Special
Sabbath - Shabbat Zachor - Sabbath of Remembrance.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19, 1 Samuel 15:1-34.
Shabbat
Zachor:
Deuteronomy
25:17-19.
17 . Destroy the Amalekites. .
Remember what Amalek did to you by
the way as you came forth out of Egypt;
18 how he met you by the way, and struck the
hindmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary;
and he didn’t fear ELOHIM!
19 Therefore it shall be, when YHWH your ELOHIM
has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which YHWH
your ELOHIM gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out
the memory of Amalek from under the sky; you shall not forget.
1
Samuel 15:1-34.
1 . Saul Spares King Agag. .
Samuel said to Saul, “YHWH sent me
to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to
the voice of the words of YHWH!
2 Thus says YHWH of Hosts, ‘I have marked that
which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he
came up out of Egypt.
3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy
all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant
and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4 Saul summoned the people, and numbered them
in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid
wait in the valley.
6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go
down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed
kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt.” So the
Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as
you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.
8 He took Agag the king of the Amalekites
alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the
best of the sheep, and of the cattle, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and
all that was good, and wouldn’t utterly destroy them: but everything that was
vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 . Saul Rejected as King. .
Then the word of YHWH came to
Samuel, saying,
11 “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be
king; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performed my
commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to YHWH all night.
12 Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the
morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he
set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to
Gilgal.”
13 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him,
“You are blessed by YHWH! I have performed the commandment of YHWH!”
14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating
of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the
Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to
sacrifice to YHWH your ELOHIM! We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will
tell you what YHWH has said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.”
17 Samuel said, “Though you were little in your
own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? YHWH anointed you
king over Israel;
18 and YHWH sent you on a journey, and said,
‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them
until they are consumed.’
19 Why then didn’t you obey the voice of YHWH,
but took the spoils, and did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH?”
20 Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the
voice of YHWH, and have gone the way which YHWH sent me, and have brought Agag
the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and
cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to YHWH your ELOHIM in
Gilgal.”
22 Samuel said, “Has YHWH as great delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the
word of YHWH, he has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I
have transgressed the commandment of YHWH, and your words, because I feared the
people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and
turn again with me, that I may worship YHWH!”
26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with
you; for you have rejected the word of YHWH, and YHWH has rejected you from
being king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned about to go away, Saul
grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
28 Samuel said to him, “YHWH has torn the
kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours
who is better than you.
29 Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor
repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned: yet please
honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back
with me, that I may worship YHWH your ELOHIM!”
31 So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul
worshiped YHWH!
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the
king of the Amalekites!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the
bitterness of death is past.”
33 Samuel said, “As your sword has made women
childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Samuel cut Agag in
pieces before YHWH in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up
to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
! ! End of Today’s Special TORAH Related Scriptures! Praise Yah! (HNV-yet version, in the public domain.)
Shabbat Zachor ("Sabbath [of] remembrance שבת
זכור) is the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19, describing the attack by Amalek, is recounted. There is a
tradition from the Talmud that Haman, the antagonist of the Purim story, was
descended from Amalek. The portion that is read includes a commandment to
remember the attack by Amalek, and therefore at this public reading both men
and women make a special effort to hear the reading.
From http://www.hebcal.com/holidays/shabbat-zachor
Read more from ou.org or Wikipedia