“Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!”-Deuteronomy 25:19
Today we’re going to begin a two-part or possibly even three-part study on the annihilation of the Amalekites as depicted in 1 Samuel 15 as this is intertwined with the section of Torah we’re currently immersed in.
Let’s first read 1st Samuel 15.
You can read the Complete Jewish Bible version by clicking here.
If you prefer the King James version, you can click here.
Or if you prefer the NIV version, click here.
Did you read it?
If you didn’t, go back, click on one of the links above and read the chapter OR…
…you’re not gonna understand what’s going on.
Okay, assuming that you read it, let’s quickly summarize what transpired in this chapter.
The chapter starts off with an order from the Lord that the time has now arrived for Israel to fulfill the command we’re now studying in Deuteronomy, namely to destroy the Amalekites and everything and everyone associated with them.
Saul right away gathers several thousand of his troops and positions his army to attack the Amalekites.
However, before they launch their offensive, they run into another people group known as the Kenites.
Saul warns them if they don’t want to become collateral damage along with the Amalekites to hightail it out of the area.
Israel then launches their attack and as was the norm for battles in those days, the king of Amalek named Agag is captured alive, bound and taken out of the area.
We’re then told the Israelites took the healthy animals that belonged to the Amalekites as spoils of war.
This infuriated the Lord to no end and He openly declares He regrets making Saul king over Israel.
Soon after, the Prophet and former Judge Samuel enters the scene and informs Saul that because of his disobedience God has dethroned him and he will no longer be the king of Israel.
At first Saul tries to deny he did anything wrong but eventually admits he sinned against the Lord.
However, the problem is this was not true repentance.
In his mind, what he did wasn’t such a big deal.
He was treating his disobedience in taking the animal possessions of the Amalekites as more of a technicality than anything significant.
Harboring this mindset was obviously a huge mistake.
Next, Samuel calls for King Agag to be brought to him upon which Samuel pull out his sword and chops King Agag into pieces.
This scene would be the last time Samuel would ever again see Saul, the man he had personally anointed to be the first king of Israel.
Verse 23 lets us know that what Saul did was so wicked it compares with the sins of sorcery and idolatry.
Keep in mind that sorcery and idolatry are one of the very few sins that automatically earn a death sentence and for which there is zero atonement provided by the law of Moses.
At that point, it was all over for Saul.
The Lord would forever separate Himself from the man who he had allowed to be the first king of Israel.
This was indeed the ultimate nightmare and an unimaginable fate worse than death.
For without God in your life, what else is there?
Now here’s the $64,000 question.
What in the world did Saul do that was so bad that the Lord judged him so harshly?
I mean what’s the big deal with taking some of the remaining healthy livestock after the war?
Wouldn’t it be a waste to destroy them when they could have been put to such practical use?
This is a question that only a very, very tiny percentage of pastors anywhere in the world today can properly answer.
But we’re going to answer it in this study series.
I’ll give you a hint though as to why the Lord was so harsh.
It all has to do with WHO ordered the war against Amalek.
See you all next time.
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