⁶ “For ^[a]I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end. [Mal. 3:6]

Israel left Egypt in 1446 BC and although it is only eleven days’ journey from Horeb (Mount Sinai) by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea, on Canaan’s border, Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years before crossing the border and entering Canaan. [Deut. 1:1-2]

It is now the year 1406 BC. The Israelites is camped in the wilderness, just outside the Promised Land, on the east side of the Jordan River. According to words given by God, Moses now instructs the Israelites in how they should proceed. There are seven nations to conquer, each greater and mightier than Israel [Deut. 7:1].

God’s instructions are clear in verse 2:

² and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant (treaty) with them nor show mercy and compassion to them. 

Many years earlier, in the wilderness at Sinai, God already commanded the Israelites through Moses:

¹⁹ Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget [Deut. 25:19; AMP].

The Amaleks were very likely the decedents of Esau. The first mention of the name Amalek is in Genesis 36:12. Esau and his wife Judith had a son named Eliphaz who married Timna, his concubine. They conceived a child named Amalek.

Going further along in history, we find out just how obedient Israel was in their conquest?

It is the year 1399BC.

Now Joshua was ^[a]old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You have grown old and advanced in years, and very ^[b]substantial portions of the land remain to be possessed. ² This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites;

¹³ But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maacathites; for Geshur and Maacath live among Israel to this day [Jos. 13:1,2 and 13; AMP].

According to the book of Judges, the following nations remained in the land:

³ The remaining nations are:

The five lords (governors) of the Philistines, [The Gazite, Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the ^[a]Avvite (Jos. 13:3-6)].

All the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. [Jud. 3:3; AMP]

Fast forward to the reign of king Saul in Israel and Judah, between 1050 and 1010BC. God, through the prophet Samuel, once more issues the same command – to destroy the Amalek tribe. The instruction is clear:

³ Now go and strike Amalek and completely destroy everything that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

Saul defeated the Amalekites, but spared Agag their king as well the best of the sheep, oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, everything that was good. They were not willing to destroy them entirely. They only destroyed what was undesirable and worthless to them. For this, the Lord rejected Saul and it is then that David makes his first appearance when he kills Goliath the Philistine. Saul, realising that the favour of God has left him and was now firmly established on David, turns into jealousy to destroy him. God saves David from every attempt of Saul to take his life. David seeks refuge with Achish, the king of Gath (Philistines). Remember that Goliath was from Gath. While the Philistines were at war with the Israelites, David and his six hundred men raided other enemies of Israel without letting it be known to Achish. It was during these raids that David decided to finally get the job done against the Amelikes:

⁹ David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, [1 Sam. 27:9]

God’s instruction never changes. He remains searching for obedient men and women.