.; See Isa. 66. 3. Heb.

24 ¶ And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned : for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words ; because I feared the people , and obeyed their voice.

Which confession proceeded not from true Repentance, but from the sence of his great Danger, and from a desire of recalling that dreadful Sentence denounced against him.

i. e. The Commandment of the Lord delivered to me by thy words. Another Hendiadis.

Who, as thou knowest, are set upon mischief, and would probably have broken forth into a Mutiny or Rebellion, had I done otherwise. But how little he feared the People, may be seen by 1 Sam. 11. 7. and 14. 24. But this was a false cause: nor doth he acknowledge the true cause, which was his Covetousness, and because he did not fear God.

25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin , and turn again with me , that I may worship the LORD .

Use thy great Interest with God to obtain the Pardon of my sin. Or, do thou Pardon my sin against thee: for he had sinned not onely against God, but against Samuel also, as Gods Prophet; and therefore needed a Pardon both from God and Man.

To Gilgal, whence Saul was gone forth to meet Samuel; and Samuel is here said to turn again to Gilgal; not properly, for he had not now been there: but by way of Concomitancy, because he accompanied Saul, who was come thence, and returned thither: See the like expression Ruth 1. 10, 22. and 2. 6.

That I may offer further Sacrifices to God; partly, to Praise him for the past Victory; and partly, to Implore his Mercy, and the taking off of my sin and punishment. This was a politick device of Saul's; That Samuel might at least seem to countenance his Design, in reserving the Cattel for Sacrifice: which Samuel seeing, refused to do it. Heb. and I will worship the Lord; i. e. I will seek his Pardon and Favour.

26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee : for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

This was no lye, though he afterwards returned, because he spoke what he meant, his words and intentions agreed together, though afterwards he saw reason to change his intentions. Compare Gen. 19. 2, 3. Which may relieve many perplexed Consciences, who think themselves obliged to do what they have said they would do, though they see just cause to change their minds.

28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine , that is better than thou.

Samuel makes use of the emergent occasion, as a sign, to signify and confirm his former Prediction.

Either, another Man: or, another Israelite: for the word Neighbour, is used both ways: or rather, one of a Neighbouring Tribe, even Iudah, whose Inheritance did not onely joyn to that of Benjamin, but was partly mixed with it.

Marginal references: Chap. 28. 17. 1 King. 11. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].

29 And also the strength of Israel will not lie k, nor repent : for he is not a man that he should repent.

So he calls God here; partly, to shew the reason why God neither will nor can lye; because lying is a weakness, and proceeds from the sence of a Mans weakness, because he cannot many times accomplish his Design without lying and dissimulation; which therefore many Princes have used for this very reason. But, saith he, God needs no such Artifices; he can do whatsoever he pleaseth by his Absolute Power, and hath no need to use lyes to accomplish his Will: partly, to shew that Israel should be no loser by Saul's loss, as he might vainly imagine, because he had saved them from their Enemies on every side, chap. 14. 47. For not Saul, but God, was the Strength and Protector of Israel, and he would continue to save them when Saul was lost and gone: and partly, to assure Saul that God would Execute this Threatning, because he wanted not strength to do it, and none could hinder him in it.

i. e. Nor ehange his Counsel; which also is an effect of weakness and imperfection, either of Wisdom or Power.

Marginal references: Or, eternity, or, victory.; Num. 23. 19. 2 Tim. 2. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. Tit. 1. 2.

30 Then he said, I have sinned; yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel , and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.

Here [illegible: 1+ letters]e plainly discovers his Hypocrisie, and the true motive of this and his former Confession; he was not solicitous for the Favour of God, but for his Honour and Power with Israel.

31 So Samuel turned again after Saul , and Saul worshipped the LORD.

Not to Worship the Lord with him, for that he did not; and therefore it is here mentioned that Saul onely Worshipped the Lord: but for two other reasons; First, That the People might not upon pretence of this Sentence of rejection, immediately withdraw all Respect and Obedience to their Sovereign; whereby they would both have sinned against God, and have been as Sheep without a Shepherd. Secondly, That he might rectify Saul's Error, and execute Gods Judgment upon Agag.

32 ¶ Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites: and Agag came unto him delicately . And Agag said , Surely the bitterness of death is past .

Or, in Delights; or, in his Ornaments; i. e. He came not like an Offendor, expecting the Sentence of Death; but in that Garb and Gesture which became his Quality.

Or, for Agag said: This being the reason why he came so.

I who have escaped Death from the hands of a Warlike Prince in the fury of Battel, shall certainly never suffer Death from an old Prophet in time of Peace.

Marginal references: Heb. of Amalek.

33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless , so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

Whereby it appears; that he was a cruel Tyrant, and Guilty of many Bloody Actions, and that towards Gods People, though it be not related elsewhere. And this seems to be added for the fuller vindication of Gods justice, and to shew, that although God did at this time remember and revenge a Crime committed by this Mans Ancestors 400 Years ago, yet he did not punish an Innocent Son for his Fathers Crimes, but one that allowed and persisted in the same evil courses.

This he did by Di[illegible: 1+ letters]ine instinct, and in pursuance of Gods express and particular Command, above, v. 3. which being sinfully neglected by Saul, is now executed by Samuel. See the like example 1 King. 18. 40. But these are no presidents for private Persons to take the Sword of Justice into their hands. For we must live by the Laws of God, and not by extraordinary examples.

Either, before the Ark, which, it seems, Saul carried with him in this, as he did, in his former expedition, chap. 14. 18. or, before Gods Altar: or, in the publick Assembly.

Marginal references: Num. b 14. 45.

35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul : and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

i. e. To visit him, either, in token of Respect or Friendship: or, to seek Counsel from God for him, or to give Counsel to him. Seeing is put for Visiting here, and 2 King. 8. 29. Otherwise he did see him afterwards, chap. 19. 24. Though indeed it was not Samuel that came thither with design to see Saul, which is implied in the Phrase here; but Saul went thither to see Samuel, and that accidentally.

i. e. To visit him, either, in token of Respect or Friendship: or, to seek Counsel from God for him, or to give Counsel to him. Seeing is put for Visiting here, and 2 King. 8. 29. Otherwise he did see him afterwards, chap. 19. 24. Though indeed it was not Samuel that came thither with design to see Saul, which is implied in the Phrase here; but Saul went thither to see Samuel, and that accidentally.

x Partly, for Saul's sake, whose sad condition he lamented: and partly, for Israel's sake, whose estate he feared might by this means be doubtful and dangerous.

War with Amalek. Saul’s Disobedience and Rejection - 1 Samuel 15

As Saul had transgressed the commandment of God which was given to him through Samuel, by the sacrifice which he offered at Gilgal in the war with the Philistines at the very commencement of his reign, and had thereby drawn upon himself the threat that his monarchy should not be continued in perpetuity (1Sa 13:13-14); so his disobedience in the war against the Amalekites was followed by his rejection on the part of God. The Amalekites were the first heathen nation to attack the Israelites after their deliverance out of Egypt, which they did in the most treacherous manner on their journey from Egypt to Sinai; and they had been threatened by God with extermination in consequence. This Moses enjoined upon Joshua, and also committed to writing, for the Israelites to observe in all future generations (Exo 17:8-16). As the Amalekites afterwards manifested the same hostility to the people of God which they had displayed in this first attack, on every occasion which appeared favourable to their ravages, the Lord instructed Samuel to issue the command to Saul, to wage war against Amalek, and to smite man and beast with the ban, i.e., to put all to death (1Sa 15:1-3). But when Saul had smitten them, he not only left Agag the king alive, but spared the best of the cattle that he had taken as booty, and merely executed the ban upon such animals as were worthless (1Sa 15:4-9). He was rejected by the Lord for this disobedience, so that he was to be no longer king over Israel. His rejection was announced to him by Samuel (1Sa 15:10-23), and was not retracted in spite of his prayer for the forgiveness of his sin (1Sa 15:24-35). In fact, Saul had no excuse for this breach of the divine command; it was nothing but open rebellion against the sovereignty of God in Israel; and if Jehovah would continue King of Israel, He must punish it by the rejection of the rebel. For Saul no longer desired to be the medium of the sovereignty of Jehovah, or the executor of the commands of the God-king, but simply wanted to reign according to his own arbitrary will. Nevertheless this rejection was not followed by his outward deposition. The Lord merely took away His Spirit, had David anointed king by Samuel, and thenceforward so directed the steps of Saul and David, that as time advanced the hearts of the people were turned away more and more from Saul to David; and on the death of Saul, the attempt of the ambitious Abner to raise his son Ishbosheth to the throne could not possibly have any lasting success.

The account of the war against the Amalekites is a very condensed one, and is restricted to a description of the conduct of Saul on that occasion. Without mentioning either the time or the immediate occasion of the war, the narrative commences with the command of God which Samuel solemnly communicated to Saul, to go and exterminate that people. Samuel commenced with the words, “Jehovah sent me to anoint thee to be king over His people, over Israel,” in order to show to Saul the obligation which rested upon him to receive his commission as coming from God, and to proceed at once to fulfil it. The allusion to the anointing points back not to 1Sa 11:15, but to 1Sa 10:1.

1Sa 15:2

“Thus saith the Lord of Zebaoth, I have looked upon what Amalek did to Israel, that it placed itself in his way when he came up out of Egypt” (Exo 17:8). Samuel merely mentions this first outbreak of hostility on the part of Amalek towards the people of Israel, because in this the same disposition was already manifested which now made the people ripe for the judgment of extermination (vid., Exo 17:14). The hostility which they had now displayed, according to 1Sa 15:33, there was no necessity for the prophet to mention particularly, since it was well known to Saul and all Israel. When God looks upon a sin, directs His glance towards it, He must punish it according to His own holiness. This פּקדתּי points at the very outset to the punishment about to be proclaimed.

1Sa 15:3

Saul is to smite and ban everything belonging to it without reserve, i.e., to put to death both man and beast. The last clause וגו is only an explanation and exemplification of וגו והחרמתּם. “From man to woman,” etc., i.e., men and women, children and sucklings, etc.

Saul summoned the people to war, and mustered them (those who were summoned) at Telaim (this was probably the same place as the Telem mentioned in Jos 15:24, and is to be looked for in the eastern portion of the Negeb). “Two hundred thousand foot, and ten thousand of the men of Judah:” this implies that the two hundred thousand were from the other tribes. These numbers are not too large; for a powerful Bedouin nation, such as the Amalekites were, could not possibly be successfully attacked with a small army, but only by raising the whole of the military force of Israel.

1Sa 15:5

He then advanced as far as the city of the Amalekites, the situation of which is altogether unknown, and placed an ambush in the valley. ויּרב does not come from ריב, to fight, i.e., to quarrel, not to give battle, but was understood even by the early translators as a contracted form of ויּארב, the Hiphil of ארב. And modern commentators have generally understood it in the same way; but Olshausen (Hebr. Gramm. p. 572) questions the correctness of the reading, and Thenius proposes to alter בּנּחל ויּרב into מלחמה ויּערך. נחל refers to a valley in the neighbourhood of the city of the Amalekites.

1Sa 15:6-7

Saul directed the Kenites to come out from among the Amalekites, that they might not perish with them (אספך, imp. Kal of אסף), as they had shown affection to the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt (compare Num 10:29 with Jdg 1:16). He then smote the Amalekites from Havilah in the direction towards Shur, which lay before (to the east of) Egypt (cf. Gen 25:18). Shur is the desert of Jifar, i.e., that portion of the desert of Arabia which borders upon Egypt (see at Gen 16:7). Havilah, the country of the Chaulotaeans, on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen (see at Gen 10:29).

1Sa 15:8-9

Their king, Agag, he took alive (on the name, see at Num 24:7), but all the people he banned with the edge of the sword, i.e., he had them put to death without quarter. “All,” i.e., all that fell into the hands of the Israelites. For it follows from the very nature of the case that many escaped, and consequently there is nothing striking in the fact that Amalekites are mentioned again at a later period (1Sa 27:8; 1Sa 30:1; 2Sa 8:12). The last remnant was destroyed by the Simeonites upon the mountains of Seir in the reign of Hezekiah (1Ch 4:43). Only, king Agag did Saul and the people (of Israel) spare, also “the best of the sheep and oxen, and the animals of the second birth, and the lambs and everything good; these they would not ban.” משׁנים, according to D. Kimchi and R. Tanch. , are לבטן שׁניים, i.e., animalia secundo partu edita, which were considered superior to the others (vid., Roediger in Ges. Thes. p. 1451); and כּרים, pasture lambs, i.e., fat lambs. There is no necessity, therefore, for the conjecture of Ewald and Thenius, משׁמנּים, fattened, and כּרמים, vineyards; nor for the far-fetched explanation given by Bochart, viz., camels with two humps and camel-saddles, to say nothing of the fact that camel-saddles and vineyards are altogether out of place here. In “all that was good” the things already mentioned singly are all included. המּלאכה, the property; here it is applied to cattle, as in Gen 33:14. נמבזה = נבזה, despised, undervalued. The form of the word is not contracted from a noun מבזה and the participle נבזה (Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 463), but seems to be a participle Niph. formed from a noun מבזה. But as such a form is contrary to all analogy, Ewald and Olshausen regard the reading as corrupt. נמס (from מסס): flowing away; used with reference to diseased cattle, or such as have perished. The reason for sparing the best cattle is very apparent, namely selfishness. But it is not so easy to determine why Agag should have been spared by Saul. It is by no means probable that he wished thereby to do honour to the royal dignity. O. v. Gerlach's supposition, that vanity or the desire to make a display with a royal slave was the actual reason, is a much more probable one.

