ul and his friends and
this nation. They also were not ignorant of the Law, but they thought
it could be observed like the laws of men, not understanding that it is
binding to the last jot and tittle, and that if a man fails at the last
jot or tittle, he fails altogether.

Saul smote the Amalekites, and everything that was vile and refuse he
utterly destroyed with the edge of the sword, but he spared Agag and
the best of the spoil; and when he came to meet me, he saluted me, and
said he had performed the commandment of the Lord. His commandments
are not thus to be performed, and I asked him what meant then the
bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen. He had reserved
them, he said, as a sacrifice. I asked him whether the Lord had as
great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice
of the Lord, I told him that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams; and I denounced him there, and foretold
that his kingdom should be given to a neighbour better than he. He was
then greatly afraid, for although he feared not the Lord, and was brave
before his enemies, he was at times much given to secret terror, and he
besought me to stay with him and pardon him. But I would not, and when
I had worshipped, I ordered Agag to be brought before me. He came
trembling and asking for mercy, but I hewed him in pieces. Mercy?
Mercy to whom? Would it have been mercy to Israel to let him live and
become a leader of the Amalekites against us? Moreover, a clear
command had been given me, and was set plainly before me, as a candle
in front of me in darkness, to which I was to walk, swerving not a
hair's breadth, that the Amalekite was to be destroyed utterly; and
always when the Light was before me I strove to reach it, never looking
this way nor that way. Before Saul also the Light was set, but he went
aside, thinking he could come to it if he bent his path and compassed
other things, not knowing that the track is very narrow, and that if we
diverge therefrom and take our eyes off the Light we are lost. Who was
Agag, that I should show any tenderness to him, a foul worshipper of
false gods? I rejoiced when he lay bound for the knife in the agony of
death, and his blood was a sacrifice with which God was well pleased.

David now waits until Saul's death, for the king is still a strength in
Israel. I fear that David will dishonour himself with grievous sin,
for he is a lover of