“He took Agag the king of ‘Amalek alive; but he completely destroyed the people, putting them to the sword. However, Sha’ul and the people spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, and even the second best, also the lambs, and everything that was good — they weren’t inclined to destroy these things. But everything that was worthless or weak they completely destroyed.”-1 Samuel 15:8-9
Saul’s victory over the Amalekites was as swift as it was complete.
As is so typical of the Biblical style, we’re not given many details.
We’re not even told how long the battle lasted.
However, given this was a God-ordained Holy War, the outcome was already decided from the outset.
So it may have been considered pointless to record all of the bloody details that took place that day.
Now, in verse 8, we find that Saul committed two big blunders.
First, instead of killing Agag, king of the Amalekites, he decided to capture him alive as a prisoner of war.
Second, while he did slaughter the entire Amalekite population, he didn’t destroy all the livestock.
Saul only destroyed the weak and sickly animals while keeping the healthy animals as war booty.
This was a big no-no.
In addition, we’re told he also confiscated some of the Amalekites’ personal possessions because they were seen as valuable and desirable.
Verse 9 says it all:
“….they weren’t inclined to destroy those things”.
Everything else that Saul considered worthless was destroyed.
So why didn’t Saul kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites?
We’re not given an answer.
Maybe King Saul was paying him some kind of respect and thought it wouldn’t be right to kill a man who had been king over a great nation.
Or maybe Agag had agreed to surrender in exchange for having his life spared.
Some scholars have said that Agag wasn’t a personal name, but a title like “President” or “Pharaoh”.
For example, in the Book of Esther, guess what Haman, the enemy of the Jews, is called in this story.
He’s called “the Agagite”.
It must have been a common epithet during this time used to refer to anyone who was an enemy of the God of Israel and His people.
Onward.
So, if you’ve been paying attention at all to anything I’ve been saying about the principle of HEREM as it applies to Holy War, it should be clear that Saul committed a huge sin.
The entire population of the Amalekites including all of their livestock and personal possessions should have been destroyed because they were divinely “devoted to destruction” per the Law of Herem.
Saul was in direct disobedience to the Torah…which seems to be the common attribute among all ungodly leaders including the coming anti-Christ.
Saul should have devoted everything to God via destruction but he only destroyed some of the Amalekites’ belongings while keeping the others.
On what basis did he decide to keep some belongings and destroy the others?
The answer is whatever Saul deemed valuable and desirable in his eyes he decided to keep.
Everything else he decided to destroy.
We see here that not only was Saul violating the Law of Herem, but he also violated the principle of always giving God your best first.
It was pretty much the same sin that Cain committed before murdering his brother Abel.
In the book of Genesis, we’re told that…
“In the course of time
Cain brought an offering
to Adonai from the
produce of the soil.”
-Genesis 4:3
THIS WAS A BIG NO-NO!
When we give to the Lord, we are supposed to give our first and our best and we’re supposed to give it immediately because delayed obedience is disobedience.
What Cain did was that he looked at what he had in his crops, and then AFTER determining that he had enough finally gave an offering to the Lord.
King Saul did the same thing.
He looked at the Amalekites’ possessions of which all were supposed to be devoted to God via destruction and left the Lord the weak and sick leftovers while selfishly keeping the best and healthy animals for himself.
Enough said for today, but we shall continue with this discussion.
And this also happens to be your takeaway for today.
Do you give God your best without delay?
Or are you like Cain or Saul who take for themselves what is best, and leave God the sick and unhealthy leftovers?
Quite disrespectful if you ask me.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“On that day, if someone is on the roof
with his belongings in his house,
he must not go down
to take them away.
Similarly, if someone is in the field,
he must not turn back —
remember Lot’s wife!
Whoever aims at preserving
his own life will lose it,
but whoever loses his
life will stay alive.”
-Luke 17:31-33
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