1 Samuel 15: 1 – 35
How could a loving God allow this?
15 Samuel also said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” 4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed 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 attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. 10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” 15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.” 17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy 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 swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 So 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 heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” 24 Then 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 But 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 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD. 32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
Some people question God’s love and ask how a loving God can encourage the Israelites to destroy entire nations. They want to know if this is inconsistent with the notion of God’s love.
It is clear that God gave orders to destroy entire nations. Please note that God did not encourage wiping out God-fearing nations, but “wicked” people. Why would God be so inclined to wipe out “wicked people”?
Exodus 23:32-33 “Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."
If these people were to live among the Israelites, they would “cause them to sin” against God. Sin is catchy. There is no doubt about that. Look around you and watch how sin propagates itself faster than any other deadly disease. However, we as humans would try everything in our means to wipe a disease like leukemia, but we stand still in front of the deadliest disease of all: sin, even contemplating it!
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin is deadly and if not taken seriously and not taken care of by the power of God’s Spirit, it will lead you right to your grave and to eternal destiny: hell.
Now what is a snare? It’s a trapping device, often consisting of a noose, used for capturing birds and small mammals. A snare has a lure and when an animal try to gets to the lure, the snare traps them. No escape is possible!
Sin is compared to a deadly snare. There is no doubt about that, if you are attracted by the lure and you want to taste that lure, it will entrap you and you will live in bondage! Sin is deadly!
If you think yourself strong enough to resist sin, good for you! But what about the fate of your sons and daughters? Remember sin is catchy and spreads itself faster than any other deadly disease! If you do nothing then you are causing significant harm to your descendants.
I have experienced this pain first hand. The start of my family in this country was way back in the time of William Penn. The Picock family settled in prime land along the Delaware River on the side which today is Pennsylvania.
The evil that my great grandfather Picock allowed to dominate his life was alcohol. This addiction robbed his wealth and he died penniless. He and his wife’s graves still remain even today on the highest hill overlooking his former massage estate on a hill called ‘Bowman’s Tower’. This site now belongs to the State of Pennsylvania Historic Society because of its location. Years in the future became significant as this land was where General George Washington camped out and then crossed the river into New Jersey on Christmas Day in a surprise attack against the Hessians in Trenton. I guess if my great grandfather didn’t drink away my inheritance I would probably be quite wealthy today.
Alcohol has continued to be a major problem with all descendants as started by good old Grandfather Picock.
In dealing with evil that has come to fullness our Holy God Yahweh instructed His people the Israelites in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.”
This text confirms what we have discovered. The sad part of it is that the Israelites did not obey the Lord fully in this. Yes, they did wipe out some of the towns, but they also kept other towns safe and the people of these towns were used as their slaves. Their disobedience led to a catastrophe: before they knew it, they started to follow the atrocious sins of the inhabitants of these lands. It ended up in their Babylonian exile and the destruction of their beloved city Jerusalem. Sin is costly! Sin is deadly!
Disregarding God’s command, the Israelites were ensnared in the sins of the land that eventually led to their destruction as a nation.
So, we see that the primary reason was punishment for horrific sins and wrongdoing. The people of the destroyed cities had long histories of grievous sins, which often included sacrificing their children (burning their children alive) to false gods. Their consciences should have told these people they were doing terribly wrong and going against the Lord. Had they listened and repented, they would not have been destroyed. God has said that if any nation is about to be destroyed as punishment but repents and changes their ways, He will forgive them and not destroy them.
Israel didn’t deserve the Promised Land. They hadn’t done anything to deserve it. However, the “wickedness of these nations” had reached its limit and it was time that their sin was dealt with.
In the cities that were given to the Israelites as their inheritance, there was yet another reason: totally depraved cultures were destroyed so that they would not corrupt the Israelites into committing the same evil and satanic acts. This did occur: when the Israelites didn't obey God and destroy cities, they too began practicing child sacrifice
Our world still lives in open rebellion towards God and sin is rampant everywhere. You can be assured that our sins will reach its limit as well one day soon and God will deal with our sin. It is in the Scriptures:
Hebrews 10:26-27 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
2 Peter 3:7 “By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
In this chapter Saul reveals that he has become so filled with a sense of his own importance that he now feels that he can ignore God’s clear commandment simply for his own benefit, however heinous his actions might be. The result is that God rejects him from being king over Israel, and Samuel leaves him never to return. The further effects of this rejection on Saul will be that he will go into clinical depression, and become schizophrenic, thus being ‘two men’ at the same time and being plagued with paranoia and delusion. Had he been obedient to Yahweh God this illness may never have happened.
