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First Samuel chapter 15. It's 
a long chapter, so we probably won't finish tonight. And not 
only is it a long chapter, it's a packed chapter. There's a lot 
of things going on in First Samuel 15, not only in terms of the 
rejection of Saul as king, and sort of the transition to David 
as the king of Israel. There's some theological issues 
in chapter 15 that we should address as well. One ethical 
issue and a theological issue. So we will try to take those 
up as we go. I just want to read beginning 
in verse 1. Samuel also said to Saul, the 
Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, heed the voice 
of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts. 
I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed 
him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack 
Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare 
them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox 
and sheep, camel and donkey. So Saul gathered the people together 
and numbered them in Tilaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 
men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek 
and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, 
go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy 
you with them. For you showed kindness to all 
the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the 
Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul attacked 
the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east 
of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the 
Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with 
the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared 
Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, 
and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy 
them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly 
destroyed. Now the word of the Lord came 
to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, 
for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he 
cried out to the Lord all night. So when Samuel rose early in 
the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel saying, Saul 
went to Carmel. And indeed, he set up a monument 
for himself. And he has gone on around, passed 
by, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel went to Saul, and 
Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed 
the commandment of the Lord. But Samuel said, What then is 
this bleeding of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the 
oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought 
them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best 
of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, 
and the rest we have utterly destroyed. And Samuel said to 
Saul, be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me 
last night. And he said to him, speak on. So Samuel said, when 
you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes 
of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 
Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy 
the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until 
they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the 
voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the 
spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to 
Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on 
the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, 
king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the 
Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep, and oxen, 
the best of the things, which should have been utterly destroyed, 
to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. So Samuel said, 
has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices 
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better 
than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion 
is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity 
and idolatry. Because you have rejected the 
word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. 
And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed 
the commandment of the Lord in your words, because I feared 
the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon 
my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel 
said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected 
the word of the Lord. And the Lord has rejected you 
from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned around to 
go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel 
said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you 
today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 
And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for 
he is not a man that he should relent. Then he said, I have 
sinned, yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people. 
and before Israel and return with me that I may worship the 
Lord your God." So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul worshiped 
the Lord. And Samuel said, bring Agag, 
king of the Amalekites, here to me. So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, surely the bitterness 
of death is past. Samuel said, as your sword has 
made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among 
women. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces 
before the Lord in Gilgal. And Samuel went to Ramah, and 
Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went 
no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, 
Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had 
made Saul king over Israel." Amen. So from the very inception 
of Saul's reign, we have seen that he was not a good king. 
Saul was a man that was appointed ultimately, yearned for by the 
people, God, of course, put him into that particular office. 
As soon as he gets into the office, he's doing foolish things. It 
culminates here in chapter 15. And while he is not immediately 
removed from the kingdom, he is nevertheless rendered ineffective 
by his own actions and by the fact that he is rejected here 
specifically by the Lord God Almighty. In chapter 13 it was 
already indicated that he would not have a dynasty. Saul's son 
would not reign. 1 Samuel 13 in verse 13, Samuel 
said to Saul, you have done foolishly, you have not kept the commandment 
of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, for now the Lord 
would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now 
your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for himself 
a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to 
be commander over his people, because you have not kept what 
the Lord commanded you." So we know this is David, king of Israel. The chapters following chapter 
15 will show his ascent to the throne of Israel. But it's not 
without trouble, not without difficulty, and not without problems 
still from Saul. So chapter 15 is a decisive turning 
point in Israel's history. in terms of Saul's sin against 
the Lord and the Lord's rejection of him as king. So the chapter 
breaks down into three broad categories. The first is the 
command to destroy the Amalekites in verses 1 to 9. Secondly, the 
rebellion of Saul against the Lord in verses 10 to 23. And 
then thirdly, the rejection of Saul by the Lord in verses 24 
to 35. And I mentioned there is an ethical 
challenge in the chapter, and then a challenge concerning theology 
proper or the doctrine of God. So we will take those things 
up as we get to them. But first, notice the command 
to destroy the Amalekites in verses 1 to 9. Samuel comes to 
Saul according to verse 1. He reminds Saul that the Lord 
had sent him to anoint him king over his people, over Israel, 
now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord. This 
is a crucial and key concept in the chapter. The sin of Saul 
ultimately is a rejection of the Word of the Lord. The sin 
that Saul engages in in this particular chapter is the same 
sort of sin that you and I engage in. It is a rejection of the 
Word of the Living God. Now our sin may not look like 
Saul's. We may not spare Agag and violate 
this particular command to engage in the extermination of the Amalekites. But sin is sin, brethren, and 
if we disobey the word of the Lord God Almighty, we can trust 
that what Samuel says to Saul is as true of us as it was for 
Saul. Verse 23 ought to be a haunting 
statement in our ears, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Every single sin that we commit 
is ultimately an act of rebellion. It's an act of treason against 
the Lord God. And Samuel said that this is 
as the sin of witchcraft. What happens to witches in the 
Old Testament? You do not suffer them to live. 
