1 Samuel 15:5

_AND SAUL CAME TO A CITY OF AMALEK, AND LAID WAIT IN THE VALLEY._ Came to a city of Amalek - probably their capital. LAID WAIT IN THE VALLEY - following the strategic policy of Joshua at Ai, (Joshua 6:1.)...

1-9 The sentence of condemnation against the Amalekites had gone forth long before, Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 25:19, but they had been spared till they filled up the measure of their sins. We are sure that the righteous Lord does no injustice to any. The remembering the kindness of the ancestors of the Kenites, in favour to them, at the time God was punishing the injuries done by the ancestors of the Amalekites, tended to clear the righteousness of God in this dispensation. It is dangerous to be found in the company of God's enemies, and it is our duty and interest to come out from among them, lest we share in their sins and plagues, Revelation 18:4. As the commandment had been express, and a test of Saul's obedienc...

Verse 1 Samuel 15:5. _SAUL CAME TO A CITY OF AMALEK_] I believe the original should be translated, _and Saul came to the city Amalek_; their capital being called by the _name_ of their _tribe_....

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 SAUL CAME TO A CITY OF AMALEK,.... With his army, perhaps the nearest city of it to the land of Israel; though some think that Amalek was the name of the city, and was the metropolis of the nation, and had its name from thence: and laid wait in the valley; which was near the city, to intercept the inhabitants when they should come out against him: or "he contended" w as some render it, he fought with them there; the Targum, "he ordered his army,'' set them in battle array, or pitched his camp there. w וירב "et certavit Pagninus"; "ut contenderet cum eo", Junius Tremellius....

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

_a city of Amalek_ Perhaps the capital or chief settlement was simply called _Ir-Amalek_= "the city of Amalek," as Rabbah was called _Ar_or _Ir-Moab_= "the city of Moab" (Numbers 21:28; Numbers 22:36). _in the valley_ Heb. _nachal_, which signifies a ravine or torrent-bed. See _Sinai and Palestine_, p. 505....

The Lord's Rejection of Saul, 1 Samuel 15:1-35. _Saul Sent Against the Amalekites._ 1 Samuel 15:1-6 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee _to be_ king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember _that_ which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid _wait_ for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid w

15:5 valley. (a-16) Or 'torrent.' See Note, Deuteronomy 2:14 ....