In the haftarah of Shabbat Zachor, Samuel commands Saul: “Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!” (I Samuel 15:3). But Saul does not do as he was commanded: “But Saul and the troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the second-born, the lambs, and all else that was of value. They would not proscribe them; they proscribed only what was cheap and worthless” (15:9). When Samuel asks: “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?” Saul replies: “They were brought from the Amalekites, for the troops spared the choicest of the sheep and oxen for sacrificing to the Lord your God. And we proscribed the rest” (15:14-15).  Samuel angry response is: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to the Lord's command? Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,
compliance than the fat of rams” (15:22). Samuel  concludes: “You have rejected the Lord's command, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel” (15:26), and therefore “The Lord has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthier than you” (15:28).

It is, therefore, interesting to read what the “worthier” one did when put to the same test:

And David smote them from twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled … David also captured all the flocks and herds; and the people drove those cattle before him, and said, “This is David's spoil.” Then David came to the two hundred men, who had been too exhausted to follow David … Then all the wicked and base fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil which we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers … for as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike” … When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD” (I Samuel 30:17-26).

In other words, when David fought Amalek, he allowed four hundred Amalekite soldiers to flee, he took all of the Amalekite’s property as booty, and he divided it up among his men and among the elders of Judah.

1.      Was Samuel’s anger prompted by Saul’s disobedience of God’s commandment or by Saul’s disregard for Samuel’s instructions? Was not David equally commanded, “you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deut. 25:19)? Did Samuel’s instructions amplify or change Saul’s obligation in regard to Amalek? In what way was Saul’s conduct worse than David’s?

2.      On the verse “Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself?” (Ecc. 7:16), the midrash says: “This is said in regard to Saul, as it says: ‘Then Saul advanced as far as the city of Amalek’ (I Sam. 15:5). R. Huna and R. Benaya say: He began to debate with his Creator, and said, ‘Thus said the Holy One: Go, attack Amalek.’ If the men sinned, what is the sin of the women? And how did the children sin? And the cattle and oxen and asses, what is their sin? A Heavenly voice called out: Be not more righteous than your Creator!” (Ecc. Rabba (Vilna) 7). The midrash presents Saul as questioning the morality of the command to wipe out Amalek. Was Saul truly deterred by moral doubts? Are the sages troubled by these doubts, or do they wish to teach us that we must blindly obey the commandments without any discretion or moral concern? Is that how David acted?

3.      What are we meant to learn from the fact that, in the end, Saul dies at the hand of an Amalekite (II Sam. 1: 1-10)? Is it significant that three days after David returns from his battle with Amalek, an Amalekite brings him Saul’s crown (1:10)?