This was a surprising admission! This begs the next question: Was the command to slaughter, in 1 Samuel 15: 3, a command from God?
I'm looking forward to watching the movie, by the way.
I thought this was answered. Text alone can mislead. Old Testament scholarship is immersed in text, context, subtext, allegory, dreams, translations, issues of authorship, and interpretation over a period of several centuries spanning interconnected as well as disparate events.
Why is it then surprising if a conclusion disputes a pure literal and textual statement as reflecting the “true intent” of a “divine command” of any real import? When not accept the conclusion of most Old Testament scholars that this was no more than a subjective human projection to deify a course of action for events that took place four centuries earlier.