They are to be put to death. And then he goes on to say, and 
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. You see, this stubborn 
ideal that rejects the word of God seeks to have a rival God, 
and that God ultimately is our self. When we reject the word 
of the true and living God, what we're ultimately doing is putting 
credence in our own word or in our own desire or in what it 
is that really causes us to be committed. And he traces this 
down in verse 23 to because you have rejected the word of the 
Lord. So this is paramount and fundamental 
throughout the chapter. If we ask what is the sin of 
Saul, yes, the particular application is sparing Agag and sparing the 
livestock. But the central issue is something 
that is as peculiar to us in this new covenant setting as 
it was to Saul in his old covenant setting. Rejection of God's word, 
rebellion against the truth, choosing rather to do that which 
God has said not to do or not doing that which God has told 
us to do. This is as the sin of witchcraft 
according to the scripture. We ought to see it in that way. 
I remember several weeks ago, I mentioned a quote from John 
Owen. He says, when we deal with sin, we need to load our consciences 
with the evil of sin. It is typical for us to try and 
minimize things. It's typical for us to say, well, 
you know, I know I have this in my life, but it's not that 
big of a deal. Or it's not something that is really horrible in light 
of abortion or in light of the homosexual agenda. My thing really 
isn't that bad. We tend to minimize things. Well, 
who in the world would ever equate stubbornness with idolatry? Or who in the world would ever 
equate rebellion with witchcraft? We would do everything we can 
to try and minimize the effects and the implications in our lives. 
Well, when we are dealing with sin and a rejection of God's 
holy word, we ought to load our conscience with the guilt of 
that sin. If we are stubborn, if we are rebellious, let's own 
the particular things as God declares. It is as the sin of 
witchcraft. It is as the sin of iniquity 
and idolatry. Brethren, we are not to have 
truck with. We are not to have sort of Congress 
with our sin. It is simply unacceptable that 
we continue to minimize and we continue to entertain these thoughts 
that it's somehow okay not to heed the voice of the Lord. Why 
is it that we can see, probably as I read through, you see Saul's 
problem. Did God say leave Agag alive? Absolutely not. God said go in 
and utterly decimate Agag, the Amalekites, and everything that 
breeds. You don't bring Agag back to 
the camp, and you certainly don't bring the good animals back to 
the camp. You slay them as God the Lord 
commands. It's easy for us to see that 
sin and the rejection of God's word, but sometimes it's not 
as easy for us to see the rejection of the word of the Lord in our 
own lives. Let us learn the lesson from 
Samuel's indictment or condemnation of Saul to see sin as God sees 
it. It is something vile before his 
sight. Now notice the specific command 
in verses 2 and 3, the divine intention. God says, I will punish 
Amalek for what he did to Israel. I will punish Amalek for what 
he did to Israel. This is the divine intention 
and the divine plan. But notice God doesn't send a 
fist out from heaven and crush Agag and the Amalekites. He uses 
historical means. He uses, in this particular case, 
the Israelite armies to devastate or to bring this punishment to 
bear upon the Amalekites. Notice the specific reason. How 
he ambushed, or I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, 
how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. It 
was pretty rotten. The people were weary, the people 
were very vulnerable, and the Amalekites came and they attacked 
them in this particular instance. Well, when we look at the passages, 
in fact you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Deuteronomy 25, just 
so you can see the specific reason that's in view here in terms 
of this demand to go and punish the Amalekites. Deuteronomy 25, 
verses 17 to 19. Remember what Amalek did to you 
on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, the parallel or 
the actual instances in Exodus 17, if you want to look at that 
later. But here is a remembrance or a recalling that particular 
act. Remember what Amalek did to you 
on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you 
on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers 
at your rear, when you were tired and weary, and he did not fear 
God. Therefore, it shall be when the 
Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, 
in the land which the Lord your God has given you to possess 
as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek 
from under heaven, you shall not forget. So payment has come. It's time to punish the Amalekites. What God said in Deuteronomy 
25 is now coming to fruition in the reign of King Saul. They 
are in the land. They have a relative degree of 
peace and happiness and security in the land. That's how chapter 
14 ends in verses 47 to 52. It's a nice summary statement 
that North, South, East, West, Israel is taking care of her 
enemies. She is subduing them. She is protecting her place in 
the land. They've got this. Now it's time 
to come and punish the Amalekites. And notice the particular manner 
they are to do this. Verse 2, I will punish Amalek. Verse 3, now go and attack Amalek 
and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. 
But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox 
and sheep, camel and donkey. This is called the harem principle. And harem here is not the big 
tent with a lot of women. That's not the heremin view. 
