1 Samuel 15, The Lord is my Banner!

During the American Civil War, General Robert E. Lee was most idolized and famous commander of all Confederate commanders. Next to him was General Thomas J. Jackson. He was a professor from Virginia Military Institute; he trained and led the famous Stone Brigade of the Confederate Army. He implemented a severe and vigorous training program and turned untrained recruits into an effective military organization.

General Jackson earned his famous nick name, “Stonewall” from the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. He advanced his troops to a place called Manassas. When they arrived, they saw other Confederates retreating from the battle. General Jackson prevented the retreat. Jackson had his men lined up at the top of a hill and had them for action. They didn’t budge; they stood like a stonewall. General Barnard Bee another Confederate general tried to rally his retreating troops back to line up and fight. So, he shouted to his troops, “See, there is Jackson, standing like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians.” This is how he earned his nickname as General “Stonewall” winning the First Battle of Bull Run.

A similar theme runs through the Bible. When God freed the Israelites from the oppressive rule under Egypt through his demonstration of miraculous power, the ultimate destiny for the Israelites’ journey was to get to the Promised Land. In their journey to the Promised Land, one nation stood out like a sore thumb, the Amalekites. In Exodus 17, the Amalekites although unprovoked fought came and attacked the Israelites at Raphidim. Moses sent out Joshua along with other men to fight the Amalekites. While the Israelites fought, Moses went to the top of the hill and held up his hands high. As long as he held his hands up high, the Israelites were winning; when he bought them down, the Amalekites were winning. When his muscles froze and he could no longer raised his hands up, Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other- so that his hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

There at Raphidim where the Israelites won against the Amalekites, Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. And Moses said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. In the ancient wars, the troops fought under their banners and their banners represented who they were fighting for. In the case of Israel, their Banner was the LORD. They were fighting for the LORD’s battles.

The story of Exodus 17 portrays Christian spiritual journey well. We are called out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. And, we journey under the Banner of our Lord Jesus Christ and we are called to fight for God’s kingdom. In this kingdom journey, we face the giant, the Amalekites. Apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And, we are called to “stand our ground” to “stand firm” under the Banner of our Lord Jesus against these forces of evil.

Now going back to Exodus 17, if you fast forward about four hundred years from the time of Moses, you arrived at the period of 1 Samuel, specifically the time of Saul. Today’s passage, 1 Samuel 15 continues to tell the story of Saul. As Moses and Joshua were called to come under the Banner of the LORD and fight against the Amalekites, the Lord the Banner over him called Saul to fight his battle!

1. The Lord the Banner over you calls you to fight and eliminate any element in your life that frustrates God’s kingdom purpose.

The Lord of the Banner what we saw in Exodus 17 now comes to Saul and tells him in 1 Samuel 15:2-3, “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt” and the Lord tells him specifically, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

We got to understand this chilling command to annihilate the Amalekites in the broader context. In the supreme knowledge of God, everyone one of the Amalekites were doomed to destruction. They sealed their own destruction when they were bent on attacking the Israelites, to hall the Israelites from reaching to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 25:18 says

“they had no fear of God.” When they attacked the Israelites, they were really attacking God who was advancing his kingdom agenda to bless the Israelites. God was going to put a stop to the Amalekites’ attack on Israel and to God. This is what was behind God’s command for Saul to completely destroy and annihilate the Amalekites. It was about eliminating the element that tried to frustrate God’s kingdom plan and purpose. God’s purpose would not be thwarted.

Remember, God’s call to Saul was for complete destruction, elimination of the Amalekites in order to stop them from frustrating God’s kingdom purpose of the Israelites. And, this command was to be taken very seriously.

2. God takes our sins personally.

When the Lord gives his command, he gives us the power to do his will. So, since the Lord gave Saul the charge to destroy the Amalekites, it is not surprising to see Saul successfully raising two-hundred ten thousand foot soldiers.

