1 Samuel Chapter 15

The Lord Rejects Saul

Saul and the Amalekites—Second Rejection of Saul. Here, finally, Saul is rejected completely.

1 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lordsent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.2Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

1. Why is Saul being reminded that the LORD sent Samuel to anoint him as king?

Samuel is reminding Saul that he is the kings because God, through Samuel, put him in that position. Therefore he needs to listen and do exactly as God is about to instruct him. He is not to act on his own judgment. God is giving him a chance to redeem himself from his previous disobedience.

2. What is the issue with Amalek?

These people were perpetual enemies of Israel from the time of the Exodus until the days of Hezekiah.

12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) Gen 36:12 (ESV)

The Amalekites, who were descendants of Esau (Gen 36:12), were constant enemies of Israel. They attacked the Israelites at Rephidim in the neighborhood of Sinai and killed the stragglers on the exodus from Egypt. A nomadic people, they were found in a number of locations in Palestine. WBC

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. ………….Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. ……..Then the Lord said to Moses,“Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”…….The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Ex 17:8-16 (ESV)

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore when the Lordyour God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.Deut 25:17-19 (ESV)

3. “Devote to destruction”?

This practice, known also as “imposing the ban,” denotes setting aside something as the Lord’s share. Usually such a ban meant that all living things—men, women, children, and livestock—were to be killed. One purpose of such total destruction was to stop the spread of the“abominable practices” of paganism (Deut. 20:16–18). The ban againstAmalek is based on Deut. 25:19

In the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. Deut. 20:16-18 (ESV)

4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.”So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

4. Why give a pass to the Kenites?

The Kenites traced their ancestry from Midian, one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah. The Kenites had been friendly to Israel whereas the Amalekites had not. There may have been a treaty between the Israelites and the Kenites.

Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2  She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Gen 25:1-2 (ESV)

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, located in the Negev. They went and lived with the people of Judah. Judges 1:16 (NET)

In this covenant with Abraham, He promises to bless those who bless Abraham and his descendants (e.g. the Kenites), and to curse those who curse Abraham and his seed (the Amalekites). The Abrahamic Covenant is a dominant factor in Israel’s history, explaining God’s judgment and blessing with respect to the nations which deal with the nation Israel. Deffinbaugh

                                                                                                                                

7  And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction 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 fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

5. Why spare Agag and all the “good stuff”?

He thought, what a shame to destroy everything! So he saved Agag, who was the ruler of the Amalekites. Saul had no right to spare him any more than he had the right to spare the humblest peasant among these people. This nation was wholly given to evil, and the king, above all others, should have been destroyed and judged at this time. Neither had Saul the right to save from destruction the best of the cattle. It would appear that he made his attack for the purpose of obtaining booty and spoil, and God had forbidden that. The Israelites were bringing judgment upon the Amalekites for Almighty God in this particular case. JVM

Saul’s criterion for what he put to death was not part of God’s command but his own judgment. Again, Saul’s defective view of his role under Yahweh’s sovereign rule is obvious. Saul misused some of what God had devoted to another purpose. Clearly Saul set his will against the orders of his Commander; he was “not willing” to destroy everything that breathed. His obedience was selective and partial. CN

I think we may safely assume that Saul’s sparing of Agag, along with his sparing of the best of the flocks and herds of the Amalekites, is really self-serving. Saul certainly gains a measure of popularity for allowing the Israelites to have a good sacrificial meal with the Amalekite animals. After all, this not only means they can feast on the meat; it also means they do not have to sacrifice their own animals. Sparing the life of Agag probably provides Saul with a trophy of his prowess and power. When Agag sits at Saul’s table, he is much like a stuffed moose head, mounted and prominently displayed in a hunter’s den.Deffinbaugh

10 The word of theLord came to Samuel: 11“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

6. Can God regret?

In the language of the OT, God is said to “repent” when a change in the character and conduct of those with whom he is dealing leads to a corresponding change in his plans and purposes toward them. His repentance is not to be understood as his regretting his action, nor is it a sign of changeable-ness. His promises and threats are often conditional —WBC

This means that God feels genuine sorrow when contemplating Saul’s sin. But it does not mean that God thinks his decision to make Saul king was a mistake in the overall course of his plans for history. ESVN

God exists and operates in the past present and future simultaneously, so it impossible for him to be surprised or caught off guard by our actions. Still yet as he walks with us through our daily existence, the aspect of God who is active in the present experiences moment by moment “real time” drama with us. As a result it is possible for God to feel disappointment and regret while at the same time knowing that it would happen. It’s like when one of your adult children is headed for a fall and you know it’s going to happen, but you have to step back and get out of the way because they are adults and they have to learn just like you did.

12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”14And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lordyour God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”

7. Wait a minute, who spared the best of the sheep and the oxen?

Listen to Saul as he begins to use double-talk and subterfuge in an attempt to camouflage his conduct. He had a very pious reason for sparing some of the animals. He wanted to have excellent animals to sacrifice to the Lord! This was, of course, an attempt to cover up his disobedience with pious pretense.

You can find that same kind of hypocrisy in our contemporary culture. There is the tendency to cover our evil businesses with good works. Many of God’s people try to turn their disobedience into some pious project. I am not sure but what we are all guilty of that sort of thing. JVM

The blame game: Saul, like Aaron at Sinai, and Adam and Eve in Eden, tried to shift the personal responsibility to others.—WBC

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lordsent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lordyour God in Gilgal.”

8. And if you believe that, can I interest you in a bridge I am selling?

Welcome to the spin room. This isn’t horseshoes. Close isn’t good enough. God wants complete obedience. He is not impressed by partial effort and then religious BS to make up for the rest. Saul persisted in calling partial obedience total obedience (v. 20). He again placed responsibility for sparing some of the spoils taken in the battle on the people (v. 21), but as king he was responsible for the people’s actions.

Even the best sacrificewithout obedience gains nothing.

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams……………Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me…….. remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; Isaiah 1:13-17 (ESV)

22 And Samuel said, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

9. I thought the kingdom had already been taken from Saul?

God was trying to give Saul a second chance to get his act together but now the clock has run out on Saul. Previously God had revealed that Saul’s kingship would not continue. God is already at work in choosing a replacement.

24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord.”26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”27  As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, “TheLord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lordyour God.”31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. 32 Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”33 And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.”And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lordin Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35  And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

10. Why would a loving God have Samuel act so brutally?

God wanted all the Amalekites eliminated because he knew they would come back and in the future become a major threat to his people.

When we studied the book of Esther we learned that Haman was an Amalekite who was set on destroying the entire Jewish nation.

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him Esth 3:1 (ESV)

The decedents of King Agag, the Agagites come back to haunt the Jews and come very close to wiping out the nation. God could look into the future and see that if Saul would have done what he was told this entire episode would have been avoided.

·        ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes                    JFB........Jamieson  Fausset Brown Commentary

·        VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies                       MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes      

·        CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark          NIVSN…......NIV Study Notes

·        BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)          JVM ….J Vernon McGee,

·        Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT                    

ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary

Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.                

BN …..Barnes Notes

NTCMM……..The New Test  Matthew and Mark.                        

CN …… Constables Notes  

IC……….Ironside Commentary                                                       

NET………Net Bible Study Notes.

JFB…………..Jamieson  Fausset Brown Commentary

Robert Deffinbaugh  bible.org

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