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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 15
Saul commanded to smite and destroy the Amalekites and all that they
have—He saves some animals to sacrifice—Saul rejected from being
king, and told that to obey is better than sacrifice—Samuel destroys
Agag.
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1 SAMUEL also said unto
Saul, The LORD sent me to aanoint thee to be
king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice
of the words of the LORD.
2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that
which aAmalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for
him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
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3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly
adestroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
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6 ¶ And Saul said unto the
aKenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the
Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the
children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed
from among the Amalekites.
7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah
until thou comest to aShur, that is over
against Egypt.
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8 And he took aAgag the king of the
Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the
sword.
9 But Saul 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 would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
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10 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
11 aIt brepenteth
me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from
following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel;
and he cried unto the LORD all night.
12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
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13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the
Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to
sacrifice unto the LORD thy Goda;
and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
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15a the LORD thy God Perhaps,
besides that Saul is more influenced by men of this world, is here in his
statement to Samuel is 'the LORD thy God'. Rather than 'the LORD God' or
'the LORD our God'; Saul is speaking in a frame of reference which makes the
LORD Samuel's God but no necessarily Saul's God as well. This is a 'tell'
that Saul has not been about 'the LORD his God's business' but rather the
selfserving business of his own, placing other matters above God and God's
commandments which come to him by way of Samuel.
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16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in
thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of
Israel, and the LORD aanointed thee king over Israel?
18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
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19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
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22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great
adelight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
the bvoice of the LORD? Behold, to cobey
is better than dsacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of erams.
23 For arebellion is as the
sin of witchcraft, and bstubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry. Because thou hast crejected the word of the
LORD, he hath also drejected thee from being king.
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24 ¶ And Saul said unto Samuel, I have
asinned: for I have btransgressed the
commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I cfeared
the people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
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27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid
hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it arent.
28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the
akingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath
bgiven it to a cneighbour of thine,
that is better than thou.
29 And also athe Strength of
Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should
repent.
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30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
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32 ¶ Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
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34 ¶ Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day
of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD
arepented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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