1 Samuel 15 · WEB
Saul Rejected for Disobedience
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Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh.
2Thus says Yahweh of Armies, 'I have remembered that which Amalek did to Israel, what he did to him in the way when he came up from Egypt.
3Now 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.'"
4Saul summoned the people and counted them in Telaim: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley.
6Saul 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.
7Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah as you come to Shur, that is before Egypt.
8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, the cattle, the fat calves, 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.
10Then Yahweh's word came to Samuel, saying,
11"I regret 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 Yahweh all night.
12Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself, and has turned and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal."
13Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh."
14Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?"
15Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest."
16Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me last night." He said to him, "Say on."
17Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel.
18Yahweh sent you on a journey and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'
19Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
20Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal."
22Samuel said, "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king."
24Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
25Now therefore, please pardon my sin and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh."
26Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh's word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel."
27As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
28Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
29Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent."
30Then 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 Yahweh your God."
31So Samuel turned back after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.
32Then 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."
33Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." Samuel cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
35Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul. Yahweh regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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Summary
God commands Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites, but Saul spares King Agag and the best livestock, rationalizing that the animals will be used for sacrifice. Samuel confronts Saul with the famous declaration that obedience is better than sacrifice, and that rebellion is as serious as witchcraft. Because Saul rejected God's word, God rejects him as king. Samuel executes Agag himself, and the two men part ways permanently — Samuel mourning for Saul the rest of his life.
Themes
- Partial obedience is disobedience — there is no middle ground with God's commands
- The danger of fearing people more than fearing God
- Religious ritual cannot substitute for genuine obedience
- The irreversibility of divine rejection when one persistently disregards God's word
Key verses
- 1 Sam 15:22 — “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
- 1 Sam 15:23 — “Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.”
- 1 Sam 15:29 — “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent.”
Context & background
The Amalekites were a nomadic people of the Sinai/Negev region who had attacked Israel from behind during the Exodus (Exodus 17). God's command for total destruction (herem) was a judicial act of divine judgment against a people who had long opposed Israel and, by extension, God's purposes. Carmel here refers to modern Khirbet el-Kirmil in the southern West Bank (not Mount Carmel in the north), where Saul erected a victory monument. Gilgal, where the confrontation occurred, is in the Jordan Valley near modern Jericho. Saul's failure to fully obey marks the decisive turning point in his reign, and the rest of 1 Samuel traces the consequences.
Cross-references
- 1 Sam 13:13-14 — Samuel's earlier announcement that Saul's kingdom would not continue, foreshadowing this final rejection.
- Deut 25:17-19 — The command to remember and deal with Amalek when Israel was settled in the land.
- Ex 17:8-16 — God's original command to blot out the memory of Amalek, which this chapter fulfills incompletely.
- Hos 6:6 — "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" — echoes the principle that ritual cannot replace true devotion.
- Prov 21:3 — "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice."