Behold

A Behold picture book

Leave Nothing

General Hal did almost everything he was told.

  1. Hal was the general of the whole army. The Voice had chosen him. One day, the Voice's messenger, old Sam, came with orders.

  2. "A long, long time ago, the Valley people attacked our people," said Sam. "The Voice remembers. Go and destroy them. Men and women. Kids and babies. Cows and sheep. Camels and donkeys. Spare no one."

  3. Before the attack, Hal warned one kind family who lived with the Valley people. "Leave now, so you don't get hurt." They left.

  4. Then Hal's army destroyed the Valley people. But Hal kept their king alive. His soldiers kept the best sheep and cows, too.

  5. The Voice told Sam, "I am sorry I made Hal the general. He did not do what I said." Sam was so upset that he cried out all night.

  6. In the morning, Sam found Hal. "I did what the Voice said!" Hal told him. "Then why do I hear sheep?" asked Sam. "We saved the best ones to give to the Voice," said Hal.

  7. "Obeying is better than gifts," said Sam. "You did not obey the Voice. So the Voice says you can't be in charge anymore." "I was afraid of my soldiers," said Hal. "I did what they wanted."

  8. Then Sam called for the captured king. And Sam killed him himself.

The End.

The source, revealed

The Fine Print

1 Samuel 15

Read it yourself

Where it's from

1 Samuel 15. Saul was Israel's first king. This is the story of how he lost God's favor.

Who's who

In our story In the Bible
General Hal King Saul
Old Sam, the messenger The prophet Samuel
The Valley people The Amalekites
Their king King Agag
The kind family The Kenites
The Voice God (the LORD)

What the text says

  • Plain words: God said: Destroy them all. Men, women, children, babies and animals.

  • KJV (1 Samuel 15:3): "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

  • Plain words: God said he was sorry he made Saul king, because Saul did not obey.

  • KJV (1 Samuel 15:11): "It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments."

  • Plain words: To obey is better than a gift.

  • KJV (1 Samuel 15:22): "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

What we kept

  • God's order, word for word in meaning: men, women, infants, nursing babies and animals.
  • The reason given: what Amalek did to Israel on the way out of Egypt.
  • Saul warns the Kenites to leave first, because they had been kind.
  • Saul destroys the people but keeps King Agag and the best animals.
  • God says he regrets making Saul king. Samuel cries out all night.
  • Saul says the animals were saved to sacrifice to God.
  • "To obey is better than sacrifice."
  • Saul admits he feared the people.
  • Samuel's coat tears when Saul grabs it.
  • Samuel kills Agag himself.

What we changed

  • Names, and today's world: a general and an army instead of a king.
  • The Bible says Samuel "hewed Agag in pieces." We said "killed him himself."
  • The Bible says Samuel "cried unto the LORD all night." We said "cried out all night."

Look closely

Saul isn't rejected for killing. He's rejected for not killing enough. The animals and one king were left alive.

How it's usually taught

Many teachers say the Amalekites were a uniquely cruel enemy who attacked the weakest Israelites at the back of the line (Deuteronomy 25:17–18), and God had promised to judge them (Exodus 17:14). The main lesson usually taught is "to obey is better than sacrifice": doing what God says matters more than religious gifts. Some Christian scholars also argue the wording is war language that exaggerates, and wasn't meant literally.

What the story doesn't say

The attack being punished happened hundreds of years earlier. The babies in the order weren't alive then. The story never says sparing anyone was the right thing to do.

Talk about it

  1. If a grown-up ordered you to hurt babies, what should you do?
  2. Is it fair to punish people for something their great-great-great-grandparents did?
  3. Hal got in trouble for sparing some. Is that what you expected?
  4. "Obeying is better than gifts." Is obeying always good?
  5. Do you believe this is good advice?

One last question

If a general gave this order today, what would the world call it?

Read 1 Samuel 15 yourself