(Through the Bible) 1 Samuel 11-16 — Chuck Smith

Saul’s Early Reign and Victory over Ammon

Now, in the study last week, we came to the place where Saul was anointed king over Israel. We remember at the time of his anointing that he was hiding in the stuff. And so as Samuel got ready to present the trumpet fanfare and all, and now you're king, and the curtain's open kind of a thing, there's nobody there.

And so Samuel said, Lord, what's going on? Have we got the right man? Is this the right date? And the Lord said, he's over hiding in the stuff. So they went over and got him and brought Saul before the people and all the people joined together in a cry, God save the king.

But there were some men who were objecting to Saul's reign. And the children of Belial. Now, the children of Belial are usually the evil men. Belial being a term for Satan. The children of the devil. They were saying that, you know, shall Saul rule over us?

And they were creating a little undercurrent against Saul's reign. Now, Saul returned to his home and just went back to his work of farming. When the king of the Ammonites came against the Israeli settlement of Jabesh-Gilead, and so he demanded that they surrender, or when he came against them, they volunteered some kind of a tribute.

You know, what must we do to be your servants? And he said, let all of the men pluck out their right eyes and put them in a basket to be a reproach against all Israel, and then we'll be your servants.

And they said, well, give us seven days to think about that. And so, they sent to Saul and they told him, you know, the demands that this fellow was making, the king of the Ammonites was making against them.

And so Saul took the oxen that he was plowing with and he cut them up into pieces and sent them throughout Israel and said, and so shall the man's oxen be cut up and all who doesn't come and follow me in battle.

And in other words, it was a call to battle and if you don't come, you know, when we get back, we're going to cut your oxen all up. So, the men of Israel gathered together with Saul some 300 ,000 plus another 30 ,000 from the tribe of Judah.

And so they came down. They sent a message back to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said, don't worry, help is on the way. And so the seventh day, the men of Jabesh-Gilead sent a message out to the king of the Ammonites and said, we're going to fight instead of pluck out our right eyes.

And so, about this time, Saul's first contingent arrived and began to smite them and the second contingent moved in and the third contingent. And they utterly wiped out all of this invading force that had come against them.

Were thoroughly defeated until there weren't two men left together. Just really decimated the troops. And God gave unto Saul a great victory and it really was the thing that sort of catapulted him into the real position of king.

This is what the people were looking for. A man who would go out and lead their armies into battle against their enemies and all. And so, when this great victory was given to Saul over their enemies, then the people said, where are those guys that said, who is Saul that he should reign?

Bring him out and we're going to wipe him out. And Saul said, hey, wait a minute. No, no, no, let's not have any recriminations. God has wrought salvation for Israel today and let's rejoice in the victory of God and let's not have any recriminations.

Saul’s Humility and the Recognition of His Kingship

Now, this is Saul at the beginning of his reign and at the beginning of his reign, he does show many marvelous characteristics and among those, that of humility. In reality, when Samuel first met Saul and said, behold, the man upon whom is all the desire of Israel, Saul said, hey, you can't mean me.

I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm one of the little tribes and my dad's family is nothing. You surely can't mean me. And there was a real humility manifested in this fellow Saul. When Samuel laid out the fact that he was to be the king and all, when he got home and his uncle said, well, you know, what took you so long?

He said, oh man, we really got lost and all. And he said, we finally ended up with Samuel. And he said, oh, what did Samuel tell you? And he said, oh, he told us that the donkeys had come home, but he didn't bother, you know, he didn't say to his uncle and he told me that I was going to be king and this kind of stuff.

I mean, there was none of that. There seemed to be a true humility. It is tragic that as the story progresses of the life of Saul, one of the bad characteristics of his later life is the lack of humility.

This spiritual pride and this more than just plain pride that took over in his life. Starting out a very humble man, but as time progressed, he became a very proud man. But in this particular case, here the men were ready to go out and wipe out these guys who had spoken against him.

