1 Samuel 15:29

_AND ALSO THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL WILL NOT LIE NOR REPENT: FOR HE IS NOT A MAN, THAT HE SHOULD REPENT._ The Strength of Israel will not lie, х_ NEETSACH_ (H5331) _ YISRAA'EEL_ (H3478)] - the Glory of Israel, the Object of Israel's confidence, He that gives victory to Israel (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:11), will not lie nor repent - i:e., as Josephus expresses it ('Antiquities,' b. 6: ch. 7:, sec. 5), 'God will persevere in what He has decreed concerning you: to be mutable and changeable in what is determined is agreeable to human passions only, but is not agreeable to the divine majesty.' This was a further rebuke of Saul's pride in rearing the Carmel trophy, and an intimation that no loss would be sustained in Israel by his rejection....

24-31 There were several signs of hypocrisy in Saul's repentance. 1. He besought Samuel only, and seemed most anxious to stand right in his opinion, and to gain his favour. 2. He excuses his fault, even when confessing it; that is never the way of a true penitent. 3. All his care was to save his credit, and preserve his interest in the people. Men are fickle and alter their minds, feeble and cannot effect their purposes; something happens they could not foresee, by which their measures are broken; but with God it is not so. The Strength of Israel will not lie....

Verse 1 Samuel 15:29. _THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL WILL NOT LIE _] What God has purposed he will bring to pass, for he has all power in the heavens and in the earth; and he will not _repent _- change his purpose - concerning thee. We may say it was some extenuation of Saul's fault that the people _insisted_ on preserving the best of the prey; for who could resist the demands of a victorious mob? But his crime was in _consenting_; had he not, the crime would have been _theirs alone_....

THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL - A phrase which occurs only here. The word means, perpetuity, truth, glory, victory, and trust, or confidence....

FINAL REJECTION OF SAUL (1 Samuel 15:1.) EXPOSITION DIVINE COMMAND TO PUNISH THE AMALEKITES, AND ITS EXECUTION BY SAUL (1 Samuel 15:1). 1 SAMUEL 15:1 SAMUEL ALSO SAID. Better literally, "And Samuel said." There is no note of time, but probably a considerable interval elapsed before this second trial of Saul was made. God does not finally reject a man until, after repeated opportunities for repentance,

AND ALSO THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL WILL NOT LIE NOR REPENT,.... Neither of the evil which he had threatened to Saul in taking away the kingdom from him; nor of the good which he had promised to David in giving it to him; nor of his purpose and promise to Israel to protect and defend them, save and deliver them from the Philistines, and continue them a nation and kingdom: and for the confirmation of all this, this title or character of the Lord is given, "the Strength of Israel"; hence he cannot lie, which is the effect of weakness; nor repent or change his mind, as men do, when something unforeseen arises, which hinders the execution of their first design, and which through weakness they cannot surmount: and hence God would support Israel as a nation, and strengthen them against their enemies, and work deliverance and salvation for them: or "the victory of Israel" q; the author of Israel's...

8. WAR WITH AMALEK: SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE AND REJECTION CHAPTER 15 _ 1. The commission to destroy Amalek (1 Samuel 15:1)_ 2. Saul's disobedience and rejection (1 Samuel 15:10) 3. Saul's confession (1 Samuel 15:24) 4. The doom of Agag (1 Samuel 15:32) From verse 48 in the previous chapter we learn that Saul smote the Amalekites. Samuel is sent by Jehovah with a new message to Saul telling him to smite Amalek again and to destroy utterly all that they have. It involves another task for Saul. He had been fully established as king and is therefore called upon to discharge his respo

XV. THE WAR AGAINST AMALEK; SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE AND DEPOSITION (E). - A section of a secondary narrative; according to the scheme adopted here, the last section of this document was 1 Samuel 3:3 to 1 Samuel 4:1. 1 SAMUEL 15:1. Samuel bids Saul attack Amalek and subject it to the _herem_ (pp. 99, 114), or sacred ban, by which all living creatures were put to death in honour of Yahweh. (_Cf._ the cases of Jericho and Achan, Joshua 6 f.) Saul called a general levy to a rendezvous in the south of Judah the numbers are probably exaggerated and advanced against the city of Amalek, possibly a tribal sanctuary which served as the headquarters of this nomad tribe; and lay in ambush in a neighbouring valley. The

THE STRENGTH. the Eternal One. First occurrence. Hebrew. _nezah._. Divine title. REPENT: i.e. as God, though He is said to do so by the Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._ App-6. A MAN. Hebrew. _'adam._ App-14....

The rejection of Saul 24. _I have sinned_ Though a formal confession of his sin is extorted from Saul, he does not humble himself before God in genuine penitence. He still tries to shift the blame on to the people, and his chief anxiety is lest the breach between Samuel and himself should become a public scandal and weaken his authority (1 Samuel 15:30). Contrast David's heart-felt repentance (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 51:4)....