1 Samuel 15:24

24 Sha'ul said to Sh'mu'el, "I have sinned. I violated the order of ADONAI and your words too, because I was afraid of the people and listened to what they said.

1 Samuel 15:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:24

And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned
This confession of his sin does not appear to be ingenuous, cordial, and sincere, and was made chiefly for the sake of getting the sentence of rejecting him from being king reversed:

for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words;
which last seems to be added to collogue with Samuel, and to ingratiate himself with him; and Abarbinel thinks that Saul suspected that Samuel had aggravated the matter of himself, and that he did not really transgress the words of the Lord, but as the words of Samuel; and therefore according to the words of Samuel he had sinned, but not according to the words of the Lord only;

because I feared the people;
Doeg the Edomite, who was reckoned as all of them, Jarchi says: this was a mere excuse of Saul's, he stood in no fear of the people, he kept them in awe, and did as he would with them, as a sovereign prince:

and obeyed their voice;
in sparing the best of the cattle; so be pretended, when it was his own will, and the effect of his covetousness.

1 Samuel 15:24 In-Context

22 Sh'mu'el said, "Does ADONAI take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying what ADONAI says? Surely obeying is better than sacrifice, and heeding orders than the fat of rams.

23 "For rebellion is like the sin of sorcery, stubbornness like the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of ADONAI, he too has rejected you as king."

24 Sha'ul said to Sh'mu'el, "I have sinned. I violated the order of ADONAI and your words too, because I was afraid of the people and listened to what they said.

25 Now, please, pardon my sin; and come back with me, so that I can worship ADONAI."

26 But Sh'mu'el said to Sha'ul, "I will not go back with you, because you have rejected the word of ADONAI, and ADONAI has rejected you as king over Isra'el."