So Saul marched against the Amalekites, and won a great victory. But he did not as Samuel had told him. He spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep and oxen. And back he came, and his victorious army, driving the cattle before them, and bringing Agag as a captive. That night the word of the Lord came to Samuel, and the Lord said, “Saul has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. And early in the morning Samuel went to meet Saul, and Saul greeted him and said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What, then, is the meaning of this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “The people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice them to the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And Saul said, “Say on.” And Samuel said, “The Lord sent you on a journey, and said ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites.’ Why did you not obey?” And Saul said, “I have obeyed the Lord: except that the people brought Agag and the sheep and oxen to sacrifice them to the Lord.” And Samuel said, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king.” And Saul fell down before Samuel and cried, “Forgive me, and the Lord forgive me; I have sinned.” But Samuel turned to go away. And Saul caught hold of Samuel’s cloak, and the cloak rent. And Samuel said, “Thus hath the Lord torn from you the kingdom of Israel this day.” And Saul cried, “Do not tell the people: honor me now, I pray thee, in the sight of the people.” And to this Samuel consented. He went with Saul, and with his own hands hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord. But from that day he sought another king to set over Israel in the place of Saul. XXXIII A SHEPHERD OF BETHLEHEM The largest farm in Bethlehem belonged to a man named Jesse. Although he was now advanced in years, he had lived on the farm all of his long life, and his father had lived there before him. Indeed, it was still remembered in the neighborhood how Jesse’s grandfather, as he harvested the wheat and barley of his broad acres, had fallen in love with a poor girl named Ruth, who worked among the gleaners, and had married her, to the surprise and delight of the village.