Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 1 Samuel 15:1-35
Obedience 1 Samuel 15:10-23 Obedience is a sacrifice better, because more profound than any other sacrifice can be. 'It is much easier,' Matthew Henry remarks, 'to bring a bullock or a lamb to be burnt upon the altar than to bring every high thought into obedience to God, and make the will subject to His will.' Sacrifice is as the presents which Hiram sent to Solomon; but obedience is like the artist whom he sent to remain in Jerusalem and do the finest work of the Temple for obedience is a... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 1 Samuel 15:13
(13) Blessed be thou of the Lord.—Saul must have been fully conscious that he had failed to carry out the will and command of the Eternal King of Israel. In the late war, undertaken for the definite and solemn purpose of exterminating a wicked and bloodthirsty people, whose continued existence worked terrible evil upon the adjacent countries, he, disregarding the express instructions of the prophet of the Lord for his own covetous purposes, had not destroyed all, but reserved some of the living... read more