1 Samuel 15 Wipe them out.... completely

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 15:1 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. 2 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. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

4 So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6 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.​

a. 1 Samuel 15:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20 and 21

Back when we were reading about the Amalekites.... back when Moses was leading the people out of Egypt.... I remember thinking... [and maybe even noting] that God was not done with the Amalekites.... and here they are again.... I am smiling.

This comes from Bible.org.

The Amalekites, a name which might sound vaguely familiar to the reader of the Bible, may be foreign to us, but these people are not strangers to the Israelites. The Amalekites are one of the peoples dwelling in the southern part of Canaan. When the Israelites left Egypt and set out toward Canaan (see Exodus 17:8.), they were one of the first nations the Israelites encountered. This is one of the surrounding nations with which Israel has continual conflict. The Amalekites attack the Israelites, who disobediently seek to possess the promised land after their unbelief at Kadesh-barnea (see Numbers 14:25, 43, 45). They join with the Midianites in attacking and plundering Israel, and are one of the nations which pose such a serious threat to Israel that Gideon needs reassurance of God’s presence with him in battle (see Judges 6:3, 33; 7:12).

The command to kill an entire nation and their cattle is not new. God required the Israelites to do so when they encountered the Canaanite nations:

Leviticus 27:28 “’Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the LORD out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD. 29 ‘No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death’” (Leviticus 27:28-29, NASB).​

These are the same people who Gideon met back in Judges. They swarmed like locusts too numerous to count and they were destroying everything in their path. God led Gideon into a battle with them and wiped out a lot of them.... but some got loose and now they have to fight again.

These were relatives of Esau! Now Esau was Jacob's twin brother. Their mother was Rebecca. Jacob stole Esau's birthright. Jacob is Israel. God named Jacob Israel.... now Jacob's [Israel's] descendants are gong to fight Esau's descendants.

We kind of met the Kenites back in Genesis 15. They were living in Canaan when the Israelites moved in. Unlike others.... the Kenites were always friendly. Actually, Moses' father in law was a Kenite. So Saul had to send out word for them to get out of harms way.

I guess if this battle were to be fought today.... a plane would have dropped a bunch of pamphlets in their language telling them to leave before the battle begins.

God does NOT want one person, animal, or object left. He wants this whole bunch of Amalekites totally destroyed.... so He doesn't have to do this again. Even Saul should understand that the Amalekites mean harm to Israelites. It's what they do. It's who they are.

:coffee:
 
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