He said, oh no, you know, God has wrought salvation in Israel and thus there will be no recrimination. So, here is still, right at the beginning, signs of real good qualities of humility. So, all of the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul the king before the Lord and they sacrificed the sacrifices of peace offerings and Saul and the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

And so there was a re-confirmation, but this was really, hey, this is the fellow, this is the man, and now the general acknowledgement of Saul as king. Now in the 12th chapter, Samuel is now sort of stepping down because they have now proclaimed the king.

Samuel’s Farewell and Israel’s Rejection of God as King

And so his career as the judge over Israel has pretty much come to an end as the reins of government are now turned over from the theocracy, Samuel the judge speaking for God to the people, now to a monarchy where Saul is ruling.

So, Samuel is stepping down and this is more or less his farewell speech to the people. He is going to go into pretty much political obscurity after this point. He's going to step into the background.

He will be dealing not with the people, he will be dealing with Saul and with individuals, but no longer the public figure in leading Israel. And so this is his last final speech to Israel in chapter 12.

Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice, in that you have asked that I should set a king over you. And now behold, the king is walking there before you. And I am old, I am gray-haired, and my sons are with you.

And I have walked with you from my childhood to this day.". So you do remember that he started out his career extremely early. As soon as he was weaned, he was a public figure. He was there in the place of worship and the people who would gather for worship saw this little boy year by year as he grew and as he developed.

And they recognized that God's hand was upon this young man. And he just sort of naturally grew into the position of leadership and judge over Israel. Now he declares, Here I am, and I want you to witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed.

Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Who have I defrauded? Who have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it. In other words, he is declaring his innocency before the people.

Look, I didn't take from you at all. I didn't take your oxen, your donkeys. I didn't accept bribes. I have not oppressed you. If anyone feels that I've oppressed you, anyone feels I've defrauded, step forward and I will pay.

And really Samuel did have a very beautiful and remarkable career as the judge of Israel. Extremely outstanding person. And so they answered, You haven't defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from us.

And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, God is witness. Now did you swear God is witness?

I have not taken anything from you. That's right, we swear to that. So Samuel said unto the people, rehearsing now their history a little bit, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron. And they brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt.

Now stand still for a minute that I might reason with you before the Lord of all of the righteous acts which the Lord did to you and to your fathers. Now he is seeking now to justify God. He's justified himself.

Look, I've taken nothing. Right. I'm clean. Right. Now I want to show you that the Lord is also clean. That the Lord has treated you right. That He has never mistreated you or your fathers. That which the Lord has done has been fair and just.

When Jacob was come to Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them to dwell in this place. And when your fathers forgot the Lord, their God, He sold them into the hands of Sisera, who was the captain of the host of Hazor.

And then into the hand of the Philistines. And then into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. And they cried unto the Lord and said, We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord, and we have served Balaam and Asherah.

But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you. And the Lord sent Jeroboam, and Bedam, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt safely.

And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, came against you, you said unto me, No, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king. Now, I want you to acknowledge this.

That God was fair and just. Your father Jacob went down to Egypt. And there your fathers were oppressed. They cried unto God. God sent Moses and Aaron, who brought them out of Egypt and to this place.

But when your fathers began to forsake God, then they were forsaken of God. And it was only after they had forsaken God that their enemies came in and began to oppress them. But they cried unto God, and God sent deliverers, these various judges.

And He names some of the judges that God used as a deliverer, finally Himself. But now you're faced with another crisis. And rather than crying out unto God for His deliverance, you are now asking for a king.

And in thus doing, you are rejecting God from being king. So, you are going from the theocracy, a people governed by God, to a monarchy, people governed by a earthly king. Now therefore, behold the king that you have chosen and you have desired.

Here he is. Take a look at him. And behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice and not rebel against His commandment, then shall both you and the king that reigns over you continue following the Lord your God.

But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and you rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you as it was against your fathers. Now, I want you to stand and see this great thing which the Lord is going to do before your eyes.

Today is the day of the wheat harvest. I'm going to call unto the Lord and He's going to send thunder and rain that you might perceive and know that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking for a king.

