Hewing Agag, Part I

My church recently celebrated Purim - an ancient Jewish celebration to remember the events of an Old Testament book called Esther. You may have seen a reference to it in the movie "For Your Consideration." Esther takes place in Persia during the reign of King Ahasuerus and tells of a multi-generational feud between the Amalekites (Haman) and the Children of Israel (Mordecai).

In preparation for the celebration, we read the stories of the other battles between these picture-perfect enemies. One such battle is described in the book of I Samuel. In a nutshell, Saul, king of the Children of Israel is commanded by God to "utterly destroy" the Amalekites, including every man, woman, child, livestock, and their king, Agag. The Children of Israel are victorious but decide to spare Agag and the best of the booty. God tips off Samuel of the violation of the command, who then questions Saul. Saul then tries to excuse it by claiming that the best of the stuff was saved to be sacrificed to God. After declaring to Saul that his kingship has been ended by God, Samuel "hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord..." (I Sam. 15:33)

If the Bible was a TV show, you could only see it on HBO.

So what the heck is going on? What could possibly be wrong with saving the best of the stuff for God? And then God's prophet butchers a POW?

To understand, you have to see as God sees. We have to see that God doesn't care about stuff, he cares about a people who trust Him completely, who recognize that His diety is all encompassing and that there is nothing else to do. Those of you who attended Sunday school may remember another scripture that appears in I Samuel 15 - "And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams."

In Hewing Agag, Part II, we'll try to understand who the Amalekites (Agag and Haman) and the Children of Israel represent.