Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, Please, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.
The phrase "the word of the Lord came to" occurs only three times in 1 and 2 Samuel (1 Samuel 14:10; cf. 2 Samuel 7:4; 2 Samuel 24:11). In all cases it refers to an important message of judgment that God sent Israel’s king through a prophet. God regretted that He had made Saul king (1 Samuel 14:11) because of Saul’s actions, not because God felt He had made a mistake in calling Saul. Saul’s failure to follow God faithfully also broke Samuel’s heart. The disobedience of leaders always grieves the hearts of God’s faithful servants. Samuel foresaw the consequences of Saul’s actions. The village of Carmel (lit. vineyard) stood about 8 miles south and a little east of Hebron. The monument Saul set up honored himself, not God who gave him the victory. When Moses defeated the Amalekites, he built an altar (Exodus 17:15-16); but when Saul defeated them, he erected a stele, a monument commemorating a victory (cf. 2 Samuel 18:18).