As mentioned in a previous post, Bible Study classes uncover all kinds of loose ends in people's understanding of Scripture [In case that sounds snobby, it includes me, first of all]. Take for example 1 Samuel 15:2-3...
'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt. Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.'"
God's command to Saul to put the Amalekites under "the ban," that is, to commit genocide by putting every man, woman, child, & domestic animal to the sword, with the entire town & all spoils of war to be burnt. A total annihilation of the tribe, as if they never were.
Naturally, Christians instinctively recoil at that kind of passage, which at a glance, seems at odds with the teachings of Jesus: "Love your neighbor." That's probably a good initial response; I'd be worried about someone if that wasn't their first response. But, in the face of such a contradiction, one must seek out the truth, right? Well, my experience is that, instead of doing the cerebral leg work required to get to the root of such puzzling passages (read, read, read! - both the Scriptures & credible commentaries, new & ancient) & due to the sheer size of the corpus of Scripture in all of its baffling forms, most people just select a lesser path, both in effort & reward.
Rather than trying to understand something that is not immediately apparent & immediately to our liking, we simply dismiss it or assign it an interpretation that it is no longer offensive to our comfortable understanding of The Way Things Are. "Jesus was right; that other passage is wrong." In the process, the power of God's word to reach us, challenge us, & (cue dramatic 40's scary movie music) change us is all but eliminated. The encounter with Mystery is neatly avoided.
So, the engaging & erudite website (& magazine, I understand) First Things - headed until recently by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (+ 2009) - has an intriguing article called "Either Way, Amalek Must Die, A Passover Meditation" by David P. Goldman.
I'd be curious on your thoughts. Have a blessed Holy Week.
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3 comments:
It's been a "blood bath" around here this week! The Amalekites are multiplying and the war rages! I hope I am not losing.
Your blog and the suggested article are provocative. Help me to understand this quote: "It is the Jew who converts the inner pagan inside each Christian...by which he meant that absent the living people of Israel, the Israel of the Spirit into which Christians hope to be adopted too easily becomes an abstraction".
Well, I hate to put words in the author's mouth, but I take it to mean what Card. Ratzinger said, "We are all spiritual Semites," along with the promise that God makes all things new.
Christianity is not, in a sense, something completely new - it is Judaism perfected in the revelation of God in Christ; just as Jesus takes away not one jot or tittle of the Law, but brings it to perfection. The Israelites were espoused by God as a people & called to purification of all that detracted or separated them from him. We too must begin with that same longing for union with God that the Israelires had & be willing to reject anything & everything that keeps us from God.
I don't know if that answers any questions or open up more. BTW, please put your first name at the bottom of the comment. Nobody is "Anonymous".
Thanks for the clarifying answer. I like both yours and Card. Ratzinger's. Although, I'm still a little fuzzy on what "all too easily becomes an abstraction"...our Jewish ancestry?
Your Faithful Reader,
Jill
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