Even more on Amaleq...
YHWH's commandment to King Shaul was to utterly destroy Amaleq and spare nothing. YHWH’s commandment to us is to utterly destroy the Amaleq who lives inside us, for he is the one who produces the sinful works of the flesh. Notice that YHWH does not just deal with only the external manifestations of the flesh. He doesn't just list the sinful works of the flesh and then say, ‘Try really hard to stop doing those things.’ Instead, He tells us that true disciples will crucify the flesh with its illicit affections and lusts. Then those sinful actions will cease, because the desire to do them is gone. Amaleq is dead.
Some people neglect the root of the problem and try to get rid of the works of the flesh by their own will power. Instead of crucifying Amaleq, they just subdue him and keep him on a leash. This is what King Shaul did. He captured Agag, king of the Amaleqi, and spared him. He also spared "the best" of the sheep and oxen, "but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly." This is what some believers do. They just kill off the ‘big sins,’ the sins that they consider "vile and refuse," but they spare the ‘little sins,’ the things that look cute and seem harmless. Worst of all, they spare Agag, the king of Amaleq. They keep him subdued and on a leash, but still alive. As a result, their fleshly, sinful nature survives. Agag may be subdued and on a leash, but he can still cause big problems later on. Haman, the man who almost succeeded in annihilating all the Jews of Persia in the book of Esther years after King Shaul's kingdom, was an Agagi.
According to tradition, Agag was allowed to be with his wife during his brief captivity, and during that time he begat a child who became the ancestor of Haman. If you refuse to smite Amaleq today, he may spawn something that will bring a major tragedy later in your life. It was bad enough that King Shaul spared Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen. To make matters worse, he tried to justify his actions. When Shmuel asked him why he had not obeyed the commandment of YHWH, Shaul insisted that he had obeyed the commandment of YHWH. "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Shmuel asked. There are some people who claim to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, yet they consistently produce an abundance of the works of the flesh. When such people insist that they are filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit, I can't help but wonder: What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? What meaneth these fleshly manifestations of gossip and backbiting; of hatred and rage and heated arguments over things of minor importance; of envy, strife, and division; of anger, resentment, bitter ness, and unforgiveness? "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." If you are walking in the Spirit, why are you fulfilling the lust of the flesh? "And they who are Yeshua's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If you belong to Messiah, why is your fleshly, carnal nature so alive? The manifestations of the works of the flesh in your life are like the sheep and oxen that Shmuel heard. The works of the flesh are living, breathing, walking testimonies that loudly proclaim the fact that you, like King Shaul, have indeed not obeyed the commandment of YHWH to utterly destroy the little Amaleq who lives inside you.
Each sin you commit is a walking advertisement, a bleating sheep that bellows, ‘Gossip! Anger! Envy!’ Each sin is like a lowing ox that moos, ‘Immorality! Immodesty!’ If the works of the flesh are manifest in your life, admit it. Don't be like King Shaul, who denied his disobedience, then tried to shift the blame to others. The people, spared the best of the sheep and oxen," he said. Don't try to justify your sins with statements like ‘He provoked me!’ or ‘I've had a hard life; I deserve a little illicit pleasure.’ And don't try to excuse your sinful actions by cloaking them in religious garb, like Shaul did when he told Shmuel that they spared the best of the sheep and oxen "to sacrifice unto YHWH thy Elohim."
Some people rationalize their sins and convince themselves that they are actually committing the sin for a noble cause, as a "sacrifice to YHWH." A woman desperate to get married says, ‘I know the scripture says not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but I'm going to marry him in order to win him to YHWH.’ A businessman says, ‘I know this is a shady deal and illegal according to the Torah, but I'm going to give half of the profits to the work of YHWH.’ A woman who doesn't want to dress modestly says, ‘I know the scripture says women are to dress modestly, but I can't dress that way if I want to evangelize harlots and the immoral. An old-fashioned modest dress like that is going to alienate them.’ A worker who doesn't want to take the Sabbath off says, ‘I'm going to keep working every Sabbath, even though I could get Sabbaths off. That way I'll have more money to give to YHWH. This will be my sacrifice to YHWH.’ When Shaul tried to justify his disobedience by saying its purpose was "to sacrifice unto YHWH,” Shmuel's reply was a reply that is appropriate for any similar attempt to justify disobedience: "Hath YHWH as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken that the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of YHWH, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Witchcraft and iniquity and idolatry are sins of action; rebellion and stubbornness are sins of attitude. Shaul's rebellious, stubborn attitude caused him to lose his position as king, because rebellion and stubbornness are like witchcraft, iniquity, and idolatry in the eyes of YHWH. If we are rebellious and stubborn, we can lose our position in the Body of Messiah. We can miss out on fulfilling YHWH's plan for us. What was the evidence of Shaul's rebellion and stubbornness? It was his refusal to utterly destroy Amaleq. He spared Agag and kept him on a leash instead of smiting him. What is the evidence of a professing believer's rebellion and stubbornness? It is the same thing. It is his refusal to crucify the flesh and its illicit affections and lusts. It is just subduing the fleshly nature and keeping it under control, on a leash, instead of crucifying it.
When Agag was brought to Shmuel, Shmuel took a sword and "hewed Agag in pieces." If your sinful nature is merely subdued and on a leash instead of slain, know that there is a Prophet greater then Shmuel, and He has a sword that is sharper than Shmuel's. That Prophet can hew Agag in pieces with the sword of the Spirit. Bring the Agag who lives inside you to Yeshua, and let Him smite Agag, so that Amaleq will never again rise up in you. One of the commandments of the Torah is also in Devarim 25: "Remember what Amaleq did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Mitzrayim; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not YHWH." This is a commandment to remember what Amaleq did. When you remember what Amaleq did to Yisrael, also remember what Shmuel did to Amaleq's king, Agag. He hewed Agag into pieces. And, also remember that this is what Yeshua can do to the Agag who lives inside you. Can and will, if you ask him to in sincerity and truth. Then you will have fulfilled the commandment to "blot out the remembrance of Amaleq from under heaven."