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.’
God does not change His mind as we do; He wills an alteration in His method when the creature turns away. Saul turned back from following Him through covetousness and partial obedience, and made himself God's enemy. Samuel spent the whole night wrestling with God in prayer for Saul's restoration, grieving not for himself but that any sinner should forfeit God's favor.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 15:10-23
And the Lord sent thee on a journey,.... And therefore he ought to have attended to the errand sent upon, and executed the orders given; in vain, therefore, was it to lay the blame on the people: and said, go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; those notorious sinners, who deserve no mercy at the hands of God or men; who had so highly...
1Sa 15:16-19 Samuel therefore bade him be silent. הרף, “leave off,” excusing thyself any further. “I will tell thee what Jehovah hath said to me this night.” (The Chethibh ויּאמרוּ is evidently a copyist’s error for ויּאמר.) “Is it not true, when thou wast little in thine eyes (a reference to Saul’s own words, 1Sa 9:21), thou didst become head of the tribes of Israel?
Commenting on 1 Samuel 15:16-19