Agag

Agag (meaning flame or high) was the hereditary title of the kings of Amalek, functioning as a dynastic name in the way that Pharaoh served for Egypt. Balaam's oracle in Numbers 24:7 uses the name prospectively — his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted — as a measure of the greatness Israel would achieve. The Agag most prominent in Scripture is the king of the Amalekites whom Saul defeated but failed to execute following the battle described in 1 Samuel 15.

Saul's sparing of Agag in direct violation of the divine command to utterly destroy the Amalekites became the occasion for Samuel's confrontation with Saul and the announcement of his rejection as king. The prophet Samuel executed Agag at Gilgal with the declaration: As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women (1 Samuel 15:33). Agag's execution and Saul's disobedience form one of the pivotal moments in the transition of the kingship from Saul to David.