Saul A Brilliant Series Of Military Successes
Saul had checked the Philistine advance by a resounding blow. This momentary suspension of hostilities enabled the king to organize his forces on a proper military footing. To begin with, the troops were equipped with weapons other than just farm tools; swords and spears were forged in the numerous cities recently freed from Philistine occupation or control. Saul also set himself to recruit a professional army. Any strong man or man of valor that caught Saul's eye he recruited into his service (1 Schmuel 14: 52). With a war machine of this character, it was obvious that better results could be expected than from peasants with their merely temporary recruitment.
Saul soon felt able to undertake campaigns further afield. On the east of the Dead Sea, he attacked first the Ammonites and then the Moabites. He may also have attacked the Edomites on the south of this same sea -unless we are to read 'Aram', instead of Edom, on account of the mention of the Aramean fortress of Zobah in the text. In short, the warrior king made the frontiers of the Promised Land secure, those frontiers so often invaded by the 'Sons of the East', pillaging camel-drivers and relentless raiders who had regularly brought distress and misery to Canaan. In this sphere, therefore, Saul was undeniably successful.
But Yisrael's most hated enemies were the Amalekites, a nomad people in the far south, beyond the territory occupied by the Philistines, between Canaan and the Sinai desert. This time it involved a campaign of significant dimensions, a 'qadash war', suggested or rather demanded by Schmuel himself who once again maintained that he was YAHWEH's spokesman. He began by reminding Saul of the criminal activity of the Amalekites: when Yisrael, only just beyond the confines of Egypt, had decided to take the direct route to Sinai, the Amalekites had fallen upon the troops of Mosheh at Rephidim, to destroy them, but had been repulsed. The Hebrews had not forgotten the trials inflicted upon them by their neighbours. Schmuel continued: 'Now, go and strike down Amalek; put him under the ban (anathema) with all that he possesses. 5 Do not spare him, but kill man and woman, babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey' (1 Schmuel 15: 2-3),
The prospect of a new campaign, however, was perfectly acceptable to Saul. With his troops hardened in warfare, well equipped and in good order as the result of their earlier battles, he advanced towards the south, attacked scattered encampments in the Negeb, and collected considerable booty in men and animals.
The herem was obligatory, at least in principle, because of Schmuel's orders given in YAHWEH's name. The soldiers, of course, interpreted it in their own way, and the Bible records how in fact it was observed. Saul and the army spared...the best of the sheep and cattle, the fatlings and Iambs, and a/I that was good. They did not want to put those under the ban; they only put under the ban what was poor and worthless. It was an odd procedure, but probably quite common. Even so, to eastern eyes it was a sacrilegious act.
Victory was complete: the Amalekites were either killed or scattered.
SAUL'S CAMPAIGNS
After the first campaign against the Ammonites (map), Saul starting from Gibeah, his capital, was in personal charge of the following six expeditions: 1. Against the Philistines to the west. 2. Against Moab to the east.3 Against Ammon to the east. 4. Against Edom to the south. Against Zobah (?) to the north 6. Lastly, in the extreme south, against the Amalekites.
5 Amalek: the eponymous ancestor of the Amalekite tribe: their king at this period was Agag. Anathema = in Hebrew: herem. In remote periods, and throughout the East this word was used to express the complete destruction by the victor, not only of the enemy people, but also of everything they owned. Before battle, and as an appeal for the tribal god's personal concern in their victory, he was promised the allotment of all the booty. Men, women and children, domestic animals and the flocks, were all slaughtered without exception. Towns and their houses were burnt and pulled down stone by stone. Only the precious metals were saved, and after purification by fire, deposited in the treasury of the god who had granted this great triumph. Naturally no personal looting of any kind by the soldiers was allowed: the least infringement of this set apart labour was visited by the most serious social catastrophes. During Yahshua Ben Nun's 'conquest of the Promised Land; we see the application of this herem. But it was probably not so frequently applied as the Scriptures, with their tendency to epic exaggeration, imply.
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