Lessons from David: How to Be a Giant Killer by Andrew Wommack Page B
Authors: Andrew Wommack
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everything of the Amalekites including their men, women, children, cattle, sheep, oxen, everything they possessed. This wasn’t a battle to get spoils or a conquest where they could acquire property; this was a battle to exact God’s vengeance and punishment. Therefore God commanded Saul, “Wipe out everything that breathes!”
However, Saul didn’t do that. He claimed to have obeyed God, but he didn’t. He saved Agag, king of the Amalekites, and brought all of the best sheep, oxen, and cattle back with him. Samuel went to see Saul after this mission.
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1 Samuel 15:13-14
The command included killing all of the animals. Yet Samuel could hear both sheep and oxen. Saul had not fully obeyed the command.
Sacrifice?
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1 Samuel 15:15
Saul claimed that he had performed everything the Lord had told him to do, but Samuel reproved him by saying, “No, you didn’t. These animals are still alive.” Then Saul answered, “The people spared the best.”
Picture this! Saul was the king. He had been given a command to kill everything that breathed. Yet here he was, saying, “the people” spared these. Who was the king? Who was in the position of authority? Saul was. So the people couldn’t have done this if Saul had not allowed it. At the very least, Saul had to give his approval. More likely, he was the instigator of it. However, Saul wasn’t accepting responsibility for what he had done. Instead, he pushed responsibility off onto the people.
Saul placed the blame on somebody else and then tried to whitewash it by saying, “Well, we might not have killed them the way you told us to, but we brought them back here so we could slaughter them as sacrifices. Instead of just killing them and letting their death be in vain, we wanted to bring them back and offer them to the Lord.”
If—and that’s a big “if”—what Saul was saying was truly what they meant to do, then they were planning to offer a sacrifice to the Lord that cost them nothing. Maybe they said, “Let’s bring back some of the enemy’s herds and offer them to God. Then we won’t suffer a depletion of our own herds when we celebrate this victory. Besides, we’re just going to kill them anyway.” This is totally an ungodly way of doing things. David shows us why.
No Positive Spin
Later in life, David came to Araunah’s threshing floor to offer a sacrifice to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:18-25). When David spoke to him about securing the location for sacrifice and animals to offer, Araunah said, “Here, take my oxen. Take my yokes and use them for fire. Take all of these things—I give them to you!”
But David answered, “No, I’m going to pay you for it.”
Araunah continued, “No, I want to give them to you!”
And the king [David] said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.
2 Samuel 24:24; brackets mine
What a great attitude! You can’t take your neighbor’s sheep and offer it as a sacrifice to God. If you aren’t giving of yourself, of your own substance, if what you are offering isn’t costing you anything, it really isn’t a sacrifice.
If this was truly what motivated them to bring back the Amalekites’ oxen and sheep, then they were trying to find a cheap way of fulfilling their duty to offer sacrifices to the Lord for His protection in battle. “Let’s not offer our animals, but theirs for the sacrifice!” Even if this was what they truly intended to do, there was no way to whitewash their
However, Saul didn’t do that. He claimed to have obeyed God, but he didn’t. He saved Agag, king of the Amalekites, and brought all of the best sheep, oxen, and cattle back with him. Samuel went to see Saul after this mission.
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1 Samuel 15:13-14
The command included killing all of the animals. Yet Samuel could hear both sheep and oxen. Saul had not fully obeyed the command.
Sacrifice?
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1 Samuel 15:15
Saul claimed that he had performed everything the Lord had told him to do, but Samuel reproved him by saying, “No, you didn’t. These animals are still alive.” Then Saul answered, “The people spared the best.”
Picture this! Saul was the king. He had been given a command to kill everything that breathed. Yet here he was, saying, “the people” spared these. Who was the king? Who was in the position of authority? Saul was. So the people couldn’t have done this if Saul had not allowed it. At the very least, Saul had to give his approval. More likely, he was the instigator of it. However, Saul wasn’t accepting responsibility for what he had done. Instead, he pushed responsibility off onto the people.
Saul placed the blame on somebody else and then tried to whitewash it by saying, “Well, we might not have killed them the way you told us to, but we brought them back here so we could slaughter them as sacrifices. Instead of just killing them and letting their death be in vain, we wanted to bring them back and offer them to the Lord.”
If—and that’s a big “if”—what Saul was saying was truly what they meant to do, then they were planning to offer a sacrifice to the Lord that cost them nothing. Maybe they said, “Let’s bring back some of the enemy’s herds and offer them to God. Then we won’t suffer a depletion of our own herds when we celebrate this victory. Besides, we’re just going to kill them anyway.” This is totally an ungodly way of doing things. David shows us why.
No Positive Spin
Later in life, David came to Araunah’s threshing floor to offer a sacrifice to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:18-25). When David spoke to him about securing the location for sacrifice and animals to offer, Araunah said, “Here, take my oxen. Take my yokes and use them for fire. Take all of these things—I give them to you!”
But David answered, “No, I’m going to pay you for it.”
Araunah continued, “No, I want to give them to you!”
And the king [David] said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.
2 Samuel 24:24; brackets mine
What a great attitude! You can’t take your neighbor’s sheep and offer it as a sacrifice to God. If you aren’t giving of yourself, of your own substance, if what you are offering isn’t costing you anything, it really isn’t a sacrifice.
If this was truly what motivated them to bring back the Amalekites’ oxen and sheep, then they were trying to find a cheap way of fulfilling their duty to offer sacrifices to the Lord for His protection in battle. “Let’s not offer our animals, but theirs for the sacrifice!” Even if this was what they truly intended to do, there was no way to whitewash their
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