A Problem Passage

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:25 – “Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” (NRSVUE)

The Bible is a source of beauty and inspiration, a revelation that guides the life of the faithful. But there are certain problem passages that cause people to doubt that the Bible is perfectly divine rather than, as I like to say, an authentic experience of the divine recorded by imperfect people. Some of these passages are ones that are rejected by the head: contradictions and things that can be disproved by analysis. But more serious are those that are rejected by the heart, passages that contradict the experience of the faithful by having God command horrific things.

One such problem passage is 1 Samuel 15, the story of how God rejected Saul as king of Israel. In this passage, God commands a genocide of the Amalekite people. The Amalekites were a terrible enemy to Israel for many generations. All the people and all their livestock were to be utterly destroyed. This commandment is abhorrent to us, especially since we have seen repeatedly how genocide is one of the worst of all possible evils. How could our God of love command it? And when Saul disobeys God, Samuel says God will find a new king, even though Samuel begs for forgiveness.

I think we would find it noble if Saul had disobeyed out of compassion. After all, Abraham and Moses repeated asked God to spare innocent people who might be killed in God’s wrath. But Saul is motivated by greed, even if he may not realize it. He does indeed kill all the people, including the women and children. But he spares the king, probably for ransom, and keeps the livestock. He says it is so he can sacrifice them to the Lord in celebration of his victory.

I actually feel for Saul in this story. From his perspective, he is acting practically and faithfully. Earlier in 1 Samuel, he had broken a few of God’s seemingly arbitrary commandments to keep his army functioning. This was not out of malice, but out of frustration in difficult situations. It is possible that Saul believes that his sparing of the livestock is indeed to honor God and it is heart breaking when Saul makes a desperate plea for forgiveness and is utterly rejected.

However, I think the story is not really about genocide—one that Saul actually carries out, by the way—but about consistently putting practical and easy matters of faith before difficult ones. God does indeed demand sacrifice, but it is not of people or animals, or even our conscience. God asks us to sacrifice our comforts for a greater purpose of justice. Even if it conflicts with making money or “the ways things have always been done.”

So, what can we do with a problem passage like this? We need to see the ultimate moral message beneath the horror, the reason this was a story that was preserved for thousands of years. And we also need to recognize how our understanding of God has changed over thousands of years. If we see the Bible as a living document, and our faith as a living faith, we can see how what may have been a record of what imperfect people thought God wanted, the slaughter of innocents, was really about a higher purpose of sacrifice, one that we now see can inspire us to do help others rather than hurt them.

This week, think about something you are supposed to do but doesn’t sit right with you. Are you doing it out of habit or blind obedience? What is the meaning behind it? And if you resist, is it because of a need for truth or a need for comfort? Hard questions, but no one said living a life of faith was easy. But is by wrestling with difficult passages and asking the difficult questions rather than ignoring them that we find justice in our communities and joy in our hearts.

Prayer: Lord God, keep me faithful to the loving and living heart of your word. Amen.

Image Credit: Lynn Greyling, publicdomainpictures.net