1 Samuel 15
F.B. Meyer · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Samuel 15
Meyer adds to this thought - “To spare the best of Amalek is surely equivalent to sparing some root of evil, some plausible indulgence, some favourite sin. For us, Agag must stand for that evil propensity, which exists in all of us, for self-gratification; and to spare Agag is to be merciful to ourselves, to exonerate and palliate [excuse] our failures, and to condone our besetting sin. Bob Roe - The ancient kings used to keep the kings they captured. They did not kill them. They kept them alive as a monument to personal success. One king in the Bible chopped off the thumbs and the big toes of the seventy kings he had captured. He kept them under his table and threw them crumbs. Without thumbs, they would not be able to grasp things. Without big toes, they would not be able to stand straight but would sway. He treated them like pet dogs. So, it appears that Saul fell right in with the pagan kings. He and the people had killed everyone of the Amalekites except the king. " Agag was a visible monument to Saul's success. The flesh loves that. Have you every had that feeling? Yes, you have, and so have I. Utterly destroy (destroy completely)(02763) charam to destroy, to doom, to devote. This word is most commonly associated with the Israelites destroying the Canaanites upon their entry into the Promised Land (Deut. 7:2; Josh. 11:20). Herem/charam means ban, devote (esp. religiously, objects hostile to the theocracy; this involved generally their destruction; when a city was `devoted' the inhabitants were put to death, the spoil being destroyed -- most often of devoting to destruction cities of Canaanites and other neighbours of Israel, exterminating inhabitants, and destroying or appropriating their possessions. Canaanite cities were treated like contraband Nu 21:2,3; Dt 7:2-6; 13:12-15; 20:17,18; Jos 6:21; 8:26; 10:28; 11:11 The lure toward idolatry was removed by devastating the sources. Jdg 1:17 "utterly destroyed" If people were included (Lev 27:28, 29; 1Sa15:3), they were executed. Charam - 47v - annihilate(1), covet(1), destroy them utterly(1), destroy utterly(1), destroyed them utterly(1), destroying(1), destroying them completely(2), destruction(2), devote(2), forfeited(1), set apart(1), sets apart(1), utterly destroy(11), utterly destroyed(22), utterly destroying(3). Exod. 22:20; Lev. 27:28; Lev. 27:29; Num. 21:2; Num. 21:3; Deut. 2:34; Deut. 3:6; Deut. 7:2; Deut. 13:15; Deut. 20:17; Jos. 2:10; Jos. 6:18; Jos. 6:21; Jos. 8:26; Jos. 10:1; Jos. 10:28; Jos. 10:35; Jos. 10:37; Jos. 10:39; Jos. 10:40; Jos. 11:11; Jos. 11:12; Jos. 11:20; Jos. 11:21; Jdg. 1:17; Jdg. 21:11; 1 Sam. 15:3; 1 Sam. 15:8; 1 Sam. 15:9; 1 Sam. 15:15; 1 Sam. 15:18; 1 Sam. 15:20; 1 Ki. 9:21; 2 Ki. 19:11; 1 Chr. 4:41; 2 Chr. 20:23; 2 Chr. 32:14; Ezr. 10:8; Isa. 11:15; Isa. 34:2; Isa. 37:11; Jer. 25:9; Jer. 50:21; Jer. 50:26; Jer. 51:3; Dan. 11:44; Mic. 4:13 QUESTION - Who was Agag in the Bible? ANSWER - Two men are named Agag in Scripture. Like the designation “Pharaoh” in Egypt and “Abimelech” for the Philistines, “Agag” was apparently a general name for the king of the Amalekites. An Agag is mentioned in Numbers, in the story of Balaam; and another Agag is found in 1 Samuel in conjunction with an event in Saul’s life. When Balaam prophesied concerning Israel, he stated, “Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters; his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted” (Numbers 24:7ESV). In prophesying about Israel’s future Messiah King, Balaam compared Him to another king, Agag of the Amalekites. The second man named Agag in Scripture is a later king of Amalek mentioned in 1 Samuel. The Lord had commanded King Saul to exterminate all the Amalekites and all that they owned, including livestock (1 Samuel 15:1–3). Instead of following the Lord’s command, “Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed” (1 Samuel 15:9). Saul and his army took plunder and livestock for themselves, which God had specifically forbidden (1 Samuel 15:3), and Saul also chose to keep Agag the king alive (1 Samuel 15:8). When the prophet Samuel confronted Saul about his disobedience, Saul tried to mollify the prophet and justify himself by arguing that the plunder and livestock were intended to be dedicated to the Lord (1 Samuel 15:21). In response, Samuel told Saul he would lose his kingship because of his disobedience (1 Samuel 15:22–23, 28–29). Samuel then did what Saul had refused to do: he killed Agag, saying to him, “‘As your sword has killed the sons of many mothers, now your mother will be childless.’ And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:33, NLT). Contrary to Saul’s claim to have completely destroyed the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:20), biblical history shows there were still some left. Amalekites are mentioned later in the same book (1 Samuel 27:8). It was the Amalekites who raided David’s city of Ziklag, stealing away his family and possessions (1 Samuel 30:1–3). David pursued the Amalekites, defeated all but four hundred of them, and took back all that had been stolen (1 Samuel 30:17–20). Some of those Amalekites were presumably descendants of Agag, because of what we read in the book of Esther. In Esther, the Jew-hating Haman is called “the Agagite” (Esther 3:1). Haman was probably a descendant of Agag, but the designation could simply refer to his Amalekite heritage. In either case, the situation in Persia was the result of Amalekites—including Agag and some of his family, we assume—having been spared by King Saul centuries earlier. Saul’s disobedience led, in Esther’s day, to a descendant of Agag attempting genocide against the Jews (Esther 3:6). Haman’s chief enemy was Mordecai, who was from the same tribe as Saul (Esther 2:5). In the sovereign plan of God, Haman ultimately failed in his attempt to exterminate the Jews (Esther 7:9–10; 9:1–17). Today, the annual Jewish observance of Purim includes a reading of the story of Amalek’s hatred of Israel on the preceding Sabbath. The lasting threat posed by Agag and the Amalekites shows that, although disobeying the Lord may at first appear to only affect the person sinning, rebellion to God’s commands can have consequences that affect many others over many years. GotQuestions.org MORTIFICATION OF SIN Dr John
1 Samuel 15
Meyer - Failure under the Supreme Test )1 SAMUEL 15:26) Mortal! if life smile on thee, and thou find All to thy mind, Think, Who did once from Heaven to Hell descend Thee to befriend! So shalt thou dare forego at his dear call Thy Best—thine All. —KEBLE. ON the shores of the Dead Sea, encrusted with salt, lie the trunks of many noble trees which have been torn from their roots, and carried by the rapid Jordan in its flow from the uplands of Galilee toward the depression of that remarkable gorge; and as they line those desolate shores they remind us of lives which God planted to bear fruit and give shade, which have not fulfilled his original purpose in their creation, and which have been torn up by the roots and borne down to the sea of death. Conspicuous among such failures is that of Saul, the first king of Israel. It is impossible to turn to these pages without lamenting that the bright promise of his early life was so soon overcast; and that he, who stood forth in the morning of his life amid the acclaim of his people as likely to do marvellous work for his fatherland, became one of those whom the sacred writers describe as having failed of the high purpose of their life, been rejected in their mission, and cast away as tools from the hands of the great Artificer. This chapter gives the story of the final rejection of Saul, which had indeed been threatened aforetime, but which now befell. I. THE TEST OF THE DIVINE SUMMONS AND COMMAND.—“Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (ver. 3). This command was given after several years had intervened from the incident narrated in the previous chapter; and during those years Saul had met with marvellous encouragement. The handful of men who had followed him, trembling, had increased to a great army, properly disciplined and armed, and led by Abner, his uncle. He had also waged very successful wars against Moab and the children of Ammon on the East, against Edom on the South, and against the kings of Zobah on the North. In whatever direction he had directed his arms, he had been victorious beyond his highest hopes. It is also evident that he had gathered around him considerable state, for we find the royal table was reserved for himself, Abner, and Jonathan; that he was surrounded by a bodyguard of runners; and that his will was law. The kingdom that had been inaugurated amid such adverse circumstances was beginning to enforce respect, and Saul was able to vie, both in the magnificence of his state and in the army that followed him, with the kings of the lands that bordered on Canaan. It was at this time that the supreme test entered his life, as it so often comes to us in days of prosperity. In the warm summer days we are most in dread of corruption and contagion, and it is in the days of prosperity that the soul is oftenest subjected, not realizing the significance of the ordeal, to its supreme test. If of late you have had immunity from special