Posted on 03/29/2002 8:19:26 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
Description:
The Amalekites were an ancient nomadic tribe of southern Palestine. They are related to Esau (Genesis 36:12) through their ancestor Amalek.
Israel was attacked by Amalek. According to Deuteronomy 25:17, Amalek "feared not God." Amalek's attack on Israel, according to the "Midrashic lore," was an obscene defiance of God and a contempt for God.
Where men attack God's people, there we often have a covert or overt attack on God. Unable to strike directly at God, they strike at God's people. There is thus continual warfare between Amalek and Israel, between God's people and God's enemies. The outcome must be the blotting out of God's enemies.
Thus, fourth, the covenant people must wage war against the enemies of God, because this war is unto death. The deliberate, refined, and obscene violence of the anti-God forces permits no quarter.
This warfare must continue until the Amalekites of the world are blotted out, until God's law-order prevails and His justice reigns
(1 Sam 15:8-9,32-33 KJV) And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. {9} But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly...
1Sa 15:1 Samuel also said to Saul, the LORD sent me to anoint thee [to be] king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou to the voice of the words of the LORD.
1Sa 15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember [that] which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid [wait] for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
1Sa 15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
1Sa 15:4 And Saul assembled the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
1Sa 15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
1Sa 15:6 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, withdraw yourselves from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up from Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah, [until] thou comest to Shur, that [is] over against Egypt.
1Sa 15:8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
1Sa 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all [that was] good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing [that was] vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
1Sa 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD to Samuel, saying,
1Sa 15:11 I repent that I have set up Saul [to be] king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried to the LORD all night.
1Sa 15:12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and has gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
1Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said to him, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
1Sa 15:14 And Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1Sa 15:15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1Sa 15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.
1Sa 15:17 And Samuel said, When thou [wast] little in thy own sight, [wast] thou not [made] the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
1Sa 15:18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.
1Sa 15:19 Why then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
1Sa 15:20 And Saul said to Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king.
1Sa 15:24 And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
1Sa 15:25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
1Sa 15:26 And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
1Sa 15:27 And as Samuel turned about to depart, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
1Sa 15:28 And Samuel said to him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, [that is] better than thou.
1Sa 15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he [is] not a man, that he should repent.
1Sa 15:30 Then he said, I have sinned: [yet] honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
1Sa 15:31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped the LORD.
1Sa 15:32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
1Sa 15:33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
1Sa 15:35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
I don't remember that. Perhaps I was drunk.
I see.
The default setting is HELL.
Is Bill Gates involved?
THANKFULLY, God is Good all the time and all the time God is Good.
It's also a given that His ways are higher than our ways--by definition and otherwise.
I've long noted that sometimes it seems like He spends even His favorite people like water.
And what of Job's children sacrificed for an illustration?
On the other hand, the story of Job has been a life giving comfort and lesson to millions.
And what of physically or otherwise damaged children. Where was the God of Love at their gestation?
He was there in all His bottomless Love in every subatomic and even more thorough Caring, Knowing and Omnipotence. I have to believe from what I have known in my own life of God and what I have read in the lives of others--that nothing is wasted in His economy.
While this life from our perspective is often far from fair, I have found GOD EXCEEDINGLY FAIR.
I'm convinced that SOMEHOW, when all is said and done and accounts are settled, not a single bacterium on a single gnat's pooper sphincter will have ought to say against God.
God is the paragon of generosity and forgivness. God is the paragon of second and 100th chances. He is the paragon of Compassion and longsuffering Kindness.
Scholar Walter Martin used to teach that there were a rare few whom God seemed to predestine to Salvation, but none that He predestined to hell. Yet, it seems that God creates the wicked for His purposes. Nevertheless, I'm convinced, that had we God's perspective, we'd still say that He was exceedingly generous, forgiving and kind even to the wicked.
The fact remains that we have a huge and decisive amount of free-will. Not absolute free-will. The law of gravity has power and authority over all of us regardless of what we want. But we live far from absolute predestination as well.
Certainly we can choose whether we will follow God to the best of our ability or sink passively or otherwise into the muck of following the fallen angel of light bent on spiting God for kicking him out of heaven--by plaguing and destroying as many of God's favorite creatures as possible.
