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First Samuel is the book that transitions Israel from judges to kings. It introduces Samuel the prophet, Saul the first king, and David who replaces him.
It contains one chapter where God rejects a king — not for disobedience, not for cruelty, not for killing. For mercy.
The commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Chapter 15 — God sends a message to Saul through the prophet Samuel.
"Now 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."
Go and attack the Amalekites. Destroy everything they have. Show no mercy. Kill the men, the women, the infants, and the babies still nursing at the breast. Kill the cattle, the sheep, the camels, and the donkeys.
What did the infant do?
What commandment was the suckling violating?
Saul goes to war. He destroys the Amalekites. He kills the people.
But he doesn't kill everything.
"But 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 every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly."
Saul and his men spared King Agag's life. They kept the best sheep, cattle, and lambs — everything worth keeping. They only destroyed the things that were worthless.
He showed mercy to one man. And kept the healthy animals instead of slaughtering them.
What was God's response?
"Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments."
God told Samuel: I regret making Saul king. He has turned away from me and has not carried out my orders.
God regretted making Saul king. Not because Saul was cruel. Not because Saul killed. Because Saul didn't kill enough.
The commandment Saul failed to perform was total extermination.
Samuel confronts Saul. Saul tries to explain.
Verse 15 — Saul says the people kept the best livestock to sacrifice to God.
Verses 20–21 — Saul says he did obey. He destroyed the Amalekites. He brought back King Agag. The people took the spoils to offer as sacrifice.
Verse 22 — Samuel's response:
"Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
Does God want your sacrifices and offerings? No. What God wants is obedience. Following orders matters more than any offering you could burn.
Obedience is better than sacrifice. The instruction was total annihilation. Anything less — even keeping animals alive to offer to God — is disobedience.
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
Disobedience is the same as witchcraft. Stubbornness is the same as worshipping idols. Because you rejected God's command, God has rejected you as king.
Saul is stripped of his kingship. Not for violence. Not for cruelty. For sparing a life and keeping animals alive.
Mercy was the crime.
Incomplete slaughter was the rebellion.
Verses 32–33 — Samuel finishes the job himself.
"Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal."
Samuel said: Bring me King Agag. Agag came forward carefully, believing he had been spared. He said: The worst must be over. Then Samuel hacked him apart in front of God at Gilgal.
Agag came forward believing the worst was over. "The bitterness of death is past." He thought he'd been spared.
Samuel — the prophet, God's voice — hacked him to pieces. In front of the Lord. At Gilgal.
"Thou shalt not kill."
The prophet of God dismembered a man who thought he'd survived.
The commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Chapter 6, Verse 19 — The Ark of the Covenant is returned to the Israelites at Beth-shemesh. Some of the men looked inside it.
"And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men."
God killed 50,070 men from Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the Ark.
They looked at the Ark. They didn't steal it. They didn't damage it. They looked.
What kind of God kills 50,070 people for curiosity?
The commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Chapter 16, Verse 14 — After rejecting Saul for showing mercy, God sends something to replace his presence:
"But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him."
God's spirit left Saul. Then God sent an evil spirit to torment him.
An evil spirit. From the Lord. Sent to torment the man God had just rejected for not killing enough.
God withdrew his spirit and replaced it with torment.
The first commandment says there is one God. Where did the evil spirit come from?
From the Lord.
If God is the source of both the good spirit and the evil spirit — what is the first commandment actually saying?
God commanded the killing of men, women,
infants, and nursing babies.
Saul obeyed — but spared one life
and kept some animals.
God rejected him as king.
The prophet hacked the survivor to pieces.
Then God sent an evil spirit
to torment the man he'd just discarded.
Mercy was the sin.
Incomplete slaughter was the rebellion.
And the punishment came from the same source
as the commandment "thou shalt not kill."
The next book is 2 Samuel.
A king takes another man's wife.
God's response isn't what you'd expect.
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