1 Samuel 15
DOYLY— he set him up a place.] Meaning either that he encamped there for the night, or that he erected a triumphal arch in celebration of his victory. Dr. Wells.
— he hath also rejected thee from being king.] The ungrateful monarch, stubborn in rebellion against the will of his heavenly Benefactor, is now decisively informed that God had rejected him. At first with daring falsehood he steadily averred to Samuel, that he had obeyed the commandment of the Lord. Then he charged the disobedience on the people; then pretended that the sheep and oxen were saved for purposes of sacrifice. Driven from evasion to evasion, he could no longer dissemble his guilt, but was constrained to confess that he had feared the people instead of God, had obeyed their voice instead of the voice of God. The extreme solicitude with which, after his confession, he importuned Samuel to turn with him and honour him before the elders of the people, shewed that the respect of men
1 Samuel 15:4
- — Comest thou peaceably?] They suspected that the purpose of his coming might be, to reprove them for some misdemeanour, or to pronounce some judgment on them for it. Pyle.
1 Samuel 15:7
7.—from Havilah &c.] That is, the whole extent of the country of Arabia, of which Havilah was the boundary on the northeast, and Shur on the southwest. Bp. Patrick.
1 Samuel 15:9
9.—spared Agag, &c.] In this Saul disobeyed the commandment of God, and followed his own fancy and affection, being either struck with admiration of the personal appearance of Agag, or else intending to lead him in triumph. Bp. Patrick. Here Saul was guilty of two very great faults: 1st, of covetousness, in preserving for himself the best of all those spoils which God had expressly commanded to be utterly destroyed; 2dly, of vanity and ostentation, in taking Agag the king of Amalek alive, and bringing him with him in triumph, when God had peremptorily commanded him to destroy them all. Dr. S. Clarke.
1 Samuel 15:11
- It repenteth me that I have set up &c.] Meaning, that He had resolved to cast him down from the throne. Repentance in God implies only a change in His dispensation towards His creatures: it is ascribed to God when He alters His course and method of dealing, and treats a person as if He indeed repented of the kindness He had shewed him. Bp. Patrick. God speaks as a man, to make Himself understood of men. Wogan. See notes at Gen. vi. 6.
—and hath not performed my commandments.] This very king Saul, but a little time before, would have put his brave son Jonathan to death only for taking a little honey, contrary to his command. Behold here the pride and impiety of man’s heart, full of resentment, if his own unreasonable will be not in all things complied with, and quite negligent and forgetful of the holy will of God! Whereby he plainly honours himself far above his Maker, expecting the greatest deference to his own word, while at the same time he pays little or no reverence to that of the Most High. Reading.
1 Samuel 15:12
12.—came to Carmel.] Not the famous mountain so called, but a city in the south part of the tribe of Judah, mentioned Josh. xv. 55, which seems to have given name to the territory round it. Eusebius and St. Jerome mention, that there was in their time a town called Carmelia, ten miles from Hebron to the east, in which the Romans kept a garrison, which might very
God’s rejection of Saul for his disobedience. a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
1 Samuel 15:13
- — Blessed be thou of the Lord.] A form of salutation, wishing him all happiness from God; who had ordered him to undertake this service. Bp. Patrick.
— I have performed &c.] It might seem from this confident address to the Prophet, that Saul expected praise and not reproof for what he had done; but, as appears from the Prophet’s answer, while the sinner neither saw nor heard his sins, they cried aloud in the ears of God. We cannot but notice here the strange blindness of a carnal and worldly heart; we are all too apt, like Saul, to mistake a part for the whole of our duty, and even to pride ourselves in such a partial obedience, as if it was uniform and complete. Wogan.
- — anointed him] He did not hereby invest him actually with the kingly power, but only marked him
Before CHRIST about 1063. meeting. a 1 Chron. 25. 6. Ps. 7. 8. Jer. 11. 20. & 17. 19. & 20. 12. b 2 Sam. 7. 8. Ps. 78. 79. round. of spec.
1 Samuel 15:15
- — the people spared] This was a mean excuse, to throw all the blame upon the people, when he himself was principally in fault, and when he had it in his power to govern the people better. Bp. Patrick. As one sin naturally draws on another, Saul having first transgressed in the principal action, falls into other continual provocations. On Samuel’s coming to meet him, ver. 13, he first presumptuously declares that he had obeyed the commandment of the Lord. When the falsity of this declaration was immediately laid open, by the spoils which he had taken being present before him, he endeavours to transfer the fault from himself to others, ver. 15, as if what the people did was not done by his direction and authority. This being too apparent to be denied, he next adds an excuse drawn from a pretence of religion; which was as much as to say, we have disobeyed the commandment of God in order to serve Him. Dr. S. Clarke.
