1 Samuel 15
35 verses
Samuel commands Saul to go to war against Amalek and 'completely destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them...destroy them' (15:3)—a total ban (ḥērem) that Saul executes incompletely, sparing Agag (the Amalekite king) and the best livestock 'as an offering to the LORD' (15:15, Saul's rationalization). Samuel confronts Saul: 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice' (15:22)—a condemnation of ritual obedience without moral and covenantal integrity, and a declaration that Saul's kingship is ended: 'The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you' (15:28). Saul's disobedience—his refusal to execute the ban completely and his substitution of ritual sacrifice for covenant obedience—demonstrates the futility of human kingship when divorced from wholehearted submission to the divine word; Samuel hacks Agag to pieces (15:33) to complete the ban Saul neglected, and departs from Saul, never to see him again. The chapter marks the rupture between the LORD and Saul's dynasty, and though Saul retains the throne, his authority is fatally compromised.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
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.
0 1Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
4
And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
0 1Open verse page →
5
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
7
And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
0 0Open verse page →
8
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
0 1Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
10
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 1Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
14
And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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?
0 1Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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?
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
25
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
27
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
29
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
31
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
34
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
0 0Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!