020 1 Samuel 15
God repents of making man?
God shuts the gates of Eden
“I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution,” said St. Augustine, and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For “the mystery of lawlessness” is clarified only in the light of the “mystery of our religion.”
the evil of sin unmasked in its true identity as humanity’s rejection of God and opposition to him
Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God’s plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another.
Pelagius held that man could, by the natural power of free will and without the necessary help of God’s grace, lead a morally good life; he thus reduced the influence of Adam’s fault to bad example.
The first Protestant reformers, on the contrary, taught that original sin has radically perverted man and destroyed his freedom; they identified the sin inherited by each man with the tendency to evil (concupiscentia), which would be insurmountable.
Original sin entails “captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals.
As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers; subject to ignorance, suffering, and the domination of death; and inclined to sin (This inclination is called “concupiscence.”)
We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, ‘by propagation, not by imitation’ and that it is … ‘proper to each’ ”
The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20).
Who are the Amalekites?
AMALEKITES A nomadic people remembered as one of the traditional enemies of Israel. They derived their name from Amalek, one of the six sons of Eliphaz and Timna, a grandson of Esau (Gen 36:11, 12; cf. 1 Chr 1:36), and one of the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom (Gen 36:15, 16). The Amalekites moved about in the Sinai Peninsula and in the Negeb of southern Canaan (1 Sam 15:5). The Old Testament shows them as determined enemies of the Israelites. They first attacked the Israelites during the passage out of Egypt at Rephidim (Exod 17:8) and again at Hormah (Num 14:45)—attacks that Israel was told not to forget (Exod 17:16; Deut 25:17–19).
AMALEKITES A nomadic people remembered as one of the traditional enemies of Israel. They derived their name from Amalek, one of the six sons of Eliphaz and Timna, a grandson of Esau (Gen 36:11, 12; cf. 1 Chr 1:36), and one of the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom (Gen 36:15, 16). The Amalekites moved about in the Sinai Peninsula and in the Negeb of southern Canaan (1 Sam 15:5). The Old Testament shows them as determined enemies of the Israelites. They first attacked the Israelites during the passage out of Egypt at Rephidim (Exod 17:8) and again at Hormah (Num 14:45)—attacks that Israel was told not to forget (Exod 17:16; Deut 25:17–19).
The prophet Samuel ordered the recently anointed Saul to launch a war of extermination against the Amalekites and their king, Agag, fulfilling the orders of Deut 25:17–19. But when Saul failed to carry out the war to its conclusion—despite a great victory—he was punished (1 Sam 15:1–35). Later, Amalekites attacked Ziklag, burned the city, and carried off all of the women and children, including David’s own family. In revenge, David pursued the Amalekites and defeated them, leaving alive only four hundred men. After that, the Amalekites all but disappear from history (cf. 1 Chr 4:43).
Who are the Kenites?
Choose death
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered.”
Choose life
18 But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done all that he commanded you, 19 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me.”
Amalek and Saul both have gone too far
Kenites have something in common with Lot
5 ¶ For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 ¶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 ¶ For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 ¶ But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 ¶ For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.