Why did God order Slaughter of all the Amalekites?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

FlyingFree333 from Twitter asked; “Why did God order the Slaughter of all Amalekites men and women, children and infants, etc. as described in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel 15:3?

Answer: Well, this question I’ve been asked a number of times in Twitter and the answer is in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel 15:1-50. If read in context, 1 Samuel 15:1-50 clearly states in verse two why God ordered total destruction of all that belonged to the Amalekites. Verse two also states why God ordered the death of Amalekite men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. Verse two even makes it clear why God requested that that none of the Amalekites be spared. So let’s read 1 Samuel 15:2 in context and see why God ordered the slaughter (or as some people say, genocide, massacre, annihilation, extinction, elimination, etc.)  1 Samuel 15:2 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.’”

Wow, FlyingFree333 if you had read the verse just prior to the one you asked about, you would have read the reason why God ordered the annihilation of the Amalekites. God ordered the extermination of the Amalekites and the total destruction of Amalekite material belongings because the Amalekites repeatedly attacked the Israelites (God’s chosen people) as the Israelites came up from Egypt to enter into their Promised Land.

The Amalekites were a band of what we would call today, guerrilla terrorists. The way the Amalekites lived was by attacking other nations and carrying off their wealth and their families. The Amalekites were also very into idolatrous religious practices which went against the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses. Without being totally annihilated, the Amalekites would have continued to attack God’s chosen people and would have corrupted the Israelites relationship with God.

To find out more about the Amalekites read the Old Testament books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Judges, 1 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles. I suggest that you read each of them in context; meaning that each verse needs read from the start of the book to the end of the book. Reading in context helps keep one from making assumptions about what was written and thus jumping to conclusions which are misleading and false.

PS: Unlike you FlyingFree333 on YouTube who are ashamed of your atheist faith hence you disguise your voice and distort your face, I am not ashamed of my faith in Christ Jesus. I proudly proclaim with my voice (as unpleasant as it may be) and face (as ugly as it is) my love for Christ Jesus. My prayer for you FlyingFree333 is that one day too you will choose to open your eyes and be proud of your faith in Christ Jesus and thus be able to fly freely and let your voice be heard for who you are and show your face for whom you stand in faith.

Thank you for your question FlyingFree333 for your question. May God bless you!

Resources

“Life Application Study Bible” New International Version (NIV), Zondervan

www.biblemaster.com

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