What The Hack?
Posted in P. Mat's Blog, Sunday Night Recap on August 9, 2011
So Sunday night I preached a message from a tough portion of scripture – 1 Samuel 15. In this passage, amongst other things, we have God telling King Saul to go and totally obliterate an entire people group, the Amalekites. When Saul fails to obey fully, Samuel finishes the job by hacking the opposing Amalekite king to death! What the hack, er, heck!?
I’ve always had a difficult time with that passage, because it’s hard to reconcile such a gratuitous act with a loving God. I shared my thoughts on this Sunday night, but here’s a quick recap:
1. The Amalekites were a war-like nation that didn’t fight their opponent. They raided them at moments of vulnerability with guerilla tactics and looted possessions. This is exactly what they did to the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. God promised then to deal with the Amalekites and in 1 Samuel we see that promise come to fruition.
2. There were hundreds of years between that first raid on the fleeing Israelites and this final defeat. The scripture does not share this, but I would imagine God dealt graciously with them and sent them prophets to warn them of their impending judgement and gave them ample time and opportunity to repent. Remember Ninevah in the book of Jonah? They too were the enemies of Israel and God sent Jonah to share with them a message of repentance, which they accepted, and God spared them. So, it’s safe to assume God probably did the same for the Amalekites… which they obviously refused.
3. What would you do if the doctor told you cancer was in your body? Would you be content to remove some of it? Of course not! You would, as anyone would, want to remove it all so it couldn’t spread and infect any other area of your body. Well, likewise, the Amalekites were a cancer. They were spreading their infectious way of life and it was eating away at the people of God. So, like a skilled surgeon, God made the difficult decision to operate and remove all of the cancer no matter how difficult or devastating it may be.
I realize these observations do not reconcile completely this difficult passages (at least not for me), but, in the end, God is God. He’s allowed to do what he wants, and honestly, he doesn’t owe us an explanation! (That’s not an easy truth either, I know.)
Anyways, the point of the message was to draw out the reality that we all have “Amalekites” in our lives. The Amalekites harassed the children of Israel from the moment they left bondage in Egypt. Saul was tasked with destroying them, and instead, he kept the king alive and the best of all the livestock. This wouldn’t have been a bad thing but, as harsh as it may have been, those were not the instructions of God.
So, Saul compromised, he settled, he negotiated and he failed in his assignment. You wouldn’t get confession from him though. We actually see him building a monument to himself after “his victory.” And that’s the root problem – Pride. Saul didn’t obey God completely because Saul failed to remove himself from the equation. Once Samuel confronted Saul, the excuses begin to pour out, “the people took them…”, “I was going to sacrifice them…” Samuel just shook his head and said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Here’s the problem, we’re no different. We have struggles in our lives, and instead of ridding ourselves of them, we hold on to them, and then when we’re finally confronted with the reality of our sin, we make excuses as to why we’re justified in our sinful actions.
Back to what Samuel said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Why? Because like the hypocrites of the gospels, sacrifice is often time accompanied with prideful motives, which in essence makes null and void the sacrifice. However, if we fully obey God, we remove ourselves out of the equation and in so doing remove the issue of pride as well. Not only that, but full obedience to the Lord will, without doubt, always involves sacrifice. So sacrifice without obedience can be contaminated with pride and impure motives. But, total obedience cannot be without sacrifice and the removal of pride. So, that’s why.
In the end, Samuel hacks the Amalekite king to pieces. Ouch and gross, but good lesson for us. We don’t have to struggle with the “Amalekites” in our lives. If we can get to the place of total obedience, do what God tells us to do, there will be no struggle because the struggle will be over! And, if we have to get radical and drastic and extreme in order to conquer the “Amalekites” in our own lives, then that’s what he have to do!
Just some simple thoughts! Blessings, PM
