(KJV) 1 Samuel 151

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⥃Saul’s Disobedience

[1] Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord2 sent me to anoint thee [to be] king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken3 thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.4 [2] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember5 [that] which Amalek6 did to Israel, how he laid [wait] for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. [3] Now go7 and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy8 all that they have, and spare them not; but slay9 both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep10, camel and ass. [4] And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim11, two12 hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. [5] And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait13 in the valley.

[6] [¶]And Saul said unto the Kenites14, Go, depart15, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed16 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 smote17 the Amalekites from Havilah18 [until] thou comest to Shur19, that [is] over against Egypt. [8] And he took Agag20 the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly21 destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. [9] But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best22 of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings23, 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.

⥃Samuel Denounces Saul

[10] Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, [11] It repenteth me24 that I have set up Saul [to be] king: for he is turned25 back from following me, and hath not performed26 my commandments. And it grieved27 Samuel; and he cried28 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 Carmel29, and, behold, he set him30 up a place31, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. [13] And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed32 [be] thou of the Lord: I have performed33 the commandment of the Lord. [14] And Samuel said, What [meaneth34] 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: for35 the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to36 sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. [16] Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay37, 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 thou38 [wast] little in thine own sight, [wast] thou not [made] the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord39 anointed thee king over Israel? [18] And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners40 the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed41. [19] Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon42 the spoil, and didst evil43 in the sight of the Lord? [20] And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea44, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought45 Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. [21] But the people46 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 Lord47 [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obey48ing the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams. [23] For rebellion49 [is as] the sin of witchcraft50, and stubbornness51 [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected52 the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king.

⥃Saul’s Confession

[24] And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned53: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared54 the people, and obeyed55 their voice. [25] Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon56 my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. [26] And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not57 return with thee: for thou58 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 Lord59 hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given60 it to a neighbour61 of thine, [that is] better than thou. [29] And also the Strength62 of Israel will not lie63 nor repent: for he [is] not a man, that he should repent. [30] Then he said, I have sinned: [yet] honour me now64, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship65 the Lord thy God. [31] So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.

[32] Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said66, Surely the bitterness of death is past. [33] And Samuel said, As thy sword67 hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel68 hewed69 Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

[34] [¶]Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah70 of Saul. [35] And Samuel71 came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned72 for Saul: and the Lord repented73 that he had made Saul king over Israel.

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  1. 1Sam 15:1, Samuel sends Saul to destroy Amalek; 1Sam 15:6, Saul favours the Kenites; 1Sam 15:7, He spares Agag and the best of the spoil; 1Sam 15:10, Samuel denounces unto Saul God’s rejection of him for his disobedience; 1Sam 15:24, Saul’s humiliation; 1Sam 15:32, Samuel kills Agag; 1Sam 15:34, Samuel and Saul part. ↩

  2. 1Sam 15:17-18, 1Sam 9:16, 1Sam 10:1 ↩

  3. 1Sam 15:16, 1Sam 12:14, 1Sam 13:13; 2Sam 23:2-3; 1Chr 22:12-13; Ps 2:10-11 ↩

  4. am 2925, bc 1079, An, Ex, Is, 412 ↩

  5. Jer 31:34; Hos 7:2; Amos 8:7 ↩

  6. Exod 17:8-16; Num 24:20; Deut 25:17-19 ↩

  7. The Amalekites, a people of Arabia Petrea, who inhabited a tract of country on the frontiers of Egypt and Canaan, had acted with great cruelty towards the Israelites on their coming out of Egypt, and God then purposed that Amalek, as a nation, should be blotted out from under heaven; but it had been spared till it had filled up the measure of its iniquities, and now this purpose is carried into effect by Saul, upwards of 400 years afterwards! Nothing could justify such an exterminating decree but the absolute authority of God; and this was given. All the reasons of it we do not know; but this we know well, the Judge of all the earth doeth right. ↩

