1 Samuel 15:7-9

7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt.

8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.

9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves^[a] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

1 Samuel 15:7-9 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. S 1 Samuel 14:48
• 2. S Genesis 16:7; Genesis 25:17-18; Exodus 15:22
• 3. Exodus 17:8-16; S Numbers 24:7
• 4. S Joshua 8:23; 1 Samuel 30:1
• 5. S ver 3; ver 3,15

Footnotes

• [a] Or "the grown bulls" ; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.