The stress in this passage is on obedience, and the whole is designed so as to bring out Saul’s total disobedience, in accordance with the tendency that we have observed previously. It is describing the final stage in his downfall. To us his crime might appear small, and even reasonable. But it would not have been seen like that in his day. It would have been looked on with horror by the independent observer for to take for oneself what had been ‘devoted to Yahweh’ was sacrilege of the most heinous kind.
It is, however, interesting that Samuel is again involved with Saul here. It demonstrates that, while their relationship was no longer as close, Saul was still being given an opportunity to at least partially redeem himself. He was still seen as being ‘Yahweh’s anointed.’
It is important to recognize in this passage that Saul is specifically instructed as ‘the anointed of Yahweh’ and is called on to act as His instrument of justice on the Amalekites. He is to ‘devote’ the Amalekites and all their possessions to Yahweh. This involved total annihilation and destruction of something which all recognized that Yahweh had specifically made His own. It was all thus sacred to Him and non-negotiable. No exception was allowed.
15 Samuel also said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD.
Samuel now comes to Saul emphasizing that he is the anointed of Yahweh. That means that he is dedicated to doing Father God’s will. In view of that he is now to listen to the words of The God of Israel which will instruct him in what Yahweh requires of him.
2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
Our Majestic and Holy God Yahweh requires of him is that he ‘devote’ Amalek to Him. That will involve destroying the Amalekites and all connected with them. The idea of ‘devoting’ a people in this way was that they were consecrated to God in judgment and must be offered to Him in their totality. Those who performed this work were seen to be acting as God’s instruments of justice. For that reason they must take no benefit of it for themselves, for everything involved was ‘devoted’ to and belonged to The Creator God Yahweh. Thus what Saul was being called on to do was a most sacred task, and as he knew perfectly well, not to carry it out to the letter would be sacrilege.
The basis of it in this case was stated to be because the Amalekites were the first to attack the people of Israel as they came out of Egypt, when they were especially vulnerable in the wilderness (Exodus 17). The Amalekites had mercilessly swooped down on them, decimating their lines in order to obtain booty, and probably having also the aim of preventing them from passing through what they saw as Amalekite territory.They attacked the rear of the Israelite company which contained the old, the women and the children killing them mercilessly. Can you somehow see why this whole of evil people needed to be wiped out?
4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
In obedience to Yahweh’s command Saul sent out the call to the tribes, and when they were gathered in Telaim assessed their strength. (Telaim was a town in the Negeb). From the central and northern tribes had come two hundred units of infantry. From Judah in the south had come ten military units.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
The ‘city’ of Amalek may have been a large tent encampment. Saul and his troops settled down in ambush in the valley, partially surrounding the hill.
6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
A group of Kenites were in their own encampment close by. They were seen by the Amalekites as ‘brother nomads’. The Kenites had, however, unlike the fierce Amalekites, assisted Israel in its journey through the wilderness and one of their number had acted as Israel’s guide (Numbers 10.29-32). They had long lived with Israel in friendly fashion. Saul thus sent them a message warning them to leave the mount for a place of safety so that they would not be destroyed with the Amalekites.
7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
Saul and his army then smote the Amalekites, first in their main encampment and then all the Amalekites who were in their territory ‘from Havilah to Shur’. Shur was near the border of Egypt.
