And Samuel said, Bring ye near to me Agag the king of Amalek. And Agag came to him gaily. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
God told Saul to destroy Amalek completely. Saul kept the king alive. Now Samuel calls for that king, and the condemned man walks in calm and confident, sure that death has passed him by. What is such confidence worth when God has already passed sentence?
Agag was not simply one man's name. Commentators explain what kind of name it was, and where his people came from:
Agag was the title of the kings of Amalek, probably a general title, as was the title of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. … Amalek descended from Esau, through Eliphaz.
Agag's own record settles the justice of what followed. His mood shows that he felt none of it:
Let none doubt that this was right. It is God's great governing principle that "whatever one sows, that will he also reap," and Agag's cruel sword had filled many a mother's heart with grief. His own turn had now come in the justice of God. He felt his position so lightly, and was so completely unrepentant of his awful crimes, that he came to Samuel in a cheerful mood. "Gaily" is the word used by Darby, "cheerfully" by the Revised Version in its margin.
Commentators differ over the word for his approach. Some keep the older reading "delicately" and see either a king on display or a bid for pity. One ancient translation reads it another way:
He came delicately — "in a grand manner, to show that he was a king who should be treated with respect, or in a soft manner, like a man never used to hardship … to move compassion," says Matthew Henry. Or, as the Greek version reads, "he came trembling." He had good reason to tremble before such a champion for carrying out God's word.
Agag speaks as if the danger is behind him. One commentator sees a pattern here that can run to the very end of a life:
So the ungodly sometimes cling to their supposed rank, even to the end. They fool themselves right up to the hour when they walk into the presence of Him who "shows no partiality." "Surely the bitterness of death is past," he says. Does he still hope for mercy from the meek and gentle Samuel? Vain hope! The one who can turn in grace to poor Saul can also strike in judgment the enemy of God and Israel.
Saul had looked at Agag and seen something worth keeping. God looked at the same man and saw no change at all beneath the polish:
He thought he might make some exceptions. It was as if the line between what was "refuse" and what was "good" were his to draw, and not God's. But God's judgement never errs. He looked at Amalek from a true point of view, and He saw in Agag a man who, for all his delicacy, would resist Israel as strongly as ever.
Samuel was not taken in, and the place where he acted carried its own meaning:
Agag's delicacy could not deceive a man taught by God. How remarkable to find him cutting Agag in pieces at Gilgal! Gilgal was the place where God rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Israel. As we trace their history, we find Gilgal linked with much power over evil.
Samuel acted on something Saul had forgotten — an oath God had sworn about this people:
It was according to His law not to spare the deadly enemies of Israel. Had He not sworn to war with Amalek from generation to generation? Samuel had not forgotten this, even if Saul had.
Writers apply the scene to the believer. Amalek pictures the flesh — the sinful nature we still carry — and sparing what looks presentable is the same failure:
Where is the unsparing hand that, like Samuel, cuts Agag in pieces, however delicately he comes? Where is the hand that takes God's side in judging sin in the flesh, and accepts the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead?
- Sentence. God had sworn lasting war on Amalek. Agag already stood under that verdict, whatever he felt about it.
- Spared. Saul kept alive what looked good to him. He drew the line between worthless and valuable by his own judgement, not God's.
- Style. Agag's manner — grand, cheerful, or pleading — was only an appearance. Underneath, he would resist Israel as strongly as ever.
- Self-deception. His claim that the worst was over is how the ungodly cling to rank, right up to the moment they meet God, who shows no partiality.
- Sword. Samuel remembered what Saul forgot, and acted at Gilgal, the place linked with power over evil. That is the model for judging sin in ourselves.
And Samuel said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless above women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah in Gilgal.
Agag had just declared that the bitterness of death was past. One verse later the old prophet cuts him down at Gilgal. The verse raises two questions. Why did the sentence take this shape? And why did the prophet, not the king, carry it out?
Samuel's words tie the punishment to Agag's own record.
The execution of the Amalekite king closes this solemn chapter. Let no one doubt that this was right. It is God's great governmental principle that "whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Gal. 6:7), and Agag's cruel sword had filled many a mother's heart with grief. His own turn had now come in the justice of God. He felt his position so lightly, and was so completely unrepentant of his crimes, that he came up to Samuel in high spirits. But "Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal," for God is light as well as love. Another pagan king admitted that what happened to him was fair. His captors cut off his thumbs and big toes, and he had done the same to as many as seventy kings (Judges 1:6-7).
Many readers admire Saul's mercy here and recoil from Samuel's act. Commentators answer that reaction directly.
Samuel the prophet does what Saul the king had failed to do. To unbelief, and to minds not subject to the Word of God, Saul's leniency with Agag looks like a credit to him rather than a fault. To such people, Samuel's action seems harsh and unfeeling. But faith does not judge that way. The believer does not question the justice or the fitness of executing this man. He murdered others, and he represented the race against which the LORD had sworn He would have war forever.
The verse names the place on purpose.
Agag's refinement could not deceive a man taught by God. How striking to find him hewing Agag in pieces at Gilgal! Gilgal was the place where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from Israel. As we trace Israel's history, we find Gilgal linked with much power over evil. It was here, then, that this Amalekite met his end at the hand of righteous Samuel.
Saul had been to Gilgal often enough. He had never taken in what the place stood for.
When the soul knows its full deliverance from Egypt, through the power of death and resurrection, it is in the best position to win victory over evil. Had Saul known anything of the spirit and principle of Gilgal, he would not have spared Agag. He was ready enough to go there to "renew the kingdom," but by no means ready to crush and set aside everything that had the character of the flesh.
Commentators look past the man to what he stands for.
Of course Agag the king was the worst of all Amalek, the figurehead of all its opposition to God. His name means "I will overtop." This stands for the pride of being who I am, which lies at the base of all the evil of the lusts of the flesh. If this root is not judged, and only some of the details of lustful things are dealt with, then the evil is not rightly judged at all.
It is easy to destroy what is plainly worthless. It is harder to destroy what looks impressive. Saul managed the first and failed at the second.
With us, too, there must be the unsparing judgment of what God has condemned. Faith must firmly use "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." It must cut down the finest and most royal forms of the flesh. They are so often spared for that very reason. The Sauls of every generation fail here. The powers that be may to some degree destroy what is vile and worthless. But they do not judge as God judges. Only the prophet's hand can wield the sword upon Agag.
The story does not stop with Agag. Commentators note how Saul's own life ended.
Samuel was a very different person from Saul. When Agag the king of Amalek was brought before him, he cut him "to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal" (verses 32, 33). Here is a solemn thought. God carried out His judgment on Saul, and the king who had spared Agag the king of Amalek died at the hand of an Amalekite (2 Sam. 1:7-10).
- Crime. Agag's sword had left mothers childless. The sentence handed back to him what he had handed out.
- Sentence. What looks harsh to unbelief is, to faith, neither unjust nor unfitting — God is light as well as love.
- Place. Gilgal stood for the rolling away of Israel's reproach and for power over evil. Saul visited it but never grasped it.
- Picture. Agag means "I will overtop" — the pride at the root of every sinful desire. Cut the details but spare the root, and nothing is truly judged.
- Warning. The finest forms of the flesh are the ones most often spared. The king who spared Agag died at an Amalekite's hand.