It's the word that means under the ban or something that is 
devoted to God, specifically destruction. It is the Old Testament 
or Hebrew counterpart to the New Testament word, which is 
anathema. It means something that is devoted 
to destruction and that is precisely what was supposed to take place 
with reference to the Amalekites. Go and utterly destroy all that 
they have. Deuteronomy 29 verses 16 to 18 
specifies this particular principle as does the original mandate 
for holy war in Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5. Those cities that were 
in or under the ban were not to be left alive. They were to 
be utterly destroyed. You were not to make any alliances. 
You were to destroy the religious idols. You were to get rid of 
them, because the issue is, it was the glory of God, the purity 
of the land, and ultimately the purity of Israel. God knew that 
if they made friends with Canaanites, it wouldn't be long before they 
were worshiping with Canaanites. And that is precisely what happens 
in Old Covenant religion. But nevertheless, this is the 
particular principle. There's an illustration of it 
in Joshua chapter 6 verses 17 to 21. Basically, the nation 
or the person under the ban were devoted to God for destruction. 
Now, I believe this presents the Christian with an ethical 
challenge. Actually, it doesn't present the Christian with an 
ethical challenge, but rather it is presented to the Christian 
as an ethical challenge. People don't like this. People 
probably in the church don't like this, but that's not who 
I'm talking about right now. But it's so bad today. Christians 
have to defend the Bible to other Christians. But let's just take 
the atheist idea for a moment. How could it possibly be just 
for God to command genocide, for God to tell the nation of 
Israel to go in and utterly destroy the Amalekites? And notice the 
text is very specific. There is no one that is excluded 
but kill both man and woman infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, 
camel and donkey. Now, if you've ever presented 
the gospel to anybody that was sort of hostile to the truth, 
this might be something they bring up to you at some point. 
Somebody might say, do you know that the God in your Bible has 
commanded genocide? The God in your Bible has told 
people to go in and utterly destroy infants and nursing children. I mean, what will you say to 
that? Are you going to stammer and mutter and say, well, that 
was the God of the Old Testament, and that's not the God that we 
have anymore. You cannot do that. There is 
one true and living God. This is the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. This Yahweh of Israel is our 
God. How are we going to explain when 
the rabid atheist is breathing out these sort of invectives 
against our God, that he's vicious and warmongering and evil, and 
how could you love a God that does such and such a thing? Well, 
let's just suppose or assume for a moment that we are dealing 
with the atheist. As has been pointed out in several 
debates by James White and Greg Bonson, the atheist simply has 
no concept of evil. The atheist has to take from 
us what evil really is, because in an atheist world, how could 
there be good and evil? If all that you have are molecules 
and atoms and whatever happens at the subatomic level, and you 
have randomness and chance, And if one group of Adams wants to 
kill another group of Adams, in the long run, who cares? There 
is no evil as defined by Christians in an atheist world. So when 
they start saying, how could your God do such and such, ask 
them to give a good definition of evil without using our worldview. They simply cannot do it. Other 
things that we need to keep in mind, and this is probably stuff 
we can use with Christians in the church that get a little 
bit squeamish over such texts. Secondly, the Lord God is sovereign 
over all life. I think it was right over here, 
Steve, we went to do tracts, and that guy said, God's a murderer. No, God isn't a murderer. God 
is not a murderer. If you drop dead tonight, that 
is not an act of murder. God is sovereign. He has absolute 
authority over life. He has the power. He says, when 
you are born, he says, when you die. That is not murder. Murder is malice aforethought. It has criminal or wicked intent. 
It is a vicious assault on the image of God. For God to take 
a life is not murder. for God to command Israel to 
go into the land and take lives, that is not murder. Notice in 
2.6, in Hannah's prayer, she declares, Yahweh kills and makes 
alive. He brings down to the grave and 
brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes 
rich. He brings low and lifts up. So the Lord God is sovereign 
over all of life. A third thing we need to remember, 
and a third thing we need to remind the person that is breathing 
this out, is that the punishment of sin by a holy God is a necessary 
consequence in a moral universe. God must punish sin, right? I mean, you must punish rebellion 
in your home. The civil government must punish 
crimes against persons in the body politic. Certainly, God, 
the Lord, is going to punish sin and crime on that sort of 
a cosmic level. The previous treatment of Israel 
at the hands of the Amalekites demanded punishment. This happened 
400 years prior. But if you look at chapter 15, 
Amalek was not somehow a nice respectable group of people at 
this particular point. As far as I know, there's not 
many places in the scripture where the plural form sinners 
is applied to a particular people group. Notice in verse 18, now 
the Lord sent you on a mission and said go and utterly destroy 
the sinners, the Amalekites. Currently, presently, yes, this 
is an act of judgment and punishment from God for how they treated 
Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they are 
presently sinners, they are presently vile, they are presently engaged 
in all manner of evil. When Samuel summons Agag to come 
and stand before him, what does Samuel say? As your sword has 
made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among 
women. Agag was guilty of these particular 
crimes presently, currently, and right now. So for God to 
use Israel to punish the Amalekites is not only not murder, but rather 
it is an act of judgment and an act of punishment against 
these people. A fourth thing we ought to consider, 
and this really for the people of God that are a bit squeamish 
about passages like these, is that the vengeance of God is 
a blessed reality for the people of God. Now, you may have been 
brought up in a Christian tradition where you were a little bit afraid 
of affirming that particular proposition, but it's throughout 
the scripture. The Lord God Almighty says that 
He will punish those who terrorize his people. And when the Lord 
God vindicates his people and visits his enemies with judgment 
and justice, that is a blessing for the righteous. That is a 
good thing. And the people of God, instead 
of being squeamish or trying to apologize for the conduct 
or the activity of God, which is really sickening and pathetic. God never asks us to somehow 
anemically apologize or be sorry for the way that he conducts 
himself. Well, I'm sorry for that harsh treatment in the Old 
Testament, and I'm sorry for the way that God did those things. 
