Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com. He was the youngest son of his father Joash and part of the smallest family in Manasseh, which was not exactly the dominant tribe in Israel. So God sends Gideon and his servant Purah down into the camp of the Midianites and Amalekites to scout it out. Anyone who acts this way today is from the seed of Amalek., The commandment isnt to conquer Amalek. Answer (1 of 7): Amalekites are mixed with the edomites or the descendents of Esau, which in the bible is called the ruddy red faced hairy one (white People) They are who the lord calls the fake Jews! Haman was probably a descendant . First, God has Gideon invite anyone who is afraid to take off, no questions asked. Sorry, none of that last paragraph is true. Follow Christ's journey to the Cross. All are driven by jealousy. In Esther, the Jew-hating Haman is called "the Agagite" (Esther 3:1). Amalek resides in our society. Deuteronomy 25:19 ESV. By the time he catches up with the enemy, there are only 15,000 left of the 135,000 who had originally gone to war against Israel. Consequently, anti-Semitism is in full vogue. The police are warning that this week marks 40 days after Mugniyah was killed in Syria an event that Hizbollah attributes to Israel and are on high alert for revenge attacks on Israel. His economy is crashing but he doesnt care. More metaphorically, to some Hasidic rabbis (particularly the Baal Shem Tov), Amalek represents atheism or the rejection of God. So CAIR, a terrorist-linked group goes from influencing the War College to influencing Congress. Yet, the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis (MBR) joined forces with the Hamas front group CAIR. This is not a normal occurrence. [48], A few authorities have ruled that the command never included killing Amalekites. Even the world of sports is being corrupted. They reject discussion and other opinions. - Amalek & Israel - Land & People - The Amalekites & the Kenites - In the Aggadah Amalek and Israel 4 [Dec., 1969], 104-111). David pursued the Amalekites, defeated all but four hundred of them, and took back all that had been stolen (1 Samuel 30:17-20). The angel touches it with his staff and fire consumes the whole meal, at which point Gideon believes. However, this will most certainly be the beginning of the end, if Jews stoop to the level of Amalek and attack those weaker than us, without the pretext and rules of war. For less than $5/mo. He said that he has a tradition from the Gaon of Vilna that the Germans are the descendants of Amalek (Horowitz, p. 428). For Sauls failure to fulfill completely the divine command, Samuel announced to the monarch the Lords rejection of him as king (1 Sam 15:10-23). Amalek was the grandson of Esau whose descendants became a nation infamous for attacking the Hebrews after they came out of Egypt. Some have made the connection that Sadaam Hussein and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran (modern Persia), are also descendants of Agog and Amalek and given what they want(ed) to do to the Jews and where they come from, it would come as no surprise if there was ever biological evidence to support this. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites . In short, Saul fights them, David defeats them, and Solomon sets them to forced labor. This was because Haman was considered to be an Amalekite although this label is more likely to be symbolic rather than literal.[33][34][35]. As enumerated by Maimonides, the three mitzvot state: 598 Deut. So God sets about decimating Gideons army to make sure nobody can claim they did it on their own without Gods help. Later, Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah, and Hagar and Ishmael were driven away because of Ishmael's attitude toward Isaac ( Genesis 21:9-10, 14 ). Moses sits on a hill overlooking the battlefield, holding his staff (the one God turned into a snake). Perhaps the greatest lesson of the stories of Israel and Amalek is that Gods commands are followed even by sand and storm and time itself. Also connect with us for sale and purchase of websites. According to the Bible, Amalek was the son of Eliphaz (himself the son of Esau, ancestor of the Edomites) and Eliphaz's concubine Timna. Which must have been a weird dream for them, and an even weirder interpretation, but their conversation encourages Gideon. Oh yeah? Moreover, a pogrom recently occurred in Fairfax, Los Angeles as the people proudly held up Black Lives Matter signs. The holiday where Queen Esther saved the Jewish people of Persia from being wiped out by the wicked Haman. Many prosperous people will join in for the greatest jealousy is of virtue, and even the rich and famous are infested with it. They were nomads as a people dwelling in that tract would naturally be. The etymology is uncertain, according to John L. McKenzie (1995), while Cox (1884) suggested "High." 1 Sam 31:3-5; 2 Sam 1:4-10) was killed by David because he had slain the Lords anointed king (1:14-16), and also had confessed he was an Amalekite (1:8, 13). The Amalekites had their origin