1 Samuel 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.

8, 9. he took Agag . . . alive--This was the common title of the

Amalekite kings. He had no scruple about the apparent cruelty of it,

for he made fierce and indiscriminate havoc of the people. But he

spared Agag, probably to enjoy the glory of displaying so distinguished

a captive, and, in like manner, the most valuable portions of the

booty, as the cattle. By this wilful and partial obedience to a

positive command

[1Sa 15:3],

complying with it in some parts and violating it in others, as suited

his own taste and humor, Saul showed his selfish, arbitrary temper, and

his love of despotic power, and his utter unfitness to perform the

duties of a delegated king in Israel.

1Sa 15:10, 11.

GOD

REJECTS

HIS FOR

DISOBEDIENCE.

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.