What does 1 Samuel 15:34 mean?

After Samuel carries out a graphic execution of Agag, king of the Amalekites, he and Saul part ways. Though they live less than a day's walk from each other, they will never again have an official meeting. Saul will see Samuel once during a strange incident (1 Samuel 19:18–24), and after this only on the day Saul dies (1 Samuel 28:19). Samuel returns to his hometown of Ramah, while Saul goes back to his own home in Gibeah, which could also be called "the hill of Saul."

Despite his apparent brutality, Samuel felt deeply for Saul and grieved over his fall from grace (1 Samuel 15:35). But as the prophet of the Lord, Samuel's absence demonstrated the Lord's absence. Spiritually, the Lord was done with Israel's first king. Saul remained on the throne politically for a time, but the Lord had rejected him (1 Samuel 15:23).