July 25,
2007
Rise up,
LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee
before thee. (Numbers 10: 35 KJV)
(1 Samuel 15:1-3 KJV) "Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD
sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now
therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. {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. {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."
God sent a message to Saul through Samuel to completely wipe out the Amalekites. The Amalekites had attacked the Israelites (Exodus 17: 8-15) from their rear starting with the stragglers and working forward. The Israelites wee at their weakest having just come out of Egypt. God hates it when the strong take advantage of the weak. This applies to nations and to individuals. It irks me seeing these check cashing places or payday loan establishments that prey on the poor. The Lord will take it out on the owners, stockholders of those corporations for robbing those who are less fortunate. There was no provocation for this attack except for greed. Because of this attack, the Lord said to Moses "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
We studied this back in (Deuteronomy 25:19
KJV) "Therefore it shall be,
when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about,
in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it,
that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt
not forget it."
The Amalekites were descendants of Esau who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat. Actually called “red soup”.
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)
“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)
Guzik suggests that many are afraid the “religious right” wants to take over and rule the world much as it was during these early days of the Hebrews. Things are different today under the New Covenant. Guzik goes on to say below:
“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.”
(1
Samuel 15:4-6 KJV) "And Saul
gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand
footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. {5} And Saul came to a city of
Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. {6} And Saul said unto the Kenites,
Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with
them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up
out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites."
By now was
pretty good at mustering up an Army and going out and fighting; however he has a
fatal character flaw. He becomes a
proud man and always looking for his personal glory rather than the glory of the
Lord.
The Kenites
were descendants of Jethro, the son-in-law of Moses. Though the Jethro never joined the
Israelites, his descendants and they were helpful and a friendship toward them
remained so they were allowed to move out from the
Amalekites.
(1
Samuel 15:7-9 KJV) "And Saul smote
the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is
over against Egypt. {8} 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."
Saul attacked and killed all of the men, women and children, but he took Agag the king captive. Saul did not set a good example for the people therefore they refused to kill all of the animals. They basically destroyed all of the unclean or otherwise weak animals
(1
Samuel 15:10-11 KJV) "Then came the
word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, {11} It repenteth me 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 unto the LORD
all night."
The Lord is
grieved that he made Saul king, yet the Lord knew what would happen before Saul
was made king. The Lord is capable
of grieving, making Saul king was part of the process of making a people that
will want to love and be with the Him for eternity. Ever since Adam and Eve God has had a
redemptive plan, and though to us it seems things are going askew to His wishes,
it is the process by which he set in place for our
redemption.
“Samuel
shows that he has God’s heart. It hurt God to reject Saul, and it hurt God’s
prophet to see him rejected. We are close to God’s heart when the things that
grieve Him grieve us, and the things that please God please us.” David
Guzik
(1
Samuel 15:12 KJV) "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 is gone about, and passed on,
and gone down to Gilgal."
There is no
humbleness in Saul, he is proud for what he has accomplished and he wants
everyone to know it. He erected a
monument to himself for his accomplishment of annihilating the
Amalekites.
“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”. (David
Guzik)
“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)
“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)
“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)
(1
Samuel 15:13 KJV) "And Samuel came
to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have
performed the commandment of the LORD."
Saul was
proud, that he had captured Agag alive and that they brought home the best of
the spoils. Saul had clear
instructions to destroy everything completely. God wanted a complete job for two
reasons. First God was bringing down judgment against a nation that had attacked
the Israelites wrongfully. As we
indicated earlier God wanted the Amalekites wiped out from under heaven and
memory. Secondly it was a test for
Saul to be obedient.
(1
Samuel 15:14-15 KJV) "And Samuel
said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the
lowing of the oxen which I hear?
{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 unto the LORD thy God; and the
rest we have utterly destroyed."
Saul puts
the blame on his soldiers for bringing home spoils. Saul acted as if he had no control over
the situation.
“Pride
and disobedience make us blind - or deaf - to our sin. What was completely
obvious to Samuel was invisible to Saul. We all have blind spots of sin in our
lives, and we need to constantly ask God to show them to us. We need to
sincerely pray the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and
know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (David Guzik)
(1
Samuel 15:16 KJV) "Then Samuel said
unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night.
Samuel is sick to
the gills of Saul’s excuse and has heard enough. Now it’s time for Saul to
listen.
And he
said unto him, Say on.
Saul is curt in his
reply, probably thinking to himself, “if it will do any good” After all Saul is king and now he is
giving Samuel permission to speak.
(1
Samuel 15:17-19 KJV) "And Samuel
said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not
made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king
over Israel? {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 be
consumed. {19} Wherefore 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?"
Samuel was
reminding Saul of when he was first made king how humble he was. Saul was embarrassed for all of the
attention and went and hid among or under the equipment rather than standing out
among the people. He reminds Saul it was God who anointed him king, and why was
it necessary not to obey the commands of the Lord when he was sent on a
mission.
We’ll end
here today and pick up the rest tomorrow.
24 The LORD bless thee, and
keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
27 And they shall put my name
upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6
KJV
Have a blessed day
Lee
A Watchman
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