When considering what Scripture says of Amalek we should keep in mind what Paul has written in Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” It is indeed comforting for us to see how God took account of the hatred of Amalek, and of every other nation, that sought the harm of the people He had chosen for Himself, and that the victory of His people rested with Him when they relied on Him.
The first mention in Scripture of Amalek is in Genesis 14:7, where the warring kings “smote all the country of the Amalekites.” This early mention seems to show that the Amalekites were not the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau (Gen. 36:12), unless the Scripture was indicating the land that would afterwards be occupied by the seed of Eliphaz. Again, all the descendants of Esau seem to be called Edomites in God’s word.
Amalek Fought with Israel
Amalek’s attack on Israel was unprovoked, but he evidently hated the people of God who had come so near his territory. from Numbers 24:20 we learn that “Amalek was the first of the nations,” a place of supremacy that had been secured by natural power and skill and long before Israel had become a nation. God had, in His sovereignty, chosen Israel to “become a great and mighty nation” above all the nations of the earth (Gen. 18:18), and here was Amalek, the man after the flesh, who had made himself great, resenting the intrusion of a people that God had chosen for Himself (Ex. 17).
Joshua, as instructed by Moses, led the chosen men in the conflict of the wilderness, while Moses interceded with God on the hill above. The enemy had to be met with the sword, but the outcome of the battle was in the hands of Jehovah, the God of Israel, so Moses was on the hill before God, with the priestly support of Aaron, and of Hur, whose name means noble, or purity. We too have to meet the man after the flesh in our conflict as passing through the wilderness on our way to God. Like Israel, we have one who intercedes above (Rom. 8:34), but we too have to meet the enemy with the sword that God has provided for us.
In Exodus 17:13 it is written, “And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” Here Amalek is distinguished from this people, as if Amalek personified the leader of this movement against Israel, and his people were those under his authority. If this is so, it may be that Satan is here typified as the adversary of God’s people, and that the people of Amalek set forth man after the flesh, or as Scripture puts it, “they that are after the flesh” and that “mind the things of the flesh” (Rom. 8:5).
Because of Amalek’s attack on His people, Jehovah said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book…for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”, but it was not to be immediately, for after building an altar, and calling it “Jehovah-nissi”, Moses said, “the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:14–16). This divine declaration assures the ultimate end of Amalek, and it is confirmed in Numbers 24:20, “his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.” Balaam’s prophecy looks on to the end, and it is then the final judgment of God on Amalek will take place.
Moses did not forget what Amalek did to Israel, for he said “Remember what Amalek did…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…thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it” (Deut. 25:17–19). Satan, and man after the flesh, who is under his authority, seeks the destruction of God’s people, and specially assails the feeble and the weak.
Saul and Amalek
When king Saul took over the kingdom of Israel, he made a promising start, fighting against his enemies on every side, including Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; “and he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them” (1 Sam. 14:47-48). He seemed to be just the instrument to carry out the judgment of the Lord against Amalek. This indeed was the commission given to him from the Lord through Samuel, “Thus says 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 them” (15:1–3).
Saul gathered a great army to execute God’s judgment, and caused the Kenites to depart from among Amalek lest they should be destroyed. Then “Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword” (verses 4–8). Besides sparing Agag, Saul and his army spared “the best of the sheep, and of the oxen…but everything that was vile they destroyed utterly” (verse 9). It evidently was a small matter to Saul that God’s word had not been obeyed to the letter, but it was a solemn matter with God, and it cost Saul his kingdom (verses 10–23).
Samuel was quite a different person to Saul, for when Agag the king of Amalek was brought before him, he hewed him “in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal” (verses 32, 33). Agag might come “delicately” but Samuel saw his true character as an adversary of God’s people upon whom the judgment of God lay. It is a solemn consideration that when God executed His judgment upon Saul, that the king who had spared Agag the king of Amalek, himself died at the hand of an Amalekite (2 Sam.1:7–10).
