Great Battles of the Bible

Punishing the Amalekites and the

Discipline of Saul for Partial Obedience

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

There are numerous battles that God’s chosen people fought as they established the Promised Land as their own. We can learn many things from such battles that relate to our Christian life. In 1 Samuel 15 we find God directing Samuel to command King Saul of Israel to attack the Amalekites.

 

“Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'”

 

In our own lives God seeks to use us for His purposes, not as kings, but as servants to minister to the needs of people and share the gospel with them. Just as Saul had a divine commission to be king, we have a divine commission as well to be our Heavenly Father’s representatives here on the earth. While we rarely if ever hear the audible voice of God, nor have a prophet delegated by God to tell us what to do, we do have scripture to guide us in our actions and behavior. The Holy Spirit also can give us advice if we are careful to listen. Here Saul is given very specific instructions as to what God wishes for him to carry out. He is told to thoroughly annihilate the Amalekites down the last man, woman, child and animal, without exception. The reason for such harsh judgment by God was because of the actions of the Amalekites towards His chosen people as well as the fact that they were perverse and sinful, even their possessions were tainted by their behavior and rebellion against God. Saul immediately seeks to obey the godly commands that Samuel communicates to him.

 

“So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim — two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, ‘Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites. Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.”

 

So we see from these verses that Saul totally destroyed all the Amalekites. But, Saul had some reservations with some of God’s instructions. Saul had no trouble annihilating the Amalekites but wished to spare King Agag. He also possibly felt it was also a waste to kill and destroy all their valuable animals, so he modified this command from God as well.

 

“But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs — everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”

 

Sometimes we have clear direction from scripture as to how to obey God and do the “right thing,” but we modify it according to what we wish to do. Sometimes we receive wise counsel from other godly Christians or possibly from the Holy Spirit Himself, but we aren’t comfortable with the instructions we receive so choose what parts we wish to honor and obey and what parts we desire to ignore. This is what Saul did. He did what was right in his own eyes (Proverbs 21:2).

 

As is always the case, God was aware of this disobedience. God does not take lightly someone modifying or changing his commands. He instructs with a holy purpose and expects His instructions to be carried out to the letter. Here we see God speaking to Samuel as to what to do.

 

“Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ‘I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.’ Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, ‘Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.’When Samuel reached him, Saul said, The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.'”

 

Here God tells Samuel how He grieves over appointing Saul as king because Saul disobeyed Him. Does this mean that God was surprised by how Saul failed to carry out His instructions? No, God is never surprised by events or the actions of people. God gave instructions to Saul and He does to us as well. These are opportunities for us to obey and follow His guidance which can lead to us growing spiritually. But when we fail Him, He grieves because our disobedience prevents our growth and often harms us and others. We do cause God grief and heartache when we disobey His godly instructions. In this portion of scripture we find Saul clueless that he has done anything wrong, or in denial that he has disobeyed God. He made, what he thought, was just a slight modification of Gods commands for his best interests. Samuel stops him in his tracks with the communication that he had received from the Lord that night. Samuel is now informing Saul that his sin has found him out (Numbers 32:23).

 

“‘Stop!’ Samuel said to Saul. ‘Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ ‘Tell me,’ Saul replied. Samuel said, ‘Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?'”

 

After Samuel shares what the Lord said to him we see in Saul’s response, either he is totally unaware of his sin or he is in denial. Often when we sin against God and fail to obey His Word we are clueless that we have done wrong because we have not studied God’s Word consistently and properly. Other times we are in denial of what we have learned and just don’t want to obey what we know is true. The temptation to modify God’s instructions for our own desires is so great, we sin against him and do what we want instead of what God wants and then we grieve our Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We find Saul’s response in the next portion of scripture.

 

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

 

Saul begins justifying his actions by saying that he spared Agag only. This was sometimes a custom to spare the ruler of a kingdom or general of an army to demonstrate victory. But God did not instruct Saul to do such a thing. Saul also justifies the taking of the good animals that belonged to the Amalekites by stating that these were going to be used in a holy sacrifice to the Lord. Now this was either a lie as to his motives or he did not understand that these animals were tainted and impure and would not be a holy sacrifice to God. Either way, he was proving his ignorance and disobedience of what it meant to obey God’s commands to the letter. Samuel replies to this justification with a spiritual truth.

 

“But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’ 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.”

 

Samuel shares in this passage that it is more important for Saul to obey what God says than any other action. God wants obedience more than a simple sacrifice offering. This speaks to us today as well. Often we disobey scripture or wise Christian counsel because we just want to do what we want to do. Then when we come to our spiritual senses, we repent. While this is what we should do when we sin, it would have been much better in the first place just simply to obey what we knew we were supposed to do. God forgives us for our sin when we confess it, but it is always better to just obey Him and His Word.God is more honored, respected and glorified by obedience than repentance after our disobedience.

 

Saul responds to the confrontation and confesses what led him to do what he did. He admits that he disobeyed because he placed his popularity among the people over what God wanted him to do. He begs Samuel to forgive him.

 

“Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.'”

 

Samuel’s reply is blunt and to the point. God will replace Saul as king.

 

“But Samuel said to him, ‘I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!’ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors — to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.'”

 

Saul is grief stricken and repentant, and requests that Samuel accompany him back to the people and so that he can worship the Lord. Samuel with mercy agrees.

 

“Saul replied, ‘I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.”

 

Samuel then takes action to fulfill the instructions from God and has Agag killed.

 

“Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him confidently, thinking, ‘Surely the bitterness of death is past.’ But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.’ And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.”

 

As with most sins, relationships are affected. In this case God and Samuel both grieve over Saul’s disobedience.

 

“Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

 

We learn from Saul’s example that we should follow God’s instructions and commands to the finest detail. When we modify them or only obey partially, God will hold us accountable. Sometimes He disciplines directly and other times He simply lets us reap what we have sown in our disobedience. Let us show our love for the Lord by our steadfast observance of His wishes and instructions in His Holy Word and never compromise.