Strength

"Strength" enters scripture as a divine title. Samuel pronounces Saul's rejection with a sentence that names Yahweh by an attribute rather than the covenant name: "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not man, that he should repent" (1Sa 15:29). The capital S marks the word as a name, not a description. What follows the title is a denial — Israel's Strength does not lie and does not change his mind, because he is not a man who would.

A Title for Yahweh

The title surfaces in a context of broken human resolve. Saul has spared Agag and the best of the spoil after being told to devote them to destruction; Samuel has just refused his repentance. Against that backdrop the prophet contrasts the two parties: the king who reverses himself and the Strength of Israel who does not. The title carries the argument — what makes Yahweh "Strength" here is that his word stands. The rest of the verse names the difference plainly: "he is not man, that he should repent" (1Sa 15:29).