8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Saul’s first act of disobedience was to allow Agag to live. If Yahweh’s instructions had been followed Agag would not have been taken alive. Saul may have spared him out of fellow regard for a fellow-king, or because he wanted to parade him and have him as his servant in order to emphasize his victory. But whichever way it was he had disobeyed God. The fact was that Agag was not his to decide any other course of action. He was ‘devoted’ to Yahweh. He should therefore have been put to death on the spot.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Here the people are brought into Saul’s sin as well. They also knew that everything should have been devoted to God, and it was theirs as well as Saul’s responsibility to ensure that it was. So in sparing these prized animals all are guilty. Their aim may have been to keep some of the cattle and sheep for themselves after making what they saw as ‘appropriate’ offerings to Yahweh. Alternately the idea might have been that by offering these animals as sacrifices they would be able to feast on them (thus committing the sacrilege of partaking of meat that had been devoted to Yahweh) and not be required to offer so many of their own. But what they were in fact doing was disobeying God, and forgetting that these animals were Yahweh’s already. By eating of them they would be eating of ‘holy things’, and even worse, of ‘devoted things’.
YHWH’s response was to reject Saul from being king on the grounds of sacrilege and high treason, that is, because by his actions he had rejected his Lord God’s commands, and had committed sacrilege against what belonged wholly to Yahweh.
10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
The word of Yahweh came to Samuel. He alone represented the true voice of Yahweh. He was still very much Yahweh’s representative, with his authority still acknowledged by Saul.
11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
Yahweh declared to Samuel that He regretted setting up Saul as king because he had turned from following Him and had not obeyed His commandments. ‘Repent’ is an anthropomorphism indicating what it looked like from a human point of view. It simply indicated that as a result of Saul’s disobedience Yahweh would now see him and act towards him differently. For the one thing above all others that He required in His ‘anointed one’ was obedience.
To Samuel what he learned was devastating, for he recognized what it demonstrated, that Saul could no longer be trusted to do what Yahweh required, even in the most serious of matters. His kingship had gone to his head. The result was that he was furious with Saul, and spent the night mourning because Israel’s king, whom he had appointed, had been a total failure. And perhaps at the same time he was praying for God to show him what he should now do to prevent catastrophe for Israel.
12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
Next morning Samuel rose early and went to meet Saul. Carmel was in the mountains of Judah, about seven miles south-south-east of Hebron, and was on Saul’s expected route from the Negeb. And on arrival there he learned that Saul had already set up a monument in Carmel and had moved on to Gilgal. The monument was probably a token of victory.
13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
When Samuel arrived Saul greeted him warmly and declared that he had done what Yahweh had commanded. He was feeling pleased with himself. He had largely destroyed the Amalekites in the southern area of Israel, and in the wilderness beyond, and had returned with great booty.
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
But Samuel was not to be taken in. He knew what Saul had done, and so he asked, ‘What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen?’ He wanted to face Saul up to his sin. It is probably difficult for us to realize how great a sin Saul’s was. It was the kind of sin that would even have horrified Israel’s neighbors. It was a sin against the ‘most holy of things’. It is evidence of the arrogance and careless attitude that Saul now had towards The Great and Holy God of Israel that he did not realize it. He was beginning to think that he could do what he liked.
15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
We can see what a worthless person and leader Saul was. Immediately he threw all his faithful servants under the bus. Saul began to make excuses and tried to assure Samuel that they had brought these animals from the Amalekite encampment and had kept the best in order to present them to Yahweh, having destroyed everything else as Yahweh had commanded. He did not seem to realize that for them to eat them as peace and thanksgiving offerings would be to transgress against what was most holy, against what had already been devoted to Yahweh. He should have known that if they were to offer peace and thank offerings they should have taken them from their own resources, not from these. These were already Yahweh’s.
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”
In a way Samuel was saying to Saul, ‘If you just shut up for a moment, I will tell you what sin you have caused.’
17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?
Samuel reminds Saul of what Yahweh had done for him. When he was but little in his own sight, God had shown him great favor. He had made him the head of the tribes of Israel. He had anointed him as king over Israel.
18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
It was this same Mighty God Yahweh Who had sent him on this expedition and had said to him, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites.’ Note the emphasis on their sinfulness. These were no ordinary enemy; they were ‘the sinners’. They had been particularly evil. And that was why they had been ‘devoted to Yahweh’ so as to remove this evil from the earth for the good of all. And that was why Yahweh had told him to fight against them until all were consumed.
19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
The direct and to the point question then was, why had he not obeyed Yahwh when He had spoken to him so clearly? Why had he allowed this action with the spoil in order to keep it for himself, thereby doing evil in the sight of Yahweh?
