Agag

AGAG, King of the Amalekites. The Amalekites having inhumanly attacked the Israelites in the Wilderness, after their coming out of Egypt, while they were sinking under the fatigues which they had suffered, and having massacred all those who were not able to keep up with the body of the Army, the Lord was not satisfied with the Victory which Joshua obtained over them in the same Wilderness, but protested with an Oath that he would destroy the memory of Amalek from under Heaven, and would make eternal War with them, without mercy. This happened in the year of the World 2513. before J.C. 1487. before the vulgar Æra 1491. About four hundred years after, the Lord remembred the malice which Amalek had shewn formerly to his People, and he commanded Samuel to tell Saul, that he should march against the Amalekites, cut them in pieces, and destroy every thing belonging to them: Spare them not, nor desire any thing that is theirs, but slay both Man and Woman, Infant and Suckling, Ox and Sheep, Camel and Ass. Saul thereupon issued out his Orders to the People, and having assembled them, he found, upon the review of them, that their number amounted to two hundred thousand foot, without reckoning the ten thousand Men of the Tribe of Judah, which made a separate Body.

Being entred therefore into the Country of the Amalekites, he cut in pieces all he found from Havilah to Shur, which is over-against Egypt. He took Agag their King alive, and preserved him, with the best of the Sheep and Oxen, the Fatlings and the Lambs, and the richest and most valuable part of all the spoil. Then came the Word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be King; for he hath turned back from following me, and hath not performed my Commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. The next day therefore he went to meet Saul, who was returned with his Army to Gilgal; where he offered a Burnt-offering unto the Lord out of the spoil which he had taken from the Amalekites. When Samuel drew near to Saul, this Prince saluted him, and said, I have performed the Commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the Oxen, which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the People spared the best of the Sheep, and of the Oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. Then Samuel signified unto him the resolution which the Lord had taken, of rejecting him, and of transferring the Kingdom to another. Saul would have excused himself; but Samuel told him that God required neither Sacrifices nor Burnt-offerings, but perfect Obedience; and that to resist and disobey him, was as the sin of Witchcraft and Idolatry. Having said this, he called for Agag King of Amalek to be brought unto him, who, when he was presented to him in fetters, and trembling in 1 Sam. xv. 32.every limb, said¹, Must I then be separated from all things by a bitter death? And Samuel said to him, As thy Sword hath made Women childless, so shall thy Mother be childless among Women. And he hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Thus Agag King of Amalek finished his life, about the year of the World 2930. before J. C. 1070. before the vulgar Æra 1074.

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