1 Samuel 15:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

NIV: And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’

NASB: And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are eliminated.’

CSB: and then sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’

NLT: And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’

KJV: And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

NKJV: Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

Who has authority over Israel if not Saul, who is the king (1 Samuel 15:17)? Only the Lord holds more authority over Israel than Saul, and the Lord is the one who told Saul to entirely wipe out the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3). The command involved the Hebrew word hāram, which involved completely consuming a sacrifice. The same word is used here. Despite Saul's disobedience (1 Samuel 15:9), the Lord clearly communicated an order to kill every person and animal among these people God was sending Saul to judge (Deuteronomy 25:17–19). That was the mission, and Samuel knows Saul understood it.

God had anointed Saul king and God had given Saul a clear command. Saul had no excuse (1 Samuel 15:19).

First Samuel 15:10–23 records God's response to Saul's partial obedience regarding the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3, 9). The Lord tells Samuel that Saul's acts—which amount to rejecting God's commands—will result in the end of Saul's rule. When Samuel confronts Saul, the king makes excuses and claims he intended to sacrifice the condemned animals to the Lord. Samuel responds with a poetic statement about how God wants obedience, not arrogant attempts to improve on His commands.

Samuel gives Saul a mission from the Lord: fulfill God's judgment on the Amalekites by killing all the people and all the animals. Saul and his army defeat Amalek, but they spare the king and the best animals. Samuel confronts Saul and reveals that because of his disobedience, the Lord has rejected Saul as king over Israel. Samuel worships the Lord with Saul one last time and then executes the Amalekite king Saul failed to kill.

First Samuel 14 ended with a summary of Saul's reign; chapter 15 describes God's rejection of Saul as king. First Samuel 13 had already indicated that Saul's household would not retain the kingdom due to Saul's disobedience (1 Samuel 13:8–14); here Saul himself is rejected. The Lord commands Saul to fulfill His longstanding judgment against the Amalekites. Saul and his army defeat Amalek, but Saul disobeys God by sparing the king and the best animals. Saul eventually admits that he has sinned, but Samuel says God will not change His mind about rejecting Saul as king. From a heavenly perspective, Saul is rejected; but from an earthly perspective, he would continue his rule for another fifteen to twenty years.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.