But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Most scholars are sure Saul attacked the Amalekites who lived in the southern Judah Negev, though some feel he attacked an enclave of them in western Samaria. [Note: E.g., Diane Edelmann, "Saul’s Battle Against Amaleq (1 Samuel 15)," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 35 (June 1986):74-81.] Saul did not destroy all the Amalekites at this time (1 Samuel 27:8; 1 Samuel 30:1; 2 Samuel 8:12). King Hezekiah completely annihilated them years later (1 Chronicles 4:43).