Wrath: 1 Samuel 15:1-3
Those who seek God's forgiveness shall find it. All have fallen short of the glory of God. We are all guilty of transgression against God. Fortunately, God made a way for those who desire to pass from wrath into grace. That way is Jesus’s death on the cross.
Samuel comes to Saul to give a directive from God. The message is exceptionally clear. God wants Saul to muster the army and destroy the Amalekites. Saul needs to be devoted to the utter destruction of the Amalekites. Samuel is clear when he says every man, woman, child, infant, ox, donkey, sheep and camel is to be destroyed.
This sounds harsh, especially for people who spend more time studying the New Testament teachings of Jesus and less time on the teachings of the Old Testament. Readers of the New Testament are unaccustomed to this side of God. God is not presented here as a God of grace, mercy, or forgiveness. God has not forgotten the sins of the Amalekites.
What did the Amalekites do to make God so angry? The story to which Samuel refers is given in Exodus 17. This is the story where the Hebrew people come out of Egypt, Amalek sees them on the run and struggling in the desert, and Amalek believes the Hebrews are easy pickings. Amalek brings his troops and tries to plunder the Hebrew people. Under Moses’ direction, Joshua takes the army. So long as Moses’ arms stayed raised up the Hebrew people carried the battle. At the end of Exodus 17, Moses declares God will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.
There are between 240 and 420 years between Moses’ encounter with Amalek and Saul’s fight against the Amalekites. All the Amalekites who fought against Moses are surely dead – along with the next five generations at a minimum. God does not forget transgression. Time does not heal all wounds.
How does the God portrayed in 1 Samuel 15 demonstrate consistency with the New Testament, which promotes forgiving our brother seven times seventy times? The bridge between these ideas is simple to construct. God could have sent a plague upon Amalek at the time of Moses and killed the Amalekites. He did this when the Assyrians came for Jerusalem several centuries after Samuel, so why not do it several centuries before Samuel? Instead, God allowed the Amalekites to thrive for several centuries. He gave them an opportunity to repent. God gave the Amalekites time to learn about Him from the Hebrew people and acknowledge their transgression. The Amalekites weren’t interested.
Eventually, judgment day came. This is also no different from the teachings of the New Testament. A time comes for all to stand before the Lord and face judgment. None of us shall escape the moment of judgment. None can hide our sinfulness from the presence of God. Some, like the Amalekites, don’t seek forgiveness and therefore suffer wrath.
Those who seek God's forgiveness shall find it.
