God tells Saul, through Samuel, to go and destroy and the Amalekites. This was payback for the Amalekites being mean to the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. They were to completely destroy the Amalekites - kill all the people and destroy all their possessions.
He follows the orders, but leaves their king alive. He also took plunder from the Amalekites and left alive the best of their sheep.
God tells to Samuel, "I regret making Saul king because he does not follow my instructions.". Uh oh.
Samuel finds Saul leading the army with all the bleating of sheep. Saul says that the sheep are for sacrifices and that he killed all but the Amalekite king, Agog. Samuel relays the message from God. Saul blames it all on his solids, who apparently wanted the plunder and to humiliate Agog. Samuel ends up killing Agog.
In the prior chapter, Saul makes a command to his soldiers that no one can eat during the day of battle and here, he says he is afraid of his soldiers. Maybe that partly explains some of his crazier actions. He feels very insecure, but as king, his authority is exercised in weird ways. He reminds of a bully who is actually afraid of the people he bullies.
A thought-provoker - in Samuel's rant when he finds Saul, he says that God does not change his mind like humans do. But we have already seen God change his mind several times in the Old Testament. Likewise, God saying "I regret making Saul king" actually is God changing his mind.
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