1Sa 15:1
15:1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee
     [to be] king over his people, over Israel: now therefore
     {a} hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

     (a) Because he has preferred you to this honour, you are
         bound to obey him.

1Sa 15:3
15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they
     have, and spare them not; but {b} slay both man and woman,
     infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

     (b) That this might be an example of God's vengeance
         against those who deal cruelly with his people.

1Sa 15:6
15:6 And Saul said unto the {c} Kenites, Go, depart, get you
     down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with
     them: for ye shewed {d} kindness to all the children of
     Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites
     departed from among the Amalekites.

     (c) Which were the posterity of Jethro, Moses father in
         law.
     (d) For Jethro came to visit them, and gave them good
         counsel, Ex 18:19.

1Sa 15:11
15:11 It {e} repenteth me that I have set up Saul [to be] king:
      for he is turned back from following me, and hath not
      performed my commandments.  And it grieved Samuel; and he
      cried unto the LORD all night.

      (e) God in his eternal counsel never changes or repents,
          as in 1Sa 15:29, though he seems to us to repent
          when anything goes contrary to his temporal election.

1Sa 15:13
15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed
      [be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the {f}
      commandment of the LORD.

      (f) This is the nature of hypocrites to be impudent
          against the truth, to condemn others, and justify
          themselves.

1Sa 15:17
15:17 And Samuel said, When thou [wast] {g} little in thine own
      sight, [wast] thou not [made] the head of the tribes of
      Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

      (g) Meaning, of base condition as in 1Sa 9:21.

1Sa 15:20
15:20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, {h} I have obeyed the
      voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD
      sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and
      have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

      (i) He stands most impudently in his own defence both
          against God and his own conscience.

1Sa 15:23
15:23 For {i} rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and
      stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou
      hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected
      thee from [being] king.

      (i) God hates nothing more than the disobedience of his
          commandment, even though the intent seems good to man.

1Sa 15:25
15:25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my {k} sin, and turn
      again with me, that I may worship the LORD.

      (k) This was not true repentance, but deceit out of fear
          for the loss of his kingdom.

1Sa 15:28
15:28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom
      of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a {l}
      neighbour of thine, [that is] better than thou.

      (l) That is, to David.

1Sa 15:29
15:29 And also the {m} Strength of Israel will not lie nor
      repent: for he [is] not a man, that he should repent.

      (m) Meaning God, who maintains and prefers his own.

1Sa 15:32
15:32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of
      the Amalekites.  And Agag came unto him delicately. And
      Agag said, Surely the {n} bitterness of death is past.

      (n) He expected nothing less than death, or as some write,
          he passed not for death.

1Sa 15:34
15:34 Then Samuel went to {o} Ramah; and Saul went up to his
      house to Gibeah of Saul.

      (o) Where his house was.

1Sa 15:35
15:35 And Samuel came no more to {p} see Saul until the day of
      his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the
      LORD {q} repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

      (p) Though Saul came where Samuel was, 1Sa 19:22.
      (q) As in 1Sa 15:11.