1 Samuel 15:23-24

Context

Chapter 15 of 1 Samuel opens with God commanding Saul to "utterly destroy" the Amalekites (that is, to destroy them completely as something devoted to God). Saul, however, spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, along with the best of the livestock. When Samuel confronts him, Saul replies that the people kept the animals in order to sacrifice them to God (15:15, 21). Samuel declares that "to obey is better than sacrifice" (15:22), and in verse 23 he likens rebellion and stubbornness to divination and idolatry: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." He then pronounces that because Saul has rejected the word of the LORD, the LORD has also rejected him from being king.

Verse 24 is Saul's reply. Saul acknowledges his sin and gives as his reason that "I feared the people, and obeyed their voice." Saul then pleads for pardon and, seizing the skirt of Samuel's mantle, tears it; Samuel interprets this as a sign that the kingdom will be torn from Saul and given to another (15:27-28). In chapter 16, David is anointed.

Interpretation

• Obedience and worship: Verses 22-23 are read together as a declaration that sacrifice offered without obedience to God's word is meaningless. Many interpreters place this passage at the head of a line of thought, running through Hosea, Micah, and Psalm 51, that favors obedience and steadfast love over sacrifice. Interpreters also commonly point out that the passage does not repudiate sacrifice as such.
• Disobedience as idolatry: Verse 23 compares rebellion to "witchcraft" (divination) and stubbornness to idol worship. This is taken to mean that placing one's own will above the word of God is, in essence, the same as idolatry.
• Saul's confession: Saul's words "I have sinned" in verse 24 resemble David's confession (2 Samuel 12:13). Many commentators and preachers, however, do not regard Saul's words as genuine repentance, noting that he shifted the blame onto the people and that in verse 30 he asked to be honored before the elders of the people. Other readings focus less on the sincerity of the confession itself than on the fact that the confession did not reverse the judgment already pronounced.
• A leader's fear: Because Saul feared the people more than God, the passage is read as an example of leadership that failed by yielding to public opinion.

Debates and Issues

• Translation: "Witchcraft" renders the Hebrew qesem, meaning divination. "Iniquity and idolatry" render 'awen (vanity, wickedness) and teraphim (household idols). The first part of verse 23 is terse and compressed in Hebrew, so its wording varies somewhat among translations.
• God's "regret": The Korean Revised Version renders 15:11 and 15:35 as saying that God "regretted" making Saul king, while in 15:29 it says that God does not "change his mind." Because the same Hebrew verb (nacham) is used in each case, these verses are frequently discussed in connection with the immutability of God.
• The scope of the rejection: The prevailing interpretation holds that the passage speaks only of a judgment concerning the kingship and does not directly address Saul's personal salvation. Some sermons, however, present Saul as a cautionary example of a person who fell away from grace.
• The ethics of the command to destroy: The command to utterly destroy the Amalekites, which forms the premise of this scene, raises ethical questions for modern readers and is discussed alongside the passage.
• Quotation out of context: Verses 22-23 are sometimes used to support demands for obedience to church leaders or senior pastors. Critics both inside and outside the church have objected that the passage concerns obedience to the word of God, and that Saul's fault lay precisely in following the words of men.

In the Korean Church

Together with verse 22, the passage is often cited in sermons on the theme of obedience, and it is also widely used in settings that address the proper disposition of church officers and leaders.

Related Passages

• 1 Samuel 15:22
• 2 Samuel 12:13
• Psalm 51:16-17
• Micah 6:6-8
• Acts 5:29