re: #10 Dark_Falcon

As I understand it, the biggest purpose of the passage on the war against the Amalekites is to make the point that Saul served his own interests rather than God’s will, resulting in Samuel (after hacking the captive Amalekite king to pieces (the Bible at times describes very violent events, and this is one of those times)) looking for a better man to replace Saul as king. Samuel finds that better man in David.

In terms of the narrative, that makes sense. I always wonder about poor Saul. The man was, if you read the text, probably mentally ill, and pretty much appears to have been set up to fail. He was, I must point out, hand-picked by God and pointed out to Samuel as a suitable king. Is he just a fall guy to get David on the scene? Was there some way he could have been successful, and kept God’s favor? (He could have killed Agag, but I doubt there’s any way he could have avoided being a paranoid schizophrenic.)

I love Samuels I & II. The David story is amazing literature. I have an ambition of someday writing a novel about the women in David’s life.