1Sa 15:10-11

The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “It repenteth me that I have made Saul king, for he hath turned away from me, and not set up (carried out) my word.” (On the repentance of God, see the remarks on Gen 6:6.) That this does not express any changeableness in the divine nature, but simply the sorrow of the divine love at the rebellion of sinners, is evident enough from 1Sa 15:29. יי מאחרי שׁוּב, to turn round from following God, in order to go his own ways. This was Saul’s real sin. He would no longer be the follower and servant of the Lord, but would be absolute ruler in Israel. Pride arising from the consciousness of his own strength, led him astray to break the command of God. What more God said to Samuel is not communicated here, because it could easily be gathered and supplied from what Samuel himself proceeded to do (see more particularly 1Sa 15:16.). In order to avoid repetitions, only the principal feature in the divine revelation is mentioned here, and the details are given fully afterwards in the account of the fulfilment of the instructions. Samuel was deeply agitated by this word of the Lord. “It burned (in) him,” sc., wrath (אף, compare Gen 31:36 with Gen 30:2), not on account of the repentance to which God had given utterance at having raised up Saul as king, nor merely at Saul’s disobedience, but at the frustration of the purpose of God in calling him to be king in consequence of his disobedience, from which he might justly dread the worst results in relation to the glory of Jehovah and his own prophetic labours.“Many grave thoughts seem to have presented themselves at once to Samuel and disturbed his mind, when he reflected upon the dishonour which might be heaped upon the name of God, and the occasion which the rejection and deposition of Saul would furnish to wicked men for blaspheming God. For Saul had been anointed by the ministry of Samuel, and he had been chosen by God himself from all the people, and called by Him to the throne. If, therefore, he was nevertheless deposed, it seemed likely that so much would be detracted from the authority of Samuel and the confidence of the people in his teaching, and, moreover, that the worship of God would be overturned, and the greatest disturbance ensue; in fact, that universal confusion would burst upon the nation. These were probably the grounds upon which Samuel’s great indignation rested.” - Calvin.

The opinion that ל יחר is also used to signify deep distress cannot be established from 2Sa 4:8. “And he cried to Jehovah the whole night,” sc., praying for Saul to be forgiven. But it was in vain. This is evident from what follows, where Samuel maintains the cause of his God with strength and decision, after having wrestled with God in prayer.

1Sa 15:12

The next morning, after receiving the revelation from God (1Sa 15:11), Samuel rose up early, to go and meet Saul as he was returning from the war. On the way it was told him, “Saul has come to Carmel” - i.e., Kurmul, upon the mountains of Judah to the south-east of Hebron (see at Jos 15:55) - “setting himself a memorial” (יד, a hand, then a memorial or monument, inasmuch as the hand calls attention to anything: see 2Sa 18:18), “and has turned and proceeded farther, and gone down to Gilgal” (in the valley of the Jordan, as in 1Sa 13:4).

1Sa 15:13

When Samuel met him there, Saul attempted to hide his consciousness of guilt by a feigned friendly welcome. “Blessed be thou of the Lord” (vid., Rth 2:20; Gen 14:19, etc.) was his greeting to the prophet; “I have set up the word of Jehovah.”

1Sa 15:14-15

But the prophet stripped his hypocrisy at once with the question, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and a lowing of oxen that I hear?” Saul replied (1Sa 15:15), “They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best sheep and oxen, to sacrifice them to the Lord thy God; and the rest we have banned.” So that it was not Saul, but the people, who had transgressed the command of the Lord, and that with the most laudable intention, viz., to offer the best of the cattle that had been taken, as a thank-offering to the Lord. The falsehood and hypocrisy of these words lay upon the very surface; for even if the cattle spared were really intended as sacrifices to the Lord, not only the people, but Saul also, would have had their own interests in view (vid., 1Sa 15:9), since the flesh of thank-offerings was appropriated to sacrificial meals.

1Sa 15:16-19

Samuel therefore bade him be silent. הרף, “leave off,” excusing thyself any further. “I will tell thee what Jehovah hath said to me this night.” (The Chethibh ויּאמרוּ is evidently a copyist’s error for ויּאמר.) “Is it not true, when thou wast little in thine eyes (a reference to Saul’s own words, 1Sa 9:21), thou didst become head of the tribes of Israel? and Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel, and Jehovah sent thee on the way, and said, Go and ban the sinners, the Amalekites, and make war against them, until thou exterminatest them. And wherefore hast thou nor hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and hast fallen upon the booty,” etc.? (תּעט, see at 1Sa 14:32.)

Even after this Saul wanted to justify himself, and to throw the blame of sparing the cattle upon the people.

1Sa 15:20

“Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah (אשׁר serving, like כּי ekil , to introduce the reply: here it is used in the sense of asseveration, utique, yea), and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and banned Amalek.” Bringing Agag he mentioned probably as a practical proof that he had carried out the war of extermination against the Amalekites.

1Sa 15:21

Even the sparing of the cattle he endeavoured to defend as the fulfilment of a religious duty. The people had taken sheep and oxen from the booty, “as firstlings of the ban,” to sacrifice to Jehovah. Sacrificing the best of the booty taken in war as an offering of first-fruits to the Lord, was not indeed prescribed in the law, but was a praiseworthy sign of piety, by which all honour was rendered to the Lord as the giver of the victory (see Num 31:48.). This, Saul meant to say, was what the people had done on the present occasion; only he overlooked the fact, that what was banned to the Lord could not be offered to Him as a burnt-offering, because, being most holy, it belonged to Him already (Lev 27:29), and according to Deu 13:16, was to be put to death, as Samuel had expressly said to Saul (1Sa 15:3).

