3 Now go and strike Amalek and Lev. 27:28,29;Josh. 6:17,21devote to destruction15:3 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 21 all that they have. Do not spare them, [ch. 22:19]but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’"
9 ver. 15, 21;[ch. 28:18]But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves15:9 The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, See Ruth 2:20"Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord." 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, ver. 9, 21for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction."
22 And Samuel said,
Ps. 40:6-8;50:8,9;Prov. 21:3;Isa. 1:11-13,16,17;Jer. 7:22,23;Mic. 6:6-8;Heb. 10:6-9"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, Eccles. 5:1;Hos. 6:6;Matt. 9:13;12:7;Mark 12:33to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and See Gen. 31:19,34idolatry.
Because ver. 26you have rejected the word of the Lord,
ch. 13:14he has also rejected you from being king."