adversity, if your circumstances have been easy and comfortable, if paths that were once difficult have become smooth and easy—be on your guard; for, at such a time as ye think not, the Son of Man comes to call you to his bar. You will notice, also, that this supreme test gave him a final chance of retrieving the past. At Gilgal, years before, God had told him by the lips of Samuel that his kingdom should not continue; but there had been no sentence of his own deposition or rejection, and it seemed as though this last command was put into his life to give him an opportunity of wiping out his former failure and mistake, and of retrieving the fortunes that had seemed to be absolutely sacrificed. God often comes to us, when we have made some sad and apparently irretrievable mistake. He gives us yet another opportunity of reversing the past, as when our Lord said to his disciples in the Garden of the Olive-press: “Sleep on now, and take your rest”; a moment afterward adding, “Arise, let us be going,” as though a fresh opportunity would be afforded of fellowship in his sufferings. The Divine command involved the absolute extermination of the Amalekites; for the word translated “utterly destroy,” would be better rendered devote. It is the word so often used in the Book of Joshua for placing under the ban the sin-infected cities of the Canaanites. It was understood that, in the case of the “devoted” city, man, woman, and child, and the very beasts, must be destroyed, and only the precious metals kept, after being passed through the fires of purification (Num. 31:21, etc.). With such absolute devastation and destruction was the name of Amalek to be wiped out from under heaven. There had been feud between Amalek and Israel from the earliest days. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt” (ver. 2). You will remember that Moses reared an altar, and called it Jehovah-nissi—“the Lord my banner”; because he said that the Lord would have war with Amalek, until He had wiped out the reproach of his people (Ex. 17:16). Centuries had passed, and this ancient threat had remained unfulfilled until this hour, and now the command was given, “Go and smite Amalek.” At first it seems very terrible that God demanded this act of obedience from Saul; but on the other hand the Amalekites, as we are told in ver. 18, were sinners of a very black and aggravated type, “Utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.” We learn also from ver. 33 that Agag with his sword had often made women childless. A very cruel and rapacious tribe of robbers were these Amalekites, who were constantly making raids upon the southern frontier of Judah. It was absolutely necessary, therefore, for the safety of the chosen people, that their power to injure should be permanently arrested, and their claws drawn. Even in this world God sets up his judgment seat; and as our Saviour tells us in his last wonderful discourse, the Son of Man sits upon the throne of his glory, while the nations are gathered before Him, and He separates them as the sheep from the goats. These words, without doubt, portend some imposing event, which we are to witness in that great day, when the King of the Ages will call to his bar every nation and kindred, people and tongue, and will announce his awards. But we cannot suppose, for a single moment, that the judgment of the nations is to be altogether relegated to that final day. Throughout the history of the world the nations have been standing before Christ’s bar. Nineveh stood there, Babylon stood there, Greece and Rome stood there, Spain and France stood there, and Great Britain is standing there to-day. One after another has had the solemn award—depart, and they have passed into a destruction which has been absolute and irretrievable. The Amalekites had stood before the bar of God, had been weighed in his balances, and found wanting. Their sentence had been pronounced, and Saul was called upon to inflict it. But remember that Saul was only doing summarily and suddenly that which otherwise would follow in the natural process of decay, for God has so constituted us that when we sin against the laws of truth, purity, and righteousness, decay immediately sets in by an inevitable law. If Amalek had never been attacked by Saul and his hosts, the vices that were already at work in the heart of the people must have led to the utter undoing and consumption of the nation. It is said of families in our great cities, infected with the evils that are rife among us, that in five generations they die out, having lost the power of self-propagation; and what is true of a family is equally so of a nation. We may infer that there was therefore mercy in this Divine ordinance. It was infinitely better for Amalek, and for the surrounding peoples which would have become infected by her slow deterioration, that by one stroke of the executioner’s axe the existence of the nation should be brought to an end. II. OBEDIENCE WITH RESERVE.