But you see, in the New Testament, it's all about love and mercy 
and compassion. It's always intrigued me that 
in the book of Revelation, In Revelation chapter 6, when the 
wrath and fury of God Most High is coming down upon a people, 
the men of the place where the judgment is coming, call upon 
the mountains to cover them, the rocks to fall upon them, 
and they say, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. It is the 
Lamb of God who comes in judgment against the enemies. The Lord 
God Almighty will vindicate His people. This is not ungodly for 
us to long for this. It is not unrighteous. It is 
if somebody cuts you off at a red light or at a stop sign and you 
say, God, get them with your eternal judgment and justice 
and all the horrors of hell. Don't do that. That's petty and 
that's wicked. But for those who continually 
abominate our God, those who continually afflict the people 
of God, those who would put little children in cages and burn them 
to death, you see, what God says to Israel in terms of doing to 
the Amalekites are the self-same things that the Amalekites had 
done to them. You know that last verse, I think 
it's in Psalm 137, blessed is he who dashes your little ones 
against the rock. We read that and we freak out. 
Never stops to enter into our mind that the persons that were 
enemies of the people of Israel had done that with their little 
babies. had taken little Israelite children and bashed their heads 
against the rocks. God will visit with judgment 
and punishment in kind to those who give trial to his people. Again, this is not simply an 
Old Testament concept. We need to get rid of that mindset. 
Well, that's just the Old Testament. Notice in the New Testament in 
Romans 12. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves. That is what Paul 
tells us in 1219. Do not avenge yourselves, but 
rather give place to wrath. How many Christians misinterpret 
this verse? We're told not to avenge ourselves 
and just to let it go. That's not what Paul says. He 
says, give place to wrath. In other words, realize that 
God has a monopoly on pouring out wrath. God is the one that 
will indeed repay, says the Lord, according to Paul in Romans 12.19. 
One of the means by which God brings wrath to bear in history 
is through the civil government in chapter 13, 1 to 4. God has 
given the civil government the sword to wield the power of execution 
upon criminal offenders. Do not avenge yourselves. Don't 
go to the store. buy a 38 and be a vigilante. But rather, it is legit and righteous 
and just for you to pray and invoke the civil government to 
take the sword literally and to enact it against criminal 
offenders. This is not a wrong thing. The 
Christian is a man or a woman who bears the image of God and 
justice and righteousness are concepts that we should long 
for. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians 1 is dealing 
with this ethical challenge that may be presented to us by the 
enemies of God concerning this mandate to go in and destroy 
the Amalekites. Notice in 2 Thessalonians 1, 
Verse six, we'll just skip right down to the main part I want 
us to consider. Since it is a righteous thing 
with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. You see, 
it's a righteous thing. It's not a bad thing. It's not 
a vindictive thing. It's bad and wrong when we take 
vengeance into our own hands. But when God, through the means 
he has appointed, in the case of Romans 13, the civil government, 
in the case of 1 Samuel 15, the Israelite nation against the 
Amalekites, In this particular instance, the idea might be, 
AD 70, it might be the second coming specifically, whatever 
it is, God will indeed pay with tribulation those who trouble 
you. And then notice in Revelation 
chapter 6, just prior to the section I've already referenced, 
when the people cry out to protect them from the wrath of the Lamb. Notice in chapter 6 verse 9, 
when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls 
of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony 
which they held. These are martyrs, right? Who 
gets slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they 
held? We call them martyrs. Martyrs, 
we call them those who shed their blood for Jesus. What are the 
martyrs doing under the altar? Oh Lord, just visit them with 
friendly kisses from on high. Oh Lord, just make their lives 
blessed and beautiful. Verse 10, and they cried with 
a loud voice saying, how long, oh Lord, holy and true until 
you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then a white robe was given to 
each of them and it was said to them that they should rest 
a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants 
and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed." 
