Posted on 10/14/2014 9:58:29 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
The first enemy that the former slave nation of Israel faced in their Exodus into the promised land, was Amalek. The Amalekites harassed the redeemed nation, attacking and slaying the weak, sick and elderly at the edges and rear of the procession of Israel. At Rephidim they openly opposed Israel,
Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.(Exodus 17:8-11)
The battle with Amalek would become a metaphor for all of Israel’s future military history. As long as Israel’s priest (Moses) made supplication, the nation was able to subdue the Amalekites. But as soon as Moses’ arms tired, the Amalekites prevailed. Eventually Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ hands and the victory was secured, for the time being.
The LORD told Moses that Amalek was a special enemy,one that would have to be resisted to the bitter end.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.(Exodus 17:14-16)
Moses reiterated this solemn promise in Deuteronomy when He reminded the congregation in the name of God of the cowardly,murderous, terror tactics of the Amalekites.
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.(Deuteronomy 25:17-19)
Amalek, was the grandson of Esau through a concubine. True to the word of Exodus 17, the future of Israel would feature a constant, on and off struggle against Amalek. Remember Saul being commanded by God through the prophet Samuel to utterly wipe out every single Amalekite?
Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.(1 Samuel 15:1-3)
But Saul rejected the Word of God,waxing humanistic, meeting the King of the Amalekites and sparing he and his court. The Amalekites that Saul spared in the name of “tender mercy” turned and ale him according to one of the accounts of Saul’s death.
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.( I Sam 15:8-9)
This is the situation we find ourselves in today, confusion about Islam is similar to Saul’s confusion about Amalek, He thought there were “moderate Amalekites” , he didn’t realize that God said to utterly resist all Amalekites. Saul didn’t have the stomach to resist evil utterly, calling an Amalekite an Amalekite, very similarly to our efete leadership, which is so careful to try to distinguish good Islam from bad Islam.*
Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.( I Samuel 15:32-33) Notice Agag's Taqiya? Pretending that the scourge of dah was over? Don't kid yourself, Agag would have slit Saul and Samuel's throat if given a chance!
When the children of Israel were still wandering in the desert,an Arab King paid a witch named Balaam to curse them. Balaam tried to from three different “high places” but soon found his witchcraft was powerless against this nation.Every time he went forth to “seek auguries” as the pagan witches would do, the Word of the Lord came to Him personally, and out came ever increasing blessings upon Israel.
Finally after being fired by the King, Balaam, still in the Spirit of the Lord commanded the King to “be still and hear what this people would do to your people in the last days”. He predicted the rise of Israel, the coming of the Messiah, the Assyrian and eventually the Roman conquest of th levant and the crushing of the AntiChrist and of the “Sons of Tumult”. Among other things he pronounced doom on Amalek as being Israel’s last enemy, doomed to destruction.
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.(Numbers 24:17-20)
What is interesting about all of these nations is that they are again in the news (ISIS,ISIL,Syria,Jordan,Lebanon…)and are bitter ,inveterate enemies of Israel, and all united by religion, ISLAM.
I recommend an interesting book, ANTICHRIST;The Search For Amalek by a new friend RC Morro. I don’t endorse every point he made but the book is intriguing and makes you think.
* I am not calling for the slaughter of all Muslims, just the clear recognition that Islam is Islam, there is no ‘moderate version’ of it. The Prophet Samuel suffered from no such ability, He knew evil when he saw it, and hated it!
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Over here, humble.
CC
They gladly supply aid and concealment for the MURDERERS that walk amongst them.
We’re paying the price for Saul’s disobedience still. Then there was Esther, for such a time.
“What is interesting about all of these nations is that they are again in the news (ISIS,ISIL,Syria,Jordan,Lebanon…)”
News headlines make for poor Biblical exegesis.
IMO.
Good topic. Our current Sunday School passage is the book of Esther, Haman the Agagite (Amalekite) is her foe, unbeknownst to him. I wonder about the Palestine Authority today —
Sheth was the only son conceived with Adam's "likeness" I wonder just what was Sheths' wrongdoing that all his descendents should be perished
Jewish versions do not usually translate ‘karkar’ here as ‘destroy’. The meaning is to uproot or overturn the rule of the nations.
Thank you
I was just thinking about something in the bible like this and couldn’t remember what it was.
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