CHAPTER XV _Samuel sends Saul to destroy the Amalekites, and all their_ _substance_, 1-3. _Saul collects an immense army and comes against their city_, 4, 5. _He desires the Kenites to remove from among the Amalekites_, 6. _He smites the Amalekites, and takes their king, Agag, prisoner,_ _and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:2. _I REMEMBER_ THAT _WHICH AMALEK DID_] The Amalekites were a people of Arabia Petraea, who had occupied a tract of country on the frontiers of Egypt and Palestine. They had acted with great cruelty towards the Israelites on their coming out of Egypt. (See Exodus 17:8, and the not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:3. _SLAY BOTH MAN AND WOMAN_] Nothing could justify such an exterminating decree but the absolute authority of God. This was given: all the reasons of it we do not know; but this we know well, _The Judge of all the earth doth right_. This war was not for _plunder_, for God commande... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:4. _TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND - AND TEN THOUSAND_] The _Septuagint_, in the _London Polyglot_, have FOUR HUNDRED _thousand companies of_ _Israel_, and THIRTY _thousand companies of Judah_. The _Codex_ _Alexandrinus_ has TEN _thousand_ of each. The _Complutensian Polyglot_ has TWO HUNDRE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:5. _SAUL CAME TO A CITY OF AMALEK_] I believe the original should be translated, _and Saul came to the city Amalek_; their capital being called by the _name_ of their _tribe_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:6. _SAID UNTO THE KENITES_] The Kenites were an ancient people. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. Hobab his son (if the same person be not meant) was guide to the Hebrews through the wilderness. They had a portion of the promised land, near to the city Arad. See Jud... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:7. _FROM HAVILAH - TO SHUR_] From Pelusium in Egypt, unto the Red Sea.-_Josephus_. But Havilah lay eastward from the Red Sea; the Amalekites lay between this and the way to Egypt towards Shur.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:11. _IT REPENTETH ME THAT I HAVE SET UP SAUL_] That is, I placed him on the throne; I intended, if he had been obedient, to have established his kingdom. He has been disobedient; I change my purpose, and the kingdom shall not be _established in his family_. This is what is meant by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:12. _HE SET HIM UP A PLACE_] Literally, a _hand_, יד yad. Some say it was a _monument_; others, a _triumphal arch_: probably it was no more than a _hand_, pointing out the place where Saul had gained the victory. _Absalom's pillar_ is called _the hand of_ _Absalom_, 2 Samuel 18:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:15. _THE PEOPLE SPARED THE BEST OF THE SHEEP_] It is very likely that the people did spare the best of the prey; and it is as likely that Saul might have _restrained_ them if he would. That they might not _love war_, God had interdicted _spoil_ and _plunder_, so the war was underta... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:17. _LITTLE IN THINE OWN SIGHT_] Who can bear _prosperity_? Is it not of the Lord's great goodness that the majority of the inhabitants of the earth are in comparative _poverty_?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:21. _TO SACRIFICE UNTO THE LORD_] Thus he endeavours to excuse the people. They did not take the spoil in order to _enrich_ _themselves_ by it, but to _sacrifice unto the Lord_; and did not this motive justify their conduct?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:22. _HATH THE LORD AS GREAT DELIGHT, C._] This was a very proper answer to, and refutation of Saul's excuse. Is not obedience to the will of God the end of all religion, of its rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:23. _FOR REBELLION_ IS AS _THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, AND_ _STUBBORNNESS_ IS AS _INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY._] This is no translation of those difficult words, כי חטאת קסם מרי ואון ותרפים הפצר _ki_ _chattath kesem meri veaven utheraphim haphtsar_. It appears to me that the three nouns whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:24. _I HAVE SINNED - BECAUSE I FEARED THE PEOPLE_] This was the best excuse he could make for himself; but had he _feared GOD_ _more_, he need have _feared the PEOPLE less_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:25. _PARDON MY SIN_] Literally, _bear my sin_; take it away; forgive what I have done against thee, and be my intercessor with God, that he may forgive my offense against him; _turn again with_ _me, that I may worship the Lord_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:26. _I WILL NOT RETURN WITH THEE_] I cannot acknowledge thee as king, seeing the Lord hath rejected thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:29. _THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL WILL NOT LIE _] What God has purposed he will bring to pass, for he has all power in the heavens and in the earth; and he will not _repent _- change his purpose - concerning thee. We may say it was some extenuation of Saul's fault that the people _insis... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:32. _AGAG CAME UNTO HIM DELICATELY._] The Septuagint have τρεμων, _trembling_; the original, מעדנת _maadannoth, delicacies;_ probably איש _ish_, man, understood; _a man of delights, a_ _pleasure-taker_: the Vulgate, _pinguissimus et tremens_, "very fat and trembling." _SURELY THE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:33. _AS THY SWORD HATH MADE WOMEN CHILDLESS_] It appears that Agag had forfeited his life by his own personal transgressions, and that his death now was the retribution of his cruelties. _AND SAMUEL HEWED AGAG IN PIECES_] 1. What Samuel did here he did in his magisterial capacity... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 15:35. _AND SAMUEL CAME NO MORE TO SEE SAUL_] But we read, 1 Samuel 19:22-9, that _Saul_ went to _see Samuel_ at Naioth, but this does not affect what is said here. From this time Samuel had no _connection_ with Saul; he never more acknowledged him as king; he mourned and prayed for h... [ Continue Reading ]