But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

1 SAMUEL 15:21KJV
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1 Samuel 15:21 (KJV)

What does 1 Samuel 15:21 mean?

In 1 Samuel 15:21, King Saul explains to Samuel why animals that were supposed to be destroyed were kept alive. Saul places the action on the people and presents their purpose as offering the animals to the LORD.

Saul is responding to Samuel’s challenge after a battle against the Amalekites. The phrase “the chief of the things” pictures the best animals being selected from what was taken. Saul names Gilgal as the place where the offering would be made and calls the LORD “thy God” when speaking to Samuel.

The Hebrew behind 1 Samuel 15:21

  • “spoil” — שָׁלָל (shalal): This means goods taken in war. The word places the sheep and oxen among the property seized after the battle.
  • “utterly destroyed” — חֵרֶם (ḥerem): This word can refer to something set apart for destruction. Saul acknowledges that the animals came from things under that sentence.

Why 1 Samuel 15:21 matters

  • Saul’s account puts the people in the foreground. He says “the people took,” although the earlier account says that Saul and the people spared the best animals (verse 9).
  • The proposed offering is Saul’s explanation for keeping the animals. Samuel’s reply in verse 22 asks whether the LORD takes as much pleasure in offerings as in obedience, bringing Saul’s explanation under challenge.

Where else these words appear

“destroyed” Hebrew H2764 · used in 31 verses

  • Leviticus 27:21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.
  • Joshua 7:12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
  • Ezekiel 26:14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

“Gilgal” Hebrew H1537 · used in 39 verses

  • Deuteronomy 11:30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
  • Joshua 14:6 Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
  • 1 Samuel 15:12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

“chief” Hebrew H7225 · used in 49 verses

  • Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
  • Deuteronomy 33:21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
  • Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

“spoil” Hebrew H7998 · used in 64 verses

  • Genesis 49:27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
  • 1 Samuel 30:20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
  • Proverbs 31:11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.