1Sa 15:22-23

Without entering, therefore, into any discussion of the meaning of the ban, as Saul only wanted to cover over his own wrong-doings by giving this turn to the affair, Samuel put a stop to any further excuses, by saying, “Hath Jehovah delight in burnt-offerings and slain-offerings as in hearkening to the voice of Jehovah? (i.e., in obedience to His word.) Behold, hearing (obeying) is better than slain-offerings, attending better than fat of rams.” By saying this, Samuel did not reject sacrifices as worthless; he did not say that God took no pleasure in burnt-offerings and slain-offerings, but simply compared sacrifice with obedience to the command of God, and pronounced the latter of greater worth than the former. “It was as much as to say that the sum and substance of divine worship consisted in obedience, with which it should always begin, and that sacrifices were, so to speak, simple appendices, the force and worth of which were not so great as of obedience to the precepts of God” (Calvin). But it necessarily follows that sacrifices without obedience to the commandments of God are utterly worthless; in fact, are displeasing to God, as Psa 50:8., Isa 1:11., Isa 66:3, Jer 6:20, and all the prophets, distinctly affirm. There was no necessity, however, to carry out this truth any further. To tear off the cloak of hypocrisy, with which Saul hoped to cover his disobedience, it was quite enough to affirm that God’s first demand was obedience, and that observing His word was better than sacrifice; because, as the Berleb. Bible puts it, “in sacrifices a man offers only the strange flesh of irrational animals, whereas in obedience he offers his own will, which is rational or spiritual worship” (Rom 12:8). This spiritual worship was shadowed forth in the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament. In the sacrificial animal the Israelite was to give up and sanctify his own person and life to the Lord. (For an examination of the meaning of the different sacrifices, see Pent. pp. 505ff., and Keil’s Bibl Archäol. §41ff.) But if this were the design of the sacrifices, it was clear enough that God did not desire the animal sacrifice in itself, but first and chiefly obedience to His own word. In 1Sa 15:22, טּוב is not to be connected as an adjective with זבח, “more than good sacrifice,” as the Sept. and Thenius render it; it is rather to be taken as a predicate, “better than slain-offerings,” and מזּבח is placed first simply for the sake of emphasis. Any contrast between good and bad sacrifices, such as the former construction would introduce into the words, is not only foreign to the context, but also opposed to the parallelism. For אילים חלב does not mean fat rams, but the fat of rams; the fat portions taken from the ram, which were placed upon the altar in the case of the slain-offerings, and for which חלב is the technical expression (compare Lev 3:9, Lev 3:16, with Lev 3:4, Lev 3:11, etc.). “For,” continued Samuel (1Sa 15:23), “rebellion is the sin of soothsaying, and opposition is heathenism and idolatry.” מרי and הפצר are the subjects, and synonymous in their meaning. קסם חטּאת, the sin of soothsaying, i.e., of divination in connection with the worship of idolatrous and demoniacal powers. In the second clause idols are mentioned instead of idolatry, and compared to resistance, but without any particle of comparison. Opposition is keeping idols and teraphim, i.e., it is like worshipping idols and teraphim. און, nothingness, then an idol or image (vid., Isa 66:3; Hos 4:15; Hos 10:5, Hos 10:8). On the teraphim as domestic and oracular deities, see at Gen 31:19. Opposition to God is compared by Samuel to soothsaying and oracles, because idolatry was manifested in both of them. All conscious disobedience is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will, the human I, into a god. So that all manifest opposition to the word and commandment of God is, like idolatry, a rejection of the true God. “Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He hath rejected thee, that thou mayst be no longer king.” ממּלך = מלך מהיוה (1Sa 15:26), away from being king.

1Sa 15:24-25

This sentence made so powerful an impression upon Saul, that he confessed, “I have sinned: for I have transgressed the command of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people, and hearkened to their voice.” But these last words, with which he endeavoured to make his sin appear as small as possible, show that the consciousness of his guilt did not go very deep. Even if the people had really desired that the best of the cattle should be spared, he ought not as king to have given his consent to their wish, since God had commanded that they should all be banned (i.e., destroyed); and even though he has yielded from weakness, this weakness could not lessen his guilt before God. This repentance, therefore, was rather the effect of alarm at the rejection which had been announced to him, than the fruit of any genuine consciousness of sin. “It was not true and serious repentance, or the result of genuine sorrow of heart because he had offended God, but was merely repentance of the lips arising from fear of losing the kingdom, and of incurring public disgrace” (C. v. Lapide). This is apparent even from 1Sa 15:25, but still more from 1Sa 15:30. In 1Sa 15:25 he not only entreats Samuel for the forgiveness of his sin, but says, “Return with me, that I may pray to the Lord.” The שׁוּב presupposes that Samuel was about to go away after the executing his commission. Saul entreated him to remain that he might pray, i.e., not only in order to obtain for him the forgiveness of his sin through his intercession, but, according to 1Sa 15:30, to show him honour before the elders of the people and before Israel, that his rejection might not be known.

1Sa 15:26-29

This request Samuel refused, repeating at the same time the sentence of rejection, and turned to depart. “Then Saul laid hold of the lappet of his mantle (i.e., his upper garment), and it tore” (lit. was torn off). That the Niphal ויּקּרע is correct, and is not to be altered into אתהּ ויּקרע, “Saul tore off the lappet,” according to the rendering of the lxx, as Thenius supposes, is evident from the explanation which Samuel gave of the occurrence (1Sa 15:28): “Jehovah hath torn the sovereignty of Israel from thee to-day, and given it to thy neighbour, who is better than thou.” As Saul was about to hold back the prophet by force, that he might obtain from him a revocation of the divine sentence, the tearing of the mantle, which took place accidentally, and evidently without any such intention on the part of Saul, was to serve as a sign of the rending away of the sovereignty from him. Samuel did not yet know to whom Jehovah would give it; he therefore used the expression לרעך, as רע is applied to any one with whom a person associates. To confirm his own words, he adds in 1Sa 15:29 : “And also the Trust of Israel doth not lie and doth not repent, for He is not a man to repent.” נצח signifies constancy, endurance, then confidence, trust, because a man can trust in what is constant. This meaning is to be retained here, where the word is used as a name for God, and not the meaning gloria, which is taken in 1Ch 29:11 from the Aramaean usage of speech, and would be altogether unsuitable here, where the context suggests the idea of unchangeableness. For a man’s repentance or regret arises from his changeableness, from the fluctuations in his desires and actions. This is never the case with God; consequently He is ישׂראל נצח, the unchangeable One, in whom Israel can trust, since He does not lie or deceive, or repent of His purposes. These words are spoken θεοπρεπῶς (theomorphically), whereas in 1Sa 15:11 and other passages, which speak of God as repenting, the words are to be understood ἀνθρωποπαθῶς (anthropomorphically; cf. Num 23:19).

1Sa 15:30-31

After this declaration as to the irrevocable character of the determination of God to reject Saul, Samuel yielded to the renewed entreaty of Saul, that he would honour him by his presence before the elders and the people, and remained whilst Saul worshipped, not merely “for the purpose of preserving the outward order until a new king should take his place” (O. v. Gerlach), but also to carry out the ban upon Agag, whom Saul had spared.

1Sa 15:32

After Saul had prayed, Samuel directed him to bring Agag the king of the Amalekites. Agag came מעדנּת, i.e., in a contented and joyous state of mind, and said (in his heart), “Surely the bitterness of death is vanished,” not from any special pleasure at the thought of death, or from a heroic contempt of death, but because he thought that his life was to be granted him, as he had not been put to death at once, and was now about to be presented to the prophet (Clericus).

