Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

sentence, but the Amalekites had not turned from their sins. Now the
time had come for the sentence, so long delayed, to be carried out.
Punishment is a strange act for our merciful God. "'As I live,'
says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live.'" The Lord is
"merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness
and truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no
means clearing the guilty." (Ezekiel 33:11; Exodus 34:6, 7). He does
not delight in vengeance, but He will execute judgment on those
who transgress His law. He is forced to do this to preserve earth's
population from complete wickedness and ruin. In order to save
some, He must cut off those who have become hardened in sin.
But while giving judgment, God remembered mercy. The
Amalekites were to be destroyed, but the Kenites, who lived among
them, were spared. These people were not completely free from
idolatry, but they were worshipers of God and friendly to Israel.
King Saul Gets Another Chance
On receiving the orders against the Amalekites, Saul at once
declared war. At the call to battle the men of Israel flocked to his
banner. The Israelites were not to receive either the honor of the
conquest or the spoils of their enemies--they were to engage in the
war only as an act of obedience to God. God intended that all
nations should see the doom of these people who had defied His
rulership.
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