{"id":57995,"date":"2019-06-21T08:20:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T05:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57995"},"modified":"2023-01-15T09:45:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T07:45:31","slug":"what-does-it-take-for-god-to-reconsider-his-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-does-it-take-for-god-to-reconsider-his-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Take For God To Reconsider His Decisions?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In chapter 10 when Samuel told Saul to \u201cdo for yourself as best you can\u201d he may have been trying to instill Saul with self-confidence. The events of chapter 15 reveal Saul\u2019s failure to internalize that lesson, and worse than lack of faith in himself, was his failure to have faith in God. When ordered to annihilate the thoroughly evil and morally corrupt Amalekites, from their king Agag right down to their livestock, Saul hesitates. He comes so close to fulfilling the commandment, but, as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes. Agag is captured but not immediately killed; likewise with some of the livestock. Ostensibly Saul has every intention of completing the job, but not exactly as ordered. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead he decides to wait on Agag until he can make a public display of his execution, and to hold back some animals for a public sacrificial offering to God. That was not what God asked of him. God was not looking for glory, He was looking to expunge evil from the world. By perverting God\u2019s commandment, Saul not only implied a lack of confidence in God\u2019s singular ability to direct the world and betrayed a lack of faith in himself to wholly execute the will of God, he also frustrated a divine plan. Samuel counseled Saul to \u201cdo his best\u201d and this was not it. Something distracted Saul from his mission, and regardless of what that something was, it was enough to make God \u201creconsider having made Saul king\u201d (v11).<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether Saul\u2019s actions were driven by humility, mercy or self-aggrandizement, his critical mistake resulted in Agag living just long enough to produce progeny and ensure the continuation of Amalek. But it\u2019s far more than the physical persistence of Amalek, or the imminent dethroning of Saul that is the tragedy here. If we understand Amalek\u2019s true purpose – to crush the very soul of the Jewish people – as I wrote about in <\/span>Deuteronomy 25<\/span><\/a>, we can better understand the tragic repercussions of not removing them from this world. If the Jewish people are forever destined to live with a veil of spiritual doubt, wrought by the Amalek of Saul\u2019s generation or any of the future Amaleks who have impacted our history, we can surely then understand the magnitude of the consequence of Saul\u2019s lack of faith in himself and\/or God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: John Singleton Copley, Saul Reproved by Samuel for Not Obeying the Commandments of the Lord<\/em>, 1798 \/ wikiart<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57996,"id":57996,"title":"isam15-copley","filename":"isam15-copley.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-copley.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-does-it-take-for-god-to-reconsider-his-decisions\/isam15-copley\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam15-copley","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57995,"date":"2019-06-21 05:20:22","modified":"2019-06-21 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