7.1.26 – God's Forever Enemy: Amalek, Part 2

I originally had three confirmations about Amalek that I was supposed to write about. Then I landed in 1 Samuel 25 and 2 Samuel 1—and there is Amalek again. Make that four. Here goes part two.

Amalek has a way of showing his ugly head over and over again. During the period of the judges, they raided alongside Midian and Ammon. They are described like locusts covering the land (Judg. 6:3–5). And each time they return, it is at the moment of maximum vulnerability—when Israel is weakest spiritually. That is the pattern. They do not fight when the fight is fair; they strike when the tail is exposed.

Then comes 1 Samuel 15—the moment that changes everything. Not just for Saul, but for the next five hundred years of biblical history. By the time of Saul, the decree of Exodus 17 had been on record for centuries. Moses wrote it down. Joshua knew it. The elders knew it. And now Samuel comes to Saul with a command: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them.'"

The word translated "devote to destruction" is the Hebrew herem. It is not simply a military order; it is a consecration. Everything under herem belongs to God, to be removed entirely from the human economy—no plunder, no prisoners, no trophies. Complete. Total. Without remainder.

So Saul goes. He defeats Amalek, kills the people with the edge of the sword. But then comes the sentence that changes history: "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fat calves, the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them" (1 Sam. 15:9). He spared Agag, the king of Amalek, and the best of the livestock. Saul's explanation to Samuel? The people wanted to sacrifice the animals to God (1 Sam. 15:15, 21).

And Samuel's reply is one of the most piercing lines in all of Scripture: "Has 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 listen than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22).

Saul destroyed most of what God commanded. He brought back most of the plunder. He simply left Agag alive. He simply kept the best livestock. He almost obeyed—almost completely. And Samuel says: that is not obedience. He takes Agag and executes him. And the sentence that seals Saul's fate is spoken: "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you" (1 Sam. 15:28).

The kingdom is gone—because of one man spared. One king left alive.

If you study the Bible not as a collection of moral stories, but as a unified historical document, what follows is one of the most alarming threats in all of Scripture. Five hundred years pass. The northern kingdom has fallen to Assyria; the southern kingdom has fallen to Babylon. The exile has happened, and Israel is scattered across the Persian Empire.

Oops. That is for tomorrow.

Shalom!
Alan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25 ~ Pray for Boldness, Not Escape

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25 ~ Zeal Without Boundaries: The Sabbath and the Golden Calf

Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to have God in th...
Read more