HEBREW WORD STUDY – AN ANNOYANCE – AMALEK – עמלק

Deuteronomy 25:17 “Remember what Amalek did unto you by the way, when you came forth out of Egypt;”

I was sort of taken aback when I read this verse.  What the Amalekites did to Israel was horrible. The children of Israel had just escaped from the Egyptians, crossed the Red Sea and they barely had a chance to breathe when they were attacked by the Amalekites.  The Amalekites took advantage of their vulnerabilities, their weakness from years of slavery, their lack of experience in warfare and literally slaughtered their most innocent, those lagging behind who were the elderly, sickly and children. 

It is generally believed that Amalek was the grandson of Esau from whom Jacob stole the birthright.  Little is given as to why there was enmity between the Children of Israel and the Amalekites but it is believed that the hatred Esau had for his brother Jacob was passed down from generation to generation and the Amalekites were the sworn enemies of the Children of Israel.  Hamon the villain in the story of Esther was an Amalekite and was noted for his hatred of the Hebrew people and his plot to exterminate them. 

What is baffling is that God seems to be telling the people of Israel to note forget the evil things that the Amalekites did to them.  That is like asking Israel to not forget the crimes of Hitler and the Nazis, like do they really need God to command them to do this?   

Is it really the crimes of the Amalekites that God was commanding the Children of Israel to remember?  What about the idea of love and forgiveness?   Isn’t that what God is all about?  Now we seem to have an angry God who is telling Israel to remember these dirty little varmints and once you have your act together, go get ‘em. 

There are many rabbis who think God is not commanding Israel to remember the crimes of the Amalekites but the lesson of the Amalekites.   That lesson is found in the word Amalekite itself.  The word Amalekite comes from the root word Amalek which means an annoyance, a vexation.  Now keep in mind this command came within the context of having come off a great victory when God defeated the Egyptians at the Red Sea.  They were relieved, joyful, cheerful, and their faith in God was at its highest point, they were expressing complete faith in God and then the Amalekites attacked and their balloon of faith was popped.   

Why does Scripture say to remember Amalek and not the Amalekites?   Perhaps the sages understood some of the finer points of Scripture that we as Christians fail to understand. Last Tuesday our Hebrew 101 class studied the Gematria.  The recording of that class is on our All Access site for you who are members. As an encouragement to our class let’s take a look at the Gematria for answers.  If you look at the numerical value of the word Amalek (Ayi=70, Mem=40, Lamed=30, Qop=100) you find it totals 240.  The word safek (Samek=60, Pei=80, Oop=100) also has a value of 240. Safek is the Hebrew word for doubt.  This is the crime of Amalek that the Children of Israel was to remember, not the deeds. The Children of Israel had no problem remembering this and God’s command to forgive never changed, but what He did command Israel to remember is how the Amalekites were able to cast doubt on their faith.  They were to remember that there would always be an Amalek around, sometimes it may even be your own kin as were the descendants of Israel’s great Uncle Esau, who will always be ready to trip you up, call your faith into question, attack you when you are most vulnerable and most important will hit you right after a great victory.

That command to remember Amalek applies to all of us.  Do you have an Amalek in your life; maybe it is a member of your own family or is it a member of the family of God?   Is there an Amalek in your own church who will attack from behind, when you least expect it?   We are to always remember that no matter how great our victory in God, how strong our faith is in God, the stronger our faith, the greater the Amalek will be that the enemy will raise up to destroy that faith.   We must always remember that the enemy is out to destroy our faith and he will rise up an Amalek, sometimes after our greatest victory in faith to destroy that newly strengthened faith.   

God commands us to remember Amalek, remember that even at your most spiritual high point, after you have crossed the Red Sea, the enemy will send an Amalek to bring your faith down.