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Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the LORD’s words.
Verse 1. Lord, in gratitude for so great an honour. Bible.
The LORD of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.
Verse 2. Reckoned up. God speaks in a human manner, as if he had been reading the history of ancient times. Exodus 17:14. Menochius.—The Amalecites had treated Israel with inhumanity, above 400 years before. God’s vengeance is often slow, but only so much the more terrible. Calmet.—Hebrew pakadti, I have visited, or will punish and remember.
Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
Verse 3. Destroy, as a thing accursed. Bible.—Child. The great master of life and death (who cuts off one half of mankind whilst they are children) has been pleased sometimes to ordain that children should be put to the sword, in detestation of the crimes of their parents, and that they might not live to follow the same wicked ways. But without such ordinance of God, it is not allowable in any wars, how just soever, to kill children. Challoner.—The Israelites were now to execute God’s orders with blind obedience, as he cannot be guilty of injustice.—Nor covet … his, is omitted in Hebrew and so forth Calmet.—Amalec is stricken when the flesh is chastised—He is destroyed when we repress evil thoughts. Saint Gregory Worthington.
Saul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
Verse 4. As lambs. This comparison is very common. Isaiah 40:11. Ezekiel 34:2. But many translate the Hebrew “in Telaim.” S. Jerom reads Hebrew c, as, instead of b, in, with greater propriety. Septuagint and Josephus, “in Galgal,” which in effect would have been the most proper place for rendezvous. Calmet.—Footmen. Vat. Septuagint “400,000 ranks or standards, (Josephus, men) and Juda 30,000.”
Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
Verse 5. Amelac. The people dwelt in tents, and removed from one place to another. So in Ethiopia there are properly no cities, the place where the prince encamps is deemed the capital. Calmet.—Torrent. Hebrew or “valley.”
Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
Verse 6. Egypt. See Judges 1:16. Exodus 18:12. Numbers 10:31 and 24:21. Saul gave private instructions to the Cinite, who had been settled at Arad, and had mixed with Amalec, to depart. Calmet.
Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.
Verse 7. Sur. See Genesis 2:11 and 16:7 and 25:18. Exodus 15:22. Menochius.—These people had occupied a great part of the country, from the Persian Gulf to Egypt. Bible.
He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Verse 9. Garments. Hebrew is commonly rendered, “fatlings.” Septuagint “eatables.” Calmet.—Avarice seems to have actuated Saul, (Lyran) or a false pity, (Josephus) or a desire to grace his triumph, verse 12. Glossa. Menochius.
Then the LORD’s word came to Samuel, saying,
“It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to the LORD all night.
Verse 11. Repenteth. God cannot change: but he often acts exteriorly as one who repents. He alters his conduct when men prove rebellious. S. Justin. p. 22.—Grieved. Hebrew “indignant.” Calmet.—He was sorry to think that Saul would now lose his temporal, and perhaps his eternal crown. Salien.—“The choice of Judas and of Saul, do not prove that God is ignorant of future events, but rather that he is a Judge of the present.” Saint Jerome in Ezec. ii.
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”
Verse 12. Arch. Here we behold what a change prosperity makes in the manners of those who before shewed the greatest humility. Saul erects a monument to his own vanity. Hebrew “he has set him up a hand,” (as Absalom did, 2 Kennicott. 18:18) or “a place” to divide the booty, (Jonathan) or “a garrison,” to keep the country in subjection. Calmet.—Perhaps he erected the figure of “a hand,” as an emblem of strength, and in honour of Benjamin, “the son of the right hand,” of whose tribe he was. Bible.
Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
Verse 14. Hear, and which manifestly prove, that God’s order has not been put in execution. Menochius.
Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
Verse 15. Thy God. This was probably a falsehood, like the rest. Salien.
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.”
Samuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel;
Verse 17. Eyes. God rejects the proud, and gives his grace to the humble. See Luke 1:52. Bible.
and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
Why then didn’t you obey the LORD’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight?”
Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the LORD’s voice, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
Verse 20. Lord. Septuagint “of the people.”
But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
Verse 21. First-fruits, or the best.—Slain. Hebrew “of the anathema.”
Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
Verse 22. Rams. Can God be pleased with victims which he has cursed? Bible.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the LORD’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”
Verse 23. Obey. Hebrew “Rebellion is the sin of divination or witchcraft, and resistance is iniquity, and the Theraphim.” Sym. “the injustice of idols.” Theraphim here designate idolatrous representations. Genesis 31:19. They were probably of Chaldee origin, in honour of the sun and fire, ( Calmet.) and were venerated like the Penates, and supposed to be the sources of prosperity, from the Arab. Taraph, “to give abundance.” Hence Laban was so solicitous to recover what Rachel had taken away. Louis de Dieu—By sacrifices we give our goods, or another’s flesh is immolated; (Mor. xxxiii. 10. D.) by obedience, we give ourselves to God. Saint Gregory Worthington.
teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.
Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
Verse 24. Voice: miserable excuse for a king, who ought to prevent the sins of his people! Calmet.—Saul’s transgression seems less than David’s; but the one repents, and the other proudly defends what he had done. D.
Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.”
Verse 25. Bear, or take away. Pardon my fault. Do not expose me in public.—The Lord, by offering sacrifices, verse 31. Calmet.
Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the LORD’s word, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
Verse 27. Rent: a dreadful prognostic that Saul was cast away. Bible.
Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
Verse 29. Triumpher. Some suppose that he speaks ironically of Saul. A prince, like you, will not repent. Calmet.—But it more probably refers to God, who would not fail to execute his threats against the king. Bible.—Hebrew “the victor in Israel will not lie, he will not repent.” Septuagint “and Israel shall be split in two, and the holy one of Israel shall not turn nor repent.” Saul’s rejection became now inevitable.
Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”
Verse 30. Israel. He is wholly solicitous to shun disgrace in this world. Bible.—His confession was not actuated by such contrition as that he might deserve to hear, the Lord has removed thy sin. He begins by falsehood; continues making idle excuses, and throwing the blame on others, and concludes, by shewing that he is more concerned for what his subjects may think and do against him, than for the displeasure of God. He boldly ventures to offer victims. But Samuel joins not with him in prayer, looking upon him as a person excommunicated; and he only attends that he may see the word of the Lord fulfilled, and Agag treated as he deserved. Salien, A. 2965.
So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped the LORD.
Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
Verse 32. Trembling. Hebrew “and Agag came to him delicately.” Septuagint “trembling,” ( Bible.) or walking with a soft step, or “with bands or chains;” mahadannoth. See Pagnin. Menochius.—Some think that he presented himself boldly, like a king, fearing nothing. Vatab.—Manner. Hebrew “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” I have obtained pardon from Saul. But the sense of the Vulg. seems preferable, as he must have perceived, from the looks of the prophet, that death was hanging over him. Hence others translate, “is pouring upon me,” instead of, is past. Septuagint “Is death thus bitter?” Chal. “I pray my Lord: the bitterness of death.” Bible.—O death! how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions, and so forth Sirach 41:1. So Aristotle (Nicom. iii. 6.) says, “Death is most terrible, (περας γαρ) for it is a passage,” or separation, from all the things which could attach a man to this world. Calmet.—This catastrophe of Agag and Saul, had been long before predicted. Numbers 24:7. Bible.
Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
Verse 33. Pieces. Josephus adds, by the hand of others. Menochius.—But zeal put the sword into his own hand; and he imitated the Levites and Phinees, (Exodus 32:27) to shew Saul how preposterous had been his pity, when the Lord had spoken plainly. Calmet.—Lord, as a sort of victim. Isaiah 34:6. Menochius.
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned for Saul. The LORD grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
Verse 35. Saw Saul no more till the day of his death. That is, he went no more to see him: he visited him no more. Challoner.—He looked upon him as one who had lost the right to the kingdom, though he was suffered for a time to hold the reins of government, as a lieutenant to David. He might afterwards see Saul passing, but never to visit him, (Salien) or to consult with him about the affairs of state; ( Menochius.) nor perhaps did he even see him, when Saul came to Najoth. Calmet. 19:19, 24. His spirit came to announce destruction to Saul, the night preceding the death of that unfortunate king. Calmet. 28. Bible.—Repented. God is said, improperly, to repent when he alters what he had appointed. Saint Ambrose de Noe, c. iv. Worthington.