  8. Lev 27:28-29; Num 24:20; Deut 13:15-16, Deut 20:16-18; Josh 6:17-21 ↩

  9. Exod 20:5; Num 31:17; Isa 14:21-22 ↩

  10. Gen 3:17-18; Rom 8:20-22 ↩

  11. Josh 15:24, Telem ↩

  12. 1Sam 11:8, 1Sam 13:15 ↩

  13. or, fought, 1Sam 15:5 ↩

  14. 1Sam 27:10; Num 24:21-22; Judg 1:16, Judg 4:11, Judg 5:24; 1Chr 2:55 ↩

  15. Gen 18:25, Gen 19:12-16; Num 16:26-27, Num 16:34; Prov 9:6; Acts 2:40; 2Cor 6:17; Rev 18:14 ↩

  16. Exod 18:9-10, Exod 18:19; Num 10:29-32; 2Tim 1:16 ↩

  17. 1Sam 14:48; Job 21:30; Eccl 8:13 ↩

  18. This Havilah was probably situated in Arabia, and the district of Chaulon may mark the spot. It seems different from that encompassed by the river Pison, one of the rivers of Eden. Gen 2:11, Gen 25:18 ↩

  19. 1Sam 27:8; Gen 16:7 ↩

  20. 1Sam 15:3; Num 24:7; 1Kgs 20:30, 1Kgs 20:34-42; Esth 3:1 ↩

  21. 1Sam 27:8, 1Sam 30:1; Josh 10:39, Josh 11:12 ↩

  22. 1Sam 15:3, 1Sam 15:15, 1Sam 15:19; Josh 7:21 ↩

  23. or, the second sort, 2Sam 6:13 ↩

  24. 1Sam 15:35; Gen 6:6; 2Sam 24:16; Ps 110:4; Jer 18:7-10; Amos 7:3; Jonah 3:10, Jonah 4:2 ↩

  25. Josh 22:16; 1Kgs 9:6; Ps 36:3, Ps 78:41, Ps 78:57, Ps 125:5; Zeph 1:6; Matt 24:13; Heb 10:38 ↩

  26. 1Sam 15:3, 1Sam 15:9, 1Sam 13:13 ↩

  27. 1Sam 15:35, 1Sam 16:1; Ps 119:136; Jer 9:1, Jer 9:18, Jer 13:17; Luke 19:41-44; Rom 9:1-3 ↩

  28. 1Sam 12:23; Ps 109:4; Matt 5:44; Luke 6:12 ↩

  29. 1Sam 25:2; Josh 15:55; 1Kgs 18:42 ↩

  30. 1Sam 7:12; Josh 4:8-9; 2Sam 18:18 ↩

  31. Yad, Literally as the LXX render χειρα, a hand; probably because the trophy or monument of victory was in the shape of a large hand, the emblem of power, erected on a pillar. These memorial pillars were anciently much in use; and the figure of a hand, by its emblematical meaning, was well adapted to preserve the remembrance of a victory. Niebuhr, speaking of the Mesjed Ali, or Mosque of Ali, says that, "at the top of the dome, where one generally sees on the Turkish mosques a crescent, or only a pole, there is here a hand stretched out, to represent that of Ali." Another writer informs us, that at the Alhamra, or red palace of the Moorish kings in Grenada, "on the key-stone of the outward arch [of the present principal entrance] is sculptured the figure of an arm, the symbol of strength and dominion." ↩

  32. 1Sam 13:10; Gen 14:19; Judg 17:2; Ruth 3:10 ↩

  33. 1Sam 15:9, 1Sam 15:11; Gen 3:12; Prov 27:2, Prov 28:13, Prov 30:13, Prov 31:31; Luke 17:10, Luke 18:11 ↩

  34. Ps 36:2, Ps 50:16-21; Jer 2:18-19, Jer 2:22-23, Jer 2:34-37; Mal 3:13-15; Luke 19:22; Rom 3:19; 1Cor 4:5 ↩

  35. 1Sam 15:9, 1Sam 15:21; Gen 3:12-13; Exod 32:22-23; Job 31:33; Prov 28:13 ↩

  36. Matt 2:8; Luke 10:29 ↩

  37. 1Sam 9:27, 1Sam 12:7; 1Kgs 22:16 ↩

  38. 1Sam 9:21, 1Sam 10:22; Judg 6:15; Hos 13:1; Matt 18:4 ↩

  39. 1Sam 15:1-3, 1Sam 10:1 ↩

  40. Gen 13:13, Gen 15:16; Num 16:38; Job 31:3; Prov 10:29, Prov 13:21 ↩

  41. Heb. they consume them ↩

  42. Prov 15:27; Jer 7:11; Hab 2:9-12; 2Tim 4:10 ↩

  43. 2Chr 33:2, 2Chr 33:6, 2Chr 36:12 ↩

  44. 1Sam 15:13; Job 33:9, Job 34:5, Job 35:2, Job 40:8; Matt 19:20; Luke 10:29, Luke 18:11; Rom 10:3 ↩

