Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
—1 Samuel 15:20–21

God, I hate this passage. Saul is how old here? He’s so young, and he genuinely seems to think he followed through on everything the Lord said. He destroyed the Amalekites as a people entirely, even if he brought some livestock and their king back alive. The prophecy from the Lord did not include anything having to do with livestock nor the king himself. Just an order to destroy the people, which Saul did. In fact, Saul is determined to send that livestock in for sacrifices to the Lord.

However, I know it’s important to read the entire story and not get stuck on one part. Part of the polemic here against Saul is seeing how he ends up. I guess it’s kind of the idea that who Saul really is is revealed later on, and the Lord’s anger is burning not simply because of the actions of Saul in this one case, but because the Lord knows his heart and motives, and how his whole idea of bringing back sacrifices and being all holy comes from a less genuine place than he may even know himself. David, later on, is put into similar stressors as Saul did, and the same kind of wickedness and rage did not come out of him. So I suppose part of this anger of God is in light of who Saul will reveal himself to be.

Still doesn’t change how enraging the Lord’s original command is.

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