A sermon by Mike Woodruff (Lake Forest, IL) on 1 Sam. 15 and the question of the Amalekites: There comes a time in most everyone’s life when they realize that they just are not as good as they thought they were. They are not as fast or as strong as they imagined, not as smart or as popular or whatever. For people who coast through high school, reality sets in during their first year at college. For some who coast through college, reality sets in during their first year of gra

Taken from Dr. Constable’s notes on Deuteronomy: “The ceremonial custom of boiling a kid in its mother’s milk is known from the ancient Canaanite tablets found at Ugarit [i.e., the Ras Shamra Tablets]. Such a rite was superstitiously observed by the Canaanites, hoping that through magical acts they could increase fertility and productivity (14:21; Ex. 23:19; 34:26).” 161 “. . . various Canaanite cults regularly engaged in the practices of seething a kid in its mother’s milk a

i was going through this in devotions this morning.  What does it mean?  Context helps us here: In Deuteronomy 14 the broad context is what does it mean to take the Lord’s name (be a part of His people) and not do that in vain.  Both in Deuteronomy 14 and Exo. 23 the immediate context is on tithing.  Giving back to the Lord his due. The picture also helps.  The mother’s milk would be the sustenance provided for the kid as well as for the family.  The kid is itself a picture o