״וַיָּרֶב בַּנָּחַל״, אָמַר רַבִּי מָנִי: עַל עִסְקֵי נַחַל. בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְשָׁאוּל: ״לֵךְ וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת עֲמָלֵק״, אָמַר: וּמָה נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת אָמְרָה תּוֹרָה הָבֵא עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה — כׇּל הַנְּפָשׁוֹת הַלָּלוּ, עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה. וְאִם אָדָם חָטָא, בְּהֵמָה מֶה חָטְאָה? וְאִם גְּדוֹלִים חָטְאוּ, קְטַנִּים מֶה חָטְאוּ? יָצְאָה בַּת קוֹל וְאָמְרָה לוֹ: ״אַל תְּהִי צַדִּיק הַרְבֵּה״. וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ שָׁאוּל לְדוֹאֵג: ״סוֹב אַתָּה וּפְגַע בַּכֹּהֲנִים״, יָצְאָה בַּת קוֹל וְאָמְרָה לוֹ: ״אַל תִּרְשַׁע הַרְבֵּה״.
“And Saul came to the city of Amalek and he strove in the valley” (I Samuel 15:5). Rabbi Mani said: This means that Saul strove with God, as it were, concerning the matter of the valley. At the time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Saul: “Now go and attack Amalek and proscribe all that belongs to him; do not pity him, but kill men and women alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and sheep alike, camel and donkey alike” (I Samuel 15:3), Saul countered and said: Now, if on account of one life that is taken, in a case where a slain person’s body is found and the murderer is unknown, the Torah said to bring a heifer whose neck is broken to a barren valley, in the atonement ritual described in Deuteronomy 21:1–9, all the more so must I have pity and not take all these Amalekite lives. And he further reasoned: If the men have sinned, in what way have the animals sinned? Why, then, should the Amalekites’ livestock be destroyed? And if the adults have sinned, in what way have the children sinned? A Divine Voice then came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly righteous” (Ecclesiastes 7:16). That is to say: Do not be more merciful than the Creator Himself, Who has commanded you to do this, for to do so would not be an indication of righteousness but of weakness. At a later time, when Saul said to Doeg: “Turn around and strike down the priests, and Doeg the Edomite turned around and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod, and he struck Nob the city of priests by the sword, man and woman alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and donkeys and sheep, by the sword” (I Samuel 22:18–19), a Divine Voice came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly wicked” (Ecclesiastes 7:17).
Chap. 13 and the present one appear to be separate accounts of Sha’ul’s rejection. This is buttressed by the opening of Chap. 15, which seems oblivious to the previous events. God commands the king to utterly wipe out the Amalekites, in revenge for their treacherous actions against the Israelite ancestors at the time of the Exodus (see Exod. 17:8-16). Sha’ul is scrupulous here in one regard, making sure that the Israel-friendly Kenites who live among the enemy are not caught up in the destruction, but in the end he chooses to preserve both the best of the spoils and Agag, the Amalekite king, thus violating God’s instructions. When confronted by Shemuel, Sha’ul claims to have done God’s will, and to have saved the best animals for sacrifice to him. Further rebuke from the prophet reveals the truth: Sha’ul was afraid of his own soldiers, fearing that they, following usual practice, would not fight without promise of a reward in the form of spoils. Such a disregard of God’s honor in favor of human considerations means that Sha’ul must now forfeit his role as the founder of a dynasty, expressed through the fourfold use of “reject” in vv.23 and 26. Despite the condemnation directed at Sha’ul, the text strikingly portrays Shemuel as feeling for the king; when God first expresses regret over having made Sha’ul king, Shemuel “cried out … all night” (v.11), while at the end of the chapter (vv.30-31) he accedes to Sha’ul’s request to at least accompany him as he worships in the people’s presence. Shemuel, of course, does not extend this kind of humanity to Agag and, as far as we can tell, executes him with his own hands. But the close association between king and prophet, which had begun in the long-ago days of running after lost donkeys, would seem to have come to an end.
הלוא, נגד מ"ש כי חמל העם, כאילו לא עצר כח נגד העם א"ל הלא כו' ראש שבטי ישראל אתה ועקר המעשה תתיחס אליך, וגם א"ל שהיית ירא מהם כי וימשחך ה' למלך אינך כמלך הנבחר מהעם אשר ימשך אחר דעתם כי ה' משחך:
Though, answering what (Saul) said: "for the people had mercy," as though he had no power to confront the people, he told him: "but you are the head of the tribes of Israel" and the main act will be attributed to you, and he added 'you are scared of them' since 'God anointed you as king.' "You aren't like a king chosen by the people, who anoint him according to their opinion, since God anointed you."