14 Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears,.... For the orders were to destroy all living creatures belonging to the Amalekites, 1-Samuel 15:3 if therefore Saul had performed the commandment of the Lord, as he said he had, from whence were these sheep Samuel heard bleating?
and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? where do they come from? these questions he put to convict him of the falsehood he had delivered; the bleating and lowing of these creatures proved him a liar, and were witnesses of his breach of the divine command; and one would think every bleating and lowing of these must alarm his conscience, unless dreadfully stupefied.
But the prophet stripped his hypocrisy at once with the question, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and a lowing of oxen that I hear?" Saul replied (1-Samuel 15:15), "They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best sheep and oxen, to sacrifice them to the Lord thy God; and the rest we have banned." So that it was not Saul, but the people, who had transgressed the command of the Lord, and that with the most laudable intention, viz., to offer the best of the cattle that had been taken, as a thank-offering to the Lord. The falsehood and hypocrisy of these words lay upon the very surface; for even if the cattle spared were really intended as sacrifices to the Lord, not only the people, but Saul also, would have had their own interests in view (vid., 1-Samuel 15:9), since the flesh of thank-offerings was appropriated to sacrificial meals.
*More commentary available at chapter level.