Verse 10:[1] Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying…
Verse 11:[2] (1 Sam. 15:35; Gen. 6:6, 7; 2 Sam. 24:16) It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is (Josh. 22:16; 1 Kings 9:6) turned back from following me, (1 Sam. 13:13; 15:3, 9) and hath not performed my commandments. And it (1 Sam. 15:35; 16:1) grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
[It repenteth me] He speaks after the manner of men. It is said that God repents, when He does that which men are wont to do when they repent (Menochius out of Sanchez). Now, men change their plans, or disassemble what they have constructed (Sanchez, Estius). Since God is immutable, most wise, and most blessed, no repentance is properly applicable to Him, as it is said in verse 29; but it repenteth Him, when He recalls and retracts His blessings (Lapide).
It repenteth me: repentance properly notes grief of heart, and change of counsels, and therefore cannot be in God, who is unchangeable, most wise, and most blessed; but it is ascribed to God in such cases, when men give God cause to repent, and when God alters his course and method of dealing, and treats a person as if he did indeed repent of all the kindness he had showed to him.
[Samuel was grieved] Hebrew: it burned,[3] namely, the nose, that is, he was afflicted with grief. It is a καταχρηστικὴ/catachrestic/improper Synecdoche of species, anger in the place of grief; for some anger is grief (Piscator).
[He cried to the Lord] More specifically, so that he might appease Him (Vatablus). Samuel is not ἐπικαιρέκακος, that he would rejoice over another’s misfortunes. Unless he had been a good man, he would have congratulated himself over such a successor. But he prays oppositely, even indeed through the whole night (Martyr).
He cried unto the Lord all night, to implore his pardoning mercy for Saul, and for the people; so far was he from rejoicing in their calamities, as an envious and self-seeking person would have done.
John Calvin's Institutes: '12. On the Providence of God, in so far as conducive to the solid instruction and consolation of believers (for, as to satisfying the curiosity of foolish men, it is a thing which cannot be done, and ought not to be attempted), enough would have been said, did not a few passages remain which seem to insinuate, contrary to the view which we have expounded, that the counsel of God is not firm and stable, but varies with the changes of sublunary affairs. First, in reference to the Providence of God, it is said that he repented of having made man (Genesis 6:6), and of having raised Saul to the kingdom (1 Samuel 15:11), and that h…
Charles Bridges' Psalm 119: 'Now a Christian, in this as in every other feature, will be conformed to the image of his Lord. His heart will therefore be touched with a tender concern for the honour of his God, and pitying concern for those wretched sinners, that keep not his law, and are perishing in their own transgressions. Thus was "just Lot" in Sodom "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." (2 Peter 2:7-8.) Thus did Moses "fall down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all their sins which they had sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provok…
Thomas Boston's Doctrines of the Christian Religion: 'The next incommunicable attribute of God is unchangeableness. God is immutable, that is, always the same, without any alteration. Hence it is said, James 1:17, "With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," Malalchi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not." God makes changes upon the creatures, but is liable to no change himself. Though he alters his dispensations, yet not his nature; but, by one pure and constant act of his will and power, effects what changes he pleases. He is the same in all his perfections, constant to his intentions, steady to his purpose, unchangeably fixed and persevering in all his decrees and resolutions. When God is said t…
Matthew Henry: 'Saul is here called to account by Samuel concerning the execution of his commission against the Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here furnished with of the strictness of the justice of God and the treachery and deceitfulness of the heart of man. We are here told...
What passed between God and Samuel, in secret, upon this occasion, 1 Samuel 15:10-11. 1. God determines Saul's rejection, and acquaints Samuel with it: It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a change of his mind, but a change of his method or dispensation. He does not alter his will, but wills an alteration. The change…
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