Samuel 15 - God Rejects Saul as King A. Battle against the Amalekites. 1. (1-3) A clear, radical command: destroy Amalek. Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” a. Samuel also said to Saul: This was a message from the spiritual leader of Israel to the political and military leader of Israel. The message was clear: punish what Amalek did to Israel . . . go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. i. The judgment Israel was to bring against Amalek was frighteningly complete: Kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. God clearly told Samuel to tell Saul to bring a total judgment against the Amalekites. ii. Utterly destroy: This Hebrew verb (heherim) is used seven times in this account. The idea of total, complete judgment is certainly stressed. b. Why? What did the Amalekites do that was so bad? Samuel explained that to Saul also: how he laid wait for him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Centuries before this, the Amalekites were the first peoples to attack Israel after their escape from Egypt (Exodus 17). i. Hundreds of years before, the Lord said He would bring this kind of judgment against Amalek: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17:14-16) ii. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 repeats the point: Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore, it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget. iii. The Amalekites committed a terrible sin against Israel. When the nation was weak and vulnerable, the Amalekites attacked the weakest and most vulnerable of the nation (attacked your rear ranks, all the strangers at your rear, when you were tired and weary). They did this with no provocation, no reason except violence and greed. God hates it when the strong take cruel advantage over the weak, especially when the weak are His people. So God promised to bring judgment against the Amalekites. iv. But all this had happened more than four hundred years before! Why did God hold it against the Amalekites? This shows us an important principle: time does not erase sin before God. Before man, time should erase sin. The years should make us forgiving to one another. But before God, time cannot atone for sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can erase sin, not time. In fact, the time was time that the Amalekites were mercifully given opportunity to repent. And they did not repent! The hundreds of years of hardened unrepentant hearts made them more guilty, not less guilty! “Though it be four hundred years since, and I may seem to have forgotten it. It is ill angering the Ancient of Days; his forbearance is no quittance.” (Trapp) v. “Nothing could justify such an exterminating decree but the absolute authority of God. This was given: all the reasons of it we do not know; but this we know well, The Judge of all the earth doth right. This war was not for plunder, for God commanded that all the property as well as the people should be destroyed.” (Clarke) c. If God wanted to judge the Amalekites, why didn’t He just do it Himself? He complete destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah without any help from man. Why not just do the same here? i. But God had a special purpose in this for His special nation, Israel. He wanted it to be a test of obedience for Saul, and all of Israel. Plus, since Amalek’s sin against Israel was a military attack, God wanted to make the judgment fit the sin. d. Would God call His people today to fight such a war of judgment? Many today are afraid that this is the real agenda of the “religious right,” and they imagine that they want to rule the world according to the Bible, and at the end of a gun. But God has a completely different call for Christians under the New Covenant than He did for Israel under the Old Covenant. i. Jesus made it clear that He was establishing a spiritual kingdom, not a political or a military kingdom. Jesus said in John 18:36: My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here. Paul made it clear that the enemies of the church were not material, but spiritual: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) Through the centuries, whenever the church has tried to rule the world politically or militarily, it has run into enormous trouble. We want to win the world for Jesus Christ, but we want to do it through the influence of individual lives, transformed one at a time by the spiritual power of Jesus Christ. e. Though God no longer calls His people to take up arms as instruments of His judgment, it does not mean that God has stopped judging the nations. “But we cannot suppose, for a single moment, that the judgment of the nations is to be altogether relegated to that final day. Throughout the history of the world the nations have been standing before Christ’s bar. Nineveh stood there, Babylon stood there, Greece and Rome stood there, Spain and France stood there, and Great Britain is standing there to-day. One after another has had the solemn word - depart, and they have passed into a destruction which has been absolute and terrible.” (Meyer) 2. (4-6) Saul prepares for the attack on the Amalekites. So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. a. So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them: Saul was certainly a capable military leader. He shows he has the ability to gather and organize a large army. He also knew how to time his attack properly; he lay in wait in the valley. b. Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart”: Here, Saul shows wisdom and mercy in letting the Kenites go. God’s judgment was not upon them, so he did not want to destroy them with the Amalekites. i. “And when the Kenites pack up their fardles, it is time to expect judgment.” (John Trapp. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, a fardle is “A bundle or little pack.”) ii. The Kenites “were the posterity of Jethro (Judges 1:6), who, thought he went not with Israel, yet some of his children did, and were helpful.” (Trapp) 3. (7-9) Saul attacks the Amalekites. And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. a. Saul attacked the Amalekites: This was good, and in obedience to the Lord. But it was a selective, incomplete obedience. First, Saul took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. God commanded Saul to bring His judgment on all the people, including the king. i. Whey did Saul take Agag king of the Amalekites alive? “Saul spared Agag, either out of a foolish pit for the goodliness of his person, which Josephus notes; or for his respect to his royal majesty, in the preservation of which he thought himself concerned; or for the glory of his triumph.” (Poole) ii. “If Saul spare Agag, the people will take liberty to spare the best of the spoil . . . the sins of the great command imitation.” (Trapp) b. As well, Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. God had clearly commanded in 1 Samuel 15:3, that every ox and sheep, camel and donkey was to be destroyed also, and Saul didn’t do this. i. In a normal war in the ancient world, armies were freely permitted to plunder their conquered foes. This is how the army was often paid. Why was it wrong here? It was wrong for anyone in Israel to benefit from the war against the Amalekites, because it was an appointed judgment from God. This was just as wrong if a hangman were to empty the pockets of the man he has just executed for murder. c. As well, they were careful to keep the best for themselves, but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. They took the care to make sure that they took home the best, and we can imagine they were all pleased with what they had gained after the battle. i. This perhaps was worst of all, because Israel was not reflecting God’s heart in His judgment. When they came home happy and excited because of what they gained from the battle, they implied there was something joyful or happy in the midst of God’s judgment. This dishonored God, who brings His judgment reluctantly and without pleasure, longing that men would have repented instead. ii. “Partial obedience is complete disobedience. Saul and his men obeyed as far as suited them; that is to say, they did not obey God at all, but their own inclinations, both in sparing the good and destroying the worthless. What was not worth carrying off was destroyed, - not because of the command, but to save trouble.” (Maclaren) iii. “We are prepared to obey the Divine commands up to a certain point, and there we stay. Just as soon as ‘the best and choicest’ begin to be touched, we draw the line and refuse further compliance. We listen to soft voices that bid us to stay our hand, when our Isaac is on the altar.” (Meyer) iv. “But an even deeper reading of this story is permissible. Throughout the Bible Amalek stands for the flesh, having sprung from the stock of Esau, who, for a morsel of meat, steaming fragrantly in the air, sold his birthright. To spare the best of Amalek is surely equivalent to sparing some root of evil, some plausible indulgence, some favourite sin. For us, Agag must stand for that evil propensity, which exists in all of us, for self-gratification; and to spare Agag is to be merciful to ourselves, to exonerate and palliate our failures, and to condone our besetting sin.” (Meyer) 4. (10-11) God’s word to Samuel. Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:19:20 +0000