And as Samuel turned to go away, [Saul] laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
Samuel has just told Saul that his disobedience over Amalek has cost him the throne, and now the prophet turns to walk away. The king's hand shoots out to stop him — and a torn piece of cloth becomes the sermon.
Saul asks Samuel to come back with him and worship. The answer closes the door, and the grab at the robe is what a cornered man does next.
So Samuel told him, "I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." That sentence would not change. Saul had to bow to it. As Samuel turned to leave, however, Saul took hold of the skirt of Samuel's robe, tearing it. Clearly Saul was afraid that Samuel's disapproval would discredit him in the eyes of the people.
Samuel turns an accident of cloth into a picture. What happened to the garment had already happened to the kingdom.
Even now he pleads with Samuel to turn back with him, so that he may worship Jehovah. The fear of the people is still upon him. Samuel refuses, and repeats the judgment he has just pronounced. Saul lays hold of the skirt of his robe, and the garment tears. Samuel uses this to show and confirm that Jehovah has torn the kingdom from him in the same way, to give it into the hand of one better than himself.
Samuel does not soften it to spare the man in front of him.
The declaration of judgment had been final, and nothing could take it back. Saul was a rejected man, and there must be no uncertainty about this. The prophet turns away from the pleading king, whatever his own feelings may have been… God does not speak lightly here. At the very start of Israel's history as a kingdom He had to stamp His judgment on that principle of confidence in the excellence of human nature, and it stands as a lesson for all time.
Saul does not clutch at forgiveness. He clutches at the prophet's public approval. His standing with the nation is what he cannot bear to lose.
He cares little what Samuel, or even God, may think of him. He only wants to be honoured before the elders and the people, and so to keep some appearance of authority and approval from the prophet, their former judge and leader — the man he seems to have feared more than God Himself. Before the crowd he would still count as a religious man, one of the worshippers of Jehovah.
Saul does say "I have sinned." The words come fast, and that speed is itself the problem.
He confesses his sin, but without humbling himself, without contrition. He is still hoping to avoid the consequences… Always some excuse, but an astonishing quickness to confess the evil he had denied a few moments earlier. In all this there is no exercise of conscience. Saul pleads his cowardice before the people to soften the case, instead of taking full responsibility for the sin.
Another writer compares Saul's sorrow with Esau's.
Saul's sorrow was no more godly than Esau's. Both felt for themselves, as both afterwards hated the man of God's choice. What could the persistence of either bring out but the sentence of their loss?
Samuel presses the point past the torn robe to the character of the One who spoke. Human minds change; His does not.
He insisted that the Hope of Israel, the eternal God, would not lie, nor change His mind about passing this solemn sentence. He was not like a mere man, ready to change His mind. Samuel would allow Saul no false impression about this.
The kingdom passes to a neighbour better than Saul. That man is not named here. Years later Saul hears the name.
He had already heard this twice from Samuel's mouth (1 Sam. 13:14; 1 Sam. 15:28), but David's name had not yet been mentioned. Now he learns from the mouth of God what his hatred had long suspected. His "neighbour" was this despised, hated, rejected David, the man he had hunted himself.
After this meeting the prophet goes home. His absence is not coldness; it is grief held alongside obedience.
There was much that was affecting — deeply affecting to the heart — in the sad fall of this unhappy man. He had once drawn from Israel the shout of "God save the king"… and now all this was gone; Saul was rejected, and Samuel felt compelled to take a position of complete separation from him as one whom God had set aside.
- Torn. The cloth that ripped in Saul's hand was not an accident but a picture: God had already torn the kingdom from him.
- Grasping. He grabbed the prophet's robe, not for mercy. He feared losing his reputation before the people.
- Hollow. "I have sinned" came fast and cost him nothing. An excuse came with it, and no exercise of conscience.
- Fixed. The sentence stood, because the One who spoke it is not a man who changes His mind.
- Given away. God handed the torn kingdom to a better neighbour — unnamed here, named later as David.
Then Samuel said to him, Jehovah has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee to-day, and has given it to thy neighbour, who is better than thou.
Samuel had just told Saul that his disobedience over Amalek cost him the throne. As the prophet turned to leave, the king grabbed his robe and tore it. The tear itself became the message. Who is the "neighbour" who gets the kingdom, why is he called better, and can a sentence like this ever change?
Saul grabbed the prophet's garment to hold on to the man whose backing he still wanted. What tore in his hand pictured what had already happened to his reign.
Saul begs that Samuel will return with him, still to honour the Lord in sacrifice; but the prophet cannot compromise. The declaration of judgment had been final, and could not be retracted. Saul was a rejected man, and there must be no uncertainty about this. So the prophet, whatever his personal feelings may have been, turns away from the pleading king. Saul takes hold of his garment to hold him back, and it tears. That tear is only an illustration: God has torn the kingdom of Israel from him, and will give it to another — a man who will answer to the thought of God.
One test decided it. The question was whose will would stand.
A test came in the matter of the Amalekites. God's command was their complete destruction, but Saul thought otherwise. Would he allow God's will to displace his own will? He would not. Though to obey is better than sacrifice, he committed himself to disobedience. As a result God rejected him as king, in favour of David.
Samuel did not soften the sentence. He used the moment to press it home.
Samuel, however, uses this occasion to press on Saul the truth he had already told him. The Lord had torn the kingdom of Israel from him and had given it to one better than he. He insisted that the Hope of Israel, the eternal God, would not lie, nor go back on this solemn sentence. He was not, like a mere man, inclined to change His mind.
The word "better" is not a general compliment. It measures Saul against another man, and God had already said what He thought of that man.
David is twice referred to in Samuel's addresses to Saul when declaring to him his sin and his resulting rejection by the Lord. He says to him, on the first occasion, "Your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you" (1 Sam. 13:14). That description of David was God's own verdict on him, and He gives it twice in Scripture (see Acts 13:22). In the mention of him the second time by Samuel he is described as in contrast with Saul.
This verse leaves the neighbour unnamed. Saul heard the name only much later, and he heard it from God.
But yet another decision is announced to Saul, and this for the third time: "The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David" (1 Sam. 28:17). He had already heard this twice from Samuel's mouth (1 Sam. 13:14; 1 Sam. 15:28), but David's name had not yet been mentioned. Today he learns from the mouth of God what his hatred had long suspected. His "neighbour" was this despised, hated, rejected David — the man he himself had pursued.
What Saul asked for next exposes him. His mind was on his own standing.
The close of this chapter shows all too clearly which way Saul's thoughts and desires were flowing. He had just heard the solemn appeal of Samuel, and God's sentence against him, ending with these solemn words… These stunning words had just fallen on his ear. But he was so full of self that he could say, "Yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel."
Commentators also see a pattern here. Saul stands for what man is in himself.
It is right that Israel should have a king. But only one King has any title to this place. He came once and was rejected. He will come again in power and glory and claim His right to the throne. Saul provides a dark background against which the glory of the true King shines all the more brightly by contrast. Saul is an example of mere man in the flesh. He wanted and clung to a place of authority and rule he could not fill, and he had to be put out of it.
- Torn — Saul tore the robe to keep Samuel; God used the tear to show that the kingdom had already been torn away from him.
- Why — one test over Amalek asked whether God's will would displace Saul's own, and he would not let it.
- Final — the sentence could not be taken back, because the God who spoke it does not lie or change His mind like a man.
- Given — God did not just remove the kingdom. He handed it to a neighbour left unnamed for years — the David Saul would hunt.
- Better — "better than you" measures Saul against a man after God's own heart. Behind David stands the only King with a real title to the throne.