—The story is told us in ver. 9: “But Saul and the people spared Agag.” When he raised his standard, 200,000 footmen from Israel, and 10,000 men of Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon gathered around it at Telaim, on the southern frontier; and they came to the chief city of Amalek, which lay, probably, a little to the south of Hebron. After lying in ambush in some dry water-course, or wady, and having given notice to the Kenites—a peaceful, friendly people—to depart, the attacking army carried the city by assault, put to the sword men, women, and children; pursued the fleeing remnants of the Amalekites from Havilah even to Shur, the great wall of Egypt; and with the exception of Agag, and a few that may have escaped, and the choice of the flocks and herds, the whole country was rid of its inhabitants, and reduced to the deathlike silence of an awful solitude. Saul returned, flushed with triumph, reared a monument of victory in the oasis of Carmel, near to Hebron; and then came down to the sacred site of Gilgal, that he might sacrifice to the Lord, and perhaps divide the vast plunder of sheep and goats, of oxen and camels, which had fallen into his hands, and which he and the people had been loath to destroy. “Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, they destroyed utterly.” Whether this reserve was due, so far as Saul was concerned, to greed, as appears most likely, or because, as he says in ver. 24, he feared to thwart the people, obeying their voice rather than the voice of God, we cannot decide; but considerable light is thrown on the incident by the startling expression used by Samuel in ver. 19, when he says, “Why didst thou fly upon the spoil?” employing the same expression as in chapter 14:32, where we are told that the people, in their ravenous hunger, flew upon the spoil, and ate even with the blood. The same passionate vehemence seems to have characterised Saul and the men of Israel. Surely rapacity and greed were at work, and before their boiling currents all the bulwarks of principle and conscience were swept away. There is great significance in this for us all. We are prepared to obey the Divine commands up to a certain point, and there we stay. Just as soon as “the best and choicest” begin to be touched, we draw the line and refuse further compliance. We listen to soft voices that bid us stay our hand, when our Isaac is on the altar. We are quite prepared to give up that which costs us nothing—our money, but not our children—to the missionary cause; the things which are clearly and disgracefully wrong, but not the self-indulgences which are peculiarly fascinating to our temperament. Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life—only spare him that, and he will cheerfully renounce his claim to all else. There is always a tendency with the best of us to make a bargain with God, and sacrifice all to his will, if only He will permit us to spare Agag and the best of the spoil. But an even deeper reading of this story is permissible. Throughout the Bible Amalek stands for the flesh, having sprung from the stock of Esau, who, for a morsel of meat, steaming fragrantly in the air, sold his birthright. To spare the best of Amalek is surely equivalent to sparing some root of evil, some plausible indulgence, some favourite sin. For us, Agag must stand for that evil propensity, which exists in all of us, for self-gratification; and to spare Agag is to be merciful to ourselves, to exonerate and palliate our failures, and to condone our besetting sin. Is this your case? You are willing to give Christ the key of every cupboard in your heart, save one; but that contains your most cherished sin, for which you find manifold excuses, and to retain which you are prepared to sacrifice everything else. Thus Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the price, and were cut off from the ranks of the Church. It is startling to learn that Saul perished, on the field of Gilboa, by the hand of an Amalekite (2 Sam. 1:1–10). What a remarkable fact! The least instructed can decipher the lesson. He who runs may read. If we spare ourselves, forbearing to cut off the right hand or foot, which may be causing us to offend, we shall certainly perish by the hand of that which we refused to part with. Our cherished indulgences will bring about our undoing. The love