1 Samuel 15: Saul’s 2nd big sin. God told Saul to go utterly destroy all the Amalekites including women, children, and animals b/c of what they did attacking Israel “for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.” The history of Israel and Amalek is interesting. AI:

The attack is recorded primarily in Exodus 17:8–16 in the Hebrew Bible, where the Amalekites assault the Israelites at Rephidim shortly after they leave Egypt. (Wikipedia)

• The Main Account (Exodus 17:8–16): The text states that Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses sends Joshua to lead the fighters while Moses, Aaron, and Hur watch from a hill holding the staff of God. (Wikipedia) Israel wins the battle as long as Moses holds up the staff. When Moses’ hands get weak, Aaron and Hur support his hands to hold up the staff.
• The Retelling (Deuteronomy 25:17–19): This passage looks back at the event and specifies that the Amalekites targeted the weak, tired, and lagging stragglers at the rear of the Israelite camp rather than the main front. (GotQuestions.org) God told Israel, 25:¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”
• The Outcome: Joshua defeats the Amalekites in battle, and God instructs Moses to write down a memorial of the event, vowing perpetual opposition to Amalek. (Bible Study Tools) Moses built an altar named Jehovah Nissi (meaning “The Lord is my Banner”. In ancient warfare, a banner or flag (nes) was placed on a high pole at the front lines to give soldiers an identity, a focus of hope, and a visible place to gather. (Grand Canyon University) The name signifies that God Himself is the army, the defense, and the rallying standard—meaning victory comes through His power rather than human strength. (The Bible Show, GotQuestions.org)
• The Amalekites not completely destroyed when Isreal entered Canaan. In Numbers 13:29 and Numbers 14:25, Amalekites are still documented living in the Negev and southern hill country, and the Book of Joshua does not record their complete eradication. (Nave’s Topical Bible)
• The Period of the Judges: The Amalekites reemerge repeatedly as a persistent regional threat: In Judges 3:13, the Amalekites ally with Eglon, king of Moab, and the Ammonites to defeat Israel and capture the “City of Palms” (Jericho). The judge Ehud kills the fat Eglon and defeats the Moabites giving peace in Israel for 80 years. In Judges 6:3–5, the Amalekites join forces with the Midianites and “people of the east” to repeatedly raid, pillage, and devastate Israel’s crops and livestock every planting season. (BibleRef.com, Jewish Virtual Library, Bible Hub) Gideon battles with the Amalekites and Midianites, kills 135,000 of their men giving Israel peace for 40 years. Apparently Amalekites survived b/c Saul was later commanded to wipe them out.
• 1 Samuel 15: God commanded Saul to totally destroy the remaining Amalekites but he spared their King Agag and the best of the animals. When confronted by Samuel, Saul argued that he had “completely destroyed the Amalekites”. He admitted sparing King Agag and the best of the animals to offer to the Lord. ²² But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Saul said, “I have sinned” and made the excuse that “I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.” Samuel put Agag to death. 15:³⁵ Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
• Amalekites during the reign of King David. Amalekites were still present during the reign of David. “While hiding from King Saul and serving as a mercenary under the Philistine King Achish of Gath, David led regular raids against the Amalekites, Geshurites, and Girzites, killing populations to keep his actions hidden from Achish. (Bible Hub) The Amalekites raided David’s city of Ziklag and captured his wives and famililes of his men whom David rescued but 400 Amalekites escaped. “Shortly after the Ziklag victory, an Amalekite soldier arrived in David’s camp with Saul’s crown and bracelet. He claimed that Saul was wounded at the Battle of Gilboa and had asked the Amalekite to finish him off.” (Wikipedia) David had the Amalekite killed. During David’s reign as king of Israel, military pressure and subsequent campaigns severely diminished the Amalekites, leaving only scattered remnants that eventually faced final destruction by the Simeonites during the later reign of King Hezekiah. According to 1 Chronicles 4:42–43, a force of 500 Simeonites They killed the remaining Amalekites who had escaped earlier conflicts, marking the end of their presence in that region. The Book of Esther later mentions Haman the Agagite (an “Agagite” being linked to the Amalekite king Agag).