Now it's just a brief sketch. Now, I'm not saying, again, go 
out there and if somebody cheats you at Walmart, you stop for 
a moment and you invoke the wrath and fury of God upon that wretched 
teller that wouldn't give you your 30 cents back. That's not 
the point. But there is a concept of justice 
and righteousness that the Bible upholds that the people of God, 
unfortunately, don't always uphold. Where do we see justice and righteousness 
displayed more fully than at the cross? Do you realize that 
in Romans 3, Paul the apostle says that when God set forth 
Christ on the cross as a propitiation, it was to demonstrate his righteousness. Yes, the cross demonstrates love. It demonstrates grace. It demonstrates 
mercy. It demonstrates kindness. But 
it demonstrates the righteousness of God, that God can be both 
just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. You 
see, the salvation of sinners did not come at the expense of 
the righteousness and justice of God. It came because the righteousness 
and justice of God was satisfied by the curse-bearing servant. You see, God doesn't avert those 
things. God satisfies the righteousness 
and justice that His law demands, that His holy character demands, 
and so the cross upheld that. Christian people ought to be 
a people who love righteousness, who love justice. And again, 
they're not vindictive. They're not petty, they're not 
small, they're not little irritating people that are an annoyance 
to society. But there ought to be something 
in us that longs for the day when Jesus will come and he will 
vindicate his elect. He will vindicate his church. 
He will vindicate his bride. He will stop the mouths of blasphemers. He will stop those who shed the 
innocent blood of babies. He'll stop those who continue 
to blaspheme and curse his name. Brethren, these are wicked people, 
and it's righteous for God to judge them and punish them. So 
when somebody says, that seems so outlandish, You ought to say, 
you know what's outlandish is that God doesn't slay every single 
one of us because we're as wicked as the Amalekites. The fact that 
we're drawing breath into our bodies at this particular time 
is proof positive of the long-suffering of God. And look at the particular 
situation here. It was 400 years prior. Talk 
about patience. Talk about long-suffering. Talk 
about forbearance. It's an amazing reality that 
God lets any one of us finish a day. It's an amazing reality 
that there are sinners in this world that continue to draw breath 
in their lungs simply to blaspheme or dishonor or sin against the 
Lord God Almighty. And then a fifth observation 
is that the Lord God commanded holy war as a means of particular 
judgment upon the wicked inhabitants of the land. Now he says to Israel, 
I did not choose you because you were more righteous. It's 
not like Israel was the best of the lot. God set his love 
and affection upon them according to his eternal decree. But he 
chose them, he selected them. He takes none too righteous Israel 
to judge the inhabitants of the land in Canaan. What happens 
when Israel settles the land and they start living like the 
Canaanites? They too are judged. They too are dispossessed. They 
too are thrown out by the Assyrians in 722, and by the Babylonians 
in 586. So God is not arbitrary. God 
is not capricious. When the Israelites behave like 
Canaanites, they too are excluded and expelled from the land of 
Canaan. But this was the purpose of God 
in terms of judgment upon the Canaanites. You can turn to Deuteronomy 
chapter 7, verses 1 to 5. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 
1 to 5. When the Lord your God brings 
you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many 
nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the 
Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, 
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. 
And if you say, well, what about the Amalekites? God is at liberty 
to include them because they were the ones who oppressed his 
special people. in Exodus chapter 17. This is 
the harem principle. This is the idea of utterly destroying 
them. And when the Lord your God delivers 
them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. 
You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, 
nor shall you make marriages with them. God knows what's going 
on, right? If they actually destroyed them, 
there'd be no prohibition necessary against merit. God knows they're 
not going to totally destroy them. So He makes this statement 
concerning no marriages, no social interaction, no political interaction, 
ultimately no religious interaction. You shall make no covenant with 
them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages 
with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor 
take their daughter for your son. Why? Because if your little 
junior marries their little junior, what's going to happen? She's 
going to lead him to Baal. Right? That's just the reality. God is not saying, Israel, you're 
so holy, you can't mix with those people. No, Israel, you're so 
not holy, you can't mix with those people, because they will 
lead you astray. One day you'll be borrowing a 
cup of sugar from your Canaanite neighbors, the next time you'll 
be at the bail service doing this, before that one from whom 
all blessings flow. You see, God knows his people, 
and he makes these prohibitions. You shall not give your daughter 
to their son, nor take their daughter for your son, for they 
will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will 
be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall 
deal with them. You shall destroy their altars 
and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images 
and burn their carved images with fire." Is this akin to ISIS 
going in and destroying all those old things? No, this is akin 
to keeping the people of Israel holy and pure and from idols. God knows the hearts of His people. If you get too close, you are 
not holy enough to affect the change. You are unholy enough 
to be affected and changed, and you've got to be careful. But 
go back to Leviticus 18. Just another piece of information 
that I think is very helpful in this whole issue concerning 
holy war. Now, I must say this because 
we need to say it. We are not under the mandate 
of holy war in the New Covenant. We are not told to take up carnal 
weapons and destroy Abbotsfordians. We are not called to march against 
Vancouver and utterly dispossess the city and destroy everything 
that moves and breathes. We are not under this mandate. 
