1 Samuel 15:22-29

Context

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience?¹

Certainly,² obedience³ is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than⁴ the fat of rams.

15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and presumption is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as⁵ king.”

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded⁶ and what you said as well.⁷ For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes.⁸ 15:25 Now please forgive my sin! Go back with me so I can worship⁹ the Lord.”

15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

15:27 When Samuel turned to leave, Saul¹⁰ grabbed the edge of his robe and it tore. 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! 15:29 The Preeminent One¹¹ of Israel does not go back on his word¹² or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.”¹³

[15:22] ¹tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22] ²tn Heb “look.”

[15:22] ³tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22] ⁴tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[15:23] ⁵tn Or “from [being].”

[15:24] ⁶tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24] ⁷tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24] ⁸tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[15:25] ⁹tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[15:27] ¹⁰tn Heb “he,” but Saul is clearly the referent. A Qumran ms and the LXX include the name “Saul” here.

[15:29] ¹¹tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

[15:29] ¹²tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

[15:29] ¹³sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.