1Sa 15:33

But Samuel pronounced the sentence of death upon him: “As thy sword hath made women childless, so be thy mother childless before women!” מנּשׁים is to be understood as a comparative: more childless than (other) women, i.e., the most childless of women, namely, because her son was the king. From these words of Samuel, it is very evident that Agag had carried on his wars with great cruelty, and had therefore forfeited his life according to the lex talionis. Samuel then hewed him in pieces “before the Lord at Gilgal,” i.e., before the altar of Jehovah there; for the slaying of Agag being the execution of the ban, was an act performed for the glory of God.

1Sa 15:34-35

After the prophet had thus maintained the rights of Jehovah in the presence of Saul, and carried out the ban upon Agag, he returned to his own home at Ramah; and Saul went to his house at Gibeah. From that time forward Samuel broke off all intercourse with the king whom Jehovah had rejected. “For Samuel was grieved for Saul, and it repented the Lord that he had made Saul king,” i.e., because Samuel had loved Saul on account of his previous election; and yet, as Jehovah had rejected him unconditionally, he felt that he was precluded from doing anything to effect a change of heart in Saul, and his reinstatement as king.

The Amalekites Destroyed. (b. c. 1065.)

1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord . 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

Here, I. Samuel, in God's name, solemnly requires Saul to be obedient to the command of God, and plainly intimates that he was now about to put him upon a trial, in one particular instance, whether he would be obedient or no, v. 1. And the making of this so expressly the trial of his obedience did very much aggravate his disobedience. 1. He reminds him of what God had done for him: "The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be a king. God gave thee thy power, and therefore he expects thou shouldst use thy power for him. He put honour upon thee, and now thou must study how to do him honour. He made thee king over Israel, and now thou must plead Israel's cause and avenge their quarrels. Thou art advanced to command Israel, but know that thou art a subject to the God of Israel and must be commanded by him." Men's preferment, instead of releasing them from their obedience to God, obliges them so much the more to it. Samuel had himself been employed to anoint Saul, and therefore was the fitter to be sent with these orders to him. 2. He tells him, in general, that, in consideration of this, whatever God commanded him to do he was bound to do it: Now therefore hearken to the voice of the Lord. Note, God's favours to us lay strong obligations upon us to be obedient to him. This we must render, Ps. cxvi. 12.

II. He appoints him a particular piece of service, in which he must now show his obedience to God more than in any thing he had done yet. Samuel premises God's authority to the command: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all hosts, of Israel's hosts. He also gives him a reason for the command, that the severity he must use might not seem hard: I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, v. 2. God had an ancient quarrel with the Amalekites, for the injuries they did to his people Israel when he brought them out of Egypt. We have the story, Exod. xvii. 8, &c., and the crime is aggravated, Deut. xxv. 18. He basely smote the hindmost of them, and feared not God. God then swore that he would have war with Amalek from generation to generation, and that in process of time he would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek; this is the work that Saul is now appointed to do (v. 3): "Go and smite Amalek. Israel is now strong, and the measure of the iniquity of Amalek is now full; now go and make a full riddance of that devoted nation." He is expressly commanded to kill and slay all before him, man and woman, infant and suckling, and not spare them out of pity; also ox and sheep, camel and ass, and not spare them out of covetousness. Note, 1. Injuries done to God's Israel will certainly be reckoned for sooner or later, especially the opposition given them when they are coming out of Egypt. 2. God often bears long with those that are marked for ruin. The sentence passed is not executed speedily. 3. Though he bear long, he will not bear always. The year of recompence for the controversy of Israel will come at last. Though divine justice strikes slowly it strikes surely. 4. The longer judgment is delayed many times the more severe it is when it comes. 5. God chooses out instruments to do his work that are fittest for it. This was bloody work, and therefore Saul who was a rough and severe man must do it.

III. Saul hereupon musters his forces, and makes a descent upon the country of Amalek. It was an immense army that he brought into the field (v. 4): 200,000 footmen. When he came to engage the Philistines, and the success was hazardous, he had but 600 attending him, ch. xiii. 15. But now that he was to attack the Amalekites by express order from heaven, in which he was sure of victory, he had thousands at his call. But, whatever it was at other times, it was not now for the honour of Judah that their forces were numbered by themselves, for their quota was scandalously short (whatever was the reason), but a twentieth part of the whole, for they were by 10,000, when the other ten tribes (for I except Levi) brought into the field 200 000. The day of Judah's honour drew near, but had not yet come. Saul numbered them in Telaim, which signifies lambs. He numbered then like lambs (so the vulgar Latin), numbered them by the paschal lambs (so the Chaldee), allowing ten to a lamb, a way of numbering used by the Jews in the later times of their nation. Saul drew all his forces to the city of Amalek, that city that was their metropolis (v. 5), that he might provoke them to give him battle.

IV. He gave friendly advice to the Kenites to separate themselves from the Amalekites among whom they dwelt, while this execution was in doing, v. 6. Herein he did prudently and piously, and, it is probable, according to the direction Samuel gave him. The Kenites were of the family and kindred of Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, a people that dwelt in tents, which made it easy for them, upon every occasion, to remove to other lands not appropriated. Many of them, at this time, dwelt among the Amalekites, where, though they dwelt in tents, they were fortified by nature, for they put their nest in a rock, being hardy people that could live any where, and affected fastnesses, Num. xxiv. 21. Balaam had foretold that they should be wasted, Num. xxiv. 22. However, Saul must not waste them. But, 1. He acknowledges the kindness of their ancestors to Israel, when they came out of Egypt. Jethro and his family had been very helpful and serviceable to them in their passage through the wilderness, had been to them instead of eyes, and this is remembered to their posterity many ages after. Thus a good man leaves the divine blessing for an inheritance to his children's children; those that come after us may be reaping the benefit of our good works when we are in our graves. God is not unrighteous to forget the kindnesses shown to his people; but they shall be remembered another day, at furthest in the great day, and recompensed in the resurrection of the just. I was hungry, and you gave me meat. God's remembering the kindness of the Kenites' ancestors in favour to them, at the same time when he was punishing the injuries done by the ancestors of the Amalekites, helped to clear the righteousness of God in that dispensation. If he entail favours, why may he not entail frowns? He espouses his people's cause, so as to bless those that bless them; and therefore so as to curse those that curse them, Num. xxiv. 9; Gen. xii. 3. They cannot themselves requite the kindnesses nor avenge the injuries done them, but God will do both. 2. He desires them to remove their tents from among the Amalekites: Go, depart, get you down from among them. When destroying judgments are abroad God will take care to separate between the precious and the vile, and to hide the meek of the earth in the day of his anger. It is dangerous being found in the company of God's enemies, and it is our duty and interest to come out from among them, lest we share in their sins and plagues, Rev. xviii. 4. The Jews have a saying, Woe to the wicked man and woe to his neighbour.

