1 Samuel 15
1 Samuel sends Saul to destroy Amalek.
6 Saul favours the Kenites.
7 He spares Agag and the best of the spoil.
10 Samuel denounces unto Saul God's rejection of him for his disobedience.
24 Saul's humiliation.
32 Samuel kills Agag.
34 Samuel and Saul part.
Lord ................. Lord <03068> [A.M. 2925. B.C. 1079. An. Ex. Is. 412. The Lord.]
listen <08085> [hearken.]
carefully <06485> [I remember.]
Amalekites <06002> [Amalek.]
<03212> [Now go.]
The Amalekites, a people of Arabia Petr‘a, who inhabited a tract of country on the frontiers of Egypt and Canaan, had acted with great cruelty towards the Israelites on their coming out of Egypt, and God then purposed that Amalek, as a nation, should be blotted out from under heaven; but it had been spared till it had filled up the measure of its iniquities, and now this purpose is carried into effect by Saul, upwards of 400 years afterwards! Nothing could justify such an exterminating decree but the absolute authority of God; and this was given: all the reasons of it we do not know; but this we know well, the Judge of all the earth doeth right.
Destroy <02763> [utterly destroy.]
death <04191> [slay.]
ox sheep <07794 07716> [ox and sheep.]
Telaim <02923> [Telaim.]
[Telem. two.]
ambush <07378> [laid wait. or, fought.]
Kenites ..................................... Kenites <07017> [the Kenites.]
leave .................................. withdrew <03212 05493> [Go, depart.]
<06213> [ye shewed.]
struck down <05221> [smote.]
Havilah <02341> [Havilah.]
This Havilah was probably situated in Arabia, and the district of Chaulon may mark the spot. It seems different from that encompassed by the river Pison, one of the rivers of Eden.
Shur <07793> [Shur.]
Agag <090> [Agag.]
Agag's <02763> [utterly.]
best <04315> [the best.]
fatlings <04932> [the fatlings. or, the second sort.]
regret ..... made <05162 04427> [repenteth me.]
turned <07725> [turned.]
done <06965> [hath not performed.]
angry <02734> [it grieved.]
cried <02199> [he cried.]
Carmel <03760> [Carmel.]
setting up <05324> [he set him.]
monument <03027> [a place. Yad.]
Literally as the LXX. render [cheira,] a hand; probably because the trophy or monument of victory was in the shape of a large hand, the emblem of power, erected on a pillar. These memorial pillars were anciently much in use; and the figure of a hand, by its emblematical meaning, was well adapted to preserve the remembrance of a victory. Niebuhr, speaking of the Mesjed Ali, or Mosque of Ali, says that, "at the top of the dome, where one generally sees on the Turkish mosques a crescent, or only a pole, there is here a hand stretched out, to represent that of Ali." Another writer informs us, that at the Alhamra, or red palace of the Moorish kings in Grenada, "on the key-stone of the outward arch [of the present principal entrance] is sculptured the figure of an arm, the symbol of strength and dominion."
bless <01288> [Blessed.]
done <06965> [I have performed.]
sound ......... sound <06963> [What meaneth.]
army <05971> [for.]
sacrifice <02076> [to.]
minute <07503> [Stay.]
insignificant <06996> [When thou.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
sinful <02400> [the sinners.]
destroyed <03615> [they be consumed. Heb. they consume them.]
rushed .... plunder <05860 07998> [fly upon.]
done .... wrong <07451 06213> [didst evil.]
obeyed <08085> [Yea.]
brought <0935> [have brought.]
army <05971> [the people.]
Lord <03068> [Hath the Lord.]
obedience ... obedience <08085> [obey.]
rebellion <04805> [rebellion.]
divination <07081> [witchcraft. Heb. divination.]
presumption <06484> [stubbornness.]
rejected ......... rejected <03988> [thou hast rejected.]
sinned <02398> [I have sinned.]
afraid <03372> [I feared.]
followed <08085> [obeyed.]
forgive <05375> [pardon.]
back <07725> [I will not.]
rejected ........... rejected <03988> [for thou.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
given <05414> [hath given.]
colleagues <07453> [a neighbour.]
Preeminent One <05331> [Strength. or, Eternity, or, Victory.]
word <08266> [will not lie.]
honor ..... elders <03513 02205> [honour me now.]
worship <07812> [that I may worship.]
said ..... Agag ...... Agag ...... thinking ... himself <0559 090> [Agag said.]
sword <02719> [As thy sword.]
Samuel ..................... Samuel <08050> [Samuel.]
It has been a matter of wonder to many, how Samuel could thus slay a captive prince, even in the presence of Saul, who from motives of clemency had spared him; but it should be remarked, that what Samuel did here, he did in his magisterial capacity; and that Agag had been a cruel tyrant, and therefore was cut off for his merciless cruelties. Farther, it is not likely that he did it by his own sword, but by that of the executioner. What kings, magistrates, and generals do, in an official way, by their subjects, servants, or soldiers, they are said to do themselves:--{qui facit per alterum, facit per se.}
hacked ... to pieces <08158> [hewed.]
Gibeah <01390> [Gibeah.]
Samuel ....... Samuel <08050> [Samuel.]
Samuel ....... Samuel .... mourn <08050 056> [Samuel mourned.]
regretted <05162> [repented.]
