@Fritzpw_Admin & friends
This is a question that is difficult to address. It poses a paradox that is difficult to even partially unravel, and specifically difficult to formulate a cogent response that is unlikely to be misunderstood or marginalized. The whole context of First Samuel 15 passage is of utmost importance if we are to even begin to approach the rationale of God for ordering such an extreme command. I’m sure entire books could be written addressing this question within its context, and might, even then, only provide unsatisfactory answers.
The question poses this paradox: God who is “Holy”, is the personification of “Love”, and only does “good”, commands Israel to perform an action that by all standards seems unholy, unloving, and un-good. We have discussed a similar paradox in the “Why Did God Create Satan” thread. The paradox erects a strong fence between two contrasting realities, and we find ourselves sitting on top of the fence because to jump to one side requires us to denounce that which is on the other side.
I realize at the onset that it is an unsatisfying answer to simply say, “We may be incapable of fully understanding God or His actions.” While that may be true, and one may assent to the idea, it really provides no resolution to the paradox. We seek for a resolution that tears down the fence, and apathetic resignation does not do that for us. In fact, easy resignation leaves an odor of uneasiness, and fear upon our soul; a queasy, unsettled feeling of persistent incredulity; “If The loving God can do this incredible thing to the Amalekites, without apparent justification, what incredible thing might He do to me?”
We find ourselves gazing into the discomforting abyss, trying to comprehend the incomprehensible; we are trying to understand the mysteries of an ocean by scooping up a bowl full of water near the shore, or to comprehend the vast unexplored firmament by studying the air inside a balloon.
For we know only partially and so we can speak of God only partially. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which only partial will yield to fullness.
It’s like, when I was a child, then I only spoke as a child, I only understood as a child, I only thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away those childish ways. For now, we see only our own face, as in a mirror, and that only dimly, but when the perfect comes, then we will see Him face to face. Now I only know in part, but then I shall know fully, just as I also am known fully.
1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (paraphrase)
Addressing this paradox, we also know we must avoid projecting human values onto a Holy God; it is unwise to say: “why wouldn’t God just …X…Y…Z…” as if to imply, “If I were in charge, I would have done things differently”, or “if I were omniscient I would have avoided this problem altogether”. Going down this path is a fool’s errand; these are unrighteous thoughts:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:7-8
Part of our answer surely lies in David’s psalm;
The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1
This psalm depicts God’s earth in much the same way one would view his own garden. The owner of the garden has the responsibility of cultivating some plants, and eliminating others, and if, rather than using a hoe, or herbicides, the Gardener chooses to use good plants to strangle the life out of invasive weeds, it is His genius. But people are not plants, people are bearers of the glorious image of the Gardener. As such, we hold that all are created equal, and endowed by their creator certain unalienable rights, among them the right to life. Yet, even a good gardener, who created good plants has the obligation to rid the garden of mutated plants that have become noxious weeds, harmful weeds He knows are injurious to the health of the garden, weeds that mar the image of the Gardener.
I am no longer teetering on the fence of indecision. I have planted both feet on the side that says: “God is always “Holy”, God is pure “Love”, and God only does “good”. Therefore, every decision or command of his is Holy, loving, and good. I forsake my unrighteous thoughts, I accept my limited capacity to understand His holiness, and I fully yield to obey His every command, even it I do not understand His thought or His ways.
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
John 6:68
Isaiah 5:1-2 A Poetic Paraphrase
Come let me sing; let me sing a sad song
to the one whom I love, of his quandary.
On a choice fertile hill with soil black as coal
He measured and staked a fair boundary.
He cleared all the stones and tilled perfect rows
to nurture His choicest of vines.
Then deep in the middle he built a strong tower
and placed a sound press for His wines.
The sun and rain nourished the vines,
but the wind blew in pollen defiled.
The clusters emerged, the fruit took their color
but the grapes were not good but sore wild.
I offer this POV as my unsatisfactory contribution.
KP
