The Slaughter of the Amalekites

This week I have decided to take a break from examining our Cornerstone sermon and address a theological issue that many Christians have never heard of or put much thought into. My thoughts on this began several weeks ago but it seems to have cropped up time and time again recently and though I admit that I may not have this completely figured out, I figured I would share what I have learned so far. I will start by asking the reader a question. Has God ever ordered the killing of children and women? Though I have no statistics to back this up, my guess would be that the majority of Christians would say no. This, however, is not true. God has ordered the destruction of women and children and in fact He has done it in several different ways. We will consider one particular instance of what is called an eschatological intrusion. This simply means that God is executing a judgment on the world before the final judgment. It is a sort of type or shadow of which there are many in the Old Testament. First, He did it through the flood and then He did it through the nation Israel. The difference between the two that seems to set them apart (in my mind at least) is that one time He did it Himself through divine power (a flood) and the other time He did it through the agency of human beings.


To deal with this issue is extremely difficult and admittedly I am still but a Padawan (sorry, nerdy Star Wars reference). Thus I will but swim in the shallow end of the pool because I have no right to tread deeper waters yet. That being said, we must first understand what Israel was. Israel was a theocratic nation. They were to be governed solely by Yahweh and be a picture or shadow of the ultimate Christocracy (rule by Christ) that is to come. The second thing we must remember is that the Old Testament was filled with these types and shadows of things to come and they were to be fulfilled at Christ's first and second comings (Col 2:17, Heb 10:1). One more detour we must take is to the application of God's laws. In theocratic Israel God gave men the right to execute judgment on His behalf for certain crimes. For example, if you were a Sabbath breaker you were to be put to death. So within the nation itself God gave laws and applications of said laws in order to facilitate the operation of the kingdom. Israel had covenantal authority to deal very harshly with certain sins. On the other hand, God also gave covenantal authority to Israel to bring about the judgment of certain inhabitants of the land they were to inhabit. An example of this would be God's command concerning the Amalekites. He says in 1 Samuel 15 2"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" This certainly seems quite harsh to our ears but in fact this was nothing but just.


The question we must ask though is why, in light of the sixth commandment (you shall not murder), is it that God can command the Israelites to murder man, woman, child and infant? This post is getting long so I will leave you with something to consider until next week. Who holds the power of life and death in this world, whether it is death by cancer or Jewish sword? Also, is it ever wrong for God to order the death of human being? These are very tough issues but they are nonetheless very profitable. Anytime we learn about God our capacity for worship is heightened.


Soli Dei Gloria,


Tim