1 Samuel 15:33

_AND SAMUEL SAID, AS THY SWORD HATH MADE WOMEN CHILDLESS, SO SHALL THY MOTHER BE CHILDLESS AMONG WOMEN. AND SAMUEL HEWED AGAG IN PIECES BEFORE THE LORD IN GILGAL._ Samuel hewed Agag. This cruel tyrant met the retribution of a righteous Providence. Never has it been unusual for great or official personages in the East to perform executions with their own hands (cf. Judges 8:21). Samuel did it "before the Lord in Gilgal," appointing that same mode of punishment (hitherto unknown in Israel) to be used toward him, which he had formerly used toward others....

32-35 Many think the bitterness of death is past when it is not gone by; they put that evil day far from them, which is very near. Samuel calls Agag to account for his own sins. He followed the example of his ancestors' cruelty, justly therefore is all the righteous blood shed by Amalek required. Saul seems unconcerned at the token of God's displeasure which he lay under, yet Samuel mourns day and night for him. Jerusalem was carnally secure while Christ wept over it. Do we desire to do the whole will of God? Turn to him, not in form and appearance, but with sincerity....

Verse 1 Samuel 15:33. _AS THY SWORD HATH MADE WOMEN CHILDLESS_] It appears that Agag had forfeited his life by his own personal transgressions, and that his death now was the retribution of his cruelties. _AND SAMUEL HEWED AGAG IN PIECES_] 1. What Samuel did here he did in his magisterial capacity; and, 2. It is not likely he did it by his _own sword_, but by that of an 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_....

HEWED IN PIECES - Only found in this passage. Samuel thus executed the חרם _chērem_ 1 Samuel 15:3 which Saul had violated, and so both saved the nation from the guilt of a broken oath, and gave a final example to Saul, but apparently in vain, of uncompromising obedience to the commandments of God. There is something awful in the majesty of the prophet rising above and eclipsing that of the king (compare 1 Kings 21:20; Jeremiah 38:14 ff; Daniel 2:46; Daniel 4:27)....

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 SAMUEL SAID, AS THY SWORD HATH MADE WOMEN CHILDLESS,.... Or, "bereaved s" them, not of their children only, but of their husbands also, and so made them both childless and widows; by which it appears that he was a cruel prince, and justly died for his own barbarity and wickedness, as well as for the sins of his ancestors four hundred years ago: SO SHALL THY MOTHER BE CHILDLESS AMONG WOMEN; which was according to the law of retaliation, and what the Jews call measure for measure: AND SAMUEL HEWED AGAG IN PIECES BEFORE THE LORD IN GILGAL; either before the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Presence; or before the altar, where Saul and the people had been sacrificing; this he did either himself, though an old man, or by others to whom he gave the orders; and which he did not as being the chief magistrate, and by virtue of his office, but acting as on a special occasion, at the...

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

AS. according as. HEWED: i.e. commanded him to be hewed or cut asunder after death. Verb occurs only here. AGAG. See note on Amalek (Exodus 17:16, and Compare 1 Samuel 15:3)....

The execution of Agag. Samuel's departure 32. _delicately_ Rather, CHEERFULLY: not fearing any harm from the aged prophet, as the king had spared his life. But the meaning of the word is very doubtful. The Sept. has "trembling;" the Vulg. a curious double rendering, "sleek and trembling" (_pinguissimus et tremens_). _Surely the bitterness of death is past_ This was what Agag said to himself, expecting to be spared. But the Sept. (from a different reading) gives: "Is death so bitter?" Vulg. "Does bitter death thus sever [me from life]?" (_Siccine separat amara mors?_) representing Agag as afraid....