1 Samuel 15 · a question people ask
"Infant and nursing baby" (15:3). How do Christians read the command against Amalek?
The command is in one verse: "Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (15:3). The chapter gives its reason in the verse before: "I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt" (15:2), and Samuel calls them "the sinners the Amalekites" (15:18). Joshua 6's honest question on Jericho (Joshua 6:21) points back to Numbers 21 for two readings of the command about the cities of the land: judgment on those nations (Deuteronomy 9:5), and keeping Israel from other gods (Deuteronomy 20:17-18). Amalek is not one of the peoples Deuteronomy 20:17 names, and this chapter says nothing of other gods; the reason it gives is what Amalek did (15:2). The book doesn't end Amalek's story here: David raids the Amalekites (27:8), the Amalekites raid Ziklag (30:1), and "four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled" escape David (30:17); Chronicles speaks of "the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped" (1 Chronicles 4:43). Christians read 15:3 in two main ways, each resting on its verses. Both agree that the command came from the LORD (15:2-3); that the Kenites living among the Amalekites were warned to leave first (15:6); that it was not for Israel's gain, since taking the plunder is what Samuel rebukes (15:19); and that the LORD asks through Ezekiel, "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" (Ezekiel 18:23).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The Judge's sentence, long announced
Those who put the weight here read 15:3 as the LORD's judgment on Amalek, spoken long before. After the battle at Rephidim the LORD said, "I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky" (Exodus 17:14), and Moses said the LORD had sworn, "The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:16). Deuteronomy gives the reason: Amalek "struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God" (Deuteronomy 25:18). They note that the LORD waits before he judges, as he told Abram of the Amorites, "for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full" (Genesis 15:16), and they hold to Abraham's question: "Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25).
Exodus 17:14 · Exodus 17:16 · Deuteronomy 25:17-19 · Genesis 15:16 · Genesis 18:25
Protecting Israel from an old enemy
Those who put the weight here also take the command as the LORD's (15:2), and read it beside what Amalek kept doing to Israel. After the battle at Rephidim, Moses said the LORD had sworn, "The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:16). In the wilderness "the Amalekites came down" and struck Israel (Numbers 14:45). In the days of the judges, Eglon king of Moab (Judges 3:12) "gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel" (Judges 3:13), and the Amalekites came up with the Midianites (Judges 6:3) and "destroyed the increase of the earth" (Judges 6:4). Just before this chapter, Saul "struck the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them" (14:48).
1 Samuel 15:2 · Exodus 17:16 · Numbers 14:45 · Judges 3:12-13 · Judges 6:3-4 · 1 Samuel 14:48
The verses
“The LORD of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’””
“Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.”
“and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then didn’t you obey the LORD’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight?””
“They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.”