Whether Saul spared Agag because of his personal beauty, to grace his royal triumph, or whatever the motive, it was a direct disobedience; and when the king attempted to exculpate himself, inasmuch as he had made a sacrifice of the spoil to the Lord, Samuel replied:  “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying his voice?...  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,—­for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as an iniquity and idolatry.”  The prophet here sets forth, as did Isaiah in later times, the great principles of moral obligation as paramount over all ceremonial observances.  He strikes a blow at all pharisaism and all self-righteousness, and inculcates obedience to direct commands as the highest duty of man.

Saul, perceiving that he had sinned, confessed his transgression, but palliated it by saying that he feared the people.  But this policy of expediency had no weight with the prophet, although Saul repented and sought pardon.  Samuel continued his stern rebuke, and uttered his fearful message, saying, “Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou.”  Furthermore Samuel demanded that Agag, whom Saul had spared, should be brought before him; and he took upon himself with his aged hand the work of executioner, and hewed the king of the Amalekites in pieces in Gilgal.  He then finally departed from Saul, and mournfully went to his own house in Ramah, and Saul saw him no more.  As the king was the “Lord’s anointed,” Samuel could not openly rebel against kingly authority, but he would henceforth have nothing to do with the headstrong ruler.  He withdrew from him all spiritual guidance, and left him to his follies and madness; for the inextinguishable jealousy of Saul, that now began to appear, was a species of insanity, which poisoned his whole subsequent life.  The people continued loyal to a king whom God had selected, but Samuel “came no more to see Saul until the day of his death.”  To be deserted by such a counsellor as Samuel, was no small calamity.

Meanwhile, in obedience to instructions from God, Samuel proceeded to Bethlehem, to the humble abode of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, one of whose sons he was required to anoint as the future king of Israel.  He naturally was about to select the largest and finest looking of the seven sons; but God looketh on the heart rather than the outward appearance, and David, a mere youth, and the youngest of the family, was the one indicated by Jehovah, and was privately anointed by the prophet.