This was under the old covenant, theocracy. It was consolidated 
to Israel as a body politic. This is crucial. We are not to 
do this. The weapons of our warfare are 
not carnal, but they're mighty for the pulling down of strongholds. 
They're not carnal. We are not to take up arms. We 
are not, as Church, to go out and advance the Kingdom of God. 
Now, as individual Christians, I believe you can serve in the 
military. As individual Christians, you can take up arms, most assuredly. But the Church, as Church, to 
advance the Kingdom of God is not to do it with carnal weapons. That's just the reality of it. Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5, has expired. That is something that is not 
binding on us. Certainly we ought to learn what 
is the underlying idea. No political alliance, no social 
alliance, no religious alliance with those who would do damage 
to us spiritually. Certainly there's a great application 
there for our young people. You can't marry unbelievers. 
Certainly the New Testament upholds this principle as well with reference 
to social lines. All these things. We need to 
be on our guard. But the mandate of holy war is not for us today 
in terms of a physical execution of violence upon image bearers 
to advance the kingdom of heaven. Everybody got that? I don't want 
you going to the gun store on the way home and saying we got 
some work to do. We got some scores to settle, 
man. I got to learn. I got to fire. I've got to pile up my armament. OK, notice in 1824. the reason for the expulsion 
of the Canaanites. You see, here's an unspoken assumption 
by those persons that say, wow, it's just so vicious for God 
to send in the armies of Israel to destroy those Amalekites. 
The unspoken assumption is those poor, innocent Amalekites, isn't 
it? Those poor, innocent Amalekites, 
they're just minding their business. They're just hoeing their gardens. 
They're just tending to their spouses. They're just rearing 
their families for bail. They're just doing things that 
Canaanites do. Just leave them alone. Live and 
let live. Why isn't Yahweh like that? Live 
and let live. That's what I say. They're innocent 
persons occupying a piece of property. Just leave them alone. Look at 1824, do not defile yourselves 
with any of these things, for by all these the nations are 
defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled, 
therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and 
the land vomits out its inhabitants. You see, the idea is that this 
is God's property, God's parcel. And these Canaanites are in there 
engaged in bestiality, and in homosexuality, and in idolatry. That's what the context talks 
about, in engaging in all manner of evil. And God says to Israel, 
Go in and expel them from the land. This is God's earth. He regulates. He governs. He legislates. He commands. When men breach His law, when 
men violate His commandments, it's righteous with God to punish 
them. When your little kid takes something 
that you told him not to take, I trust you think it's righteous 
with you to punish them, right? So when God in his earth or people 
on his earth are engaged in lawless activity, God says to Israel, 
go and dispossess them from the land. Again, God's not arbitrary. God's not capricious. Because 
when Israel behaves like the Canaanites, they too are dispossessed 
from the land. It is one righteous standard 
of judgment. It is God's holy moral law. And 
this is what he is holding them to. Notice, you shall therefore 
keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these 
abominations either any of your own nation or any stranger who 
dwells among you. For all these abominations the 
men of the land have done who were before you and thus the 
land is defiled. You see, that supposition, that 
unspoken implication that the God of the Israelites sent in 
these people to destroy these innocent, peace-dwelling, lovers 
of the land, nut-and-berry-eaten persons, just singing to Baal 
daily, leave them alone. That's just wrong. They were 
wicked. Verse 28, lest the land vomit 
you out also when you defile it as it vomited out the nations 
that were before you. For whoever commits any of these 
abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off 
from among their people. You see, it is not arbitrary, 
it is not capricious. We see the principle carry over 
into the new covenant. In the churches in Asia Minor, 
what does Jesus say to the church at Laodicea? Because you're neither 
hot nor cold, what will He do? I will vomit you out of my mouth. In the Old Covenant, the land 
vomited out the inhabitants. In the New Covenant, the church 
that professes saving faith in Jesus, but lives like the Laodiceans, 
Christ will vomit them out of His mouth. He has no truck with 
the people that say they're one thing, but act another way. This 
is a principle of God's judgment. Davis says, the conquest, talking 
about going in and dispossessing the land of the Canaanites, is 
not a bunch of land-hungry marauders wiping out at the behest of their 
vicious God hundreds of innocent God-fearing folks. In the biblical 
view, the God of the Bible uses none too righteous Israel as 
the instrument of his just judgment on a people who had persistently 
reveled in their iniquity. So get it out of your head, or 
do not allow somebody to make that assumption that these were 
just innocent folk. I mean, they just wanted to make 
a living in the land, didn't they? By having sex with animals? By offering their children a 
mullet? By having homosexual relationships? By murdering? By engaging in all manner of 
lawlessness? You call that an innocent, peace-loving 
folk? Again, when we go back to 1 Samuel 
chapter 15, the question ought not to be, how in the world could 
God authorize Israel to do this? The question ought to be, how 
in the world does God not authorize this daily on people groups who 
continually violate his holy law? That's the perplexing thing. You know, it was C.S. Lewis who 
wrote a book, The Problem of Pain. You know, why is there 
pain in God's world? John Gershner wrote a little 
pamphlet, The Problem of Pleasure. Pain is perfectly explainable 
in a world governed by a moral God, and we are an immoral people. Pain is the legitimate result, 
punishment for sin. The problem is pleasure. Why 
is it that in a world with sin and a holy God, any of us get 
to smile in a given day? Any of us ever get to eat a piece 
of chicken? Any of us ever get to do anything 
nice? The problem is really pleasure. 
