Why does Samuel reject Saul’s claim that he has fulfilled the Lord’s command against Amalec?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Saul and the people spared Agag and valuable goods that the command told them to destroy. When Saul says the animals were kept for sacrifice, Samuel answers that obedience is better than sacrifice and that rejecting the Lord’s word has brought Saul’s rejection as king.

Chapter breakdown

Samuel tells Saul that the Lord sent him to anoint Saul king over Israel, so Saul must now hear the Lord’s voice. He gives the Lord of hosts’ words: he has reckoned what Amalec did in opposing Israel on the way from Egypt. Saul is commanded to strike Amalec, destroy all he has, spare him nothing and covet nothing of his, killing man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Challoner separately calls God the great Master of life and death and says he cuts off half of mankind while they are children. The note says he has sometimes ordered children put to the sword in detestation of their parents’ crimes and so they would not live to follow the same wicked ways. It also expressly says that without such an ordinance of God, killing children is not allowable in any war, however just. These are the actual note’s statements, distinct from the command in Scripture.

Saul commands the people and numbers them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Juda. At Amalec’s city he lays ambushes in the torrent. He tells the Cinite to depart from Amalec lest he destroy them together, giving the reason that the Cinite showed kindness to all Israel’s children when they came from Egypt. The Cinite departs from Amalec’s midst. Saul strikes Amalec from Hevila to Sur, opposite Egypt. He takes Agag, Amalec’s king, alive and kills all the common people with the sword. Saul and the people spare Agag, the best sheep flocks and herds, garments, rams and all that is beautiful, refusing to destroy them. They destroy what is vile and good for nothing.

The Lord’s word comes to Samuel, saying he repents of making Saul king because Saul has forsaken him and not carried out his commandments. Samuel is grieved and cries to the Lord all night. Rising early to go to Saul in the morning, he hears that Saul came to Carmel, erected a triumphant arch for himself and then went down to Galgal. Samuel finds Saul offering a holocaust from Amalec’s choicest spoils. Saul blesses Samuel in the Lord’s name and claims he has fulfilled the Lord’s word. Samuel asks what the bleating flocks and lowing herds in his ears mean. Saul says they were brought from Amalec, that the people spared the best sheep and herds for sacrifice to the Lord Samuel’s God, and that they killed the rest. Samuel asks permission to tell him what the Lord said that night, and Saul tells him to speak.

Samuel asks whether Saul was made head of Israel’s tribes when little in his own eyes, and recalls the Lord anointing him king. The Lord sent him to kill Amalec’s sinners and fight until they were utterly destroyed. Samuel asks why he failed to hear the Lord, turned to the prey and did evil in his eyes. Saul insists he heard and followed the appointed way, brought Agag and killed Amalec. He says the people took sheep and oxen as firstfruits of what was slain to sacrifice to their God at Galgal. Samuel asks whether the Lord desires holocausts and victims rather than obedience to his voice. He says obedience is better than sacrifices and hearing better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and refusal to obey like the crime of idolatry. Because Saul rejected the Lord’s word, the Lord has rejected him from being king.

Saul confesses sin against the Lord’s commandment and Samuel’s words, saying he feared the people and obeyed their voice. He asks Samuel to bear his sin and return with him so he may adore the Lord. Samuel refuses because Saul rejected the Lord’s word and the Lord rejected him as king over Israel. As Samuel turns away, Saul takes hold of the skirt of his mantle and it tears. Samuel says the Lord has torn Israel’s kingdom from Saul that day and given it to a neighbour better than he. The triumpher in Israel will not spare or be moved to repentance, because he is not a man who should repent. Saul again confesses sin, asks Samuel to honour him before his people’s ancients and Israel and return so he may adore the Lord Samuel’s God. Samuel turns again after Saul, and Saul adores the Lord.

Samuel calls for Agag, king of Amalec, who is presented very fat and trembling. Agag asks whether bitter death separates in this manner. Samuel says that as Agag’s sword has made women childless, his mother will be childless among women. Samuel hews him in pieces before the Lord at Galgal. Samuel departs to Ramatha, while Saul goes to his house in Gabaa. Samuel sees Saul no more till the day of his death, yet mourns for him because the Lord repented of making him Israel’s king. Challoner separately explains that seeing him no more means Samuel no longer went to see him or visited him.

The story inside

The command names Amalec’s earlier opposition and sets out what must be destroyed. Saul warns the Cinite to leave because of earlier kindness, then fights along the named route but spares Agag and valuable spoils. The Lord’s message brings Samuel’s all-night cry and morning journey. Saul’s claim of obedience meets Samuel’s question about the animals and the explanation of sacrifice. Samuel recalls the command and states that obedience is better, then announces rejection. Saul’s confession and request lead to refusal, the torn mantle and a further request for public honour; Samuel returns and Saul worships. Samuel then kills Agag, departs and continues mourning without further visits, as the actual note explains.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The spared goods are specifically named. Agag, sheep, herds, garments, rams and beautiful things stand against the command to spare and covet nothing. The Cinite’s departure has a separate stated reason: kindness to Israel on leaving Egypt.
2
Samuel’s answer addresses Saul’s explanation. Saul says the animals are for sacrifice, but Samuel sets hearing and obedience above victims and the fat of rams. He connects rejection as king directly to rejection of the Lord’s word.
3
Saul states fear of the people and asks for public honour. Those words and Samuel’s return are retained without guessing whether the confession was sincere or claiming the return preserved national order. The note on later visits does not add a wider theory of all personal or prophetic contact.

Test your recall

What did the command require, what did Saul and the people spare, and how do the animals, Saul’s sacrifice explanation and Samuel’s answer lead to rejection and the torn-mantle statement?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 29684–29706
1 Kings Chapter 15 Saul is sent to destroy Amalec: he spareth their king and the best of their cattle: for which disobedience he is cast off by the Lord. 15:1. And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his people Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord: 15:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. 15:3. Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: spare him not, nor covet anything that is his: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Child.... The great Master of life and death (who cuts off one half of all mankind whilst they are children) has been pleased sometimes to ordain that children should be put to the sword, in detestation of the crimes of their parents, and that they might not live to follow the same wicked ways. But without such ordinance of God it is not allowable, in any wars, how just soever, to kill children.
Lines 29708–29728
15:4. So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda. 15:5. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent. 15:6. And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart, and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec. 15:7. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt. 15:8. And he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. 15:9. And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the flocks of sheep, and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile, and good for nothing, that they destroyed.
Lines 29730–29753
15:10. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: 15:11. It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night. 15:12. And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord, out of the choicest of the spoils, which he had brought from Amalec. 15:13. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord. 15:14. And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear? 15:15. And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain. 15:16. And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak.
Lines 29755–29782
15:17. And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel. 15:18. And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them. 15:19. Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord? 15:20. And Saul said to Samuel: Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain. 15:21. But the people took of the spoils, sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal. 15:22. And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. 15:23. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch, therefore, as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.
Lines 29784–29809
15:24. And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned, because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice. 15:25. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord. 15:26. And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 15:27. And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 15:28. And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee. 15:29. But the triumpher in Israel will not spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a man that he should repent. 15:30. Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord thy God. 15:31. So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord.
Lines 29811–29829
15:32. And Samuel said: Bring hither to me Agag, the king of Amalec. And Agag was presented to him very fat, and trembling. And Agag said: Doth bitter death separate in this manner? 15:33. And Samuel said: As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal. 15:34. And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in Gabaa. 15:35. And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death: nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king over Israel. Saw Saul no more till the day of his death.... That is, he went no more to see him: he visited him no more.