1 Samuel · chapter 15 of 31
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1 Samuel 15 tells how the Lord commands Saul to destroy Amalek, but Saul spares King Agag and the best of the livestock. When Samuel confronts him, Saul blames the people and speaks of sacrifices, and Samuel answers that to obey is better than sacrifice. The Lord rejects Saul as king, and Samuel never sees him alive again.
In chapter 13 Samuel announced that Saul's kingdom would not last. Chapter 15 shows the decisive moment of that rejection. A clear command from the Lord, half-hearted obedience and a confession without deep repentance show that Saul has ceased to be the king God wanted.
Samuel reminds Saul that the Lord sent him to anoint him and passes on a command: punish Amalek for what they did to Israel when it came out of Egypt, destroy it completely with all it has and show no mercy. Saul gathers his army, warns the Kenites to leave and defeats Amalek from Havilah to Shur. But he spares King Agag and the best of the livestock, and destroys only what is despised and worthless.
The Lord tells Samuel that he regrets having made Saul king, because he has turned back from following him and has not kept his commandments. Samuel is angry and cries out to the Lord all night. In the morning he goes to meet Saul, and they tell him that Saul has set up a monument for himself at Carmel. Saul greets him saying he has performed the word of the Lord. Samuel asks what this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle is that he hears.
Saul says the people spared the best to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel reminds him that the Lord anointed and sent him, and asks why he did not obey. Saul insists that he did obey and blames the people. Samuel answers that the Lord delights in burnt offerings less than in obedience: to obey is better than sacrifice, and rebellion is like the sin of divination. Because Saul rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected him as king.
Saul confesses that he has sinned because he feared the people and asks Samuel to return with him to worship. Samuel refuses and turns away; Saul grabs the edge of his robe and it tears. Samuel tells him that thus the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from him and given it to a neighbor better than he. Finally Samuel returns with Saul so he can worship, and he himself kills Agag. Samuel goes to Ramah and does not see Saul again until the day of his death, though he mourns for him, and the Lord regrets having made Saul king.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Saul and the people spare Agag and the best of the sheep, cattle and lambs, and destroy only what is despised. Half obedience, which keeps what suits us, is not obedience.
Samuel says the Lord delights in burnt offerings less than in obedience, and that to obey is better than sacrifice. This verse sums up the chapter's message: religion without obedience is worthless before God.
Samuel says rebellion is like the sin of divination and presumption like idolatry. Because Saul rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected him as king.
Samuel affirms that the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should have regret. God's decision about Saul is firm and does not depend on Saul asking to return to worship.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To destroy it completely with all it had, showing no mercy. — 1 Samuel 15:3
Answer: King Agag and the best of the livestock. — 1 Samuel 15:9
Answer: What was this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that he heard. — 1 Samuel 15:14
Answer: That to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. — 1 Samuel 15:22
Answer: Because he feared the people and obeyed their voice. — 1 Samuel 15:24
Answer: That the Lord had torn the kingdom of Israel from Saul and given it to a neighbor better than he. — 1 Samuel 15:27-28
Half obedience is a subtle form of disobedience. Saul had a good religious excuse, sacrificing to the Lord, but he did what seemed best to him instead of what God had said. A small group can ask in what areas we follow God only as far as it suits us, and what pious excuses we use.
It is also worth noticing Saul's confession: he says I have sinned, yet he remains concerned with his image before the elders and the people. True repentance does not seek to keep honor but to restore the relationship with God. And the Christian can look to Christ, who obeyed perfectly even to death where Saul failed.
1 Samuel 15 leaves Saul rejected as king and Samuel grieving over him. In chapter 16 the Lord will send Samuel to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, to anoint the new king he has chosen from among his sons.
The text presents it as judgment for what Amalek did to Israel when it came out of Egypt, attacking the weakest on the road (Exodus 17; Deuteronomy 25). It is a hard passage that Christians read as God's judgment on persistent evil, not as a model for violence today.
The text says the Lord regretted making Saul king (v. 11), and also that he does not have regret as a man does (v. 29). It is understood that God responds with grief to disobedience, but his purpose and word do not change capriciously.