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1 SAM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31
15 One day Shemuel said to Sha’ul, “It was Yahweh who sent me to anoint you as king over his people Yisrael back then, so now, listen to what he has to say.[ref] 2 Commander Yahweh says, ‘I’ve noticed what the Amalekites did to Yisrael when they came out of Egypt—they attacked them as they passed by.[ref] 3 So go now and attack Amalek and destroy them completely without compassion, putting men and women, children and infants to death, along with their cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”
4 So Sha’ul summoned the people to Telaim and counted them: two hundred thousand foot soldiers as well as ten thousand warriors from Yehudah. 5 Then Sha’ul took them to Amalek city, and they lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then he warned the Kenites, “You all need to move out from among the Amalekites, so that you all won’t be attacked along with them. That’s because you all were kind to our ancestors when they came out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved out from among the Amalekites.
7 Then Sha’ul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur (near Egypt), 8 and they captured King Agag alive but killed everyone else with swords. 9 However, as well as sparing Agag, they took the best sheep and cattle
10 Then Yahweh told Shemuel, 11 “I regret that I’ve appointed Sha’ul as king because he’s turned away from following me and hasn’t obeyed my instructions.” That really upset Shemuel and he cried out to Yahweh all night. 12 Early the next morning, Shemuel got up to meet Sha’ul, but someone told him, “Sha’ul went to Karmel, and wow, he set up a monument to himself. Then he turned around and went to Gilgal.” 13 When Shemuel caught up with Sha’ul, Sha’ul told him, “May Yahweh bless you. I’ve followed Yahweh’s instructions.”
14 “Then what’s that bleating of sheep that I can hear?” asked Shemuel. “And I’m sure I can hear cattle sounds too?”
15 “Ah, the warriors took them from the Amalekites,” Sha’ul answered. “They wanted to save the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice to your god Yahweh. But we completely destroyed the rest.”
16 “Stop,” said Shemuel, “and let me tell you what Yahweh told me last night.”
“Go ahead,” Sha’ul responded.
17 So Shemuel told him, “Although you consider yourself insignificant, aren’t you the head of the tribes of Yisrael? Yahweh anointed you as king over Yisrael, 18 then sent you off with the task of completely destroying the sinful Amalekites—fighting until they were all destroyed. 19 So why didn’t you obey Yahweh’s command? Instead, you headed straight for the plunder and disobeyed Yahweh.”
20 “I did listen to Yahweh’s instructions,” Sha’ul insisted. “and I did what he asked. So now I’ve brought Amalekite King Agag here and I’ve completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21 Yes, the people kept some of the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to your god Yahweh here at Gilgal.”
“Is Yahweh happier with burnt offerings and sacrifices
than with those who follow his instructions?
Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice—
≈ paying attention is worth more than the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is as sinful as doing sorcery,
≈ and being stubborn is as sinful as worshipping idols.
Because you have rejected Yahweh’s instructions,
≈ he has rejected you as king.”
24 “Yes, I’ve sinned,” Sha’ul responded. “I can see that I’ve disobeyed Yahweh’s instruction, and yours too, because I feared the people and did what they were requesting. 25 But now, please forgive my sin and come back with me so I can worship Yahweh.”
26 “No, I won’t return with you.” Shemuel replied. “You’ve rejected Yahweh’s instructions, and Yahweh has already rejected you as Yisrael’s king.”
27 As Shemuel turned around to go, Sha’ul grabbed the edge of his robe and it tore.[ref] 28 “Today, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Yisrael away from you,” Shemuel told him. “And he’s given it to another man who’s better than you. 29 And by the way, Yisrael’s powerful God doesn’t go back on his word, and doesn’t change his mind like people tend to do.
30 “It’s true that I’ve sinned,” Sha’ul said, “but please honour me now in front of the Israeli people and their elders. And then return with me, so I can worship your god Yahweh.” 31 So Shemuel followed Sha’ul back, and Sha’ul worshipped Yahweh.
32 Then Shemuel commanded, “Bring the Amalekite King Agag over here to me.”
So they brought him over, and trembling,[fn] he said, “I’ve faced up to death now.”[fn]
“Just as your sword has made women childless,
so too will your mother be made childless among women.”
And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces in front of Yahweh there at Gilgal.
34 Then Shemuel went home to Ramah, and Sha’ul returned to his house in Gibeah. 35 After that, Shemuel never saw Sha’ul again, but he mourned for him, and Yahweh regretted that he’d made Sha’ul king over Yisrael.
15:32 The meaning of the original word here is unclear and so there’ll be different interpretations.
15:32 Some translations interpret the original words as Agag thinking (or saying to himself) that he was going to be spared, but he surely knew Shemuel.
15:16 OSHB variant note: ו/יאמרו: (x-qere) ’וַ/יֹּ֥אמֶר’: lemma_c/559 morph_HC/Vqw3ms id_09ExA וַ/יֹּ֥אמֶר
1 Samuel 15
Saul’s war against the Amalekites exemplifies many of the key traits–good and bad–of Saul’s leadership over Israel. Immediately before the story is recounted, the author notes that during Saul’s entire reign he fought valiantly against Israel’s enemies on every side (1 Samuel 14:47-52), and he amassed an army of skilled soldiers. Thus, Saul fulfilled one of the primary reasons the people demanded that Samuel appoint a king over them (1 Samuel 8). Then the author notes that the Lord, through Samuel, directed Saul to attack the Amalekites and utterly destroy them and their belongings as punishment for their cruel attack on the Israelites after they left Egypt to travel to Mount Sinai (Exodus 17; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). So Saul mustered a large number of troops at a place called Telaim and traveled to an otherwise unknown “city of the Amalekites” and lay in lay in wait for them in a valley. Saul also warned the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Hobab (also called Jethro), to move away from the Amalekites so they would not be killed in the coming battle. It appears that the Kenites had remained on good terms with the Israelites since the time of Hobab/Jethro and accompanied them as they entered the Promised Land, eventually settling among the Amalekites in the Negev near Arad (Judges 1:16). Saul defeated the Amalekites, pursuing them “from Havilah as far as Shur,” according the the Hebrew text. The region of Havilah, however, was several hundred miles from the Negev, making it unlikely to be the place to which Saul pursued them, and this is underscored by the Septuagint’s substitution of “Elath” for “Havilah”. It is possible that the author was using this phrase as a hyperbolic merism to indicate that Saul pursued the Amalekites throughout the entire land in which they lived (see also Genesis 25:18 regarding the Ishmaelites). But since elsewhere in Scripture the Amalekites are said to live in the Negev and in southern Canaan (Genesis 14:7; Numbers 13:29; 14:45; Judges 1:16), another possibility is that the “Havilah” reading is a textual corruption. The Septuagint translators may have preserved the original reading of “Elath,” or they may have been making their best guess as to the intended location. Simply based on the similarity of spelling and the geography of the region (as shown on this map), it is possible that the original reading was “Hachilah,” a hill where David would later have some close encounters with Saul during his time in the wilderness (1 Samuel 23:19; 26:1). In any case, Saul and his men thoroughly defeated the Amalekites, but they failed to completely destroy them (see 1 Samuel 30) and their belongings. Instead they took King Agag alive and kept the best of the spoils. After this Saul traveled to Carmel and set up a monument for himself, and then he continued on to Gilgal. When Samuel arrived in Gilgal, however, he was angry with Saul for failing to devote all of the Amalekites and their goods to destruction, and he told Saul that the Lord regretted having made him king. Samuel then killed King Agag himself at Gilgal and returned to his home in Ramah. Saul returned to his home in Gibeah, but Samuel never spoke with Saul again.
1 SAM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31