The Fate of the Amalekites
King Saul, never seemed to enter into the spirit of the
Lord's commands. He always manifested self- will; even when given special
directions through the Prophet Samuel, he deviated and was reproved.
One failure of King Saul was when called upon to
slaughter the Amalekites and drive them out, he did not fully obey. He
spared the king, etc. Many have thought it strange that God would give
such commands as this and others similar. The most satisfactory
explanation is that the whole world is under the death sentence, and that
it makes very little difference whether they die by pestilence, famine, or
sword. The wickedness of the Amalekites is declared to have come to its
full, just as with the Sodomites. The decree was extermination.
Had the slaughtered people, as we once thought, gone to
eternal torment, the matter would have been most horrible. However, the
entire aspect is changed when we recognize that God's provision for the
Amalekites as for the Sodomites is a resurrection, secured by Christ's
death. As we have already seen, the Sodomites are to have the privilege of
returning to "their former estate," and to human perfection. So
all who do not receive a knowledge of God in the present life are to have
that opportunity during Messiah's Reign.
Another illustration along this line is that of
Sennacherib's army, which was smitten by the angel of the Lord in one
night, probably by a sand-storm.--2 Kings 19:35,36.
Gross misconceptions of God's character and the Bible
teachings accumulated during the Dark Ages, when the Bible was not in
existence so far as the masses were concerned. Bibles were very expensive
and possessed only by the few; besides, very few could read. They did not
know that the worship of an eternal torment deity is the worship of
Moloch, which God specially condemned. The dawning light of a New Age
shows us God's character of love and illuminates the Bible, making its
teachings most reasonable.--Proverbs 4:18.
