Defeat of the Amalekites
1 Kingdoms 15, verse 1. Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the Lord. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 2. Thus says the Lord Sabaoth, ‘I will exact vengeance for what Amalek did to Israel when he met Israel on his journey coming out of Egypt. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 3. Now go and strike down Amalek and Jerim and all of his things, and take nothing from him. You shall utterly destroy him. You shall curse him and everything that is his. You shall not spare anything of his. And you shall slay both man and woman, infant and nursing child, calf and sheep, and camel and donkey.’” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 4. So Saul told the people and numbered them in Gilgal, four hundred thousand troops, and from Judah thirty thousand troops. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 5. And Saul came to the cities of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 6. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go and depart from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed mercy to the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from the midst of Amalek. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 7. Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is before Egypt. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 8. He took captive Agag king of the Amalekites, and he killed all the people of Jerim with the edge of the sword. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 9. But Saul and all the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the vineyards, and everything good. They had no desire to utterly destroy them—only every despised and worthless thing; these they destroyed.
The Lord Deposes Saul as King
1 Kingdoms 15, verse 10. Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 11. “I deeply regret I set up Saul to reign as king, for he turned back from following Me and has not kept My words.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 12. Samuel rose early and journeyed to a meeting with Israel in the early morning. Then it was reported to Samuel, saying, “Saul has been in Carmel to gather help to himself.” Samuel turned the chariot and went down to Saul in Gilgal. And behold, Saul offered the whole burnt offering to the Lord, the first of the plunder brought out of Amalek. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 13. Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you by the Lord! I established all the many things the Lord said.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 14. But Samuel said, “What then is the sound of the flock in my ears, and the sound of oxen which I hear?” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 15. And Saul said, “I brought them from Amalek; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, in order that they may be sacrificed to the Lord your God. The rest I utterly destroyed.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 16. But Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And Saul said to him, “Speak on.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 17. So Samuel said to Saul, “Were you not small before Him, you who with a sceptre lead all the families of the tribes of Israel? Even so, the Lord still anointed you king over Israel. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 18. Now the Lord sent you off on a mission and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners for me, the Amalekites, and fight against them until you consume them.’ 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 19. Why did you not heed the voice of the Lord, but rushed down on the spoils and did evil before the Lord?” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 20. And Saul said to Samuel, “For the sake of the people, I listened to their voice, but I also went in the ways the Lord sent me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 21. But the people took of the plunder, the sheep and the oxen, the best of what should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice before the Lord our God in Gilgal.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 22. Then Samuel said, “If only the desired whole burnt offerings and desired sacrifices were equal to the Lord, as compared to one who heeds the voice of the Lord! Behold! Hearing is better than a good sacrifice and obedience than the fat of rams. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 23. That sin is one and the same as divination. Idols bring grief and pain. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord rejects you from remaining king over Israel.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 24. Then Saul said to Samuel, “I sinned because I transgressed the word of the Lord and your word; for I feared the people and heeded their voice. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 25. Now therefore, take away my sin and return with me, so that I can worship the Lord your God.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 26. But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord rejects you from remaining king over Israel.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 27. As Samuel turned his face to go away, Saul grasped the edge of his robe and tore it. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 28. So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from your hand today, and He will give it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 29. And Israel will be divided in two, and God shall not turn back nor repent. For He is not like a man that He should repent.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 30. Then Saul said, “I have sinned, but indeed honor me before the elders of Israel and my people. Return with me, and I will worship the Lord your God.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 31. So Samuel turned back after Saul, and he worshiped the Lord. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 32. Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of Amalek.” So Agag came to him trembling. And Agag said, “Surely this is the bitter death.” 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 33. And Samuel said to Agag, “As your sword made women childless, so shall your mother be made childless among women.” So before the Lord, Samuel put Agag to death in Gilgal. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 34. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah. 1 Kingdoms 15, verse 35. And Samuel did not go to see Saul again until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that Saul reigned over Israel.