1 Samuel 15:1

1 And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me, that I should anoint thee into king on his people Israel (The Lord hath sent me to anoint thee king upon his people Israel); now therefore hear thou the voice of the Lord.

1 Samuel 15:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:1

Samuel also said unto Saul
When and where he said to him what follows, it is not easy to determine, perhaps at Gilgal, where they after met again:

the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over
Israel;
that is, he gave him orders to anoint him king of Israel, otherwise Saul was in providence sent to Samuel to be anointed, and not Samuel to Saul:

now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord;
for so great a favour, and such high honour he had conferred on him, laid him under great obligation to obey the commands of the Lord; and whereas he had been deficient in one instance before, for which he had been reproved, he suggests, that now he should take care to observe and do, particularly and punctually, what should be enjoined him.

1 Samuel 15:1 In-Context

1 And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me, that I should anoint thee into king on his people Israel (The Lord hath sent me to anoint thee king upon his people Israel); now therefore hear thou the voice of the Lord.
2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have brought to mind whatever things Amalek hath done to Israel; how Amalek against-stood Israel in the way, when Israel went up from Egypt. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have remembered all the things that the Amalekites did to Israel; how they opposed Israel on the way, when Israel came up from Egypt.)
3 Now therefore go thou, and slay Amalek, and destroy thou all his things; spare thou not him, nor covet thou anything of his things; but slay thou from man unto woman, and little child, and sucking, ox, and sheep, and camel, and ass. (And so now go thou, and kill the Amalekites, and destroy thou all of their things; spare thou not any of them, nor covet thou any of their things; but kill thou every man and woman, and little child, and suckling, yea, every ox, and sheep, and camel, and donkey.)
4 And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he numbered them as lambs, two hundred thousand of footmen, and ten thousand of men of Judah. (And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he counted, or registered, them in Telaim, and there were two hundred thousand footmen, and also ten thousand men of Judah.)
5 And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he made ready ambushments in the (dry bed of the) strand. (And when Saul came to the Amalekite city/And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he prepared an ambush in the dry riverbed.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.