V. Saul prevailed against the Amalekites, for it was rather an execution of condemned malefactors than a war with contending enemies. The issue could not be dubious when the cause was just and the call so clear: He smote them (v. 7), utterly destroyed them, v. 8. Now they paid dearly for the sin of their ancestors. God sometimes lays up iniquity for the children. They were idolaters, and were guilty of many other sins, for which they deserved to fall under the wrath of God; yet, when God would reckon with them, he fastened upon the sin of their ancestors in abusing his Israel as the ground of his quarrel. Lord, How unsearchable are thy judgments, yet how incontestable is thy righteousness!

VI. Yet he did his work by halves, v. 9. 1. He spared Agag, because he was a king like himself, and perhaps in hope to get a great ransom for him. 2. He spared the best of the cattle, and destroyed only the refuse, that was good for little. Many of the people, we may suppose, made their escape, and took their effects with them into other countries, and therefore we read of Amalekites after this; but that could not be helped. It was Saul's fault that he did not destroy such as came to his hands and were in his power. That which was now destroyed was in effect sacrificed to the justice of God, as the God to whom vengeance belongeth; and for Saul to think the torn and the sick, the lame and the lean, good enough for that, while he reserved for his own fields and his own table the firstlings and the fat, was really to honour himself more than God.

Samuel Reproves Saul; Saul Rejected of God. (b. c. 1065.)

10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. 12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord : I have performed the commandment of the Lord . 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? 18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord , but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord ? 20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord , and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord , he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning the execution of his commission against the Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here furnished with of the strictness of the justice of God and the treachery and deceitfulness of the heart of man. We are here told,

I. What passed between God and Samuel, in secret, upon this occasion, v. 10, 11. 1. God determines Saul's rejection, and acquaints Samuel with it: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a change of his mind, but a change of his method or dispensation. He does not alter his will, but wills an alteration. The change was in Saul: He has turned back from following me; this construction God put upon the partiality of his obedience, and the prevalency of his covetousness. And hereby he did himself make God his enemy. God repented that he had given Saul the kingdom and the honour and power that belonged to it: but he never repented that he had given any man wisdom and grace, and his fear and love; these gifts and callings of God are without repentance. 2. Samuel laments and deprecates it. It grieved Samuel that Saul had forfeited God's favour, and that God had resolved to cast him off; and he cried unto the Lord all night, spent a whole night in interceding for him, that this decree might not go forth against him. When others were in their beds sleeping, he was upon his knees praying and wrestling with God. He did not thus deprecate his own exclusion from the government; nor was he secretly pleased, as many a one would have been, that Saul, who succeeded him, was so soon laid aside, but on the contrary prayed earnestly for his establishment, so far was he from desiring that woeful day. The rejection of sinners is the grief of good people; God delights not in their death, nor should we.

II. What passed between Samuel and Saul in public. Samuel, being sent of God to him with these heavy tidings, went, as Ezekiel, in bitterness of soul, to meet him, perhaps according to an appointment when Saul went forth on this expedition, for Saul had come to Gilgal (v. 12), the place where he was made king (ch. xi. 15), and were now he would have been confirmed if he had approved himself well in the trial of his obedience. But Samuel was informed that Saul had set up a triumphal arch, or some monument of his victory, at Carmel, a city in the mountains of Judah, seeking his own honour more than the honour of God, for he set up this place (or hand, as the word is) for himself (he had more need to have been repenting of his sin and making his peace with God than boasting of his victory), and also that he had marched in great state to Gilgal, for this seems to be intimated in the manner of expression: He has gone about, and passed on, and gone down, with a great deal of pomp and parade. There Samuel gave him the meeting, and,

1. Saul makes his boast to Samuel of his obedience, because that was the thing by which he was now to signalize himself (v. 13): "Blessed be thou of the Lord, for thou sendest me upon a good errand, in which I have had great success, and I have performed the commandment of the Lord." It is very likely, if his conscience had now flown in his face at this time and charged him with disobedience, he would not have been so forward to proclaim his obedience; for by this he hoped to prevent Samuel's reproving him. Thus sinners think, by justifying themselves, to escape being judged of the Lord; whereas the only way to do that is by judging ourselves. Those that boast most of their religion may be suspected of partiality and hypocrisy in it.

2. Samuel convicts him by a plain demonstration of his disobedience. "Hast thou performed the commandment of the Lord? What means then the bleating of the sheep?" v. 14. Saul would needs have it thought that God Almighty was wonderfully beholden to him for the good service he had done; but Samuel shows him that God was so far from being a debtor to him that he had just cause of action against him, and produces for evidence the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen, which perhaps Saul appointed to bring up the rear of his triumph, but Samuel appears to them as witnesses against him. He needed not go far to disprove his professions. The noise the cattle made (like the rust of silver, Jam. v. 3) would be a witness against him. Note, It is no new thing for the plausible professions and protestations of hypocrites to be contradicted and disproved by the most plain and undeniable evidence. Many boast of their obedience to the command of God; but what mean then their indulgence of the flesh, their love of the world, their passion and uncharitableness, and their neglect of holy duties, which witness against them?

3. Saul insists upon his own justification against this charge, v. 15. The fact he cannot deny; the sheep and oxen were brought from the Amalekites. But, (1.) It was not his fault, for the people spared them; as if they durst have done it without the express orders of Saul, when they knew it was against the express orders of Samuel. Note, Those that are willing to justify themselves are commonly very forward to condemn others, and to lay the blame upon any rather than take it to themselves. Sin is a brat that nobody cares to have laid at his doors. It is the sorry subterfuge of an impenitent heart, that will not confess its guilt, to lay the blame on those that were tempters, or partners, or only followers in it. (2.) It was with a good intention: "It was to sacrifice to the Lord thy God. He is thy God, and thou wilt not be against any thing that is done, as this is, for his honour." This was a false plea, for both Saul and the people designed their own profit in sparing the cattle. But, if it had been true, it would still have been frivolous, for God hates robbery for burnt-offering. God appointed these cattle to be sacrificed to him in the field, and therefore will give those no thanks that bring them to be sacrificed at his altar; for he will be served in his own way, and according to the rule he himself has prescribed. Nor will a good intention justify a bad action.

