1 Samuel 15:8

8 He took Agag the king of the `Amaleki alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

1 Samuel 15:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:8

And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive
This name seems to be a common name of the kings of these people, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptians, see ( Numbers 24:2 ) . When this king fell into the hands of Saul, he did not put him to death, as he should have done, but preserved him; for what reasons, see in the following verse:

and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword;
that is, all that came in his way, or fell into his hands; all between Havilah and Shur; all excepting those that made their escape, for we after read of Amalekites, and that in large bodies, ( 1 Samuel 27:8 ) ( 30:1 ) .

1 Samuel 15:8 In-Context

6 Sha'ul said to the Kinim, Go, depart, get you down from among the `Amaleki, lest I destroy you with them; for you shown kindness to all the children of Yisra'el, when they came up out of Mitzrayim. So the Kinim departed from among the `Amaleki.

7 Sha'ul struck the `Amaleki, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Mitzrayim.

8 He took Agag the king of the `Amaleki alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

9 But Sha'ul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

10 Then came the word of the LORD to Shemu'el, saying,