We start with a song. It s a song you know, or a song you know of even if you

Transcription

1 1 Samuel 15:1-14 Saul s March Thru the Desert We start with a song. It s a song you know, or a song you know of even if you don t know how it goes. It s a song Mr. Duff refused to play that time at the Ladies Auxiliary; Mr. Duff, my substitute teacher, who loved to tell stories and sing and play the piano, always so jovial and interesting, but when that son of the South was asked to perform Marching Thru Georgia, he replied, Madam, I will not. Old grudges die hard. It s a song hated still in some parts of the Old South. It is a song that celebrates General William Tecumseh Sherman, and his famous, or infamous, march to the sea, the 60-mile-wide path of destruction he cut across Georgia in 1864: burning crops, and burning down mansions and cabins alike; slaughtering animals or requisitioning them for his troops, leaving the citizens of that southern state destitute and hungry; he wrecked the train tracks and put Atlanta to the torch. It was a strategy he called Total War, though I don t think he invented the nameand he certainly didn t invent the concept. It was simply the first time on American soil that absolute warfare was employed. And in the Indian Wars that followed, the U.S. military honed it to perfection.

2 Likewise, in this story of ancient Israel, King Saul is practicing total war. He musters two hundred thousand soldiers and goes out into the wilderness and destroys an entire region, marching through the desert, killing and burning all the way to the borders of Egypt. But actually I misspoke. It was Samuel, the prophet and priest, who gave God s command of total war to Saul, while Saul did not meet Samuel s specific requirements of total war: he didn t kill the king, the best animals he brought back with him. And so, God and Samuel claim that Saul was disobedient. But in the verses that follow, Saul says that he brought back the animals for sacrifice. If we believe him, then he wasn t trying to profit from the spoils of war- everything was going to be destroyed, after all. So, the accusation of disobedience is just a matter of interpretation, and we need to know what is behind that interpretation. Let s set the scene at two hundred years earlier, to pick a round number, and Moses has just brought the Israelites out of Egypt, leading them to the Promised Land. When they meet up with a tribe of Bedouins, these Amalekites, either by accident along the road, or at a spring of water. And they fight. Israel wins the battle, mows them down, my Bible says, in Exodus 17. But that s not enough. Moses announces after the battle, that God will be at war with Amalek from

3 generation to generation. It s emphasized again in Deuteronomy 25, where God commands, Do not forget, you shall blot out all remembrance of Amalek. But why? They fought one battle two centuries ago, no reference to them since. They weren t even a kingdom, not a threat to Israel, just a wandering tribe of herdsmen. Is it simply that old grudges die hard? Or is it the idea that those who do not believe as I believe have no right to exist, that it is my duty to God to blot them out? This is the only way we can understand Samuel s interpretation of Saul s disobedience. Look, these places in our text that mention the utter destruction of Amalek signify a religious term, cherem, that is sometimes translated the Ban, and it means the annihilation of something for religious purposes, it means killing as worship. Thus, we are talking about holy war, jihad, crusade, killing for God. That s how Saul was disobedient, and thus, rejected by God: even if he planned to sacrifice the spoils of war as a religious observance, he didn t make war as an act of devotion to God. This is a big event in the story of the Old Testament. It is the beginning of Saul s downfall- Samuel tells him, later in the chapter, that God has torn the kingdom from him; David is introduced in the very next chapter, and secretly anointed king. But it is also, I think, a turning point for Israel, as a religious and a

4 political entity: it is their first war of choice. All this time, they had been fighting defensive battles to carve out a place for themselves, to preserve their identity in a hostile land. But here, they are the aggressors. An it is slaughter, justified by God s command. I don t know how we are supposed to respond to this story and these wordsto kill without pity- spoken by a God we believe is full of love for every person. We can say that was a the God of the Old Testament, or that it was a long time ago, and people and morals have progressed, and we all know better now. Are we sure of that? It is obvious that some groups even today- in every religion- have not progressed, and are proud to claim and act out on that concept of the Ban. Beheading infidels, beating up the gays, bombing abortion clinics and killing doctors, engraving scriptures on their weapons, hatred for whole races and societies of people; there are countless instances of justified slaughter. The thing is, this is our story, too. If we are believers in the God of Abraham, and followers of Jesus the Messiah, these old stories are part of our past, and the current stories of hate and vengeance are part of our present, too, even as we try to live out the gospel of love and mercy. And we must not smugly gloss them over.

5 So, how does our story become one of grace? Maybe by remembering the whole story, that this God who commanded war and destruction also spoke this command to his people, Thou shalt not kill ; who demands of a righteous nation that it care for the poor and the downtrodden, the strangers and aliens in the land; who promises again and again to forgive and love and welcome. This same God, so big that he often confuses us, but who, if we pay close attention, displays the truth in many ways, shows us the whole truth about himself in the life of Jesus, his Son And maybe that truth will teach us to think less of ourselves and more of others, and inspire us to treat them like friends. I m reading Willie Nelson s new autobiography, and he writes in the introduction of our stories as a flowing source of memories and hopes like a stream that never runs dry ; that memories are great joy, even the painful ones, because they prove that we re still here, still trying, still alive. Willie describes his eighty-two years as a long and blessed life, and he realizes that he has held on by telling his stories- each song is a story, he says, and they have kept him alive. Looking back, he understands that he got more good breaks than bad (probably like most of us), and managed to keep from going crazy

6 by staying close to the music of his heart. That sounds about right. Even if music isn t your talent or inspiration, it is something, it can be anything else that fills your heart, that keeps you going, that helps you remember, and gives you a sense of thankfulness. Willie calls his life an epic tale. Yes, our lives are epic- every life ismaybe not grand, but at least don t let them be small, or cheap. Life should be full of wonder and hope. Let us find a place and a way to hear the song of our hearts, and to know joy despite our hurts; to remember our stories; and to be at peace even amidst all the noise, and to be one of those who marches through life making peace.