Lives of Scripture

Agag was king of the Amalekites when Saul was commanded through Samuel to "utterly destroy" Amalek -- man, woman, child, and livestock -- as judgment for Amalek's ancient attack on Israel during the exodus (1 Samuel 15:2-3). Saul defeated Amalek but spared Agag alive and kept the best of the sheep and oxen, claiming later that the animals were meant for sacrifice (15:8-9, 15). Samuel confronted Saul with the famous rebuke, "to obey is better than sacrifice" (15:22), and declared that because Saul had rejected the LORD's word, the LORD had rejected him as king (15:23, 26). Samuel then summoned Agag, who came before him "cheerfully," saying, "Surely the bitterness of death is past" -- evidently believing himself safe (15:32). Samuel answered, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women," and he himself killed Agag before the LORD at Gilgal (15:33). Agag's brief appearance carries lasting weight: centuries later, Haman in the book of Esther is identified as "the Agagite" (Esther 3:1), and Jewish tradition has long read Haman's plot against the Jews as this same Amalekite hostility resurfacing -- making Saul's incomplete obedience here a shadow reaching far beyond his own reign.