to revolve · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
away
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
hold
וַיַּחֲזֵ֥קvai.ya.cha.Zek
H2388
to fasten upon · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
skirt
בִּכְנַףbikh.naf-
H3671
an edge or extremity · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
mantle
מְעִיל֖וֹme.'i.Lo
H4598
a robe (i.e. upper and outer garment) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rent
וַיִּקָּרַֽעvai.yi.ka.Ra'
H7167
to rend · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
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
1 Kings 11:30-31 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15:24-31
Saul is at length brought to put himself into the dress of the penitent; but it is too evident that he only acts the part of a penitent, and is not one indeed. Observe,
I. How poorly he expressed his repentance. It was with much ado that he was made sensible of his fault, and not till he was threatened with being deposed. This touched him in a tender part. Then he began to relent, and not till then. When Samuel told him he was rejected from being king, then he said, I have sinned, Sa1 15:24. His confession was not free nor ingenuous, but extorted by the rack, and forced from him. We observe here several bad signs of the hypocrisy of his repentance, and that it came short even of Ahab's. 1. H…
he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle--the moil, upper tunic, official robe. In an agony of mental excitement, he took hold of the prophet's dress to detain him; the rending of the mantle [Sa1 15:27] was adroitly pointed to as a significant and mystical representation of his severance from the throne.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 15:26
I will not return with thee - I cannot acknowledge thee as king, seeing the Lord hath rejected thee.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 15:27
And as Samuel turned about to go away,.... From Saul, a different way from Gilgal, perhaps towards his own city Ramah, with an intention to have nothing more to say to Saul, or to do with him, or to see his face no more; so displeased was he with him:
he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle; in order to detain him, and prevent his departure from him, and his going a different way:
and it rent; Samuel twitching away from him with great vehemence and warmth. The Jewish (f) Rabbins are divided about this, whose skirt was rent; some say it was Samuel that rent the skirt of Saul, and by this signified to him, that he that cut off the skirt of his garment should reign in his stead; whereby Sau…
Political prosperity is the business of emperors; the condition of the church is the concern of shepherds and teachers. Any other method is piracy, brothers. Saul tore Samuel's cloak, and what was the consequence? God tore the kingdom away from him and gave it to David the meek.… We will obey you, O emperor, in those matters which pertain to our daily lives: payments, taxes, tributes; these are your due, and we will give them to you. But as far as the government of the church is concerned, we have our pastors, and they have preached the word to us; we have those who interpret the ordinances of the church.
In many Latin versions we find one of the above verses in the following form: "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from your hand." But I have quoted from the Greek text: "The Lord has torn the kingdom from Israel from your hand"—the expression "from Israel" being equivalent to "from your hand." In this way, Samuel stood figuratively for the people of Israel which was to lose the kingdom when our Lord Jesus Christ would come to reign—spiritually, not carnally—in the New Testament. The reference to him in the words "and he has given it to your neighbor" is an allusion to the racial relationship, for Christ in the flesh derived from Israel just as did Saul.
And Samuel turned to depart, etc. When the grace of prophecy turned away because of sins to depart from the Jews, they did not grasp the full garment of prophetic reading by which they could warm their souls with faith and adorn them with works; but only the extreme fringe, which is in the part of the letter, which they also tear away from the solidity of the spiritual sense, as if from the integrity of the prophetic garment. And therefore because they did not fear to tear the prophets, they deserved that the kingdom of God be torn from them and given to the Gentiles. But also today anyone who with an impious mind despises the sacred words in which he was instructed and imbued to seek the heavenly kingdom; because he stains the sacred garment by consecrating himself in the kingdom, he leaves the taken away kingdom's happiness to a better neighbor. Nor does it differ from signifying the misery of such people when it is said that Samuel, hearing of Saul's pride, turned to depart. For many, while they disdain to do the good they know they should do, eventually by the just judgment of God, deserve to be ignorant of what should be done. Hence, the multifaceted luxury of heretics' weeds pollutes the harvest of the evangelical seed with a wicked seed, while rejected from the action of truth often, knowledge finally turned away and withdrew from the mind.
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…
Apparel — In Old Testament times the distinction between male and female attire was not very marked. The statute forbidding men to wear female apparel (Deut. 22:5) referred especially to ornaments and…
Cloak — An upper garment, “an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the ankles, but without sleeves” (Isa. 59:17). The word so rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or “mantle.” It was worn by the high…
Dress — (1.) Materials used. The earliest and simplest an apron of fig-leaves sewed together (Gen. 3:7); then skins of animals (3:21). Elijah’s dress was probably the skin of a sheep (2 Kings 1:8). The…
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…
Hannah — Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. 1; 2). Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim, whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle…
Mantle — (1.) Heb. ‘addereth, a large over-garment. This word is used of Elijah’s mantle (1 Kings 19:13, 19; 2 Kings 2:8, 13, etc.), which was probably a sheepskin. It appears to have been his only garment, a…
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…
Amalekites · General references — General references
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 15:26-29
This request Samuel refused, repeating at the same time the sentence of rejection, and turned to depart. "Then Saul laid hold of the lappet of his mantle (i.e., his upper garment), and it tore" (lit. was torn off). That the Niphal ויּקּרע is correct, and is not to be altered into אתהּ ויּקרע, "Saul tore off the lappet," according to the rendering of the lxx, as Thenius supposes, is evident from the explanation which Samuel gave of the occurrence (Sa1 15:28): "Jehovah hath torn the sovereignty of Israel from thee to-day, and given it to thy neighbour, who is better than thou." As Saul was about to hold back the prophet by force, that he might obtain from him a revocation of the divine sentenc…
Saul finally confessed his sin. But it was too little, too late—and still accompanied by excuses.
15:24 I was afraid of the people: Saul continued to blame others (see 15:15, 21). • what they demanded: There is no hint of such pressure in the chapter. Saul’s confession appears dishonest (cp. David, 2 Sam 12:13; Ps 51).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 15:27
And he grabbed the corner of his robe. According to the simple meaning, it seems that when Shmuel turned to leave Shaul, Shaul grabbed the corner of Shmuel's [robe], since Shaul was asking him to return until he would prostrate himself in Gilgol, where the Tent of Meeting was. In Midrash Aggadah, however, Amora'im differ; some say that Shaul tore Shmuel's robe, and some say that Shmuel tore Shaul's robe,28As a symbol of his loss of kingship. Another version is that Shmuel tore his own robe as a gesture of dismay. giving over to him this sign, that whoever will tear a corner of his robe, would reign in his place. And that is what Shaul said to Dovid on the day he tore [Shaul's] robe, 'I know…
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).
