READING FOR MARCH 19, 2025: 1 SAMUEL 15, ROMANS 5, PSALM 21:8-13 1 SAMUEL 15 This is a complex chapter, difficult for us in 2025 to understand. May the Holy Spirit guide us to understand and apply God’s message found here. God had a particular mission for Saul: completely wipe out the Amalekites for their actions against Israel during the Exodus centuries earlier. The first lesson we learn is that unconfessed sin must be punished by a holy God no matter how long ago it was committed. It also seems that the punishment for these unconfessed sins can fall upon the descendants of the sinners, at least in this case. The first observation above is sobering but easier to accept than the second. A verse supporting this observation is Exodus 34:7: “keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” On the other hand, notice Deut. 24:16: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” Read what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: “You say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets” (Matt.23:30-31). By seeking to kill Jesus, they shared in the guilt of killing the prophets. Amalek thus similarly shared in their ancestors’ earlier guilt. They apparently had not changed ways from their ancestors' sins.
The next challenge is God’s command to include infants in this execution. First of all, the categories of right and wrong would not even exist without the presence of a transcendent God, whose very character is 100% just: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Gen. 18:25). Second, Amalek’s sin was against those most vulnerable: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God” (Deut. 25:17-18). Third, in the one case in the Bible where the eternal destiny of a baby is discussed, David says his dead infant son will go to heaven first: “I am going to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam.12:23). God entirely removes an evil nation while enabling eternal life for its babies.
Saul didn’t fully obey God; he brought back King Agag and the most valuable animals. This prompted God to say, “I regret that I have made Saul king” (vs.11). It is not surprising that God was angry with Saul. It is puzzling that God appears to hint He made a mistake by appointing Saul king, since God is perfect and does not change his mind. In fact, this is later stated in verse 29: “The Glory of Israel will not lie nor change His mind; for He is not a man, that He would change His mind.” This “regret” can be explained as God communicating to man in ways man can best understand, known as an “anthropomorphism.” It was God’s unchanging view toward disobedience that caused God to take the leadership of Israel from Saul’s family and give it to David.
ROMANS 5 The opening of Romans 5 states we can have peace with God through faith in Jesus (vs 1-2). Before being saved, we were/are enemies of God (vs 10). There is no neutral position. For those who are saved, we can frame our troubles as a starting point for a virtuous cycle of development leading to greater perseverance, character, and hope—all enabled through the Holy Spirit. This faith development through difficulties is also seen in James 1:1-4 and with the Leibniz concept discussed on March 1, 2024. Are we framing our troubles with this in mind?
One explanation for Rom. 5:13: There are different interpretations for this challenging verse.
READINGS FOR MARCH 19, 2025 CONTINUED: ROMANS 5, PSALM 21:8-13 Here we will offer one with great humility. Verse 12 states that, through Adam, sin resulting in
death entered into the world. Since death spread to all men, we know all men sinned. Verse 13 says before “the Law,” which seems to refer to the Mosaic Law because of the definite article used, sin was in the world. Then Paul makes the observation about sin that it is not
“imputed” or credited when there is no law. He did not say that no law existed then, only that sin is not imputed without the presence of law. (Also note no definite article precedes the word “law” in this phrase). Verse 14 reaffirms that death, which we know is a result of sin, indeed reigned from Adam to Moses, even though people may not have sinned in the way Adam sinned. Jude’s statement that Sodom and Gomorrah are undergoing eternal punishment means their sins were imputed against them even though this happened before Mosaic Law.
What might be some law other than Mosaic law that was present before Moses and that could be the basis of holding humanity guilty of sin? Romans 1:18 states God’s wrath comes against all unrighteousness of men who suppress God’s truth. Verse 19 says God’s divine nature is understood through the created universe, but still people did not honor Him (vs 21). As a result, they participated in unnatural acts (Rom vs. 26-27). They did not acknowledge Him (vs. 28). As a result, they committed “shameful acts” (vs.29-31). Finally, they knew the ordinanceof God (32) but still violated it. This could be considered God’s natural law/ordinance as opposed to God’s written law. Romans 2:12 discusses sinners who perish both “with the[Mosaic]Law” and “without the [Mosaic] Law.” They will be judged by the law available to them, which in verse 15 includes the inner law written on their hearts: their conscience. Thus, Rom. 5:13 seems to assert that law was present, and sin was imputed to man before Mosaic Law. Ironically sin increased and became more visible with the Mosaic Law (Rom 5:20). The good news is that humankind became more aware of their sinful state and need for redemption. Also, with the work of Jesus, grace increased at a greater rate than sin. Eternal life is now possible through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:21).
PSALM 21:8-13 The Psalm 21 prayer team prays with confident anticipation about the time when God will defeat His enemies. What is one victory that has occurred since the Psalm team prayed, about which we can join with our praise? Consider this one: “There is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1-4).
What about a victory over God’s enemies that is still to come, about which we can pray with this same confident anticipation? This is a good one: “But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54-57).