Verse 7 describes the widespread extent of successful attack; Saul and the army was able to capture Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and destroy all his people.

Then, there is the very important word in the Bible, “But” in verse 9. It says, “But, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves, and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

It seemed everything was going well. They successfully cease the Amalekites since the Lord helped them. All they had to do now was to carry through the Lord’s command to destroy completely. But, they didn’t. There was no ambiguity in what God told Saul to do; God called for the complete destruction of the Amalekites. But, only thing that they destroyed was what they deemed as repulsive and useless. What looked good to them, they saved them.

Verse 10, God said to Samuel, “I am grieved that I have made Saul the king, because he turned away from me and has not carried my instructions.” Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Our God is person, not a cosmic or good force. Our sins, our unwillingness to carry out his kingdom purpose grieves him; our sins always personally offend God.

And, we also see what an awesome leader Samuel was. The fact that God was grieved over Saul’s disobedience troubled him and it says he cried out to the LORD all that night. Samuel was a leader whose heart beat after God’s heart beats; Samuel was a man of prayer.

3. The anatomy of disobedience.

From verse 12-33 where Samuel confronts Saul, we see clearer picture emerging the motivation behind Saul and his men’s flagrant disobedience.

a. We disobey God because we honor ourselves more than we honor God.

Verse 12 says that Saul set up a monument in his own honor. When God called for completely destruction of the Amalekites, it was because God took personally their attack on his people. It was because the Amalekites were trying to frustrate the will of God. But, Saul by his action of not carrying out God’s wish, his will, it showed he didn’t care what mattered to God. And, the fact he built a monument to commemorate the victory as though he made it happened tells the depth of his pride, arrogance. Saul honored himself more than he honored God because he gave into the pride.

b. We disobey God because we love the pleasure of sin more than pleasing God.

The reason that they were unwilling to destroy completely in verse 9 was because they delighted in the good stuff more than delighting in pleasing God. Think of the things that you do that you know as sins. Why do you do them although you know they are not good? It is because your delight, your love for sin outweighs love for God.

c. We disobey God because we deceive ourselves.

Verse 12, we see Saul greeting Samuel as though nothing was wrong. “Hi, Samuel. What’s going on?” When Samuel confronted him about the noises of the animals spared, Saul rationalized in verse 15, “they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” Well, the problem with this is it was not what God told them to do. And, they rationalized, justified their wrong doing by sugar coating as though it was a good thing. We disobey God because we deceive ourselves.

The rationalization and the blame shifting instead of taking the responsibility for sin is nothing new. This was a pattern set from the very beginning of mankind. When God confronted Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Adam shifted the blame on Eve and on God; “The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” Genesis 3:11-12.

When Moses confronted Aaron, “What did these people to do you, that you led them into such great sin?” in Exodus 32:21. Aaron responded, “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So, I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

d. We disobey God because we fear men more than fear God.

Saul confessed after trying to rationalize his sin away in verse 24, “I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.” When he feared his men more than fearing God he listened to them and obeyed them instead of listening and obeying God.

e. We disobey God because we think we know what’s good for us.

Verse 23 says, “rebellion is like the sin of divination.” Divination is any attempt to find God’s will by bypassing God. It is an attempt to find what’s good for us without trusting what God says about us. When we give in to this, disobedience follows.

f. We disobey God because we set ourselves as our own king.

Verse 23 again says, “arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” Pride is to think that we know what’s good for us. And, when we give into the arrogance, we set out to please ourselves, our will, thereby we make ourselves king.

g. We cannot serve God out of partial disobedience.

Psalm 50:16-17, “But to the wicked, God says: ‘What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.”

Psalm 119:139, “My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.”

Saul asking for forgiveness was not genuine as it was not in the case of Pharaoh. Exodus 10:16-17, “Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” Asking for forgiveness was really about his attempt to get off easy from all the deadly plague.

Partial obedience is not obedience at all. And, without complete obedience, we cannot serve God.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Brigade