584 Our lesson is based upon this com mand. Who dares question the wisdom of it? To question it, is to question the righteousness of God. God is the Ruler of the earth, and reserves to Himself the right accorded to rulers to punish or remove offenders. The offense of Amalek was in the blocking of the way of Israel when they came out of Egypt. (Deut. 25:17-19) “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; * How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble be hind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not for get it.” (Num. 24:20) “And when he looked upon Amalek, he took up his parable, and' said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish forever.” (Also Ex. 17:14-16; Num. 21:23-24) Israel was God’s chosen people, under His special care. Their request was a proper one; they promised to go by the highway and pay for the water. They were refused. The purpose was to deny Israel the necessities of life which God had supplied the heathen, and the refusal was an insult to God, and He decreed their destruction. He gave them ample opportunity to repent, but now their iniquity was full. God gave Saul the command at the be ginning of his reign, and it was a ques tion of obedience to God’s command: They were God’s enemies. Israel was to be God’s executioner. The spoil, therefore, was not theirs, but God’s; and the failure to obey was a direct denial of God’s right to command. Israel could never prosper while these enemies were there to spoil them. The destruction of these enemies would serve as a warning to other nations. God sent the same kind of judgment upon Jerusalem for their sins. In judgment, it is a small matter
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S whether it be by fire, pestilence or the sword. In all national visitations, the innocent must suffer with the guilty. (1) GOD’S REVELATION CONCERN ING SAUL, vs. 10-12. The Word of the Lord came to Sam uel. It was not Samuel’s commission, but God’s. So, also, has the Word of God come to us, (Heb. 1:1, 2). “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto, us by His son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.*’ God is represented as setting Saul up to be king, but He had changed His atti tude toward him, as in Gen. 6:6: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at heart.** God’s repentance means a change of attitude, (Jer. 18:7, 10) “At what instance 1 shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation against whom I have pro nounced, turn from their evil, 1 will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.** (Jonah 3:10) “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said he would do unto them; and he did it not.** God’s attitude is always dependent upon men’s actions. God lays two charges to Saul’s ac count: First: He had ceased to follow the Lord (Psa. 78:54-57) “And he brought them to the border of the sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them into an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies. But turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.** Second: He had disobeyed God’s com mand, (Ch. 13:13) “And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which He commanded thee; for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.** Whenever a man ceases to follow the Lord he commences to live a life of dis obedience. If Saul had repented, would God have forgiven him? There is a lim it to the patience of God. “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen.
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