That is the thing that needs explanation. So the issue here 
in 1 Samuel 15 with the Amalekites is not, how could God ever do 
this? The question really is, how come 
God doesn't do this constantly with people who always violate 
his holy law? Now notice, the execution of 
the plan, verses 4 to 9. We're going to stop after this 
point. We'll deal with the issue concerning theology proper next 
week. If you paid attention, in 11 
and 35, we have God regretting that he made Saul king. And in 
verse 29, it says, the Lord is not a man. He does not relent. How do we harmonize those two 
things? The doctrine of divine impassibility. That's how we harmonize that. 
But we'll get to that, God willing, next week. Notice the execution 
of the plan, verses 4 to 9. The troops assembled in verses 
four, verses four and five. He numbered them in Tulam, 200,000 
foot soldiers, 10,000 men of Judah. Some will say, but at 
the end of chapter, you know, in 13 and 14, he had 1,000, then 
he only had 600 men. Well, this is probably a couple 
years after the fact, and this is more Israelites than the few 
that were with him in 13 and 14. So the big numbers should 
not disturb us. Okay, and then 10,000 men of 
Judah, and then Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait 
in the valley. The Kenites are spared. The Kenites 
did the Israelites a solid, and so the Kenites are spared. They 
are warned, they are told, if you don't get out of there, then 
you will go down with the Amalekites. We are on a mission. to deal 
with Amalekites. So Kenites, you should pack up 
your things and move so that you do not go down in this exchange." 
So they did. So the Kenites departed from 
among the Amalekites. Good idea on the Kenites' part, 
right? When the Israelites come at the 
bidding of Yahweh, it's a good idea to listen to them and move 
out of the way. 7. Saul attacked the Amalekites 
from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also 
took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive. It's like the author here is 
going, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This 
is bad. This is wrong. This is terrible. That wasn't the instruction, 
Saul. What part of utterly destroy 
everything didn't you get? Saul, you messed up. And Saul 
then continues to try and blame the people. There's an ambiguous, 
they brought the livestock. There's a later, the people wanted 
to do this. And in his repentance, he says, 
I feared the people. I don't think what he says in 
verse 24 is legit. He says, I have sinned. I definitely 
think that's legit. But when he says, I have transgressed 
the commandment of the Lord in your words because I feared the 
people. The author does not call it that way. The author says, 
Saul spared Agag. And then notice in verse 9, Saul 
and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, 
the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good. You see, Saul 
led this. Saul was the king. Saul was the 
responsibility. Saul was the main man. He is 
royal. He cannot blame the people for 
this. He is rather the commander of 
the people. If Saul spares Agag, and Saul 
says, collect the livestock, then the buck stops with Saul. 
All of Saul's shenanigans notwithstanding, the people this, the people that, 
the people this. And I love the way, no I don't. 
I hate the way he does it, but I think we're guilty of this 
as well. Trying to justify sin under pious guides or pious roads. Well, we spared the livestock 
so that we'd have sacrifices for Yahweh. If Yahweh says destroy 
the livestock, Yahweh knows what's best. He doesn't need you sparing 
livestock to present sacrifice. This is the point. Behold, obedience 
is better than sacrifice. I don't care about your sacrifice 
if you come before me and your heart is polluted with rebellion. 
I don't care about your sacrifice or your praise offerings or your 
Sunday worship if you've come there and you're guilty and you 
have no intention whatsoever to deal with your sin. What does 
Jesus say in Matthew 5 if you go to present your offering? 
And you go to present your gift at the altar and there you remember 
that your brother has a problem with you. Go and be reconciled 
to him and then come back. Now in that particular instance 
the temple was in Jerusalem. Not everybody lived in Jerusalem. 
Perhaps you lived 70 miles away from Jerusalem. So that would 
be akin to us coming on Sunday in Chilliwack and remembering, 
boy, I offended a brother in Vancouver. Hang on, everybody. 
