Single lesson
Saul Disobeys and Samuel Confronts Him
1 Samuel 15:1–35
This passage is a serious account about a king who was told to listen to Yahweh, yet chose partial obedience. Students will trace the order of events and consider what the chapter says about listening, excuses and God’s response.
Before you teach
Samuel reminds Saul that Yahweh made him king and told him to listen to Yahweh’s words. Saul goes to fight Amalek, but he and the people spare Agag and keep the best animals. Samuel then confronts Saul and speaks Yahweh’s judgement on Saul’s kingship. This chapter includes severe judgement and disturbing violence.
Students will be able to sequence 1 Samuel 15, identify Saul’s disobedience and excuses, and explain from the passage that obeying Yahweh’s voice is better than sacrifice.
Welcome: name the turning point
5 minTell students this is a serious Bible story about choices, obedience and consequences. Explain that the chapter contains severe judgement, so you will read it carefully and avoid acting out violent details. Ask students to listen for one sentence that shows the main issue in the chapter: Saul listening to Yahweh’s voice. Write that phrase where everyone can see it.
1 Samuel 15:1, 1 Samuel 15:22, 1 Samuel 15:23
Read and explain: what Saul was told and what he did
10 minRead 1 Samuel 15:1-9 aloud. Point out the order: Samuel tells Saul to listen, Yahweh gives a command, Saul gathers the people, warns the Kenites to leave, defeats Amalek, but spares Agag and the best animals. Explain that the chapter itself highlights the problem as sparing what was 'good' instead of carrying out Yahweh’s command fully.
1 Samuel 15:1, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:6, 1 Samuel 15:8, 1 Samuel 15:9
Discuss: excuses, blame and the sound of the sheep
8 minRead 1 Samuel 15:10-21. Ask students to notice how Saul speaks before and after Samuel’s question about the sheep and cattle. Saul first claims obedience, then points to the animals, then says the people kept them for sacrifice. Discuss how the passage shows blame-shifting and selective obedience rather than simple listening.
1 Samuel 15:13, 1 Samuel 15:14, 1 Samuel 15:15, 1 Samuel 15:20, 1 Samuel 15:21
Make and respond: sequence and verdict cards
10 minGive students blank cards to create a sequence set with short captions such as 'Listen to Yahweh', 'Saul spared Agag', 'What is this bleating?', 'To obey is better than sacrifice', and 'The kingdom is torn from you'. After ordering the cards, students add one sentence under each card showing either Saul’s choice or Samuel’s verdict from the text.
1 Samuel 15:1, 1 Samuel 15:8, 1 Samuel 15:14, 1 Samuel 15:22, 1 Samuel 15:28
Closing: what the chapter teaches
7 minRead 1 Samuel 15:22-35. Emphasise Samuel’s direct statement that obeying and listening are better than sacrifice. Note that Saul admits sin and says he feared the people. Finish by summarising the outcomes in the chapter: Saul is rejected from being king, Samuel mourns, and Yahweh grieves that he made Saul king over Israel.
1 Samuel 15:22, 1 Samuel 15:23, 1 Samuel 15:24, 1 Samuel 15:26, 1 Samuel 15:35
Questions to explore
What details in the chapter show that Saul did not carry out the command fully?
Look for the contrast between the command to destroy and the report that Agag and the best animals were spared.
1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:8, 1 Samuel 15:9
How does Saul explain himself when Samuel hears sheep and cattle?
Trace Saul’s words carefully and notice how he first says he obeyed, then mentions sacrifice, and later says he feared the people.
1 Samuel 15:13, 1 Samuel 15:15, 1 Samuel 15:20, 1 Samuel 15:21, 1 Samuel 15:24
According to Samuel, what matters more than sacrifice in this chapter?
Use Samuel’s own words and connect them to Saul’s rejection of Yahweh’s word.
1 Samuel 15:22, 1 Samuel 15:23, 1 Samuel 15:26
Make, think or respond
Sequence and Verdict Cards
What you’ll need
- blank paper or card
- pens or pencils
- Bible text
- scissors
Try it together
- Cut paper into 6 to 8 cards.
- Write short captions for key moments in the chapter, each with a verse reference.
- Place the cards in order from the command to the final mourning.
- Under each card, add one sentence saying what choice was made or what judgement was spoken.
- Share the ordered sequence with a partner and compare which verse supports each card.
This activity helps students follow the account in order and see how Saul’s choices lead to Samuel’s confrontation and verdict in 1 Samuel 15.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, prepare the caption list for them and ask them only to place the cards in order with verse references.
- For stronger readers, ask them to divide the chapter into Saul’s actions, Saul’s words and Samuel’s words, then explain how those parts build the chapter’s message.
An optional closing prayer
Proposed prayer: Lord, help us to listen carefully to your word and to respond truthfully instead of making excuses. Give us humble hearts that want to obey you. Amen.
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
1 Samuel 15
1 Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of Yahweh’s words.
2 Yahweh of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.
3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4 Saul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.
8 He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 Then Yahweh’s word came to Samuel, saying,
11 “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
12 Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”
13 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”
14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.”
17 Samuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel;
18 and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
19 Why then didn’t you obey Yahweh’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight?”
20 Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed Yahweh’s voice, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.”
22 Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected Yahweh’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.”
26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
28 Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
29 Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.”
31 So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
35 Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned for Saul. Yahweh grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.