But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
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Commentary
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Gill's Exposition
And Saul and all the people spared Agag,.... Perhaps Saul made the motion to spare him, and the people agreed to it; it may be, out of respect to him as a king; or because of the comeliness of his…
Barnes' Notes
The fatlings - The present Hebrew text cannot be so rendered. It can only mean “the second best” (compare the margin), i. e., sheep of the age to cut or shed the two teeth, sheep in their prime. But…
Here, I. Samuel, in God's name, solemnly requires Saul to be obedient to the command of God, and plainly intimates that he was now about to put him upon a trial, in one particular instance, whether he…
Cambridge Bible
spared Agag Perhaps to grace his triumph and to be an evidence of his victory (Jdg 1:7): perhaps from a feeling of sympathy with a fellow king (1Ki 20:32).
and the best of the sheep, &c. In direct…
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