566
Patriarchs and Prophets
but the Amalekites had not turned from their sins. The Lord knew that
this wicked people would, if it were possible, blot out His people and
His worship from the earth. Now the time had come for the sentence,
so long delayed, to be executed.
The forbearance that God has exercised toward the wicked, em-
boldens men in transgression; but their punishment will be none the
less certain and terrible for being long delayed. “The Lord shall rise up
as in Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that
He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His
strange act.”
Isaiah 28:21
. To our merciful God the act of punishment
is a strange act. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”
Ezekiel 33:11
. The Lord is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin.” Yet He will “by no means clear the guilty.”
Exodus 34:6, 7
.
While He does not delight in vengeance, He will execute judgment
upon the transgressors of His law. He is forced to do this, to preserve
the inhabitants of the earth from utter depravity and ruin. In order
to save some He must cut off those who have become hardened in
sin. “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at
all acquit the wicked.”
Nahum 1:3
. By terrible things in righteousness
He will vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. And the very
fact of His reluctance to execute justice testifies to the enormity of the
sins that call forth His judgments and to the severity of the retribution
awaiting the transgressor.
But while inflicting judgment, God remembered mercy. The
Amalekites were to be destroyed, but the Kenites, who dwelt among
them, were spared. This people, though not wholly free from idolatry,
were worshipers of God and were friendly to Israel. Of this tribe
was the brother-in-law of Moses, Hobab, who had accompanied the
Israelites in their travels through the wilderness, and by his knowledge
of the country had rendered them valuable assistance.
Since the defeat of the Philistines at Michmash, Saul had made
war against Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and against the Amalekites
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and the Philistines; and wherever he turned his arms, he gained fresh
victories. On receiving the commission against the Amalekites, he
at once proclaimed war. To his own authority was added that of
the prophet, and at the call to battle the men of Israel flocked to his