Gilgal in the early morning after the campaign: rough stone pens on the flat Jordan plain crowded with fat sheep, cattle and calves, dust rising, a herdsman leaning on his staff by the gate, black tents beyond, under a calm pale-gold sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 15

Saul came back from Amalek with the best of everything and said he had obeyed. Then Samuel heard the sheep.

35 verses≈ 7 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listened
8–15SaulA king like the nationsChapter 15
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

Saul’s Disobedience

Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.

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Samuel

Samuel

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them on their way up from Egypt.

Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Against Amalek

Saul mustered the army at Telaim in the Negev, the dry south of Judah, and struck the Amalekites “all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.” On the way back he went to Carmel in the hill country of Judah, where “he has set up a monument for himself,” and then down to Gilgal, where Samuel found him. Afterward Samuel went home to Ramah and Saul to Gibeah. The sites of Telaim and Havilah are uncertain.

Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

Question

Quick question

Before the battle, Saul sent a warning to one people living among the Amalekites.

Which people did Saul warn to move away from the Amalekites?

Samuel Denounces Saul

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.”

Night on a flat rooftop at Ramah: old Samuel kneels on a reed mat with his hands raised and his face lifted, a small clay oil lamp burning beside him, the dark hills and a sky full of stars beyond.

And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.

Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”

Saul

When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

Samuel

But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Saul

Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

1 Samuel 15:14

Samuel

“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”

Saul

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

Samuel

And Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, have you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’ So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction. The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice?

1 Samuel 15:22

For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,

He has rejected you as king.”

Obey or sacrifice

Whiteboard

God’s word to Saul was plain: “devote to destruction all that belongs to them.” Saul kept Agag and “the best of everything else,” and then called it worship: “to sacrifice to the LORD your God.” Samuel’s answer is the hinge of the book: “obedience is better than sacrifice.” Saul’s way was rebellion, “like the sin of divination,” and it ended where it had to: “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”

Reflect

Better than sacrifice

Saul offered God something impressive instead of what God asked. Is there a ‘sacrifice’ you offer God, such as busyness, giving or church, in place of a plain command you are not obeying? Write it down, and name one step of obedience for this week.

Saul’s Confession

Saul

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.”

Samuel

“I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.”

As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

0:19

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Saul

“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him cheerfully, for he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

But Samuel declared:

“As your sword has made women childless,

so your mother will be childless among women.”

And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 15:35

Pray

A heart that listens

Saul said, “I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” Thank God that His word stands and He does not change. Ask Him for a heart that listens and obeys rather than one that makes excuses, and for the grace to fear Him more than you fear what people think.

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 15

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A verse to carry with you

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:22

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