And Samuel said unto him, The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
All Commentaries on 1 Samuel 15:28 Go To 1 Samuel 15
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
In many Latin versions we find one of the above verses in the following form: “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from your hand.” But I have quoted from the Greek text: “The Lord has torn the kingdom from Israel from your hand”—the expression “from Israel” being equivalent to “from your hand.” In this way, Samuel stood figuratively for the people of Israel which was to lose the kingdom when our Lord Jesus Christ would come to reign—spiritually, not carnally—in the New Testament. The reference to him in the words “and he has given it to your neighbor” is an allusion to the racial relationship, for Christ in the flesh derived from Israel just as did Saul.
