John Wesley

Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king.

“Samuel therefore thinks fit to temper their joys, and to excite them to that repentance which he saw wanting in them, and which he knew to be necessary, to prevent the curse of God upon their new king, and the whole kingdom.”

Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you.

“My sons - Or, among you, in the same states private persons, as you are; if they have injured any of you, the law is now open against them; any of you may accuse them, your king can punish them, I do not intercede for…”

Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the LORD with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers.

“Righteous acts - Hebrew. the righteousnesses; that is, mercies or benefits the chief subject of the following discourse; some of their calamities being but briefly named, and that for the illustration of God's mercy in their deliverances.”

So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely.

“Secondly, with other scriptures: for among the sons of a more ancient Jair, we meet with one called Bedan, 1 Chron. vii, 17, which name seems here given to Jair the judge, to distinguish him from that first Jair.”

Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you.

“Ye have chosen - Though God chose him by lot, yet the people are said to chuse him; either generally, because they chose that form of government; or particularly, because they approved of God's choice, and confirmed it.”

If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the…

“Then, &c. - Hebrew. then shall-ye-be, (that is, walk, or go) after the Lord; that is, God shall still go before you, as he hath hitherto done, as your leader or governor, to direct, protect, and deliver you; and he will not forsake you, as…”

Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

“Turn aside-After idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards. Vain things - So idols are called, Deut. xxxii, 21 Jer.”

Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

“And this reason God alledgeth to take them off from all conceit of their own merit; and to assure them, that if they did truly repent of all their sins, and serve God with all their heart; yet even in that case their salvation would…”

Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

“And hereby God intended to teach them the vanity of confidence in men; and that they did not one jot less need the help of God now, than they did when they had no king.”

I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will descend upon me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

“Supplication - Thence it appears, that sacrifices were accompanied with solemn prayers.”

“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over…

“For ever - The phrase, forever, in scripture often signifies only a long time. So this had been abundantly verified, if the kingdom had been enjoyed by Saul, and by his son, and by his son's son; after whom the kingdom might have come to…”

But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the…

“"But was it not hard, to punish so little a sin so severely?" It was not little: disobedience to an express command, tho' in a small matter, is a great provocation.”

Then terror struck the Philistines in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even those in the outposts and raiding parties trembled.

“Trembling - The Hebrew is, a trembling of God, signifying not only a very great trembling, but such as was supernatural, and came immediately from the hand of God. He that made the heart knows how to make it tremble.”

So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth-aven.

“The battle - That is, the warriors who were engaged in the battle, and were pursuing the Philistines. Yet it is said, the Lord saved Israel that day: he did it by them: for without him they could do nothing. Salvation is of the Lord.”

Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening…

“Distressed - With hunger, and weakness, and faintness, and all by reason of the following oath. Avenged - As Saul's intention was good, so the matter of the obligation was not simply unlawful, if it had not been so rigorous in excluding all food, and…”

So they rushed greedily to the plunder, taking sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them on the ground and ate meat with the blood still in it.

“Slew - At evening, when the time prefixed by Saul was expired. With blood - Not having patience to tarry 'till the blood was perfectly gone out of them, as they should have done.”

So Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Why have You not answered Your servant this day?

“Perfect lot - Or, declare the perfect, or guiltless person. That is, O Lord, so guide the lot, that it may discover who is guilty in his matter, and who innocent.”

But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never!

“With God - In concurrence with God, he hath wrought this salvation. God is so far from being offended with Jonathan, that he hath graciously owned him in the great service of this day.”

After Saul had assumed the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side—the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines.

“Took the kingdom - That is, resumed the administration of it, after he had in a manner lost it by the Philistines, who had almost turned him out of it.”

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. His two daughters were named Merab (his firstborn) and Michal (his younger daughter).

“Ishui - Called also Abinadab. chap. xxxi, 2. Ishbosheth, Saul's other son is here omitted, because he intended to mention only those of his sons who went with him into the battles here mentioned, and who were afterwards slain with him.”

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

“Slay, &c. - Which was not unjust, because God is the supreme Lord of life, and can require his own when he pleaseth; infants likewise are born in sin, and therefore liable to God's wrath.”

Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

“To Shur - That is, from one end of their country to the other; he smote all that he met with: but a great number of them fled away upon the noise of his coming, and secured themselves in other places, 'till the storm was…”

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

“Repenteth - Repentance implies grief of heart, and change of counsels, and therefore cannot be in God: but it is ascribed to God when God alters his method of dealing, and treats a person as if be did indeed repent of the kindness he had…”

When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

“They - That is, the people. 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 over-rule them.”

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

“Sacrifice - Because obedience to God is a moral duty, constantly and indispensably necessary; but sacrifice is but a ceremonial institution, sometimes unnecessary, as it was in the wilderness: and sometimes sinful, when it is offered by a polluted hand, or in an irregular manner.”