1 Samuel 15:26, commentary and pictures

The word Saul rejected was the command to destroy the Amalekites, who had attacked Israel in the wilderness, defied God, and given themselves to idolatry, and whose appointed punishment had been delayed four hundred years while they did not turn from their sins. Because Saul rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord rejected Saul from being king over Israel, a reciprocal rejection in which disobedience to the divine command forfeited the right to rule. That rejection followed his wicked course and refusal to obey, and his rejection of the Lord's counsel brought the Lord's rejection of him as king. Samuel's refusal to return with Saul and his withdrawal from further instructing him confirmed that the sentence had been passed.

Saul denied wrongdoing until the facts became undeniable, then made no confession and regarded himself as mistreated. He sought Samuel's presence to preserve his authority and standing before the people, because his chief fear was penalty and loss of position, not from true sorrow for sin and not seeking forgiveness and God's favor. His fear-driven admission did not undo the judgment, for he had no true repentance. His insistence on his own way despite reproof showed a choice of self-will over God's way and a rejection of correction and counsel, turning aside from self-sufficient, selfish choices being refused.

Saul himself recognized the rejection as the consequence of his wicked course and foretold that he would be dethroned, that another would rule in his place, and that his descendants would lose the throne and perish because of his sins. His later transgression made clear that he was disqualified to be king. Thereafter his character was marked by extreme moods, remorse, fear, and distress, and that instability disqualified him from ruling. His persistence in his course brought loss of honor and finally loss of his soul, warning that rejecting truth and refusing God's guidance can leave a person self-deceived, unfit to be trusted, and destroyed, so that people, especially those in responsibility, must examine themselves and turn from such a path.