1 Samuel 15

The fifteenth of the thirty-one chapters of 1 Samuel, this chapter records the decisive event in which Saul is rejected as king. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul had already been rebuked once at Gilgal over the matter of sacrifice, and the end of chapter 14 briefly mentions that he fought against the Amalekites.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: Samuel delivers the command to utterly destroy the Amalekites. The reason given is that they opposed Israel on the way when it came up from Egypt.
• Verses 4–9: Saul numbers his forces at Telaim: 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. After first having the Kenites depart, he strikes the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur. He spares, however, King Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen.
• Verses 10–11: The LORD says that He repents of having made Saul king, and Samuel cries out to the LORD all night.
• Verses 12–21: Saul sets up a monument at Carmel and goes down to Gilgal. He claims to have carried out the command and explains that the people took the spared livestock in order to offer sacrifices.
• Verses 22–23: Samuel declares that obedience is better than sacrifice and pronounces the king's rejection.
• Verses 24–31: Saul confesses his sin, saying that he feared the people. When Saul seizes the skirt of Samuel's mantle, it tears, and Samuel says that the kingdom has been given to "a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou." When Saul asks to be honored before the elders, Samuel turns back with him, and Saul worships.
• Verses 32–33: Samuel puts Agag to death before the LORD in Gilgal.
• Verses 34–35: Samuel returns to Ramah and Saul to Gibeah. Samuel does not see Saul again until the day of his death, but he mourns for him.

Key Verses

• 1 Samuel 15:22: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." This verse epitomizes the theme that obedience to God's word takes precedence over the forms of worship.
• 1 Samuel 15:23: "Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." This verse announces the turning point at which Saul's dynasty comes to an end and the kingship passes to David.
• 1 Samuel 15:29: "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." This verse is read together with verses 11 and 35, which speak of God's "repenting."

Characters and Places

• Samuel: prophet and judge.
• Saul: the first king of Israel.
• Agag: king of the Amalekites.
• The Kenites: a people who showed kindness to Israel during the Exodus. Judges 1:16 identifies Moses' father-in-law as a Kenite.
• Carmel: a town in the territory of Judah, distinct from Elijah's Mount Carmel.
• Gilgal: the place where Saul was made king and where he offered sacrifices.
• Ramah and Gibeah: the hometowns of Samuel and Saul, respectively.

Points for Reflection

• God's "repenting": Verses 11 and 35 say that God repented, while verse 29 says that He does not repent. Many interpreters regard the former expressions as conveying God's grief in human language, and verse 29 as affirming that God's decisions and character do not change. The emphasis, however, varies among interpreters.
• The command of utter destruction: The command to kill even children raises ethical questions. Proposed answers include viewing it as a limited judgment on the Amalekites at a particular point in history and understanding it as a mode of expression characteristic of ancient war literature.
• Saul's confession: Even after confessing his sin, Saul seeks to save face before the people (v. 30). For this reason, many interpreters do not regard his confession as genuine repentance.
• Connections with other passages: Background on the Amalekites appears in Exodus 17 and Deuteronomy 25. The theme of obedience and sacrifice connects with Psalm 51:16–17, Hosea 6:1–4, and Micah 6:6–8, and it also relates to Matthew 9:13, where Jesus quotes Hosea. Saul's rejection is mentioned again in Acts 13:22. In addition, Haman is called "the Agagite" in Esther 3; the identification of him as a descendant of Agag comes from Jewish traditional interpretation.

In the Korean Church

Verse 22, "to obey is better than sacrifice," is one of the verses most frequently cited in Korean church preaching on obedience. The New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) renders it "순종이 제사보다 낫고 듣는 것이 숫양의 기름보다 나으니" ("to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams").