Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
However, there is good reason to believe that Agag was the name of an area in Media that had become part of the Persian Empire. [Note: See Archer, p. 421.] If Josephus was correct, Saul’s total obedience to God would have precluded Haman’s attempt to annihilate the Jews in Esther’s day.