"He
asked me, 'Who are you?' " 'An Amalekite,' I answered." (2 Samuel 1:8)
Remember
the Amalekites? Review this pivotal narrative in Saul’s downward spiral in 1
Samuel 15. This isn't the first time we’ve encountered Amalek. Exodus 17
recounts how they attacked Israel wholly unprovoked while they marched through
the wilderness. And this isn’t the last time we'll hear the name either. We’ll
revisit this narrative of Saul and Agag when we read Esther.
Yet
one more tragic element of this account of Saul's last battle with the
Philistines is the often overlooked detail of who ended his life. The final
chapter of 1 Samuel ends where Saul has fallen on his own sword rather than be
captured by the enemy. The opening chapter of 2 Samuel tells the rest of the
story. A young man finds Saul mortally wounded by still alive. Saul asks him to
finish the job of which he had been unable. “But
first, tell me who you are.”
“An Amalekite.”
Saul
was told to destroy King Aga and all the Amalekites. He disobeyed. Bottom line?
What he failed to destroy, in turn destroyed him.
When
God tells us to get rid of something in our lives, we cannot afford to go only
half way. Either we do away with it, or it might possibly do away with us. God
does not want to deprive us, but to free us.
Is
there anything in your life that God has told you to get rid of?
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