Br Alex Swain

Beloved in Christ,

How do you make sense of the contradictions of life?

How do you make sense of those places in our mind which hold multiple, conflicting truths?

I’m pondering these questions, too, because today’s passage from 1 Samuel, is tough. God demands Saul to destroy the Amalekites—men, women, children, and animals. It is a very difficult passage.

How do we square this demand for war with our loving God?

I have read a few commentaries, and quite frankly, this passage does not have a clear and resolute answer. The Jewish and Christian traditions both wrestle with this passage.

Some interpret it metaphorically: that God tested Saul with an impossible task, and Saul did not trust in the Lord, but rather, took loot from the incursion in a self-serving way, and by doing so, is ultimately disavowed from his kingship.

Some go even further, to note that there is little evidence that the Amalekites ever existed, and that Amalek is a symbol of spiritual evil, which tests our obedience to God. They are a recurring enemy of Israel throughout the scriptures, continuously opposed to God’s will in the world.

Others note that the original manuscripts in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic have textual challenges—and that there is a possibility that, generally, the passage is mostly referring to the purging of male Amalekites (that is, soldiers).

Some note that this is a form of retribution for the horrors inflicted on the Israelites as they left Egypt (Exodus 17:8-16).

The Holy Scriptures challenge us. They force us to think. We are forced to encounter a people from a culture and a place thousands of years past, and a God who met these people where they were, and who is meeting us where we are.

And yet, more so than these one-off passages, the scriptures make clear that God is a God of love, compassion, mercy; one who cares for the sick, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner; a God who raises up the weak.

If this is true, which the Scripture make abundantly clear is true about God, then there is something, perhaps, that we are missing in understanding challenging texts.

Life is complicated. The Scriptures are complicated. Human history is complicated.

Yet we trust in the love, justice, compassion, and mercy of God.

Sometimes, that is enough.

Yours in Christ,

—Br Alex