So Samuel called unto the Lord. The Lord sent thunder and the rain that day and the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And the people said unto Samuel, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not.

For we have added unto all our sins this evil thing to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, fear not ye have done all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

And turn ye not aside for then should you go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain. So Samuel says, look, you've done an evil thing in asking for a king and that you might know how wicked it is.

God's going to show you a wonder. I'm going to ask God to send thunder and rain upon your wheat harvest. And there inside the people said, God send thunder and rain. So as the thunder began to clap around them and the rain began to fall, they said, oh, we've sinned.

We've done wickedly. Pray that God not destroy us. Now it is interesting, they aren't really repenting. A repentance means a change. A true repentance, they would have said, oh, get rid of Saul. We'll let God serve us, or rain over us.

We'll serve God. That would have been repentance. But theirs is, oh, we're sorry, but we still want our king. Now, there is a difference between sorrow and repentance. And the Lord requires repentance from sin.

Not just a sorrow for sin. So often we have a sorrow because of the consequences of our sins. But we go right on doing it. God wants a repentance. That is a turning away from the evil in our lives. And God requires repentance.

And so they said, pray that we will not die. And Samuel said unto them, you're not going to die, but just make sure that you don't quit serving the Lord, for if you do, you're going to start serving other gods, vain things which cannot profit or deliver.

Now, he declared this because he knew the nature of man. You've got to serve somebody. And if you are not serving God, you're going to be serving some vain thing that really can't help you or deliver you.

That is really no profit to you. And we look around the world today and we see the vain things that men are worshiping or serving. But you cannot serve God and mammon. They are mutually exclusive. And if you forsake serving the Lord because you've got to serve somebody, you're going to start serving vain things which when your time of trouble and peril arises, they'll not be able to profit you or to deliver you.

But if you will serve the Lord, He will not forsake you for His great name's sake because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. Now, for God's reasons, He's pleased to make you His people. And if you'll just serve Him, He will not forsake you.

Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and right way. Now, here Samuel brings up something that to me is quite interesting.

They said when they realized their wickedness, they said, pray for us that we not die. In response to that, Samuel said, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.

In other words, not praying is sinful. Not praying is sinning against the Lord. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. Now, if God has commanded us to pray one for another, then our failure to pray for one another is disobedience to the command of God, and disobedience to God's command is sin.

And the Lord has told us we are to pray one for another. Therefore, we are all of us required to pray for each other. And God forbid that we should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for one another.

Oh, that we would realize the awful sin of prayerlessness in our lives. That not to pray, not to spend time in prayer with the Lord is actually sinning against the Lord. It's sinning against His commands to us.

Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He has done for you. Just consider the wonderful things God has done for you. And then serve Him with all your heart.

Saul’s Disobedience at Gilgal

But if you continue in wickedness, just know you're going to be consumed, both you and your King. Now, Saul reigned for one year over Israel, and in the second year of his reign, he chose 3 ,000 men of Israel, and he took 2 ,000 under his command in Michmash, and 1 ,000 were given to Jonathan under his command, the son of Saul, in Gibeah.

And the rest of the people he sent to their own tents. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Gibeah, and the Philistines heard it, and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also had an abomination with the Philistines, and the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. So, Jonathan was out wiping out the Philistines, and Saul was around blowing the trumpet and taking the glory and announcing that he had smitten the Philistines so that the Israelites heard that Saul had smitten the Philistines with a great slaughter.

Now, the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, and they really gathered the whole army. Thirty thousand chariots. Six thousand horsemen. And people like the sand of the sea for multitude.

And they came up and pitched in Michmash, east of Beth-Avon. And when the men of Israel saw that they were there sort of trapped, for the people were distressed, then the people started hiding in caves and thickets and rocks, in the mountaintops and in the pits.

And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, for Saul was down there in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. I mean, this was a tremendous, formidable force of the Philistines that had come against them.

People were hiding. Some were actually deserting, crossing Jordan, going over to the other side to Gad, to Gilead. And those that were with Saul were trembling. And he waited for seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed.

For Samuel said, I'll meet you there in Gilgal in seven days. And Saul said, bring hither a burnt offering to me and a peace offering. And he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.

And Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. And Samuel said, what have you done? And Saul said, because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days that were appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Micmash, therefore I said, the Philistines will come now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.

So I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering. 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 He would have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.".

In other words, he would have made it the dynasty of Saul. Now, Samuel is straightforward. What have you done? Oh, I forced myself. You know, I gave all of his excuses. He said, you have done foolishly in that you have not obeyed the commandment of the Lord.

But any time you deliberately, willfully disobey the commandment of God, you are doing foolishly. God's ways are best. God's ways are right. And for me to presume that I can do or improve on God's ways is sheer folly.

If I think I can improve my position by disobeying God, that's sheer folly. And so the prophet laid it out to him. You have done foolishly in that you have not obeyed the commandment of the Lord. For the Lord would have established your kingdom forever upon Israel.

But now, thy kingdom shall not continue, for the Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart. And the Lord hath commanded Him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.".

So here is Saul's rejection by God as the continuing king. And God is now searching out a man to take His place. And Samuel arose and went from Gilgal to Gibeah. There among the tribe of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about 600 men.

Jonathan’s Faith and Victory over the Philistines

Now you remember, there are 30 ,000 chariots, 6 ,000 horsemen, and Philistines like the Sands of the Sea. And Saul has 600 that haven't deserted him. And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies.

And one company turned into the way that leads to Ofron, the other to the land of Shul. And another company turned by way of Beth-Horon. And another company turned to the way of the border that looks toward the valley of Zibbon toward the wilderness.

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel. Thought that was interesting in searching for my heritage. So at this time, interestingly enough, the Jews had not yet developed any forging kind of processes or iron, the development of iron implements.

Though the Philistines and all the people of the land around them had entered into the Iron Age, the Hebrews had not yet really developed the capacity for smelting and all, and they had not yet themselves entered into the Iron Age.

In fact, when they wanted to sharpen their picks or their hoes or their farm implements, they had to go down to the Philistines to have them sharpened and all because they really didn't have any blacksmiths in Israel at this particular time.

By the time of Solomon, they began to really develop in these skills. In fact, they were highly developed by the time of Solomon. But at this time, they had not yet developed these skills. And actually, the Philistines had deliberately kept them from developing these skills because they didn't want them making swords and all and really being able to create real fighting implements.

So all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share or coulter of the axe or the mattock. And yet, they had a file for the mattocks and the coulters for the forks and for the axes and to sharpen the goads.

So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan. Only Saul and Jonathan had spears. Now, that's not a very well-equipped army against the 30 ,000 chariots and the horsemen.

Guys, all you've got are sticks. You know, you fashion a club or something. But you're going out against guys with shields and spears and swords and all. And so you've got a small army and surely you are mismatched in equipment and all.

Hopelessly mismatched. There's absolutely no way that you can go out against this highly developed army with their superior weapons and superior numbers and hope to have any kind of victory. You've got 600 men with clubs and sticks.

And you're facing an army that can't even be counted with spears, swords, shields. Which introduces chapter 14, which is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Now, it came to pass. Upon a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man that bears armor, come and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison on the other side.

But he did not tell his father. And Saul tarried in the uttermost parts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is at Migron. And the people that were with him were about 600 men. And Ahaiah, the son of Edtub, Ichabod's brother and son of Phinehas and so forth.

He gives these guys in the background. You don't even remember them anyhow. Let me just tell you the story. Jonathan, the son of Saul, woke up early one morning. And he got to thinking. No one else was awake yet.

And he got to thinking, you know, the whole army of the Philistines is over there. And maybe God wants to give Israel the victory over that army of the Philistines today. Now, if the Lord wants to give the victory to Israel over those Philistines, He doesn't need a whole army.