1 Samuel 15:22
- — Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, &c.]
The meaning is, that a virtuous and good life is better, not only than Jewish rites and ceremonies, but better even than the best of any other worship that is paid to God, either on earth or in heaven. Nevertheless, as the one ought above all things to be done, so the other ought not by any means to be left undone; nay, the worshipping Him is part of that very obedience, and a means to enable men to perform more acceptably the other parts of their obedience to Him. Dr. S. Clarke. In the case of sacrifice, and all other ritual observances, it was the inward principle of humble and dutiful obedience which made them acceptable: the outward observance, when separate from that, is vain and insignificant. Dr. Berriman. There can be no excuse for swerving from the precise rule which God hath prescribed to us; nor must we propound a religion out of the good purposes and intentions of piety and devotion, for our convenience, while for the present we decline a fundamental point of our religion, obedience to what He has commanded. We are not judges what is to be preserved, or which is the way of preserving. It may be God thinks it fit that our estates, liberties, and lives, should be sacrificed to His truth, and for the defence of it; and then, the redeeming either by artifices or compliances is no less than sacrilege. What He hath determined shall be destroyed or utterly lost to us, must not be kept for sacrifices; and what He hath appointed for sacrifice to Him, must not be preserved to ourselves. Lord Clarendon.
1 Samuel 15:23
- — rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, &c.] The word we here render “witchcraft,” signifies the following of divinations and enchantments, which were superstitions forbidden with the severest penalties under the law, and were justly looked upon as a renouncing of God, in having recourse to other real or imaginary powers in opposition to Him. When therefore a crime is said to be “as the sin of witchcraft,” the meaning is, that it is a fault of so deep a die, of so heinous and pro-
Saul’s fruitless humiliation.
hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
1 Samuel 15:24
24.—because I feared the people.] It is probable that in this Saul only prevaricated, and endeavoured to dissemble with God; his authority was so great and absolute, that he had no occasion to fear the people; and his own covetousness certainly made him readily consent to the people and army, even if, as does not appear, the first motion came from them. Dr. Wells. If this excuse had been true, it would have been rather an aggravation, than a diminution of his crime. To fear the people whom he ought to command, was a weakness unworthy of a king. To dispense with a positive command of God, was an impious presumption; to obey man rather than God, was wicked and profane. Wogan.
1 Samuel 15:28
28.—The Lord hath rent &c.] God was not moved with Saul’s expressions of repentance, because his repentance was not sincere; and the fear of being deprived of his kingdom was his chief motive. For this reason, Samuel insisted that God had rejected him, and would never see him more. The sorrow of the wicked is not always true repentance; it is often nothing but a worldly sorrow; and therefore God, who knoweth the heart, disregards it, and forsakes them when the measure of their iniquity is full. Osterwald.
1 Samuel 15:29
29.—the Strength of Israel &c.] He tells him it must be unavailing for him to importune any further, for that it was not with the great and all-wise God as with hasty and irresolute men; and it was His unalterable decree to transfer the crown from him, and give it to one of less passion and more piety. Pyle. As any judge or inferiour magistrate would deserve to suffer death, who should neglect his duty to his sovereign, when peremptorily commanded to execute justice in any matter; so considering the infinite difference between God and man, and the long train of wickedness into which Saul afterwards ran, the severity of God can hardly be thought excessive, in punishing his contempt of this great command by the alienation of the crown from his family. Stackhouse.
1 Samuel 15:30
30.—yet honour me—before the elders of my people.] Saul, though he used no diligence to regain the favour of God, was yet very solicitous that his honour might be preserved in the opinion of the people. Thus do too many care little for their consciences, yet stand much upon their credit. They are loth to leave their sins, and as loth to own them: therefore they try to
Samuel and Saul part. Samuel anointeth David. Before CHRIST about 1079. d Exod. 17. 11. Numb. 14. 43. about 1063. in thine hand.
1 Samuel 15:32
- — came unto him delicately.] Not like an offender expecting sentence of death, but in the garb and gesture which became his kingly quality. Poole.
— Surely the bitterness &c.] Having been spared by Saul and his army, he now apprehended no hurt from Samuel.
1 Samuel 15:33
- — And Samuel hewed] Caused it to be done by the publick executioner. It appears from Samuel’s words to Agag that he was not cut off merely for the sins of his ancestors, but also for his own merciless cruelties. Bp. Patrick.
Chap. XVI. ver. 2. — and say, I am come to sacrifice] at his † coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?