4. Samuel overrules, or rather overlooks, his plea, and proceeds, in God's name, to give judgment against him. He premises his authority. What he was about to say was what the Lord had said to him (v. 16), otherwise he would have been far from passing so severe a censure upon him. Those who complain that their ministers are too harsh with them should remember that, while they keep to the word of God, they are but messengers, and must say as they are bidden, and therefore be willing, as Saul himself here was, that they should say on. Samuel delivers his message faithfully. (1.) He reminds Saul of the honour of God had done him in making him king (v. 17), when he was little in his own sight. God regarded the lowness of his state and rewarded the lowliness of his spirit. Note, Those that are advanced to honour and wealth ought often to remember their mean beginnings, that they may never think highly of themselves, but always study to do great things for the God that had advanced them. (2.) He lays before him the plainness of the orders he was to execute (v. 18): The Lord sent thee on a journey; so easy was the service, and so certain the success, that it was rather to be called a journey than a war. The work was honourable, to destroy the sworn enemies of God and Israel; and had he denied himself, and set aside the consideration of his own profit so far as to have destroyed all that belonged to Amalek, he would have been no loser by it at last, nor have gone this warfare on his own charges. God would no doubt have made it up to him, so that he should have no need of spoil. And therefore, (3.) He shows him how inexcusable he was in aiming to make a profit of this expedition, and to enrich himself by it (v. 19): "Wherefore then didst thou fly upon the spoil, and convert that to thy own use which was to have been destroyed for God's honour?" See what evil the love of money is the root of; but see what is the sinfulness of sin, and that in it which above any thing else makes it evil in the sight of the Lord. It is disobedience: Thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord.

5. Saul repeats his vindication of himself, as that which, in defiance of conviction, he resolved to abide by, v. 20, 21. He denies the charge (v. 20): "Yea, I have obeyed, I have done all I should do;" for he had done all which he thought he needed to do, so much wiser was he in his own eyes than God himself. God bade him kill all, and yet he puts in among the instances of his obedience that he brought Agag alive, which he thought was as good as if he had killed him. Thus carnal deceitful hearts think to excuse themselves from God's commandments with their own equivalents. He insists upon it that he has utterly destroyed the Amalekites themselves, which was the main thing intended; but, as to the spoil, he owns it should have been utterly destroyed; so that he knew his Lord's will, and was under no mistake about the command. But he thought that would be wilful waste; the cattle of the Midianites was taken for a prey in Moses's time (Num. xxxi. 32, &c.), and why not the cattle of the Amalekites now? Better it should be prey to the Israelites than to the fowls of the air and the wild beasts; and therefore he connived at the people's carrying it away. But it was their doing and not his; and, besides, it was for sacrifice to the Lord here at Gilgal, whither they were now bringing them. See what a hard thing it is to convince the children of disobedience of their sin and to strip them of their fig-leaves.

6. Samuel gives a full answer to his apology, since he did insist upon it, v. 22, 23. He appeals to his own conscience: Has the Lord as great delight in sacrifices as in obedience? Though Saul was not a man of any great acquaintance with religion, yet he could not but know this, (1.) That nothing is so pleasing to God as obedience, no, not sacrifice and offering, and the fat of rams. See here what we should seek and aim at in all the exercises of religion, even acceptance with God, that he may delight in what we do. If God be well pleased with us and our services, we are happy, we have gained our point, but otherwise to what purpose is it? Isa. i. 11. Now here we are plainly told that humble, sincere, and conscientious obedience to the will of God, is more pleasing and acceptable to him than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices. A careful conformity to moral precepts recommends us to God more than all ceremonial observances, Mic. vi. 6-8; Hos. vi. 6. Obedience is enjoyed by the eternal law of nature, but sacrifice only by a positive law. Obedience was the law of innocency, but sacrifice supposes sin come into the world, and is but a feeble attempt to take that away which obedience would have prevented. God is more glorified and self more denied by obedience than by sacrifice. It is much easier to bring a bullock or lamb to be burnt upon the altar than to bring every high thought into obedience to God and the will subject to his will. Obedience is the glory of angels (Ps. ciii. 20), and it will be ours. (2.) That nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, setting up our wills in competition with his. This is here called rebellion and stubbornness, and is said to be as bad as witchcraft and idolatry, v. 23. It is as bad to set up other gods as to live in disobedience to the true God. Those that are governed by their own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim (as the word here is for idolatry) or the diviners. It was disobedience that made us all sinners (Rom. v. 19), and this is the malignity of sin, that it is the transgression of the law, and consequently it is enmity to God, Rom. viii. 7. Saul was a king, but if he disobey the command of God, his royal dignity and power will not excuse him from the guilt of rebellion and stubbornness. It is not the rebellion of the people against their prince, but of a prince against God, that this text speaks of.

7. He reads his doom: in short, "Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, hast despised it (so the Chaldee), hast made nothing of it (so the LXX.), hast cast off the government of it, therefore he has rejected thee, despised and made nothing of thee, but cast thee off from being king. He that made thee king has determined to unmake thee again." Those are unfit and unworthy to rule over men who are not willing that God should rule over them.

Saul's Dethronement Foretold. (b. c. 1065.)

24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord , and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord . 26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord , and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. 31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord .

Saul is at length brought to put himself into the dress of the penitent; but it is too evident that he only acts the part of a penitent, and is not one indeed. Observe,

I. How poorly he expressed his repentance. It was with much ado that he was made sensible of his fault, and not till he was threatened with being deposed. This touched him in a tender part. Then he began to relent, and not till then. When Samuel told him he was rejected from being king, then he said, I have sinned, v. 24. His confession was not free nor ingenuous, but extorted by the rack, and forced from him. We observe here several bad signs of the hypocrisy of his repentance, and that it came short even of Ahab's. 1. He made his application to Samuel only, and seemed most solicitous to stand right in his opinion and to gain his favour. He makes a little god of him, only to preserve his reputation with the people, because they all knew Samuel to be a prophet, and the man that had been the instrument of his preferment. Thinking it would please Samuel, and be a sort of bribe to him, he puts it into his confession: I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy word; as if he had been in God's stead, v. 24. David, though convinced by the ministry of Nathan, yet, in his confession, has his eye to God alone, not to Nathan. Ps. li. 4 Against thee only have I sinned. But Saul, ignorantly enough, confesses his sin as a transgression of Samuel's word; whereas his word was no other than a declaration of the commandment of the Lord. He also applies to Samuel for forgiveness (v. 25): I pray thee, pardon my sin; as if any could forgive sin but God only. Those wretchedly deceive themselves who, when they have fallen into scandalous sin, think it enough to make their peace with the church and their ministers, by the show and plausible profession of repentance, without taking care to make their peace with God by the sincerity of it. The most charitable construction we can put upon this of Saul is to suppose that he looked upon Samuel as a sort of mediator between him and God, and intended an address to God in his application to him. However, it was very weak. 2. He excused his fault even in the confession of it, and that is never the fashion of a true penitent (v. 24): I did it because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. We have reason enough to think that it was purely his own doing and not the people's; however, if they were forward to do it, it is plain, by what we have read before, that he knew how to keep up his authority among them and did not stand in any awe of them. So that the excuse was false and frivolous; whatever he pretended, he did not really fear the people. But it is common for sinners, in excusing their faults, to plead the thoughts and workings of their own minds, because those are things which, how groundless soever, no man can disprove; but they forget that God searchest the heart. 3. All his care was to save his credit, and preserve his interest in the people, lest they should revolt from him, or at least despise him. Therefore he courts Samuel with so much earnestness (v. 25) to turn again with him, and assist in a public thanksgiving for the victory. Very importunate he was in this matter when he laid hold on the skirt of his mantle to detain him (v. 27), not that he cared for Samuel, but he feared that if Samuel forsook him the people would do so too. Many seem zealously affected to good ministers and good people only for the sake of their own interest and reputation, while in heart they hate them. But his expression was very gross when he said (v. 30), I have sinned, yet honour me, I pray thee, before my people. Is this the language of a penitent? No, but the contrary: "I have sinned, shame me now, for to me belongs shame, and no man can loathe me so much as I loathe myself." Yet how often do we meet with the copies of this hypocrisy of Saul! It is very common for those who are convicted of sin to show themselves very solicitous to be honoured before the people. Whereas he that has lost the honour of an innocent can pretend to no other than that of a penitent, and it is the honour of a penitent to take shame to himself.

