15<\/strong>. And Saul said<\/em>, &c.] Saul tries ( a<\/em>) like Aaron at Sinai (Exo 32:22<\/span>), to shift the blame from himself on to others; ( b<\/em>) to palliate the offence by alleging a good motive. But “the king who heeded the voice of his army in such a matter shewed that he was not their leader, but their tool and their slave. The king who pretended to keep the booty for the purpose of offering sacrifice to the Lord his God, was evidently beginning to play the hypocrite; to make the service of God an excuse for acts of selfishness, and so to introduce all that is vilest in king-craft as well as in priest-craft.” Maurice, Prophets and Kings<\/em>, p. 26.<\/p>\n There is something thoroughly mean in his attempt to shift the responsibility of what was done from his own kingly shoulders to those of the people. Every word uttered by Saul seems to indicate the breaking down of his moral character.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 15<\/span>. The people spared the best of the sheep<\/B><\/I>] It is very likely that the people did spare the best of the prey; and it is as likely that Saul might have restrained<\/I> them if he would. That they might not love war<\/I>, God had interdicted spoil<\/I> and plunder<\/I>, so the war was undertaken merely from a sense of duty<\/I>, without any hope of enriching themselves by it.<\/P> <\/p>\n They, <\/B>i.e. the people. Thus, after the manner of all hypocrites, he excuseth himself, and lays the blame upon the people; whereas they could not do it without his privity and consent; and he should have used his power and authority to overrule them for Gods sake, as he had done formerly for his own sake. But the truth is, he was zealous for his own honour and interest, but lukewarm where God only was concerned. <\/P> To sacrifice unto the Lord:<\/B> it is not likely that this was his and the peoples design; but this he now pretends, and ascribes that to his piety, which was indeed the effect of his impiety and avarice. <\/P> Thy God, <\/B>whom thou lovest and servest, and therefore must needs be pleased with our pious respect to him and his service. <\/P> <\/p>\n And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites<\/strong>,…. That is, the people, laying the blame upon them, as Adam did on his wife, as if he had no concern at all in it, when it is clear from<\/p>\n 1Sa 15:9<\/span> he was the principal one; nor is it probable the people should do this of themselves, without his consent and authority, which was so directly contrary to the express order of God; and then to excuse the people as well as he could, on whom he laid the blame, he observes this was not done for their own private profit and advantage, but for the service and worship of God:<\/p>\n for the people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God<\/strong>; by way of gratitude and thankfulness for the victory they had obtained; and therefore, since they had so good an end and design in sparing what they had, and those the best and fittest for sacrifice, he hoped they would easily be excused; and that the prophet would use his best interest with the Lord, who was his God, to whom they designed to do honour, that he would overlook what was amiss in them:<\/p>\n and the rest we have utterly destroyed<\/strong>; as they were commanded; but then it was only the vile and the refuse, the best they had reserved for their own use; though he now coloured it with this specious pretence of sacrificing to God, when he found it was taken notice of, and was resented.<\/p>\n (15) The people spared the best of the sheep . . .<\/strong>At once the king understood the drift of his old friends words; still more, perhaps, the stern, sorrowful look of reproach which accompanied them, Yes, I understand your meaning. This bleating and lowing certainly does come from the captured flocks and herds of Amalek, but this reservation, which you condemn, was insisted upon by the people; and their object, for which you blame me for acquiescing in, was to do special honour to God in a great sacrifice. There seems something strangely cowardly in this trying to transfer from himself to the people the blame of disobedience to the Divine commands. It is unlike Sauls old character; but covetousness and vanity invariably lead to moral cowardice.<\/p>\n 15<\/strong>. <\/strong> The people spared the best of the sheep <\/strong> He lays the fault upon the people, and thereby criminally insinuates that the thing was done against his will. <\/p>\n The Lord thy God <\/strong> These words, in this connexion, are full of significance. They seem to have flowed from a desire to compliment Samuel on the honour and sanctity of his personal intercourse with Jehovah, and also from a feeling that Jehovah was not his own God. “Every word,” says Hervey, “uttered by Saul seems to indicate the breaking down of his moral character. One feels that after the scene so forcibly described in this chapter Saul must have forfeited his own self-respect, and that his downward career was henceforth almost inevitable.”<\/p>\n 1Sa 15:15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.<\/p>\n Ver. 15. They have brought the people spared, &c.] He had no hand in it, if you will believe him; he lays all the blame upon the people, – contrary to 1Sa 15:9<\/span> , – they would have it so, and how could he hinder them? A poor shift of weak princes, an ordinary trick of arrant hypocrites, to save themselves by charging others. As harlots when their beauty is decayed, desire to hide it from themselves by false glosses, and from others by paintings: so do hypocrites their sins, – from themselves by false glosses, and from others by shuffling and excuses. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n To sacrifice unto the Lord.<\/strong> ] Thus piety is frequently pretended to worldly respects, Php 3:18-19 and to wicked respects. Mat 23:14<\/span> <\/em> 1Ki 21:9 <\/em> 2Sa 15:8 <\/em> Mat 2:8 But this is putrid hypocrisy; it is double iniquity. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rest we have utterly destroyed.<\/strong> ] With shame enough might he speak it: but it was past that time of day with him.<\/p>\n God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4. <\/p>\n for: 1Sa 15:9, 1Sa 15:21, Gen 3:12, Gen 3:13, Exo 32:22, Exo 32:23, Job 31:33, Pro 28:13 <\/p>\n to: Mat 2:8, Luk 10:29 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 15:24 – I feared 2Ch 15:11 – offered<\/p>\n 1Sa 15:15. They That is, the people; have brought them from the Amalekites Thus he lays the blame upon the people, whereas they could not do it without his consent, and he should have used his power to overrule them. To sacrifice unto the Lord thy God This was a plausible pretence; but as the Lord had given express command that nothing should be saved, no more for himself than for them, this excuse could be no more than an instance of mean hypocrisy.<\/p>\n And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 15. And Saul said, &c.] Saul tries ( a) like Aaron at Sinai (Exo 32:22), to shift the … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 15:15”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"