of God, foreseeing the risk we are incurring, pleads with us to destroy without mercy the enemies of our own peace; but Agag comes to us delicately, we forbear to inflict the Divine sentence, and presently we are stricken down by the hand of the assassin, dye the greensward with our life-blood, and are despoiled of our crown, which is transferred to another. Moreover, presently, Samuel arrives to speak the Divine sentence of deposition: “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath rejected thee from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. BGT 1 Samuel 15:27 καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν Σαμουηλ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀπελθεῖν καὶ ἐκράτησεν Σαουλ τοῦ πτερυγίου τῆς διπλοΐδος αὐτοῦ καὶ διέρρηξεν αὐτό LXE 1 Samuel 15:27 And Samuel turned his face to depart, and Saul caught hold of the skirt of his garment, and tore it. KJV 1 Samuel 15:27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. NET 1 Samuel 15:27 When Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the edge of his robe and it tore. CSB 1 Samuel 15:27 When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. ESV 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. NIV 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. NLT 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. NRS 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. NJB 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned away to leave, Saul caught at the hem of his cloak and it tore, NAB 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized a loose end of his mantle, and it tore off. YLT 1 Samuel 15:27 And Samuel turneth round to go, and he layeth hold on the skirt of his upper robe -- and it is rent! 1 Samuel 15 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SAMUEL PRESENTS SAUL AN OBJECT LESSON As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore - Saul still has not reacted to the rejection verdict. It is almost as if he is not hearing it or receiving it. So God orchestrates a word picture that even Saul cannot fail to grasp. Saul is trying to hold on to Samuel (and presumably Samuel's LORD), but God makes sure the cloth tears in Saul's hand. 1 Samuel 15:28 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. BGT 1 Samuel 15:28 καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν Σαμουηλ διέρρηξεν κύριος τὴν βασιλείαν Ισραηλ ἐκ χειρός σου σήμερον καὶ δώσει αὐτὴν τῷ πλησίον σου τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑπὲρ σέ LXE 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said to him, The Lord has rent thy kingdom from Israel out of thy hand this day, and will give it to thy neighbour who is better than thou. KJV 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. NET 1 Samuel 15:28 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you! CSB 1 Samuel 15:28 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. ESV 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. NIV 1 Samuel 15:28 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors--to one better than you. NLT 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else-- one who is better than you. NRS 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. NJB 1 Samuel 15:28 and Samuel said to him, 'Today Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you.' NAB 1 Samuel 15:28 So Samuel said to him: "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. YLT 1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel saith unto him, 'Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee to-day, and given it to thy neighbour who is better than thou; The Lord: 1Sa 28:17,18 1Ki 11:30,31 hath given: 1Sa 2:7,8 Jer 27:5,6 Da 4:17,32 Joh 19:11 Ro 13:1 a neighbour: 1Sa 13:14 16:12 Ac 13:22 1 Samuel 15 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: 1 Samuel 28:17-18 “The LORD has done accordingly as He spoke through me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. 18 “As you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the LORD has done this thing to you this day. TORN ROYAL ROBE PICTURED TORN ROYAL THRONE So - Term of conclusion. In light of Samuel's torn robe, Samuel gives a concluding explanation for what has just transpire. 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 - So just in case Saul has yet to grasp that he is now a divinely rejected king after two clear declarations, this symbolic tearing would leave no doubt that Yahweh had torn the kingdom from Saul. Samuel also offers what amounts to a prophecy by telling Saul that a man better than him will be the recipient of the crown from God. For a similar incident, see 1Ki 11:30.