He can give the victory to one man as well as 600. Or to two. It really doesn't make any difference to God whether we have a huge army or whether we just have a few if God wants to give the victory to Israel.

And he was just lying there thinking about these kind of wild thoughts, you know. After all, God is great and the greatness and the power of God. He doesn't need a whole army. He can give the victory to just two men.

So he woke up his armor bearer. He said, I've been thinking about something. Really weird and wild. I want to pass it by you. He said, I've been thinking, if God wants to give the victory to Israel today over the Philistines, He doesn't need the whole army.

He can give the victory to just a couple guys. Why don't we go over there and see if God wants to give the victory to Israel today? Talk about a venture in faith. I love them. And so, he and the armor bearer got dressed quietly and they slipped out of camp while everybody else was still sleeping.

And Jonathan on the way towards the Philistines said, now, we want to make sure God's in this thing. So when we get near the garrison of the Philistines, when the sentries spot us, if they say, hey, you fellas, come up here.

We'll show you a thing or two. Then we'll know that God wants to give the victory to Israel and we'll go at him. But if they say, hey, you guys, wait down there. We're going to come down and show you a thing or two.

Then we'll know that God doesn't want to get the victory to Israel and we'll get out of here as fast as we can. So as they got over near the garrison of the Philistines and the sentries spotted these two guys coming, they said, look at those stupid fools coming right up here to the camp.

Hey, you guys, come up here. We'll show you a thing or two. Jonathan said, all right, man, let's go, you know, because it said they started climbing with their hands and feet, really just, you know, scrambling up that hill to get into the camp of the Philistines.

And man, they jumped right in the middle of the garrison and Jonathan started knocking the guys over and his armor bearer was running them through. And about a half acre of ground, they wiped out 20 of the Philistines and the rest of the guys began to wake up, were all disconfitted.

They began to swing at each other and all. And they began to run and flee. And over on the other side of the valley, oh, Saul finally woke up. And he rubbed his eyes, he looked across, and he saw the Philistines all running and he saw the battles going on.

He saw two guys in the middle just really wiping them out. And he said, number off quick, who's missing? And they numbered off and they said, it's Jonathan and his armor bearer. Now, Saul at this point makes a foolish statement.

Saul said, let the man be cursed who eats anything today before God has avenged Saul of all of his enemies. Now, the man who was so humble to begin with is now beginning to manifest some real pride. Saul of all of his enemies.

God curse any man who eats anything today before Saul is avenged of all of his enemies. A foolish curse and vow. So the men with Saul began to pursue the Philistines all day long as the Philistines were in disarray and were retreating.

And as they were running through the woods, there was a honeycomb and it was dripping honey down to the ground. And old Jonathan running through, took his spear and put out the end of it and began to eat the honey and he was revived.

He was refreshed. Actually, he'd been chasing Philistines all day and he was just about shot physically. And honey is such a quick energy source. Just, you know, it zings right into your system. And oh, he was refreshed and he took off again chasing the Philistines.

And God gave a great victory to Israel that day over the Philistines. But I like, I like the philosophy of Jonathan. I like the daring, I like the venture in faith. Who knows what God wants to do today?

And if God wants to do something, He doesn't need a whole army. He can do it with one as well as a thousand. Let's see what God wants to do. Let's venture out and find out what God might want to do today.

And I love those kind of days when you just sort of venture out to see what God might want to do. Now, as the troops gathered together and sort of surveying the victory, Saul said, let's chase them tonight.

We've got them on the run. Let's go after them tonight and wipe them out completely. And so they called the priest there and they said, inquire of the Lord, shall we chase them? And there was no answer from God.

And so Saul said, alright, who ate today? He figured that someone had broken his vow because God wasn't answering by the priest. And so, none of the men would say anything. And he said, if it is even Jonathan my son, surely he shall be put to death.

And so he said, you guys all stand over there. Jonathan and I will stand here and God give us a perfect lot. They cast lots and it fell on Jonathan and Saul. So they cast lots again and it fell on Jonathan.

