17. The Amalekite Soldier

The unnamed soldier in this story identifies himself as an Amalekite from Saul’s camp. He may have been an Amalekite under Israelite jurisdiction, but more likely he was a battlefield scavenger. Will Rogers, the 19thcentury actor/humourist, said, “Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in”. And so it was for the Amalekite soldier - we have the benefit of the last chapter of 1 Samuel to doubt his version of events, David had great wisdom from God.

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Idea 1: Honesty is the best policy My parents were very fond of that phrase when challenging my brothers and me over some unexplained incident around the house, and they were right. The truth does always come out in the end. I love what Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”. The Amalekite soldier lied in an attempt to gain some personal reward for killing David’s rival. Not only was he deceitful, but he totally misread David’s character.

• Is there stuff you need to own up to?
• Do you sometimes find yourself behaving in a way that deliberately promotes your own agenda? 

Idea 2: Respecting authority How many of us have struggled to get on with the boss? For the record, my boss is a decent bloke, but there have been some shockers over the years; ones where you seriously have to stop yourself letting them know what a clown they are! No matter what we think, we always need to acknowledge the position of authority they are placed in and ensure we give proper respect to that. Saul was David’s enemy, but, unlike the Amalekite soldier, David believed that God had anointed Saul and therefore he was to be respected. 

• Are there people in authority that you struggle to respect?
• What about those in church leadership?
• What steps can you take to ensure those relationships are right?

Idea 3: Prior planning prevents poor performance You may have come across this saying, or ‘versions’ of it! Then there is Winston Churchill who said: “He who fails to plan, is planning to fail”. Both are nuggets of wisdom we’ve probably ignored at some point in our lives. Maybe the same could be said of the Amalekite soldier? David was just back from having given a bunch of Amalekites, who’d burned his city and kidnapped its women and children, a good hiding. Presumably this individual soldier hadn’t done his homework on David before turning up as he did?

• Are you heading towards a disaster through lack of planning?
• What assumptions need challenging about the people you think you know?

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Pray that God will impart wisdom to you as you navigate the challenges of life; wisdom that reveals the whole picture, not just for the stuff that affects you.