“Obedience, Not Performance”
We have watched Saul rise on a tide of promise and slide on a slope of compromises (see the notes for chapters 13–14). Chapter 15 is the tipping-point. One sentence will ring through the rest of his life: “The LORD has rejected you as king.”
Samuel speaks for God: “Now go, attack the Amalekites and put under complete destruction (ḥerem) all that belongs to them.”
• Historical memory: Amalek was the first nation to ambush Israel
after the exodus (Exodus 17:8-16; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). In the ancient
Near East, the gravest insult was to attack weary refugees. God promised
their line would be erased.
• Archaeology locates Amalekite territory in the southern Negev and
northern Sinai; Egyptian texts from the late second millennium B.C.
mention “Amalek” (ʿAmaleku) as nomadic raiders. This was no innocent
village but a generational war-band sustained by plunder.
• The word ḥerem means “devoted to destruction,” designating
something removed from human use and handed over to God’s judicial
purging. Western readers often stumble here; Israelite readers heard not
reckless genocide but a delayed divine sentence on violent
marauders.
Cross-references: Genesis 15:16; Joshua 6:17-19; Romans 12:19.
Saul assembles 210 000 troops, routs the Amalekites, but spares King Agag and the “best” animals. In the mindset of the day, parading a captured king and taking luxury livestock shouted, “Look at my success!” Mesopotamian stelae and reliefs confirm this was standard royal propaganda.
Selective obedience is convenient religion: we keep what flatters us and discard what confronts us.
Samuel arrives at Gilgal, the old covenant-renewal site (Joshua 5), and hears sheep bleating—ironically louder than Saul’s excuses.
Key Hebrew notes:
• “Obey” is šāmaʿ—“to listen so as to respond.” Worship starts
with an ear before it becomes a hand.
• “To obey is better than sacrifice” (v. 22) forms a parallelism:
– “To listen (šāmaʿ) than the fat (ḥēleb) of
rams.”
The poetic balance drives the point home like a drumbeat.
• “Rebellion is like qe-sem (divination)”—the king who dabbed
in partial obedience is likened to a sorcerer who peers into forbidden
spirits.
Cross-references: Psalm 51:16-17; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Mark 12:33.
Saul says, “I have sinned… I feared the people.” He craves Samuel’s public endorsement more than God’s private smile. Augustine commented, “What pageantry he loved! He wanted Samuel to stay for the applause.”
True repentance: God-centered sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10).
False repentance: Self-centered damage control.
Samuel himself carries out the judgment on Agag. The Hebrew reads “hewed” (šāṣaf)—a rare, vivid verb used for woodcutters. The prophet wields the sword the king refused to bear.
Literary flash-forward: In Esther, Haman is called “the Agagite” (Esther 3:1). Saul’s failure echoes into a later crisis.
“God regretted (nāḥam) that he had made Saul king” (v. 35). Nāḥam can mean “to sigh, to grieve.” It does not imply God made a mistake; it speaks of divine sorrow, not divine surprise (Numbers 23:19; James 1:17).
Samuel does not see Saul again, yet he mourned for him. Even rejected leaders deserve tears.
• Athanasius: “He who refuses one word of God has refused all.”
• Martin Luther: “The first sin is unbelief—a deaf ear.”
• John Wesley: “Give me one hundred who hate nothing but sin.”
• What Amalekite trophy do we keep for display—secret habit, proud
title, private stash?
• Do we measure worship by volume, frequency, or obedience?
• Are we grieving over fallen leaders while still upholding God’s
standards?
“Take My Life and Let It Be” (Frances Ridley Havergal, 1874)
Verse 2 answers Saul’s crisis:
“Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.”
Lord of unfailing truth,
train our ears to listen,
our hearts to obey,
our hands to release every trophy that denies Your reign.
Keep us from the show of sacrifice without the substance of
surrender.
In Jesus, the true and faithful King, we trust and follow.
Amen.