And Saul said, what did you do? And he said, well, dad, I really didn't know that you had made that curse and all. And I was running through the woods and I saw this honeycomb dripping honey and I was famished and I was about wiped out.

So I took and ate some of the honey. And he said, my soul was revived. He said, dad, it wasn't very smart for you not to let these guys eat. Had you let them eat of the spoils today, they would have had enough strength.

We could have continued to pursue and totally wiped out the Philistines. Wasn't so smart, dad, the thing that you said. Saul said, put him to death. And at this point, the men stepped in and they said, oh, no way.

For he has wrought or fought with God today. No man's going to touch him. No man will lay his hand upon him. I like this statement. For he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan that he wasn't killed by his father.

So we see now there's a bit of madness beginning to enter this man. Started out such a beautiful way. Started out with such tremendous potential and possibilities. But pride entered in. And we see now the pride developing.

Saul’s Failure to Obey God against Amalek

And this man again who had such a marvelous potential is gradually deteriorating before our very eyes as he begins to exalt himself and turn from God. Now, as we get into chapter 15, Samuel came to Saul and said, the Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over His people, over Israel.

Now, hearken unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Now, he has shown a pattern of disobedience up to this point. He has become self-willed, doing his own thing. So the prophet is coming and warning him.

And this to me is very significant because God does seek to warn us from our self-willed path of destruction. God doesn't just let you trip off into the path of destruction without coming and giving you fair warning.

And oftentimes, repeated warnings. The Bible said, he that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck. And so God is faithful. And God comes and He warns you, hey, the path you're choosing, the way of self-will, it's destroying you.

Don't go it. Now listen to God. Pay attention. Obey the voice of the Lord. And so Samuel is coming with a warning for him and telling him of a mission that God is sending him on. Now, hearken to the voice of the words of the Lord.

For the Lord said, I remember this, the Amaleks, that when you were trying to come into the land, they withstood you. And therefore, God wants you to go down and utterly wipe out the Amaleks. Every man, woman, child, animal, don't take anything.

Back alive. Utterly slay everything in order that God might be avenged against the Amaleks. Now, you think, oh, that's a horrible command of God. You would think so until historically you would study the practices and all of the Amaleks and they were so corrupt, they were going to wipe out themselves and God was just ordering really the eradication of a cancer within the society.

They were like mad dogs. If you don't destroy them, they're going to hurt innocent people. So, God ordered the utter destruction of the Amaleks. Now, another factor here is that the Amaleks are always a type of the flesh in the Scripture.

And the Amaleks being a type of the flesh, God is ordering the utter destruction of the flesh. Wipe it out completely. Don't give any place for the flesh, the Bible says, to fulfill the desires thereof.

Crucify the old man, the old nature. If you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, put it to death, God says. Don't give place for it. Utterly wipe it out. Now, Saul went down with the armies and God gave victory over the Amaleks.

However, they saw some of the cattle and some of the sheep were really good stock. And so they set them aside. And He spared the king alive. But the sickly sheep, the sickly cows, they really hacked them to pieces.

Didn't give them a chance. That which was sickly and that which is not so good, they just utterly destroyed that. But the good, the healthy, the strong, they preserved them. Now, whatever this is, it is disobedience to the command of God.

It is again another opportunity for Saul to redeem himself in obeying the command of the Lord, but it is disobedience, his failure to utterly wipe out the Amaleks, all of their cattle, and all of their sheep, and so forth.

Amalek, Haman, and the Consequences of Tolerating the Flesh

Now, as we progress in history, and we're going to go into the time machine now, and we're going to go ahead in history a few hundred years. And a story that is familiar with many of you, all of you who have read the Bible.

How that when Esther was chosen queen in Persia, there was one man in the kingdom of Persia that was seeking to destroy all the Jews because he could not stand this Jew Mordecai who refused to bow to him.

He had such a hatred for this man, he perpetrated a scheme whereby all of the Jews were to be wiped out, and he had the king sign a decree that on a given day, all the Jews would be wiped out in all the kingdom of Persia.