I need to go reconcile with him before I go worship my God. Oh, 
no, that just seems a bit odd. No, that's what God says. He 
wants our hearts. He doesn't want us to be fakes. So in this particular instance, 
Saul attacks the Amalekites from Avila all the way to Shur, which 
is east of Egypt. Sounds good, right? A little 
geography, a little bit of battle plan. This is good. Everything's 
going right. But verse 8, boy, this is the 
downfall. He also took Agag, king of the 
Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people at the 
edge of the sword. It's almost like the author is 
just showing us, weaving it in such a way as to say, look at 
the irony. Look at this. He thinks he's doing a good thing. 
I don't know. Does Saul actually think he's 
doing right? He certainly vindicates himself. 
He celebrates his accomplishment with a monument. I mean, when 
he finally does meet up with Samuel, look at verse 13. Blessed 
are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment 
of the Lord. Are you kidding me? Agag is still 
breathing. These sheep are bleeding in my 
ears and these oxen are lowing. I love Samuel's response. If 
you've done everything that the Lord has said, why am I hearing 
sheep and oxen? Saul, you didn't do everything. You have sinned against Yahweh. God doesn't ask you to be innovative 
or creative with His commands. He doesn't say spare some animals 
so that you have a sacrifice. He says obey Him. Brethren, that's 
what we need to get from these Saul narratives, how bad it is 
to disobey God, and how right it is to obey God. So he takes 
Agag. Notice in verse nine, but Saul 
and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, 
the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling 
to utterly destroy them. How does he say, I did a good 
thing? You see the deceptiveness of 
sin? You can fall into patterns, you 
can get into ruts, you can get into a way of life that thinks 
or you think that everything is going well, and everything 
is right, and everything is good, and yet people like us, that 
aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, could read a 
page out of your life and say, are you nuts? You actually think 
you're doing well and you're engaged in this activity? You 
actually think that you're to be celebrated and congratulated 
when you've got this issue? Are you kidding me? I mean, come 
on, it's pretty obvious in the passage. But everything despised 
and worthless, the end of verse 9, that they utterly destroy. What's the implication? They 
want stuff. Saul not withstanding, we saved 
the livestock simply to present it as sacrifices to the Lord. 
No, probably you wanted livestock. Probably you wanted stuff. Probably 
you wanted more goodies, more trinkets, more baubles, more 
things for your garages and your storage sheds. You wanted more 
items so that you could say, wow, what a king I am. So don't 
do that. Just obey God. Do what God says 
each and every step of the way, and everything will be hunky 
dory. And we know, of course, that 
none of us ever do that. And we ought to be thankful in 
light of 1 Samuel, chapter 15, that we have our Lord Jesus Christ, 
because he always obeyed the word of God. He always did what 
the Father sent him to do. Notice in verse 22, behold, to 
obey is better than sacrifice. Davis makes the comment how wonderful 
it is to have a sacrifice who always obeyed. How wonderful 
it is to have a high priest who always did what the Father told 
him to do. How wonderful it is that we have 
a Redeemer, a Savior and a Lord who never shrank back from obeying 
the Father. And it's because of that obedience, 
because of his life of active obedience to the Father, his 
death and what's called the passive obedience, That is imputed to 
us, received by faith alone, and it's by grace alone, through 
faith alone, in Christ alone, we stand. Because more than likely, 
if you and I were commanders of Israel's army, and our names 
were whatever they are, and we were in Saul's position, we probably 
would have done the same thing. I know I'm pretty hard on Saul, 
but I think there's a little Jim in Saul and a little Saul 
in Jim, and that makes me very thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the mercy that we have in and through him. So that's the 
first section, the command to destroy the Amalekites. God willing, 
we'll take up the rebellion of Saul against the Lord. And we'll 
deal with verses 11 and 35 and what they maintain concerning 
our Lord's regret and verse 29, which is a clear statement that 
the Lord does not relent. And it's the same word that is 
used in all three of those verses. It's the same word that's used 
in Genesis 6. Six and seven, when the Lord regretted, the 
Lord was sorry that he had made man. It's the same word that's 
used in the Balaam oracles in Numbers 23, 19. So God willing, 
we'll take that up next time. So let's close in a word of prayer. 
Our Father, we thank you for this time that we can study scripture. We thank you for the lessons 
that we learn in these books of the Bible. And we pray that 
you'd help us to learn these ones well, that we would see 
rebellion, and we would see stubbornness, and we would see an unwillingness 
to obey your law for what it is. And God, help us by your 
spirit, according to your will and word, to walk in a manner 
that is pleasing in your sight. And even now, we are probably 
conscious of the fact that we are rebels, and we are stubborn. 
And we confess our sin, and we thank you for the Lord Jesus. 
We ask that you would wash us afresh in his precious blood, 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and cause these things to be 
a help and a promotion of holiness and righteousness in our lives. 
Go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.