Matthew Henry

As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!” But not one of the troops said a word.

“But none of the people answered him, that is, none of those who knew Jonathan had broken the order would inform against him. Jonathan was discovered by lot to be the offender.”

And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!”

“Jonathan had a very good plea in arrest of the judgment. What he had done was not malum in se -- bad in itself; and, as for the prohibition of it, he was ignorant of that, so that he could not be charged with rebellion…”

His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of his army was Abner, the son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

“There is mention of another wife of Saul's ( 2 Sam. xxi. 8 ), Rizpah, a secondary wife, and of the children he had by her. Of his camp and military actions.”

And the war with the Philistines was fierce for all the days of Saul. So whenever he noticed any strong or brave man, Saul would enlist him.

“He had little reason to be proud of his royal dignity, nor had any of his neighbours cause to envy him, for he had little enjoyment of himself after he took the kingdom.”

Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them.

“The longer judgment is delayed many times the more severe it is when it comes. God chooses out instruments to do his work that are fittest for it. This was bloody work, and therefore Saul who was a rough and severe man must do it.”

And he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites.

“When destroying judgments are abroad God will take care to separate between the precious and the vile, and to hide the meek of the earth in the day of his anger.”

He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

“They were idolaters, and were guilty of many other sins, for which they deserved to fall under the wrath of God; yet, when God would reckon with them, he fastened upon the sin of their ancestors in abusing his Israel as the ground of his…”

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.”

“He did not thus deprecate his own exclusion from the government; nor was he secretly pleased, as many a one would have been, that Saul, who succeeded him, was so soon laid aside, but on the contrary prayed earnestly for his establishment, so far was…”

and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’

“The work was honourable, to destroy the sworn enemies of God and Israel; and had he denied himself, and set aside the consideration of his own profit so far as to have destroyed all that belonged to Amalek, he would have been no loser by…”

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me.

“But it was their doing and not his; and, besides, it was for sacrifice to the Lord here at Gilgal, whither they were now bringing them.”

But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice?

“Obedience is enjoyed by the eternal law of nature, but sacrifice only by a positive law. Obedience was the law of innocency, but sacrifice supposes sin come into the world, and is but a feeble attempt to take that away which obedience would have prevented.”

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

“David, though convinced by the ministry of Nathan, yet, in his confession, has his eye to God alone, not to Nathan. 4 Against thee only have I sinned.”

As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.

“As the thing appeared to him upon the first view, he thought it altogether unfit for him so far to countenance one whom God had rejected as to join with him in giving thanks to God for a victory which was made to serve rather…”

Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

“"He is determined to depose thee, and he will not change his purpose. He is not a man that should repent.”

But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

“He trod in the steps of his ancestors' cruelty, and those under him, it is likely, did the same; justly therefore is all the righteous blood shed by Amalek required of this generation, Matt. xxiii.”

And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

“He mourned for his everlasting state, having no hopes of bringing him to repentance. When he wept for him, it is likely, he made supplication, but the Lord had repented that he had made Saul king, and resolved to undo that work of his, so…”

Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?

“He sends him to Bethlehem, to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, a person probably not unknown to Samuel.”

And Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied, “but he is tending the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel replied.

“We should think a military life, but God saw a pastoral life (which gives advantage for contemplation and communion with heaven), the best preparative for kingly power, at least for those graces of the Spirit which are necessary to the due discharge of that trust…”

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.

“Not that he was at present invested with the royal power, but it was entailed upon him, to come to him in due time. (2.)”

Let our lord command your servants here to seek out someone who can skillfully play the harp.

“It will be no less than a miracle of divine grace if those who thus agree with Satan ever break off from him again.”

And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat, and sent them to Saul with his son David.

“Probably Jesse, who knew what his son David was designed for, was aware that Providence was herein fitting him for it, and therefore he would not force Providence by sending him to court uncalled, yet he followed Providence very cheerfully when he saw it plainly…”

And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play, and Saul would become well, and the spirit of distress would depart from…

“Only his instrumental music with his harp is mentioned, but it should seem, by the account Josephus gives, that he added vocal music to it, and sung hymns, probably divine hymns, songs of praise, to his harp. David's music was Saul's physic. [1.]”

and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels, and he had armor of bronze on his legs and…

“The coat is said to weigh 5000 shekels, and a shekel was half an ounce avoirdupois, a vast weight for a man to carry, all the other parts of his armour being proportionable.”

The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.

“It was like a weaver's beam. His arm could manage that which an ordinary man could scarcely heave. His shield only, which was the lightest of all his accoutrements, was carried before him by his esquire, probably for state; for he that was clad in…”

On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.

“We found before, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul ( ch. xi. 6 ), none could be more daring nor forward to answer the challenge of Nahash the Ammonite, but now that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him even…”