A few questions: 1) Why didn’t God forgive Saul when he admitted that he had sinned and begged forgiveness? God forgave David of adultery, murder, lying, and coveting but he didn’t forgive Saul of this seemingly much less serious of sin. I can only assume that God knew that Saul was not sincere in this “repentance”. We call it “crocodile tears”: Crocodile tears means a fake or insincere display of sadness, grief, or remorse. God knows men’s hearts and whether they are sincere or not. 2) Why was this partial obedience considered by God to be so serious? I mean, Saul did kill many of the Amalekites and a lot of the weaker animals. Perhaps his men really did want to offer to God the animals they spared (but that is probably doubtful). The answer is that God expects complete, full obedience to His commands. We sin when we flagrantly disobey God even in the smallest way. Saul was arrogant and defensive when talking to Samuel which shows his disregard for obeying the Lord. This was an attitude and heart problem and not just a minor disobedience. Even today, the grace of God saves us under the new covenant even though we don’t perfectly obey every commands. But an humble Christian will sincerely try to obey ever single command of the Lord. We can’t say, “Oh that’s just a small sin; it doesn’t matter if I break that command.” Jesus said, John 14:¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands.” Don’t ever say, “Well I obeyed most of what Jesus commanded and that’s enough”. 3) Is this a command of God for Israel to commit genocide? I read Christian commentators who try to rationalize this command and say that it wasn’t really a genocide but I find that hard to defend. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. It was a command to commit a genocide of the Amalekites. It is especially horrifying that the children were to be destroyed. We can say that the children are better off dying before they reach the age of accountability and that God takes innocent childdren to heaven, but it is still the slaughter of young children and babies. But the difference in that genocide and historical genocides is found in the justice of an Almighty God who rules the world. God is the judge of all the earth (stated by Abraham in Genesis 18:25). God has the right to judge peoples and nations and destroy them when He decides to. The Amalekites (and other Canaanites nations) had been seeped in idolatry for centuries. They had the same opportunity to believe in the one true God Yahweh just like Rahab did, but instead chose to fight Israel. God had a certain point where He would no longer tolerate a nation’s sin and would execute justice by wiping them out. Genesis 15:¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” The Amalekites had reached their “full measure” of sins. The same would be true of all the Canaanite nations that God commanded Joshua to totally annihilate (genocide). God’s command for Israel to commit genocide was not out of racial hatred like historical genocides but was the execution of Divine justice.

1 Samuel 16: Samuel anoints David as king. God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint David as the next king David was from the tribe of Judah, which Genesis 49:10 specified that the kings should come from Judah. Saul was a Benjamite, the wrong tribe and it makes you wonder why God told Samuel to anoint Saul knowing the kingly line could was not predicted to come from the family of Saul, a Benjamite. I think the anointing of Saul as king was to give Israel a bad king to show that God’s original plan was better. God gave Saul every chance to be an obedient king, even giving him miraculous Spirit powers, but God knew all along that Saul would turn bad and be rejected by God as king. God knew the kingly line would not continue through Saul’s descendants. Sometimes we ask God for something that is not really in our best interests or that is not the plans of God, and God grants our request just to show us we were wrong and teach us a lesson. A classic example of this is found in Numbers 11. In the wilderness the Israelites complained about only having manna to eat and no meat, so God gave them quail 3 feet deep and 15-20 miles square. While they were greedily gorging on the quail, God struck them with a plague and many died there at Kibroth-Hattaavah (which means “graves of greed). So be careful what you ask God for. You might be asking “with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). You might have good intentions on what you ask for, but it might not be God’s plan or in your own best interests, so always close your request “thy will be done”.

Life Lesson: Samuel saw Jesse’s son Eliab and thought surely he was the one to anoint. God said, 16:“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” How true that is! We judge people by how they look, by our prejudices. We tend to admire someone who is beautiful, smart, or talented. They might have evil hearts but we still admire them just b/c of their “outward appearance”. Or we look down on someone b/c of their outward appearance. A classic example: Do you remember Susan Boyle who originally auditioned on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. You could tell from their expressions and raised eyebrows that the audience and judges judged her and looked down on her b/c of her plain appearance. She then sang, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables and they were stunned with her talent. All of a sudden they praised and applauded her and she went on to become a star. Jeremiah 17:10 – “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways”. Proverbs 21:2 – States that while people think their ways are right, “the Lord weighs the heart”. I am so guilty of judging people by outward appearance. I tend to judge people who are obese, who talk too much, who beg on the streets, who are politicians, who are high paid located preachers, and the list goes on instead of trying to find out if someone has. good heart. I confess that I need to do better! Jesus said in Matthew 7:1 7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I need to be more concerned about the log that is in my eye before criticizing the speck in someone else’s eye. What about you?

