On Israel

Today I would like to address the subject of the Lord's vengeance, and of two kings that he sent to execute his wrath upon his enemies. Saul was the first king of Israel, and he was one of only three kings who ruled over the united kingdom of Israel before the kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon. The Amalekites were a wicked people, and had caused the children of Israel much grief after they had left Egypt. Here is an excerpt from the time that Amalek came against Israel after they left Egypt: "Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill... And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven" (Exd. 17:8-10,13,14). In his last sermon to Israel before they crossed over into Canaan, Moses rehearsed God's contempt for the Amalekites: "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it" (Deut. 25:17-19). So not only was God determined to not forget the evil that the Amalekites had done to his people, but he also required Israel to not forget what these wicked people had done. God was adamant about the fact that he was going to repay the Amalekites for their treachery.

So when God's time came to judge the Amalekites, he sent the prophet Samuel to Saul with a commandment regarding the matter: "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. 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" (I Sam. 15:2,3). "And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly" (I Sam. 15:7-9). Saul did a lot of what he was told to do, but the did not 'utterly destroy' the Amalekites and everything that pertained to them, as the Lord had instructed him. Since he did not execute the Lord's vengeance completely, God gave Samuel another word for Saul: "Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night" (I Sam. 15:10,11). When Samuel went to Saul about the matter, Saul made excuses for why he had not kept the full instruction that had been given to him (I Sam. 15:13-15,20,21). That didn't work out very well, because Samuel went on to give Saul a very grim message about his failure to execute the Lord's vengeance fully: "And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent" (I Sam. 15:26-29).

Saul and his seed after him lost the kingdom because Saul did not feel the same way that God felt about the Amalekites, and therefore did not execute God's determined judgment upon them. It's interesting as well what Samuel himself did about Saul's failure to perform the thoughts of God's heart toward the Amalekites: "Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal... And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel" (I Sam. 15:32,33,35). Samuel DID feel the way that God felt about the matter, and he demonstrated it profoundly by executing Agag the king of the Amalekites with a very graphic execution. All the while God was love as he is today, and as he was before anyone else existed; and Samuel's heart was closer to God than anyone's heart that was in the earth. That is WHY Samuel 'hewed Agag to pieces,' and that is why he never went to see Saul again. God's wrath toward the Amalikites was redirected toward Saul because Saul did not execute that wrath as he had been told to do. No one of Saul's seed after him ever sat on the throne of Israel because Saul failed to perform the Lord's vengeance against the Amalekites. That brings us to another king whom God appointed to execute his wrath upon someone whom God deemed worthy of his severity. After the kingdom divided with Solomon's son, God ordained a man named Jereboam to be king over the ten tribes of the northern kingdom, while Rehaboam Solomon's son presided over the southern kingdom which consisted only of Judah and Simeon (I Kin. 12:1-20). But Jereboam quickly departed from following after the Lord, and he set up a false system of worship that bedeviled the northern kingdom until it was removed from being a kingdom (I Kin. 12:26-33).

Every king after Jereboam followed after his idolatry, but there came a king eventually that outdid Jereboam and everyone after him, for wickedness and idolatry's sake. That was Ahab, who married the wicked Jezebel, who was the daughter of a heathen king, and a great worshipper of the chief false god Baal: "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him" (I Kin. 16:30-33). But the wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel didn't stop there. After the prophet Elijah pronounced the Lord's curse of famine upon the land, Jezebel began killing every prophet she could find (I Kin. 17:1; I Kin. 18:4,13). Later Jezebel orchestrated and authorized the stoning of an innocent man by means of false witnesses against him, because he would not let Ahab have the land of his rightful inheritance in Israel. After the man was dead Ahab went and possessed his inheritance wrongly (I Kin. 21:1-16). So the Lord's anger was kindled against Ahab and Jezebel, and he sent Elijah to let Ahab know it: "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord...

