1 Samuel 15:1-9

Saul's Disobedience

1 Then Samuel said to Saul, "¹The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.

2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek ²for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.

3 'Now go and strike Amalek and ³utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but ⁴put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.' "

4 Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in ⁵Telaim, 200,000 * foot soldiers and 10,000 * men of Judah.

5 Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley.

6 Saul said to ⁶the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for ⁷you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

7 So ⁸Saul defeated the Amalekites, from ⁹Havilah as you go to ¹⁰Shur, which is east * of Egypt.

8 He captured ¹¹Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and ¹²utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

9 But Saul and the people ¹³spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything * despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

1 Samuel 15:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 15

In this chapter are recorded the order Saul had from the Lord to destroy Amalek utterly, 1Sa 15:1-3 the preparation he made to put it in execution, and the success thereof, 1Sa 15:4-9 the offence the Lord took at his not obeying his order thoroughly, with which Samuel was made acquainted, and which grieved him, 1Sa 15:10,11, upon which he went out to meet Saul, and reprove him; and a long discourse upon the subject passed between them, the issue of which was, that by an irrevocable decree he was rejected from being king, 1Sa 15:12-31 and the chapter is concluded with an account of Samuel's hewing in pieces Agag king of Amalek, and of his final departure from Saul, 1Sa 15:32-35.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1
• 2. Exodus 17:8-16; Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 25:17-19
• 3. Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 20:16-18; Joshua 6:17-21
• 4. 1 Samuel 22:19
• 5. Joshua 15:24
• 6. Numbers 24:21; Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11
• 7. Exodus 18:9, 10; Numbers 10:29-32
• 8. 1 Samuel 14:48
• 9. Genesis 25:18
• 10. Genesis 16:7; Exodus 15:22; 1 Samuel 27:8
• 11. Numbers 24:7; 1 Samuel 15:20; Esther 3:1
• 12. 1 Samuel 27:8, 9; 1 Samuel 30:1; 2 Samuel 8:12
• 13. 1 Sam 15:3, 15, 19

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "sound of the words"
• [b]. Or "visit"
• [c]. Lit "mustered"
• [d]. Lit "smote"
• [e]. Lit "before"