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1 Samuel 15 General Notes
Structure and formatting
This is the end of the section on Saul and Samuel (8-15).
Special concepts in this chapter
God wants total obedience
Samuel told Saul that God wanted him to completely destroy the Amalekite people and animals. Saul fought the Amalekites and killed all the people except the king. He destroyed the animals that were not very good but saved the best animals. Saul told Samuel he had obeyed God's command. Samuel asked him about the animals Saul had. Saul said he had saved them for a sacrifice to God. God said that obedience was better than sacrifice. Because Saul had disobeyed him, God had chosen someone else to become king.
Important figures of speech in this chapter
Idiom
"He has turned back from following me" is an idiom meaning "he has stopped obeying me." (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom)
Rhetorical questions
When Saul insisted that he had obeyed God, Samuel rebuked him with these rhetorical questions: "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?"; "Though you are little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel?"; "Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but instead you seized the booty and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"; and "Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion)