God ordered King Saul through the prophet Samuel to completely destroy King Agag and the enemies of Israel, the Amelekites:
“This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘I’ll punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, when he set himself against Israel in the way, as they were going up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek. Completely destroy all that they have. Don’t spare them, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, both ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” – 1 Samuel 15:2-3
But King Saul choose to make his owns decisions, disobeying the Lord. He and his men kept the “good stuff”, the plunder, for themselves, and he did not destroy these enemies of Israel entirely (King David had to deal with them again a relatively short time later (1 Samuel 27:8), and they weren’t completely wiped out then either. Because of his failure to obey God, Saul set in motion a chain reaction that brought Mordechai and his niece, Queen Esther, face to face with the Amelekite (Agagite), Haman and his diabolical plan to annihilate the Jewish population.
“…King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath.
6But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus–the people of Mordecai.
-Megillat Esther 3:1,5-6
This is one of the lessons of Purim that is often overlooked:
Saul didn’t really think that his choices would have negative lasting consequences- he just choose to do what he wanted to do. Perhaps in his arrogance as the reigning king he believed he had license to bend and twist the command of God as directed through Samuel, but as a seer I believe Samuel was shown the future; the ultimate consequence being impending disaster which Haman, a descendant of Amelek, initiated in Susa against the Jewish population in the 127 provinces of Persia and Media. Samuel was so impacted that he refused to see Saul for the rest of his life, mourning him as one grieves after the death of a loved one. Esther also made a decision with immediate consequences: she choose to risk her life, boldly going before King Ahasuerus to gain his attention and soon after exposed Haman which led to the demise of Haman and all of his sons.
It should be noted that the result of Haman’s evil choices put him on the very gallows he ordered built for Mordechai…
“Make wise choices…”
Every choice, every decision, creates a reaction, which then requires another choice, which then causes another reaction, and so on.
Wise choices that come as a result of using God’s Word as the plumb line cause reactions that have good results, setting in motion a beneficial chain reaction. Three entire chapters of Proverbs (2,3,4) are devoted to wisdom…which comes from the Father. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, (Prov.9:10) and obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22) but impulsive decisions (like Saul’s in 1 Sam. 15:3) may set into motion a chain reaction through which terrible consequences may manifest.
The best choice we will ever make is the decision to receive Yeshua HaMashiach as Lord and Savior-a decision with eternal benefits!
Choose wisely!