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
Saul’s reply was that he had done what Yahweh had said. He had obeyed the voice of Yahweh. He had gone the way in which Yahweh had sent him. But then he convicted himself out of his own mouth, for while he claimed to have ‘devoted to Yahweh’ the whole of the Amalekites, he admitted that he had actually not done so, because here was Agag, the king of Amalek, the one who above all represented Amalek, still alive. So Saul was admitting that he had failed to ‘devote’ all Amalek to Yahweh. He had ‘devoted’ only what was right in his own eyes. He had kept back part of the spoil. He had appropriated what was Yahweh’s for himself.
21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
And then he took the age-old path of sinners. While admitting that some of the sheep and cattle, the very ‘chief of the devoted things’, had not been slain, he put the blame on the people. It was not his fault, he claimed, it was theirs. It was they who had taken the best of the spoil in order to bring it to Gilgal and offer it to Yahweh. But what he knew perfectly well in his heart was that what already belonged to Yahweh because it had been devoted to Him, could not be offered as an offering. What had been devoted to Him was ‘holy to Yahweh’ and had to be put to death, not sacrificed (Leviticus 27.28-29). And it had been his solemn responsibility as Yahweh’s anointed to ensure that that was done. God would not accept half-measures.
Please take a look again at Saul’s emphasis on ‘YOUR God’. The Holy and Ever Living God Jehovah Elyon – THe Lord Most High – Was The One Who gave Saul the leadership over all the people of Israel and this guy doesn’t even recognize Him as his own God. Can you see the significance here in what he said to Samuel, ‘Yahweh your God.’ He wanted Samuel to recognize that this great offering was to be to Samuel’s own God. It was He Who was to be honored. But he was prevaricating, for in his heart he knew the clear regulation that what was ‘devoted’ could not be offered, and this especially so as they would also partake of it. For what was ‘devoted’ was already totally set apart as His.
22 So 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 heed than the fat of rams.
Samuel’s reply, which would be regularly echoed by later prophets, was that while offerings and sacrifices might delight Yahweh when they were evidence of, and came from, an obedient and loving heart, without that they were meaningless. It was not offering and sacrifice and ritual that lay at the heart of love toward God, but faithfulness and obedience. The former only had meaning if they resulted from the latter. Obedience to God and listening to His commands were what was at the heart of true devotion.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Samuel then brings home the seriousness of disobedience. It is rebellion against God. It is thus as bad as using witchcraft and manipulating evil spirits, something for which men and women should be put to death. And the same is true of stubbornness in the face of God’s commandment. It is as bad as idolatry and resorting to the teraphim (superstitious images). For both disobedience and stubbornness exalt the self above God.
Then Samuel delivered the final blow. Because by his flagrant disobedience to a most sacred command of God Saul had rejected the direct order of Almighty God, so now had Yahweh rejected him from being king over Israel. In Yahweh’s eyes he was king no longer. He might still be in the position, but that was all.
24 Then 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.
Saul’s resistance now collapsed. He acknowledged that all his excuses had simply been hypocrisy. He admitted that he had disobeyed Yahweh’s strict commandment, and the words of Samuel, because he had been swayed by the people and had done what they had said. He was still seeking to shift the blame onto the people. But we should note that his great concern was concerning what he had lost by it, not about how much he had sinned against God, expressing his deep regret that he had offended the God Who has loved and gave him this high position. That above all was what mattered to him. But Saul’s concern was more about the fact that he had lost status and position.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.”
We should note Saul’s approach here. Rather than being down on his face before God in utter despair over how he had grieved Him, he was more concerned about his sin against Samuel, and looked for Samuel’s intervention with God. His faith was not direct, it was second hand. His concern was to be accepted back as though he had not committed these sins, so that he might be seen to be worshipping Yahweh correctly, not on how his behavior had broken his own personal relationship with God.
26 But 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.”
Samuel saw through exactly what Saul was trying to pull. He would have none of it. He would not return with him to the Sanctuary at Gilgal, because he had rejected the word of Yahweh, and thus Yahweh had rejected him from being king over Israel. He would thus no longer acknowledge him before the people. As far as he was concerned as the prophet of Yahweh he had no further responsibility towards Saul.
