“Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘I remember what ‘Amalek did to Israel, how they fought against Isra’el when they were coming up from Egypt. Now go and attack ‘Amalek, and completely destroy everything they have. Don’t spare them, but kill men and women, children and babies, cows and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”-1 Samuel 15:2-3
I have a question for you.
If you can answer it, it’ll be proof positive your understanding of the Hebrew Bible is quite advanced.
But keep in mind, most people, including you, and even most pastors, preachers, and teachers will NOT be able to answer this question.
So let’s see.
God, through Samuel, makes it clear that Saul is to utterly wipe out the Amalekites down to every last man, woman, baby, and all the livestock as well.
The reason no one is to be spared is because this is a holy war.
So here’s the question:
How do we know this is a holy war?
Where in the opening verses of this chapter does it clearly say this is a holy war?
Any idea?
Well, let’s take a look at verse 3 again:
“Now go and attack ‘Amalek, and completely destroy everything they have. Don’t spare them, but kill men and women, children and babies, cows and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”-1 Samuel 15:3
See the part where it says “completely destroy”?
The original Hebrew for that phrase lets us know this is a Holy War we’re dealing with here.
The problem is our English Bibles completely mask the real meaning of what’s being said.
The Hebrew term used here is HEREM and it means to “put under a ban”.
The Law of Herem is a key principle of holy war I’ve discussed many times before.
But let’s review it again.
The Law of Herem states that in a war, the spoils taken belong solely to the commander-in-chief.
This law wasn’t unique to Israel by the way.
Israel was only different in the sense their Commander-in-Chief was God Himself.
In those days, when an army won a battle, soldiers were allowed to take the spoils of war as their payment.
But, it was up to the king to decide if they could keep some of the goods or had to give it all back to him.
This point is key.
Sometimes, the king might give them extra as a reward, but other times, he might tell them they couldn’t keep anything and it all went to him.
In Israel’s case, unless God said otherwise, everything was off-limits.
All goods were under the ban.
Israel was still to collect the spoils of war but they had to turn them over to the Lord.
Now, the way they did this was not only unique but something most scholars and theologians have moral difficulties accepting.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet…
But one takeaway I’m getting here is a reminder of the principle that at the end of the day, EVERYTHING belongs to the Lord.
We live in a world that tends to forget that.
Everyone in society is in a mad rush to earn money so they can buy luxurious houses, cars, diamonds, or whatever, not realizing that they’re not gonna be able to take one bit of it with them to the next life.
Ya feel me?
See ya all next time.
Here’s a little tidbit you may know already, Rich, regarding Amalek and the Torah.
First, a quickie review why God had it in for the Ameleki: when Israel was in the desert, these people attacked the rear, which was where the old, sick, and weak were trying to keep up with the rest of the people.
OK- so God says to completely wipe them out, and the name Amalek is not to be heard anywhere.
When the Sofer (the scribe who copies one Torah to another) is preparing his pen and ink, which are both very special, he writes on a piece of similar skin parchment to what he is using to copy the Torah the name Amalek 7 times, then strikes it out 7 times, in order to honor this command.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing.