Question QUESTION: An Atheist asked me if your God Jesus is love and love us then why He command Saul to killed every one including women and infant of Amalek ?
1 Samuel Chapter 15
15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
ANSWER: God is a lot of things: Perfect, Holy, Love, Long-suffering, Just, etc. but one MUST remember that God is Just. If you read back through Exodus, Deut. and Numbers, I believe you will find that Amalek attacked Israel without provocation, attacked them from behind, and started by killing their sick and wounded. (Don't hold me to this as Biblical truth, I am trying to recall from memory.) God commanded the Israelites several time to do battle or make war upon another people, can one refuse the command of a God? Do not be deceived God is not a pacifist, He kills when He finds it necessary (check the rebellion of Korbah, Egyptian first born etc.) It is generally pointless to argue with people that don't believe in God because they are fools ('The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."' Ps. 14:1 and 53:1). I suggest reading Romans chapters 9-11 to get a feel for how impossible it is to expect God to work within the framework of Human knowledge and understanding. God does and commands exactly as He wills there is and can be no standard to hold Him to, apart from the small glimpse of Himself that He gave us in Christ.
Apart from the above; I would like to take apart a misconception Love. English is a very poor language for conveying what this word truly means, the Greeks (remember that the New Testament was written in a form of Greek called Koine) have many different words for the different types of love we English speakers on the other hand have only one. Agape the term used in 1st John 4:8 that says that "...God is Love." is a term meaning: divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. This type of Love was must defiantly demonstrated by Christ, in contrast in the ten commandments God also told us that He is a jealous God. Take anything an Atheist says about the character of God with a grain of salt (Kind of Ironic that they choose to comment on the character of someone they don't believe exists).
Ask another question if you need anything cleared up.
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QUESTION: Thanks
your explanation is Christian perspective not according to Humanity.
first Amalek attacked on Israelite but they punished and lost by Moses, but why killed their great grand children after 200 years on behalf of that specially women and infant.
Also you gave new interpretation of God is love , which is not teach in Churches.
Answer Since you asked a Christian in the Churches of Christ area to explain this, you'll have to excuse me for using a Christian perspective.
Apparently God saw fit that what Amalek as a nation did was unacceptable enough to warrant their extermination as a people. If you take that perspective the lesson is clear Don't mess with Israel. This was not the last people that God so ordered exterminated, the whole of Cannan was to be purged, unfortunately the Israelites failed to do so. If you want a secular point of view, there are really only a few reasons to make war upon another country/nation/people, especially in that time: Land, Gold (trade routes, and securing them falls here), resources (lumber, or more importantly in that time Iron ore) the retribution for a personal insult to a monarch (not the case with Israel as there was no monarch until Saul) I guess that retribution for a past wrong could be added to the list as well. Of the reasons that I listed only the first and last could make any sense. If you read further into the life of Saul, you will read that as he was mortally wounded he begged a passing Amalekite to run him through with his own sword, so he didn't quite get the job of extermination done. I could see Land being a major cause for this war, more likely though if you want a completely secular cause I'd say the payback for the past wrongs is nearer the mark. As to why extermination of the young and women, the answer is quite simple, Purity.
The purity of the Hebrew people is/was on of the chief facets of their religion (check through Deut/Lev for a complete listing). This purity was not only spiritual but physical as well, I'll point out their law of being exiled outside of camp until sundown if you had touched a dead animal as an example. Purity was a huge aspect of their people, and odds were if they merely killed the men the others would have been assimilated into the camp, and they would have inter mingled (check the story of Balem for another example). Had the Israelites merely killed the men and then left, the women would have been easy prey for the Asian lion (they were plentiful until Rome made them extinct), roving marauders (also plentiful), and probably would have died slowly of starvation (since all their livestock were killed. So one could argue that it was almost merciful to put them to the sword (better a quick death then a slow one).
As to the love issue, mine is not a new interpretation but the actual word used in the New Testament. Look up Agape on yahoo, or read C.S. Lewis's book "The Four Loves". I am sorry if the churches you have been to have not taught the Bible correctly.
