15:10Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
15:11It 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.
15:12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
15:13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
15:14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15:15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
15:16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
15:17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
15:18And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
15:19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
15:20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, 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.
15:21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
15:22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
15:23For 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.
15:24And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
15:25Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
15:26And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
15:27And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
15:28And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
15:29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
15:30Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
15:31So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
15:32Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
15:33And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
15:34Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
15:35And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
Samuel keeps running to the wrong person, which is not quite the same thing as refusing to listen. His readiness is already there; recognition is not. The Book of First Samuel makes that distinction carefully. The boy who ministers before the LORD has not yet received the LORD's word, and the elderly priest whose house stands condemned can still recognize a divine call. Eli is neither a reliable father nor a useless teacher. Both facts belong in the room.
The first message is not a comfortable introduction to prophecy. Samuel must tell the man who calls him my son that his family's judgment will not be canceled by the sacrifices that family administers. The child opens the sanctuary doors the next morning, as though an ordinary day's work could still follow that night. Then Eli calls again. This time Samuel knows precisely who is speaking, and the difficult part is answering without hiding anything. By the chapter's end, the word that was scarce at Shiloh has become a public certainty from Dan to Beersheba. The change begins with a boy who has to be taught to recognize it.