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
Saul was desperate. He was afraid that without Samuel’s support his whole status and acceptability might collapse. So in his desperation he reached out to grab the robe of the departing prophet in order to prevent him from leaving. But all that he managed to lay hands on was the very hem of the robe and the hem tore.
28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
Samuel said to him, ‘Just as that hem has been torn, so has Yahweh torn from you the kingship of Israel this day.’ Both recognized the significance of the torn hem. Disobedience and breach of Yahweh’s commandments had brought separation from God, and in Saul’s case that included the matter of the kingship. And inevitably, as his family’s succession had already been ruled out, that involved another Israelite replacing him, someone who was better than he was.
This is the second time that Samuel has indicated that Yahweh now has his replacement in mind. In chapter 13.14 he had said, ‘Yahweh has sought a man after His own heart, and has commanded him to be war-leader over His people’. Here it is to ‘one of your neighbors -- someone who is better than you’. Samuel did not yet know who it was. But he did know that Yahweh had someone in mind.
29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
Samuel then stresses the finality of Yahweh’s verdict. Yahweh Is the very foundation and strength of Israel, it’s very backbone, the unchanging One, the eternal One, God and not man. He Is totally steadfast and sure. In a word used elsewhere He is their Rock. And because His desire is for the very best for His people, nothing less than the best for them can finally satisfy Him. Thus once Yahweh has determined on something which He knows is for their benefit it will come about, and nothing will change His mind or make Him regret it, because it will have been purposed for the very best. And all this because He Is The Unchanging One.
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”
Saul’s defiance now crumbles. He ceases defending himself and acknowledges that he has sinned. Perhaps had he at this time flung himself down before God and repented as David repented in Psalm 51 God might have shown him more mercy. But he did not. That was not Saul’s way. He rather settled for what seemed to be the inevitable. His one desire now was to be shown in the eyes of all the people that he was still in charge.
So he calls on Samuel to uphold his honor among the people and their leaders, by going with him to the Sanctuary at Gilgal so that that to all the people the two may seem as being in harmony.
31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
Samuel then revealed his compassion by following Saul to Gilgal and enabling him to worship Yahweh. But it was the last thing that he would do for him. From then on Saul was on his own.
Samuel recognized that what had been devoted to Yahweh must be given to him, and so he calls for Agag to be brought and executes him. And although it is not mentioned we would assume that Samuel also insisted on the ‘devoted’ animals being slaughtered and not offered as sacrifices. Then he leaves Saul for the last time and never sees him again.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
Having completed their worship of Yahweh Samuel demanded that Agag be called before him. He was determined to do what Saul had failed to do. Indeed it was his responsibility as a prophet of God.
Agag was not quite sure what to expect. As a captor (and knowing what he would have done himself) he would know that his life hung by a thread. So he sheepishly says to Samuel, ‘Is the bitterness of death indeed past?’
33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
He was soon to learn his fate. Samuel knew him as a man who could quite relentlessly slaughter others including children and women, and he sentenced him to the same fate. And so Samuel executed him
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
Samuel and Saul then went their separate ways. This time there was no going to Gibeah for Samuel. He went home to Ramah, and Saul went back to his rustic fortress in Gibeah.
35 And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
The final break is now signaled. The completeness of the break is stressed by the threefold description;
. He ‘came no more to see Saul’
. He ‘mourned for Saul
. Yahweh God repented that He had made Saul king
Saul is now clearly rejected by Yahweh, and we can therefore expect some indication of what Yahweh will do next (which will come in the next chapter).
The clear implication of these last three chapters is that in spite of his successes Saul has been a failure. And yet Samuel was not unconcerned by the fact. Nor was he cynical, even though it had turned out as he had expected. Rather it was a great grief to him, a grief that had already begun in verse 11. He had hoped that Saul might turn out well in spite of his initial doubts. But now it was not to be as for Yahweh He also had withdrawn His support from Saul. As He had informed Samuel in verse 11, He was altering the planned course because the participant had proved unworthy. But He would not desert His people while Samuel was there to pray for them. He would now therefore choose a replacement for Saul.