PERHAPS we ought to remember God's goal. I am convinced that we can't judge a thing wisely or logically unless we know:
1) WHAT IS THE GOAL concerned?
2) WHAT IS THE CRITERIA, STANDARD that signals when the goal has been reached?
3) WHAT IS THE CONTEXT?
God's stated goal is to raise up a large group of intelligent, spiritually sensitive and powerful children who have demonstrated tenacity in choosing to follow Him and live by a law and currency of sacrificial Love. . . . for the ultimate role of ruling and reigning through endless eternities with Jesus The Messiah. . . evidently across endless galaxies, dimensions etc.
Given that this is boot-camp/initial training and screening for that ultimate goal. . . . I can't think of a better way of doing it--can you?
Thanks for sharing.
Certainly your thoughts are so valuable they will be read 6,000 years from now, and discussed and passed from generation to generation.
And I thought the threat was Christians putting up the Ten Commandments in Town Halls and football coaches leading their teams in prayer. Some people have bigger plans. For us all.
That is my point also.
Inasmuch as we cannot begin to approach His level of wisdom it therefore follows that we can only search for God's Will for us within ourselves as opposed to implementing God's Will externally - upon others.
Look near before you look far.
I beleive we can acheive his wisdom with faith in him and a beleif of the truth through him ![imho] if we live the life he prepares for us to live and do his will it has a profound affect on others who would not or are hesitant to beleive
I suppose I'll forever be amazed over those who will in one breath proclaim the unfathomable aspect of Gods wisdom, and then in the next breath pretend to know how to apply God's Will on others.
FOR SURE! Well said. . . . though I would change "within ourselves" to "within our own individual relationship with God."
Just as morality has no grandchildren and too rarely any children . . . so each individual's relationship with God must be worked out one on one with Him. Of course, He writes the rules . . . being God and all.
Neo-Puritians (gnostics) who are invincibly resistant to argument. They display some or all of the following traits
No.
Neither am I going to attribute (shift responsibility for) my actions to God. God gave me the capacity to choose ungodly paths which, when taken, cannot be "blamed" on God simply because I choose poorly.
I SUPPORT your use of the word, "if".
(IF 2+2=10 then my payments to the IRS are adequate!...PARTY TIME!!!)
The people rejected the leadership of God's prophet and judge, Samuel, and when God reluctantly consented to their wish, he instructed Samuel to Òmake for them a kingÓ, like all other nations. The choice fell upon Saul, a Benjaminite renowned for his bravery and his great height. Benjamin was the weakest tribe and the remaining tribes would therefore have no cause to be jealous against Israel's first king.
A few decades before the establishment of the monarchy, a grotesque and genocidal civil war erupted among IsraelÕs twelve tribes. Known as the Benjaminite War (Judges 19-21), this civil war was triggered by a ghastly local incident - the gang rape of a women in SaulÕs hometown, Gibeah of Benjamin. The rape was the cause for a war of revenge in which the tribe of Benjamin is nearly eradicated.
The story ends with the following sentence, which concludes the Book of Judges: ÒIn those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did as he pleasedÓ (Judges 21:25). Next comes the Book of Samuel and the anointing of Saul as Israel's first king.
The text in the Book of Samuel is a literary piece of art that presents Saul as a tragic hero. When the Bible introduces us to Saul, he is a peasant boy unsuccessfully searching for his father's asses. He returns with a very different kind of find - he has been made king. He searched for asses and found a kingship. Samuel explains to Saul that God had destined him to become king of IsraelÕs tribal federation. Saul answers with words of humility: ÒAm I not from Benjamin, the smallest of the tribes of Israel ? And is my family not the least of all the families of Benjamin?Ó (1 Samuel 10:20-22).
After anointing Saul in private, Samuel calls the people together in Mizpah to confirm the selection. There Saul is publicly acclaimed king according to a procedure involving the drawing of lots. First, from all the tribes, Benjamin is chosen; then Saul's clan is chosen; and from the clan, Saul. The new king tries to escape his destiny but the crowd eventually finds him hiding amid the baggage.
