![]() This is one of the surrounding nations with which Israel has continual conflict. When the Israelites left Egypt and set out toward Canaan (see Exodus 17:8ff.), they were one of the first nations the Israelites encountered. The Amalekites are one of the peoples dwelling in the southern part of Canaan. The Amalekites, a name which might sound vaguely familiar to the reader of the Bible, may be foreign to us, but these people are not strangers to the Israelites. Our text holds important lessons for us to learn about Saul’s disobedience and its consequences and about our own disobedience to God’s commands as well. Would we have put the Amalekite children to death as Saul did? If not, why not? Our text addresses the nature of Saul’s disobedience which is very much like the disobedience prevalent among Christians today. Saul is willing to do things we might never even consider – like killing little children. Our text not only exposes Saul’s sin, it may very well expose our own. Saul’s refusal to totally annihilate the Amalekites costs him his kingdom. He has no problem slaughtering all of the marginal cattle, but he can’t stand to throw away the prime USDA Grade A beef and lamb. He finds it difficult, however, to kill their king, Agag. He has no trouble killing the Amalekite men and women, and even their little children. What troubles him is seeing perfectly good things destroyed. Saul and I are not really alike in this matter of saving things considered garbage by others. When I explained how I came across his mower, he replied, “I’m really glad you could fix it and use it would you like the bagger, too? I forgot to throw it out with the mower.” One day, a neighbor drove down the alley and hollered out the window, “Bob, there’s a great looking lawn mower behind Tinsley’s house in the alley.” I found the mower and was mowing my lawn with it when the neighbor who had thrown it away returned home from work. Even today in our neighborhood I am one of the very few with people driving by to tell me where some good garbage is - up the alley a few stops. You can imagine how difficult that was for me I hated throwing anything away that looked like it could be used for something. Items judged to be damaged beyond repair went into the “scrap” pile. ![]() When I came to Dallas to attend seminary, I worked in the warranty department. I had a trailer which I used for this purpose, and virtually every time I set out for the dump, Jeannette’s final words to me were, “Don’t bring anything back!” This was because I often returned with more garbage from the dump than I took in the first place. Since there was no trash pick-up, we hauled our garbage to the country dump. When Jeannette and I were first married, we lived in the country in Washington State. I have always had trouble throwing things away.
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