Saul's Disobedience In 1 Samuel 15
First Samuel 15 details King Saul's disobedience to God's command to utterly destroy the Amalekites and its consequences, leading to his rejection as king [3, 4]. The chapter opens with Samuel reminding Saul that God had appointed him king and therefore expected his obedience [5]. God commanded Saul to "completely destroy" the Amalekites, a nation that had previously attacked Israel [6, 2].
Saul gathered his army and attacked the Amalekites, achieving success [4]. However, he did not fully carry out God's command. Instead of destroying everything, Saul and his men spared Agag, the Amalekite king, and the best of the sheep and oxen, ostensibly to sacrifice them to the Lord [6, 4]. This partial obedience constituted a direct transgression of God's explicit instructions [6].
God revealed Saul's disobedience to Samuel, expressing regret that He had made Saul king [7]. Samuel confronted Saul, who initially claimed to have obeyed God's command [7]. When pressed, Saul admitted his sin, stating, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice" [1]. Commentators note that Saul's confession appeared to stem more from a fear of consequences and a desire to maintain public appearance than from genuine repentance [9]. He asked Samuel to return with him to worship the Lord, suggesting a concern for outward religious observance despite his inward disobedience [9].
Samuel declared that because Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord had rejected him from being king [8]. This event marked a significant turning point in Saul's reign, leading to his ultimate rejection by God [3]. The narrative highlights the strictness of divine justice and the deceitfulness of the human heart [7].
Sources
- 1 Samuel “Saul 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. -- 1 Samuel 15:24”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 7, section 1: . Saul's War With The Amalekites, And Conquest Of Them. 1. Now Samuel came unto Saul, and said to him, that he was sent by God to put him in mind that God had preferred him before all others, and ordained him king; that he therefore ought to be obedient to him, and to submit to his authority, as considering, that though he had the dominion over the other tribes, yet that God had the dominion over him, and over all things. That accordingly God said to him, that "because the Amalekites did the Hebrews a great deal of mischief while”
- 1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 15 (introduction): War with Amalek. Saul's Disobedience and Rejection - 1 Samuel 15 As Saul had transgressed the commandment of God which was given to him through Samuel, by the sacrifice which he offered at Gilgal in the war with the Philistines at the very commencement of his reign, and had thereby drawn upon himself the threat that his monarchy should not be continued in perpetuity (Sa1 13:13-14); so his disobedience in the war against the Amalekites was followed by his rejection on the part of God. The Amalekites were the first heathen nation to attack the Isra”
- 1 Samuel (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15 (introduction): In this chapter we have the final rejection of Saul from being king, for his disobedience to God's command in not utterly destroying the Amalekites. By his wars and victories he hoped to magnify and perpetuate his own name and honour, but, by his mismanagement of them, he ruined himself, and laid his honour in the dust. Here is, I. The commission God gave him to destroy the Amalekites, with a command to do it utterly (Sa1 15:1-3). II. Saul's preparation for this expedition (Sa1 15:4-6). III. His success, and partial execution of this commission (Sa1”
- 1 Samuel (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15:1: Here, I. Samuel, in God's name, solemnly requires Saul to be obedient to the command of God, and plainly intimates that he was now about to put him upon a trial, in one particular instance, whether he would be obedient or no, Sa1 15:1. And the making of this so expressly the trial of his obedience did very much aggravate his disobedience. 1. He reminds him of what God had done for him: "The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be a king. God gave thee thy power, and therefore he expects thou shouldst use thy power for him. He put honour upon thee, and now thou must st”
- 1 Samuel (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Samuel 15:9: 15:9 Saul and his men directly disobeyed the Lord’s command to “completely destroy” the Amalekites (15:3). Though the entire army participated in the disobedience of God’s command, Saul alone was responsible as their leader.”
- 1 Samuel (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15:10: Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning the execution of his commission against the Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here furnished with of the strictness of the justice of God and the treachery and deceitfulness of the heart of man. We are here told, I. What passed between God and Samuel, in secret, upon this occasion, Sa1 15:10, Sa1 15:11. 1. God determines Saul's rejection, and acquaints Samuel with it: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a change of his mind, but a change of hi”
- 1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 15 (introduction): INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 15 In this chapter are recorded the order Saul had from the Lord to destroy Amalek utterly, Sa1 15:1 the preparation he made to put it in execution, and the success thereof, Sa1 15:4 the offence the Lord took at his not obeying his order thoroughly, with which Samuel was made acquainted, and which grieved him, Sa1 15:10, upon which he went out to meet Saul, and reprove him; and a long discourse upon the subject passed between them, the issue of which was, that by an irrevocable decree he was rejected from being king, Sa1 1”
- 1 Samuel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Samuel 15:24: I have sinned . . . turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord--The erring, but proud and obstinate monarch was now humbled. He was conscience-smitten for the moment, but his confession proceeded not from sincere repentance, but from a sense of danger and desire of averting the sentence denounced against him. For the sake of public appearance, he besought Samuel not to allow their serious differences to transpire, but to join with him in a public act of worship. Under the influence of his painfully agitated feelings, he designed to offer sacrif”