SAMUEL VERSUS AGAG [CHRISTIAN ARTICLE FOR THE DEATH PENALTY]

But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

- I Samuel 15:33 (NKJV)

La mort d'Agag, illustration by Gustave Doré

            For those Christians against the death penalty, who have a habit of saying:

            “Only God has the right to take life.”

            The Book of I Samuel 15 in the Bible can prove all of you wrong. We will post the story of how Samuel executed King Agag and it was the last time Samuel saw King Saul from Wikipedia.

Agag (/ˈeɪɡæɡ/; Hebrew: אֲגַג‎ ʾĂḡāḡ, Arabic: يأجوج‎) was the name of two kings of the Amalekites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It has been conjectured that the name was a standing title of the kings of the Amalekites. The name or title may mean "flame" in ancient Northwest Semitic.

The first Agag is mentioned very briefly by Balaam in Numbers 24.7, the context implies that he was a king, but he is not clearly stated to be an Amalekite.

The second and better-known Agag was taken alive by King Saul after destroying the Amalekites (I Samuel 15). His life was spared by Saul and the Israelites took the best of the sheep, cattle, fat calves and lambs from the Amalekites.

The prophet Samuel regarded this clemency as a defiance of the will of God, which was "to completely destroy" the Amalekites. Samuel put Agag to death at Gilgal saying that "[a]s your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And so Samuel proceeded to cut Agag to pieces personally.

The story also indicates that this is the last time Samuel and Saul ever saw each other. As a result of this incident, Samuel said to Saul that "[y]ou have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel."

La mort d'Agag, illustration by Gustave Doré

COMMENT:

Most Christians who support the death penalty will quote Genesis 9:6 & Romans 13:1-5. We, the comrades of Unit 1012, will strongly agree to that for sure. We encourage Christians to read I Samuel 15. King Saul, who was the head of State, was anointed by God but he feared to obey the Almighty and did not execute a mass murderer like Agag. He got his Kingdom rejected.

I Samuel 15:33 is obedience to the verse, Genesis 9:6. Samuel was NOT PLAYING God when he executed Agag.

            The lesson we can learn from here is that those in authority will answer to God for failing to put murderers to death. If this was occurring in the New Testament, King Saul had failed to obey Romans 13:1-5.   

Scene from the movie David (1997):