II. How little he got by these thin shows of repentance. What point did he gain by them? 1. Samuel repeated the sentence passed upon him, so far was he from giving any hopes of the repeal of it, v. 26, the same with v. 23. He that covers his sins shall never prosper, Prov. xxviii. 13. Samuel refused to turn back with him, but turned about to go away, v. 27. As the thing appeared to him upon the first view, he thought it altogether unfit for him so far to countenance one whom God had rejected as to join with him in giving thanks to God for a victory which was made to serve rather Saul's covetousness than God's glory. Yet afterwards he did turn again with him (v. 31), upon further thoughts, and probably by divine direction, either to prevent a mutiny among the people or perhaps not to do honour to Saul (for, though Saul worshipped the Lord, v. 31, it is not said Samuel presided in that worship), but to do justice on Agag, v. 32. 2. He illustrated the sentence by a sign, which Saul himself, by his rudeness, gave occasion for. When Samuel was turning from him he tore his clothes to detain him (v. 27), so loth was he to part with the prophet; but Samuel put a construction upon this accident which none but a prophet could do. He made it to signify the rending of the kingdom from him (v. 28), and that, like this, was his own doing. "He hath rent it from thee, and given it to a neighbour better than thou," namely, to David, who afterwards, upon occasion, cut off the skirt of Saul's robe (1 Sam. xxiv. 4), upon which Saul said (1 Sam. xxiv. 20), I know that thou shalt surely be king, perhaps remembering this sign, the tearing of the skirt of Samuel's mantle. 3. He ratified it by a solemn declaration of its being irreversible (v. 29): The Strength of Israel will not lie. The Eternity or Victory of Israel, so some read it; the holy One, so the Arabic; the most noble One, so the Syriac; the triumphant King of Israel, so bishop Patrick. "He is determined to depose thee, and he will not change his purpose. He is not a man that should repent." Men are fickle and alter their minds, feeble and cannot effect their purposes; something happens which they could not foresee, by which their measures are broken. But with God it is not so. God has sometimes repented of the evil which he thought to have done, repentance was hidden from Saul, and therefore hidden from God's eyes.

Agag Slain. (b. c. 1065.)

32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Samuel, as a prophet, is here set over kings, Jer. i. 10.

I. He destroys king Agag, doubtless by such special direction from heaven as none now can pretend to. He hewed Agag in pieces. Some think he only ordered it to be done; or perhaps he did it with his own hands, as a sacrifice to God's injured justice (v. 33), and sacrifices used to be cut in pieces. Now observe in this,

1. How Agag's present vain hopes were frustrated: He came delicately, in a stately manner, to show that he was a king, and therefore to be treated with respect, or in a soft effeminate manner, as one never used to hardship, that could not set the sole of his foot to the ground for tenderness and delicacy (Deut. xxviii. 56), to move compassion: and he said, "Surely, now that the heat of the battle is over, the bitterness of death is past, v. 32. Having escaped the sword of Saul," that man of war, he thought he was in no danger from Samuel, and old prophet, a man of peace. Note, (1.) There is bitterness in death, it is terrible to nature. Surely death is bitter, so divers versions read those words of Agag; as the LXX. read the former clause, He came trembling. Death will dismay the stoutest heart. (2.) Many think the bitterness of death is past when it is not so; they put that evil day far from them which is very near. True believers may, through grace, say this, upon good grounds, though death be not past, the bitterness of it is. O death! where is thy sting?

2. How his former wicked practices were now punished. Samuel calls him to account, not only for the sins of his ancestors, but his own sins: Thy sword has made women childless, v. 33. He trod in the steps of his ancestors' cruelty, and those under him, it is likely, did the same; justly therefore is all the righteous blood shed by Amalek required of this generation, Matt. xxiii. 36. Agag, that was delicate and luxurious himself, was cruel and barbarous to others. It is commonly so: those who are indulgent in their appetites are not less indulgent of their passions. But blood will be reckoned for; even kings must account to the King of kings for the guiltless blood they shed or cause to be shed. It was that crime of king Manasseh which the Lord would not pardon, 2 Kings xxiv. 4. See Rev. xiii. 10.

II. He deserts king Saul, takes leave of him (v. 34), and never came any more to see him (v. 35), to advise or assist him in any of his affairs, because Saul did not desire his company nor would he be advised by him. He looked upon him as rejected of God, and therefore he forsook him. Though he might sometimes see him accidentally (as ch. xix. 24), yet he never came to see him out of kindness or respect. Yet he mourned for Saul, thinking it a very lamentable thing that a man who stood so fair for great things should ruin himself so foolishly. He mourned for the bad state of the country, to which Saul was likely to have been so great a blessing, but now would prove a curse and a plague. He mourned for his everlasting state, having no hopes of bringing him to repentance. When he wept for him, it is likely, he made supplication, but the Lord had repented that he had made Saul king, and resolved to undo that work of his, so that Samuel's prayers prevailed not for him. Observe, We must mourn for the rejection of sinners, 1. Though we withdraw from them, and dare not converse familiarly with them. Thus the prophet determines to leave his people and go from them, and yet to weep day and night for them, Jer. ix. 1, 2. 2. Though they do not mourn for themselves. Saul seems unconcerned at the tokens of God's displeasure which he lay under, and yet Samuel mourns day and night for him. Jerusalem was secure when Christ wept over it.