within the Edomites, being descendants of Esau. He allied with the Amalekites, of course, as well as the Ammonites (Judges 3:1214). It is a time of merriment, celebration, and partying. Certainly Jews in the US have traditionally been supportive of those who suffered from discrimination. An angel and a miraculously burnt feast werent enough. Only if they refuse must they be physically killed. Thursday evening marks the holiday of Purim. Thus, abruptly, ends the story of Amalek in Scripture; we never see them again. Based on when it happens to fall this year, the holiday will last for a full three days in Jerusalem. The district over which they ranged was south of Judah and probably extended into northern Arabia. Zogby saw the power of framing Israelis as 'white oppressors' of innocent, indigenous, darker-skinned Palestinians. Exodus 17:14-16 ESV. In an ideal time, it should be an extended party that would make any frat boy jealous! This is borne out by Judges 12:15 where the area of Ephraim around the town Pirathon (not far from present-day Nablus) is called the hill country of the Amalekites. See 1 Samuel 27:5-7 and 30:1 for the fact that Amalek raided Philistine towns like Ziklag (a few m. N of Beersheba) which Achish, king of Gath, had given to David. After all, we survived! And therefore, God commanded the Israelites to wipe out the memory of Amalek. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. At the same time, an extremist rabbi has called for revenge attacks on Arabs, a protest of right-wing settlers turned into an attempt to bring down the home of the Mercaz HaRav terrorist, and a prominent Haredi rabbi, known for his legal decisions, issued a ruling that yeshivot (learning centers) have to fire the Arabs working for them, and already the ruling has begun being followed. "Amalek from Generation to Generation." The Amalekite people are the epitome of evil. When some men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who exercised some control over the Negeb and the area of Hebron, presumably they also came in contact with the Amalekites who roamed the same general area. [45] According to Haggahot Maimuniyyot, the commandment applies only in the future messianic era and not in present times; this limitation is almost a consensus among medieval authorities. Verses 8-16. Thus the people of Amalek lived on, to continue to torment the Jews for generations. Finally they flee, and Gideon, with his tiny little force, pursues. [8] One modern scholar believes this attests to Amalek's high antiquity,[9] while traditional commentator Rashi states: "He came before all of them to make war with Israel". Therefore, when Hashem your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that Hashem your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com. When God in judgment withdrew His hand of blessing and ordered them to go back S into the wilderness (14:1-25), the people again disobeyed God, and with their own feeble effort attacked the Amalekites. Judaism, which is based on the chesed (loving kindness) of Abraham, is intellect over emotions., Amalek: Leading the Nations to Hate Israel. In particular, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin have defended a literal reading of these passages at length. The following individuals want to make Klein a pariah. However, some other genealogies point out at a . Unlike the statements by Young Israel and the Agudah, the Orthodox Union failed to even address the attacks on synagogues. 4. Exodus 17 describes Israels first encounter with the wandering Amalekites at Rephidim, a place between the wilderness of Sin and the wilderness of Sinai (Exod 17:1; 19:2), at which the Israelites camped in their Exodus journey from Egypt. The elders talk about them all the time, but none of them seem to be recent, Rather than being offended, the angel claps him on the back, laughs uproariously3, and says, Yes! Whoever goes in the ways of Amalek will most certainly be wiped out., Amalek: Preventing the Jews From Settling Israel. 1 Amalek grew up in Esau's household, imbibing Esau's pathological hatred of Jacob's descendants along the way. When they cry ceasefire, it is just like in the Ten Plagues when Pharaoh was stubborn until he got a plague, relented, and then returned to being stubborn until the next plague. Since the time of King Saul, the Jews have faced many Amaleks, set out for our destruction. Different people can embody that concept. Although he scalded himself, he succeeded to make others think that it was cooler than it really was. It has prophecy, judges, betrayal, war, trickeration, some David-and-Goliath, a youngest son, family squabbles, a twist ending (wait for it), and even a bit of rags-to-riches. Not only that, but the Amalekites continued to be a thorn in Israel's side throughout their history. But theres a slight twist here that changes the course of Israels history. So Saul gathers 210,000 soldiers and crushes Amalek and captures their king, Agag. Though the Amalekites are not mentioned in the table of nations in Genesis 10, in Numbers 24:20 they are referred to as "first among the nations." Genesis 36 refers to the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau, as Amalekites (verses 12 and 16). Near the beginning of this period, King Eglon of Moab ruled Israel for eighteen years. b.c. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amalekites, JewishEncyclopedia.com - Amalek, Amalekites, Amalekites - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The Amalekites refer to a shifting collection of tribes throughout Biblical history, so they never had enough cultural identity to leave records. See how the latest updates in Jerusalem and the world are connected to the prophecies we read in the Bible. They need to tempt death to confirm that they are living. Like Ben Artzi, many rabbis throughout Jewish history have conjectured as to the identity of Amalek with the title frequently being placed on the worst enemies of the Jews. See 1 Samuel 15:7 where Saul is said to have defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. This seems to have been the same general area inhabited by the Ishmaelites about whom it is stated: They dwelt from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria (Gen 25:18). The RSV in Judges 5:14 wrongly changes the words in Amalek to into the valley, although that v. indicates in a footnote that the Heb. [13] However, it is possible that some of the fortified settlements in the Negev highlands and even Tel Masos (near Beer-sheba) have Amalek connections. This can be compared to a bathtub of boiling water into which no living creature could descend. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill . They lived north of Kadesh-barnea in the Negeb desert in the southern part of Palestine, with their tributary camps radiating out into the Sinai Peninsula and northern Arabia. That is why Amalek and those who go in his way simply cannot bear the sight of Israel.. . And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. That does not make them from Amalek but it is a trait of Amalek., Amalek wants life to be forfeit. They encamp just across the river. [7] In the oracle of Balaam, Amalek was called the 'first of the nations'. In it, he referred to Hamas as the seed of Amalek.. The story we remind ourselves of each year, by reading Parshah Zachor, is that of the attack of the Amalekites, who are the descendants of Eliphaz, son of Esau (the patriarch Jacob's brother and sworn enemy) and his concubine Timna. Matthew George Easton advocated that the Amalekites were not descendants of Amalek by taking a literal approach to Genesis 14:7. In the light of Amaleks past harassment of Israel the Lord commanded Saul to exterminate this enemy (1 Sam 15:1-3). Rabbi Dayan paraphrased Rabbi Moshe Charlap, a leader in the religious Zionist movement of the first half of the 20th century. 25:19 Not to forget Amalek's atrocities and ambush on our journey from Egypt in the desert, Some commentators have discussed the ethical deficiency of the commandment to exterminate all the Amalekites, especially including the command to kill children, and the presumption of collective punishment. When Gideon and Purah get back, the Israelites return to the camp of Midian and Amalek armed with the ancient near east equivalent of flash-bangs: jars of clay, trumpets, and torches. Joshua and Caleb scout out the promised land and identify its inhabitants, which include Amalek (Numbers 13:29), and God turns them away from that land and into the wilderness (Numbers 14:25). Consider the never ending virtue signaling that businesses, schools, and Hollywood proudly demonstrate while displaying no understanding of the irony [emphasis mine] of it all. Gideon obeys, but he does it at night because hes afraid of the townspeople; they find out immediately the next day anyway. They spread out around the camp, and on Gideons signal, they all smash their jars and blow their trumpets and light their torches and yell! Thus, in 1 Samuel 15:3, it was considered necessary to destroy the livestock in order to destroy Amalek.[28]. In the Beginning. [52]John Gill also describes the cherem as an example of the law of retaliation being carried out. To obey is better than sacrifice, he says, and, Because you [Saul] have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you form being king (1 Samuel 15:2223). ", As Mark Alexander writes "[b]ut today, the ability of Americans to discern 'between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice,' is being systematically eroded by leftist politicos, in collusion with their 24/7 Left media and Big Tech enablers, relentlessly seeking to empower the state.". Saul not only fails to kill Agag, but he also keeps all the best livestock alive and takes it for himself. Some commentators explain this as a reference to the territory which was later on inhabited by the Amalekites. Evidently the Amalekites had some cities, as this one, in which they sometimes settled, and possibly fulfilled religious obligations as has been shown was the case of nomadic tribes in the Trans-Jordan in connection with a 15th cent.