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat" (I Kin. 21:17-24). Now Ahab was killed after this in battle, and Elijah's prophecy was fulfilled as he had spoken (I Kin. 22:30-38). But Ahab had two sons who reigned after him, and in the days of the second son's reign, God was ready to fulfill these promises of judgment against Ahab and his house; so he raised up a man to get the job done for him. That man was Jehu the captain of the host of Israel, and Elisha the prophet sent another prophet to Jehu with a message from the Lord: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her" (II Kin. 9:6-10). Jehu, unlike Saul, carried out all of the Lord's instructions to execute judgment against the house of Ahab. Jehu proceeded to kill in one day both Jehoram the son of Ahab, and Ahaziah the king of Judah, who was the grandson of Ahab and Jezebel (II Kin. 9:14-27). Next he executed wrath on Jezebel whom he had thrown from a window, and her dead body was eaten by dogs as Elijah had spoken (II Kin.9:30-37).

After this he had seventy sons of Ahab who were in Samaria, beheaded and exterminated from the face of the earth (II Kin. 10:1-8). When the heads of Ahab's sons were brought before him, Jehu made a short speech: "Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining" (II Kin. 10:10,11). Immediately afterward he found forty two of Ahaziah's sons, and had them killed as well (II Kin. 10:12-14). But he was far from finished executing the thoughts of God's heart in these matters: "And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah" (II Kin. 10:17). After these things Jehu made a pretentious declaration of becoming a greater Baal worshipper than Ahab, so as to gather all of Baal's worshippers into one place, so he could kill all who worshipped Baal (II Kin. 10:18-27). So the scripture says, "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel" (II Kin. 10:28). And even though Jehu did not forsake the idolatry instilled by Jereboam, God showed him favor for executing his wrath upon the house of Ahab, and for purging Baal worship from Israel: "And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel" (II Kin. 10:29,30). So whereas Saul lost the kingdom, and none of his sons reigned after him, Jehu was shown favor from the Lord, and three of his sons were ordained to reign on the throne after him.

When God is determined to judge a land or a people, and sends someone to execute that judgment, they had better do exactly that. Because if they do not, then the Lord's wrath that he has reserved for his enemies will be directed against whoever fails to avenge him of his enemies. The only way a follower of Christ could find themselves in that position is if they have been put into a public office, and are in the position to carry out some act of justice in the worldly state. But God does have a particular enemy that he has judged through his Son Jesus Christ, and that he requires all followers of Christ to judge as well (Rom. 6:6; Rom. 8:3). Those who are in authority in the body of Christ are responsible to judge sin among the congregations, and will certainly be chastened by the Lord for not doing so. One graphic illustration of this is the instance at Corinth where a man who was living in fornication with his step-mother was allowed to continue unrepentant in the worship and service with the congregation. Because of this the apostle Paul gave the congregation at Corinth a scathing rebuke, and determined to put the man away from the congregation himself. Paul let the people know in no uncertain terms that their worship was in vain because they had not judged this man for his continuance in sin (I Cor. 5). Another example was also with the believers in Corinth, where Paul warned them that they would be judged and chastened by the Lord, even unto death in some cases; for failing to judge sin among and in themselves, and continuing in the worship in that state (I Cor. 11:27-32). So God still hates sin, more than ever in fact, seeing his only begotten Son paid a horrific price so that we could be rid of the whole problem of sin. We simply cannot afford to not judge ourselves, or those in the congregation of the Lord who are going onward in sin.

Jesus will come back from heaven one day soon to avenge himself and his Father upon all who have chosen to despise his death and resurrection, and to thereby remain in sin: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war" (Rev. 19:11). Sin is the enemy of God, and everyone who decides to remain in sin will be counted as an enemy of the Lord as well. It really that plain and simple. Make no mistake about this sobering reality my friend. The apostle Paul made this very clear in his sermon at Mars Hill in Greece: "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:29-31). Jesus told us in plain terms why he was going to send his Spirit back to those who believe on him: "And when [the Spirit] is come, [it] will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (Jn. 16:8-11). So in the end, the whole modern idea of 'not judging' is about as foolish as it gets, in light of the mountain of scriptural evidence that we have plainly seen here from the Bible, both old testament and new alike. It's more than evident in fact that those who "judge righteous judgment," as Jesus told us to do, will be blessed and favored by God; but those who fail to execute the Lord's judgments against sin will be cursed (Jn. 7:24). In my book that is a very easy choice to make. Amen.