The Sparing of Agag
King Saul had received an instruction from God through the mouth of the prophet Samuel. The instruction was that he completely destroys the Amalekites – everything in the land not sparing anything that has life men, women, infants, animals (1Kings15:1–3). God made this decision predicating on the treatment the Amalekites gave the Israelites on their way out of Egypt, the Amalekites ambushed Israel and did to them despicable things. Israel cried out to God over the contemptible act of the Amalekites, God thus rescued his people but still archived his plan of damnation for the land of Amalekites at a time more appropriate according to his design.
Prophet Samuel gave the Message to King Saul in first person, quoting verbatim how the Lord spoke to him. The Lord was going to punish the Amalekites but, he had the intentions of using an earthly vessel which King Saul was the administrative head over the nation of Israel. Saul was saddled with executive and combat obligations. He was commander of the federal republic, who after deliberating over combatant strategies, led Israeli troops to war front. King Saul set out to war with his troops, and the land of Amalekites was wiped out. He went to the outskirts of the country boarders to look for Amalekites who might be posing as refugees and immigrants. Mothers wailed in their near death situations, as they watched their children being put to the sword. Infants and suckling were slaughtered alongside the breast from which they sucked. There as a total massacre of the land as instructed by God, but King Saul made a few inadvertences. Saul spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites and the best of sheep and cattle. They were unwilling to destroy these one because of selfish agenda. King Saul let Agag live, to his own glory. He captured Agag alive, so Israelites and kings of other nations may be terrified by his combatant ability. He had the sole intention of showboating the combatant capacity of his fighting men, intending to tell Israel that executive powers to protect them is embedded with him. He intended to establish his supremacy and possible deification in the land.
King Agag as a leader in the land of Amalek, happen to be the legislative and executive head of the Land. Agag had the capacity to start a caucus in Israel, infiltrating the Nation with detestable practices. Furthermore, King Agag still had allies with other Nations who hated Israel. He could therefore still influence ambush and conspiracy against Israel – constraining God’s agenda for his people. The Amalekites slowed down the entry of Moses and the children of Israel into Canaan. God wanted to punish the Amalekites for the wickedness against his people and perhaps God conceived that the Amalekites could rise again.
Modern Christians like King Saul have continued to struggle or perhaps esteemed their ego above God’s instruction. We have held back a few of the things God demands that we should completely do away with – predicating on our self-esteem and the power of will given to us. God makes all of these demands, for our own benefits and to his own glory. We cannot assume that God doesn’t understand what we feel around a particular thing or person God said we should let go – God does feel (Heb4:14), but only has our best interest at heart (Jer29:11). He knows the constraint the person or thing can be to our relationship with him or in fulfilling his assignments. King David perceived the possible threat Joab might be to Solomon’s administration, so he demanded Joab be killed(1kings2:5–6). Joab would have become a deity considering his military might and experience in Israel – he could have become a godfather imposing ungodly authorities on King Solomon. The connections we spare as against God’s word could cost us reaching our divine purpose in Christ Jesus. God demands that we let go or destroy these things completely because they could become an hindrance to our relationship with God. When God says we should leave a connection for dead, it doesn’t translate that we kill but we should totally let go off these things from our lives. Those things should be erased from our hearts and should not appear it ever existed. God didn’t want any memory of Agag after the day, he issued the commandments. Heaven had declared Agag dead, but Saul kept him alive. This led to King Saul’s loss of the throne and the anointing upon his life. When we spare connections God perceive as irrelevant to our divine journey – it’s an act of rebellion against God. This is abominable and God thus finds a replacement to us. It is thus admonished, that we never spare what God as rejected based on our instincts or power.
To access the life of a Victor. You must have a relationship with Jesus. Confess Jesus as your Lord and savior today, believing he died for your sins and resurrected for your justification.
