For me, 1 Samuel 15 is one of the toughest passages in the Bible. In it, through Samuel the prophet, King Saul receives divine instructions to destroy the Amalekites. Such a command brings us face-to-face with the question of violence and warfare in Scripture. That issue creates a profound perplexity for many. How do we approach this theme? Why is such an awful story in the Bible? And, if we are listening for the Spirit, what might we hear?
Consider first, briefly, some background on this specific chapter. Teacher and minister John Allister, writing on matthiasmedia.com, says this:
“The Amalekites weren’t just any old people. They were the nation who more than any other tried to destroy Israel. They had been trying to eradicate and plunder Israel from the very birth of Israel, 200–400 years before the command in 1 Samuel 15, and they would continue for another 600 years.
“That explains some of the background to the conflict in 1 Samuel 15. It shows that what is being commanded is an act of war in a conflict which the Israelites didn’t start, and which was never going to be resolved by negotiation.”
There are still legitimate questions, but that, at least, provides some context.
But how do we relate to such passages? And, in our lives, thousands of years later, what do they mean? When I read such passages, I try to remember three things.
First, these times in the Old Testament are somewhat similar to the times of the Old West in American history (or any such time in any nation). Times are chaotic. The law belongs to the powerful. Bad things happen often. And life is cheap.
Second, in the Old Testament, there is very little said about a devil or Satan. It is not until New Testament times that we begin to understand that concept. As such, in the Old Testament, most unexplainable things — good or bad— get attributed to God.
And third, and most important, Christ-followers have always affirmed that God’s ultimate revelation comes in Jesus. That it is not until the Christ-event that the brightest light is shined onto the face of God; that it is not until Jesus comes that we most fully understand God. What that means is when we struggle to understand something, the best place to which we turn is to Jesus. We look to Jesus. We follow Jesus. We listen to Jesus. Jesus becomes the final word on how we are to understand God.
For me, that means that when I read 1 Samuel 15, I remember the New Testament is yet to come, and I say, “Thank God Jesus is coming!” For us all, it means that we live by an ethic that says, “Turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39). We practice a love that says, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). We make choices based on phrases such as, “Overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). And we listen most closely to the One who said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).
First Samuel 15, then, can become a bad story with a good lesson: in all the situations of life, listen carefully and closely to Jesus.