David and Amalek
While fleeing from Saul, David had gone among the Philistines for refuge, and had received Ziklag from Achish, king of Gath, and while there had raided the Amalekites (1 Sam. 27:5–9). Soon after, when David was absent from Ziklag, the Amalekites had raided Ziklag, and burned it with fire, taking David’s wives, and the wives and children of his men captive. Having consulted Jehovah, David and his men pursued the Amalekites, and slaughtered them, bringing back all that had been taken from Ziklag, with the spoil of those he had slain.
Although not having received a commandment to slay the Amalekites, David had answered to the word of Jehovah and of Moses, that Israel were not to forget what Amalek did to Israel at the time of their leaving Egypt for the land of promise. David was seeking the recovery of what he and his men had lost at Ziklag, but the Lord used this raid to execute His judgment on those who hated and sought the harm of His people. In David’s day the Amalekites were among the nations he subdued, and whose spoil he dedicated to the Lord (2 Sam. 8:11-12).
Simeon and Amalek
When David slaughtered the Amalekites after their raid on Ziklag, only four hundred young men escaped (1 Sam. 30:17), so that it seemed that only a small remnant of them survived. In the days of king Hezekiah, it would seem that this remnant of Amalek had escaped and dwelt at mount Seir, the home of the Edomites, for in 1 Chronicles 4:43 it is recorded that some of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, having captains who are named, went to mount Seir, “And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day.” It was getting late in the history of Judah, and just about the time that the ten tribes were being led captive, but this remnant of Simeon were used of the Lord to carry out His will in relation to Amalek. It is never too late for God’s people, no matter how difficult the days, and how great the weakness, to seek His mind, and to do His will.
Haman and Mordecai
From the reading of 1 Chronicles 4:43 we might have thought that not one Amalekite was left, and that the judgment of God that had been prophesied by Balaam in Numbers 24:20 had been completely executed, but it was not so, for even when Israel and Judah were in captivity we read of an Amalekite, “Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite” (Esther 3:1), occupying a very exalted place in the palace of King Ahasuerus, the ruler of the Medes and Persians, whose rule extended “from India even unto Ethiopia” (Esther 1:1). The same hatred and murderous spirit that marked Amalek when Israel came out of Egypt was found in Haman so long after.
Mordecai the Jew, knowing what God had said of Amalek, refused to reverence or bow the knee to Haman, and this excited the malice of the proud Agagite, so that he determined to get rid of the whole Jewish nation. In so doing, Haman challenged the God of Israel, and there could only be one answer to this. God’s Name is not used in the Book of Esther, but we see His government in action, securing the downfall of Haman, and his destruction upon the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. The sons of this exalted Amalekite also perished as Israel was delivered from Haman’s edict of destruction.
Amalek at the Close
We might have thought that what God had said of Amalek in Exodus 17, “I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek under heaven,” had been carried out with the destruction of Haman and his sons, but Amalek is still alive, and may be found among the so-called Arab tribes surrounding Palestine today. The intelligent Christian will have no difficulty in seeing that Psalm 83 looks on to the close of the present dispensation, when Israel will be assailed by the nations around.
In our day, Israel has again assumed nationhood in the promised land, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 18, and even now we hear the words of this psalm used by the Arab nations, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verse 4). The spirit of Haman is alive today, and the words of this psalm, spoken today, will be repeated at the end, if not continually repeated until the end.
Those who use these words in hatred of Israel “have taken crafty counsel against God’s ancient people,” and “have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against Thee” (verses 3, 5). Then the nations united in their determination to be rid of Israel are named, Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; and giving strength to the confederation is Assyria. The ancient foes of Israel are all united, and Amalek is found among them. Amalek is but one of the group, not having the prominent place it once held as “the first of the nations,” but there to receive its final judgment at the hands of the Lord at His coming.
God’s judgment, so clearly pronounced so long ago, on Amalek, for their hatred and assault on His beloved people, must be carried out, as it will assuredly be on all His enemies. Satan too, and the man after the flesh who has come under his authority, will also be judged, the final judgment of Satan being in the lake of fire for ever, and of the man after the flesh at the great white throne. Already God has exposed and judged man after the flesh in the cross of Christ (Rom. 6:6), but the remembrance of the flesh will be blotted out, and have no place in God’s eternal day.
R. 5.2.70