1 Samuel 15:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
לַֽיהוָה֙la.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
delight
הַחֵ֤פֶץha.Che.fetz
H2656
pleasure · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular absolute
offerings
בְּעֹל֣וֹתbe.'o.Lot
H5930
a step or (collectively · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
sacrifices
וּזְבָחִ֔יםu.ze.va.Chim
H2077
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
obeying
כִּשְׁמֹ֖עַkish.Mo.a'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
voice
בְּק֣וֹלbe.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
obey
שְׁמֹ֙עַ֙she.Mo.a'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal infinitive construct
better
ט֔וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
sacrifice
מִזֶּ֣בַחmi.Ze.vach
H2077
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hearken
לְהַקְשִׁ֖יבle.hak.Shiv
H7181
to prick up the ears · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
fat
מֵחֵ֥לֶבme.Che.lev
H2459
fat · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
rams
אֵילִֽים'ei.Lim
H352
properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Psalms 51:16-17 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Amos 5:21-24 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighb…
Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repenta…
Micah 6:6-8 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a y…
Jeremiah 7:22-23 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15:10-23
Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning the execution of his commission against the Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here furnished with of the strictness of the justice of God and the treachery and deceitfulness of the heart of man. We are here told,
I. What passed between God and Samuel, in secret, upon this occasion, Sa1 15:10, Sa1 15:11. 1. God determines Saul's rejection, and acquaints Samuel with it: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a change of his mind, but a change of his method or dispensation. He does not alter his will, but wills an alteration. The change was in Saul: He has turned back from follow…
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people. Samuel saw the real state of the case, and in discharge of the commission he had received before setting out, proceeded to denounce his conduct as characterized by pride, rebellion, and obstinate disobedience. When Saul persisted in declaring that he had obeyed, alleging that the animals, whose bleating was heard, had been reserve…
Hath the Lord as great delight, etc. - This was a very proper answer to, and refutation of Saul's excuse. Is not obedience to the will of God the end of all religion, of its rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices?
John Gill on 1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said,.... In reply to Saul:
hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? no, certainly, the one being merely ceremonial, the other moral; the one supposes sin committed, for which sacrifice is offered; the other moral, and is a compliance with the will of God, and is neither sinful, nor supposes anything sinful, and therefore must be the more acceptable:
behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams; which always was claimed by the Lord as his right and due; or the fattest rams or best sacrifices, of whatever sort, whether burnt offerings, or sin offerings, or peace offerings; for had man o…
The Church Fathers
Samuel, that great man, no less clearly reproved Saul, saying, "Is not the word better than a gift?" For hereby one fulfills the law and pleases God, as he says, "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me." Let one "learn what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," and I will not condemn the adversaries.
Therefore, when different prophets or different apostles should give to those who sin the counsel by which they can correct or amend the sin, they rightly will seem to have sold rams to them for sacrifice. But how much do they charge the buyers? It is, I think, the cost of reading zealously, of hearing with vigilance the word of God, and above all, I think, the most diligent obedience, about which the Lord says, "I prefer obedience to sacrifice; and hearing what I say rather than whole burnt offerings."
Moreover, the prophets indicate in the fullest manner that God stood in no need of their slavish obedience, but that it was upon their own account that He enjoined certain observances in the law. And again, that God needed not their oblation, but [merely demanded it], on account of man himself who offers it, the Lord taught distinctly, as I have pointed out. For when He perceived them neglecting righteousness, and abstaining from the love of God, and imagining that God was to be propitiated by sacrifices and the other typical observances, Samuel did even thus speak to them: "God does not desire whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, but He will have His voice to be hearkened to. Behold, a ready obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Agag — Flame, the usual title of the Amalekite kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian. (1.) A king of the Amalekites referred to by Balaam (Num. 24:7). He lived at the time of the Exodus. (2.) Another king…
Garrison — (1.) Heb. matstsab, a station; a place where one stands (1 Sam. 14:12); a military or fortified post (1 Sam. 13:23; 14:1, 4, 6, etc.). (2.) Heb. netsib, a prefect, superintendent; hence a military…
Samuel — Heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly…
Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first…
Teraphim — Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal…
Amalekites · General references — General references
Amalekites, The · Saul: Condemned for not utterly destroying — Saul: Condemned for not utterly destroying
Burnt Offering, The · Obedience better than — Obedience better than
Church And State · .Reproves rulers — .Reproves rulers
Formalism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Gilgal · .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered — .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered
Without entering, therefore, into any discussion of the meaning of the ban, as Saul only wanted to cover over his own wrong-doings by giving this turn to the affair, Samuel put a stop to any further excuses, by saying, "Hath Jehovah delight in burnt-offerings and slain-offerings as in hearkening to the voice of Jehovah? (i.e., in obedience to His word.) Behold, hearing (obeying) is better than slain-offerings, attending better than fat of rams." By saying this, Samuel did not reject sacrifices as worthless; he did not say that God took no pleasure in burnt-offerings and slain-offerings, but simply compared sacrifice with obedience to the command of God, and pronounced the latter of greater w…
What is more pleasing: God values obedience much more than ritual (see also Ps 40:6; Hos 6:6; Matt 12:7). • the fat of rams: The choicest parts of the animal were offered to God.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 15:22
Behold, obeying His command is better than a choice offering.23‘ה prefers the fulfillment of His command over the offering of voluntary sacrifices.
To hearken [is better] than the fat of rams. This refers to, "Behold, obeying [is better] than a choice offering, and to hearken [is better] than the fat of rams."
Obedience To God · Better than sacrifice — Better than sacrifice
Presumption · .Sparing the Amalekites — .Sparing the Amalekites
Reproof · .Samuel, of Saul — .Samuel, of Saul
Sacrifices · Generally the best of their kind — Generally the best of their kind
Saul · . — .
Self-Righteousness · .Saul — .Saul
Self-Will And Stubbornness · Exemplified: Saul — Exemplified: Saul
Sheep · Males of called rams — Males of called rams
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
