Getting Rid of Agag

In 1 Samuel 15:1-3 we find the word of the Lord delivered to Saul by the mouth of Samuel, the prophet. God tells saul to go and destroy all of the Amalekites, take none of their stuff, and leave not a single person alive. However, we find in 1 Samuel 15:8-9 that Saul and his men have left the king and his family alive, as well as some of the best of the herds and belongings.

Then we find Saul lying to Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:13-14, and he seems to truly believe the lie that he tells Samuel. This pattern of believing that he has done the right thing seems to hold true in 1 Samuel 15:20, as Saul continues to defend his actions as having been following the will of God.

Then, in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, we find the oft-quoted "to obey is better than sacrifice." We find here that God would much prefer our total obedience than to have us disobey His will, even if we're disobeying Him for the purpose of sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15:28 shows us that Saul will lose the kingdom of Israel because of his disobedience, even though he thought he was obeying.

After this disobedience, Saul was never given another opportunity to speak to Samuel. 1 Samuel 15:35 does tell us that Samuel mourned for Saul, but never spoke to him again. It also shows us that the Lord was grieved that He had made Saul king.

Let us be careful that we always fully obey the Lord's commands, so that we won't lose the station we've been given. Our obedience to His will is the most important thing we can do in life. When God tells us to remove something from our lives, or from our borders, let's get rid of all of it, and not try to leave any piece of it alive, no matter what the purpose we might have in it.