Saul's first challenge as king comes when Nahash (ÔsnakeÕ) the Ammonite besieges the Israelite city of Jabesh Gilead. Everyone abandons hope. Saul, however, is seized by the spirit of God and mobilizes a people's army from all the tribes.Following the victory, at a national convocation at Gilgal led by Samuel, SaulÕs kingship is reaffirmed by acclamation. There, Samuel warns the people to acknowledge the limits of human kingship and remain subordinate to the will of God.SamuelÕs speech marks the beginning of Saul's downfall.
Continued Philistine pressure provides Saul with a new test as military commander. The Philistines invade with Ò3,000 chariots, 6,000 horseman and troops as numerous as the sands of the seashoreÓ. The men of Israel are afraid and most defect rather than fight. At this time of great danger, king Saul and the Prophet Samuel are engaged in bitter conflict, and Saul is informed that he has fallen out of God's favor.
The war continues until Jonathan, SaulÕs son, raided the Philistine camp in Michmash, north east of Jerusalem. Jonathan and his armour-bearer passed during the night in a canyon between two high rocks, Bozez and Seneh, then clambered up the cliff and overpowered the garrison. Thereupon, Saul attacked with his force and beat the enemy. ÒSo the Lord saved Israel that dayÓ (1 Samuel 14).
The same biblical tactics were used again after 3,000 years during the British conquest of the Holy Land from the Turks in 1917. When a British commander was ordered to take a village called Michmash, the name rang a bell. He searched his Bible with the light of a candle until he found the story for which he was looking. The officer sent patrols to find the pass and then sent a company through it under the cover of darkness. The turks were quickly overpowered.
But back to the Bible.
Jonathan, not Saul, is the hero of the day. It seems Saul's own son is superseding him. Saul inflates the matter into a major conflict. His inner despair is so great that he tries to kill his son. Saul gets one final chance when Samuel charges him in the name of God to put Israel's most detested enemy, the Amalekites, under the ban, that is to destroy them. ÒKill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and assesÓ (1 Samuel 15:3).
Saul destroys Amalek, but in contradiction of the divine ban, he spares their king, Agag. When confronted by Samuel, he has no explanation for sparing Agag. This is the last straw for God and Samuel. Saul is rejected as king because he has rejected the LordÕs command. Saul begs Samuel for forgiveness but the prophet replies: ÒThe Lord has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthierÓ (15:28). Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint David, a young shepard, as the next king. SaulÕs downfall continues against the backdrop of David's rise to power.
David comes to the nation's attention in the next round of war with the Philistines. As Israel trembles by the sight of the giant Goliath, David's courage saves the day. After the victory, the women of Israel come out to meet Saul:ÓSaul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousandsÓ (18:7).
David is brought to Saul's court - to play the lyre and sooth the troubled king. Saul becomes dependent on David - the very man who he will soon understand to be his rival for the throne. Saul is in a double bind. He is dependent on his rival; God's trap is complete. Saul's inner conflict is heightened almost beyond endurance. A paranoid Saul regards him with envy and conflict becomes inevitable. Saul reaches several times for his spear, but never succeeds in pinning David to the wall.
SaulÕs desperation becomes clear after the priests of the city of Nob innocently give succor to David. In retaliation, Saul orders the entire city to be exterminated. In killing everyone in Nob, including YahwehÕs priests, Saul also takes his revenge against God.
SaulÕs fits of jealous rage forced David to flee to the Judean wilderness, where Saul continued to hunt him. In the following spring the Philistines launched a major attack to the north. ÒWhen Saul saw the mighty Philistine force, his Heart trembled with fearÓ. Unable to obtain counsel from the Lord, the terrified king seeks guidance from the banned necromancer, the woman in En-Dor. Samuel, who has now died is conjured up. The prophetÕs response is clear and harsh:Ó...the Lord has turned away from you and has became your adversary. Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me; and the Lord will also deliver the Israelite forces into the hands of the PhilistinesÓ (1 Samuel 28:19). The following day the Israelites were defeated. SaulÕs three sons were killed and he himself fell upon his sword. The Philistines hung Saul's body and the bodies of his sons on the walls of Beth Shean.
As Saul falls, David rises. SaulÕs defeat by the Philistines occurred one day before David's victory over the Amalekites in a war that took place on Israel's southern border (2 Samuel 1). Saul is the great tragic figure of the Bible.
His travails represent not the tragedy of a man but that of a people who deny God in their demand for an earthly monarch.
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