  45. 1Sam 15:3, 1Sam 15:8 ↩

  46. 1Sam 15:15; Gen 3:13; Exod 32:22-23 ↩

  47. Ps 50:8-9, Ps 51:16-17; Prov 21:3; Isa 1:11-17; Jer 7:22-23; Hos 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic 6:6-8; Matt 9:13, Matt 12:7, Matt 23:23; Heb 10:4-10 ↩

  48. Exod 19:5; Eccl 5:1; Jer 7:23, Jer 11:4, Jer 11:7, Jer 26:13; Hos 6:6; Matt 5:24; Mark 12:33 ↩

  49. 1Sam 12:14-15; Num 14:9; Deut 9:7, Deut 9:24; Josh 22:16-19; Job 34:37; Ps 107:11; Jer 28:16, Jer 29:32; Ezek 2:5-8 ↩

  50. Heb. divination, Exod 22:18; Lev 20:6, Lev 20:27; Deut 18:10-11; Isa 8:19, Isa 19:3; Rev 22:15 ↩

  51. 2Cor 6:16; Gal 5:20; Rev 21:8 ↩

  52. 1Sam 2:30, 1Sam 13:14, 1Sam 16:1; 2Kgs 17:15-20; 1Chr 28:9 ↩

  53. 1Sam 15:30; Exod 9:27, Exod 10:16; Num 22:34; 2Sam 12:13; Matt 27:4 ↩

  54. 1Sam 15:9, 1Sam 15:15; Exod 23:2; Job 31:34; Prov 29:25; Isa 51:12-13; Luke 23:20-25; Gal 1:10; Rev 21:8 ↩

  55. 1Sam 2:29; Gen 3:12, Gen 3:17; Jer 38:5 ↩

  56. Exod 10:17 ↩

  57. 1Sam 15:31; Gen 42:38, Gen 43:11-14; Luke 24:28-29; 2John 1:11 ↩

  58. 1Sam 15:23, 1Sam 2:30, 1Sam 13:14, 1Sam 16:1; Jer 6:19; Hos 4:6 ↩

  59. 1Sam 28:17-18; 1Kgs 11:30-31 ↩

  60. 1Sam 2:7-8; Jer 27:5-6; Dan 4:17, Dan 4:32; John 19:11; Rom 13:1 ↩

  61. 1Sam 13:14, 1Sam 16:12; Acts 13:22 ↩

  62. or, Eternity, or, Victory, Deut 33:27; Ps 29:11, Ps 68:35; Isa 45:24; Joel 3:16; 2Cor 12:9; Phil 4:13 ↩

  63. Num 14:28-29, Num 23:19; Ps 95:11; Ezek 24:14; 2Tim 2:13; Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18 ↩

  64. Hab 2:4; John 5:44, John 12:43 ↩

  65. Isa 29:13; Luke 18:9-14; 2Tim 3:5 ↩

  66. Jer 48:44; 1Thess 5:3; Rev 18:7 ↩

  67. Gen 9:6; Exod 17:11; Num 14:45; Judg 1:7; Matt 7:2; Jas 2:13; Rev 16:6, Rev 18:6 ↩

  68. It has been a matter of wonder to many, how Samuel could thus slay a captive prince, even in the presence of Saul, who from motives of clemency had spared him; but it should be remarked, that what Samuel did here, he did in his magisterial capacity; and that Agag had been a cruel tyrant, and therefore was cut off for his merciless cruelties. Farther, it is not likely that he did it by his own sword, but by that of the 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. ↩

  69. Num 25:7-8; 1Kgs 18:40; Isa 34:6; Jer 48:10 ↩

  70. 1Sam 11:4 ↩

  71. 1Sam 19:24 ↩

  72. 1Sam 15:11, 1Sam 16:1; Ps 119:136, Ps 119:158; Jer 9:1-2; Rom 9:2-3; Phil 3:18 ↩

  73. 1Sam 15:11; Gen 6:6 ↩