So Samuel anointed David. 1 Samuel 16:¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord (miraculous powers) came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah (his hometown). ¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.” This is not an evil spirit that kept Saul from making his own freewill choices even though it was from God. God has the right to send an evil spirit on someone who has rejected Him. Paul spoke of those who believed the lying signs of the “man of sin” who would decieve Jews before 70 AD: 2 Thessalonians 2:¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.” But they still had the ability to make freewill choices. From 1 Samuel 16:14 on, Saul had an evil spirit and would have fits of rage. David was brought in to play his lyre (a “portable” harp) and calm Saul. 1 Samuel 16:²³ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” David entered Saul’s service going back and forth from his home with Jesse.

Does 1 Samuel 17 occur chronologically before 1 Samuel 16? The basis for this possibility comes from something Saul said after David defeated Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:In 1 Samuel 17:55–58, King Saul asks, “Whose son is this young man?” and asks David who his father is, even though David had previously played the lyre for him and become his armor-bearer in 1 Samuel 16:21–23. Did Saul not rccognize David if David had been playing the harp for him? Maybe Saul was asking more about David’s family lineage since he had promised wealth and his daughter in marriage to whoever defeated Goliath. Thus David answers ““I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” Maybe Saul was always in an evil spirit induced rage when David would come play he harp for Saul and Saul really didn’t recognize who had been playing the harp for him. David did not live permanently at the royal court as a full-time standing soldier. He split his time between playing music/serving Saul and going back home to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17:15). I think that is the better explanation and thus 1 Samuel 17 does occur chronologically after 1 Samuel 16 just as it is recorded in the Hebrew Bible.

1 Samuel 17: David kills Goliath. Perhaps the most well known event in the Old Testament. No need to retell the story here but there is a great lesson. Why did David say that he could defeat Goliath? 1 Samuel 17:³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” David credits God (and the supernatural miraculous Spirit God gave him) with his ability to kill the lion and the bear. He has full confidence that God will give him the wisdom and ability to kill the giant! ⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” David used a stone, not a sword or spear although he did cut Goliath’s head off with Goliath’s own sword. King Saul was camped with the army of Israel in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17:2) when “Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.”

Life Lesson: Do you have the same confidence in the Lord that David had when you are fighting life’s battles? One of the things I thank God for in my daily prayers is God giving me “narrow escapes”. Many times God rescued me from some problem or danger. You would think that would give me the confidence that He will rescue me from future problems or danger, but often I panic when I have a new problem or danger. What battles are you facing? Do you trust in the Lord to help you win those battles. David still had to sling a stone at Goliath but he did so trusting that God would kill Goliath, and He did. Does God helping you in the past help you muster courage and confidence as you face new problems or dangers?

1 Samuel 18: Saul tries to kill David. After defeating Goliath, Saul 1 Samuel 18:² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family.” His going back and forth to his home with Jesse ended. He also met his best friend and confidant in Saul’s son Jonathon. David “loved him as himself”. Saul gives him a high rank in his army and David uses that miraculous Spirit powers to kill many Philistines. That’s when the “green eyed monster” of envy raised its head. Saul heard the women giving more praise to David than Saul and Saul became suspicious of David taking his kingdom. 18:⁹ And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.” The very next day Saul tried twice to spear David to the wall but failed. He offered his daughter Merab in marriage to David if he would fight the Philistines for him, thinking surely David would get killed in battle. But then he gave Marob to another man. Saul offered his other daughter Michal to David if he would bring him 100 Philistine foreskins! David brought him 200 foreskins and married Michal. 18:⁹ And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

1 Samuel 19: David gets Michal as his wife and flees to Samuel at Ramah. Jonathon persuaded Saul that David was no threat to him and briefly David was welcome back in Saul’s court. Saul tries again to spear David. Saul sent men to capture David at the house of David and Michal, but Michal helped him escape. Michal said that David threatened to kill her if she did not help him escape. David fled to Samuel at Ramah. Saul sent men three times to capture David but all 3 times the men started prophesying and got sidetracked. Saul found out that David and Samuel were at Naioth and went there to kill David, but he also began prophesying naked a day and night in Samuel’s presence.

That’s long but I hope it is interesting to read about the Amalekites and then discuss those 3 questions.

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