1 Samuel 15:9

9 Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.

1 Samuel 15:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:9

And Saul and all the people spared Agag
Perhaps Saul made the motion to spare him, and the people agreed to it; it may be, out of respect to him as a king; or because of the comeliness of his person, the height of his stature, and the largeness of his body, as Josephus

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 notes; or to carry him in triumph in a public show, see ( 1 Samuel 15:12 )

and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings;
or "of the second sort", as in the margin, the second best; or rather which shed their two long teeth, as sheep at two years old did when reckoned at their full strength, and fittest for sacrifice ^F26:

and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them;
as they were commanded, but kept them for their own private use and advantage, and this not only the best and fattest of the flocks and herds, but of their household goods:

but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly:
such of the cattle that were poor and lean, lame or blind, or had any defect in them, and household goods that were mere rubbish and lumber; such they entirely destroyed, killed the creatures, and burnt the goods; in doing which they thought they fulfilled the will of God.

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 7.) sect. 2.
F26 Bidentes, Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6. ver. 39. Vid. Servium in ib.

1 Samuel 15:9 In-Context

7 Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt.

8 He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else.

9 Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.

10 Then the LORD said to Samuel,

11 “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the LORD all night.