stresses his own obedience by speaking in the first person several times in v. 20, he also tries to justify the actions of his troops (v. 21) by attributing to them the worthy intention to sacrifice to the Lord the animals they had spared. Saul’s terminology in v. 21 and Samuel’s in v. 22 link the disobedience of Saul and his men to the earlier wickedness of Eli and his reprobate sons. As the latter had sinfully fattened themselves on the “choice parts” of Israel’s offerings (2:29), so Saul’s troops