The Battle of the Amalekites

This week we take a look at the battle of the Amalekites after Israel came out of Egypt. We take a look at who the Amalekites were and where they came from. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello and welcome to a pastor redemption of the podcast. My name is Daniel Rona, and just remember this simple truth. The Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. Once again, I hope that you've had a great week. I hope that you've had time to spend with the Lord in prayer and also in his word. Again, I cannot stress this enough. Make sure that we are putting in the work, that we are fostering our relationship with Jesus Christ. I know I say it every single week, but I'm telling you, it is even more important. You know, even at the time of this recording, right now, we're seeing um that the province of Quebec in Canada has actually outlawed public uh prayer. And that's for any religion. It's not just Christianity, but that includes Muslims, that includes uh anyone. Um and it's just outland it outlawed it because it's a secular government that's been elected, and secularism was uh was on the docket, and and they're gonna continue to push it. And you know, that continues on with some issues that are going on here in Canada. Um, but at the end of the day, though, for us, we still have to to be as Daniel was in Babylon and and make sure that we are still praying, regardless of what the cost may be, or as the the the three Hebrew children there. I think that the story of Daniel and the story of the of Shatterak, Meshach, and Abednego actually provides us a really good template because, you know, particularly with Shadrach and Ameshach and Abednego, because they said as the as uh the king was going to throw them into the into the fire, into the fiery furnace, what they say is that look, you know, king, you can you can throw us in there. Our God may deliver us, and our God may not deliver us, but regardless, we are not going to bow down to you. And I think that we're gonna have to have that same attitude um in the the years coming in ahead as well. Just with all the things that are happening, if you follow the financial industry, there's there's things going on there. Um, there's just a lot going on that's setting up for a beast system and for the Antichrist to come to power and to fruition. So um just make sure that there's a lot of teaching out there, there's a lot of false teaching out there, there's a lot of people that are misguided, um, a lot of people that frankly don't know scripture, um, that are out there teaching about the things that are happening, the things that are going on, or they're saying, you know, the Lord told me this, and and all of this stuff. Just remember, it's kind of a public service announcement. If it does not line up with the Bible, throw it out. The Bible is the written word of God, it is infallible, it is what every single revelation and word needs to be benched up, benchmarked against. If it does not line up with scripture, please, please, please throw it out. It's really, really important that we understand that because there's going to be so much confusion coming. And the the issue is going to be is that we're not going to know what the truth is, and and frankly, we're we're still there, but we know who the truth is, and that is Jesus Christ. Um, so just make sure that you're you're doing that, studying to show yourself approved in the scripture and understanding what it is. So last week we talked about the Canaanite Wars with Jacob, and this week we are going to look at the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. We'll look at where it took place and why. Um, and before we kind of get in there, I would suggest going back to and listening to season six of this podcast. Uh the section on Exodus as a foreshadow. I addressed some of the background uh of this from the perspective of the Israelites and how they got there. Um, but tonight we're gonna look at this a little differently. Um, we're gonna look at the battle from the perspective of who the enemy was, the land that they were on, and what God's judgment was about it is gonna be kind of our our focus here. But before we get there, um just remember all of our uh scripture comes from the New King James Bible. If you'd like a copy of a New King James Bible, feel free to drop me a note at path toenemptionohio at gmail.com. More than happy to get one into your hands. Also, my book's outgrace abounds. If you'd like a copy of that, feel free to drop me a note at path to redemptionohio at gmail.com. Again, more than happy to get one over to you. Um still waiting to hear on the distribution of my uh my the first book in the trilogy, which is Iniquity. Um still waiting to hear about that as soon as that becomes available. I will be sure to let you all know. Um, you'll be able to find it on on Amazon, uh Barnes and Noble in those places as well. So um just uh something to to remember and and I'll let you know as soon as that's available. And then finally, once again, as always, do not take my word for it. As I kind of talked about already, make sure you're studying to show yourself approved unto God. Make sure you are the one putting in the work. Make sure that you are understanding what scripture is and do not do not be tossed about by every whim of doctrine. I tell you, I practice everything that I preach. That's a principle that the Lord has given me a long time ago. I truly believe everything that I teach. Um, and if I don't, and I tell you, well, I'm not sure if this is true or if this is historically accurate, I will tell you that context, as I'm sure that you've heard. So, um, but just make sure that you are putting in that work as well. So, with all of that, let's go ahead and jump in. Exodus 17, 8 through 16 says, Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill, and so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and her supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this firm memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name the Lord is my banner, for he said, Because the Lord has sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. So here's some perspective here. Again, the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt. They were going to Mount Sinai in order to worship God, and we know the law would come down at that point, and all the things that happened there. But I want to give you a little bit of perspective here. So they were actually in the Sinai Peninsula. While a portion of the Sinai Peninsula is included in the inheritance of Abraham, the portion that they were actually in, which is just north of Mount Sinai, is actually not part of the inheritance of Israel. Um it was a place that God wanted to lead them out to talk with them. Um there's actually scripture in Hosea that actually talks about this, how he will lead us into the wilderness in order to to speak to us and and those things. It's a fascinating scripture, and that's kind of what God was doing here. He was leading in leading them into the wilderness and ultimately so that he could talk to them. So it could be just them and him without anything else or anyone else really to sit and be in that area. So here you have then these Amalekites that are coming down to fight them in the wilderness when God really wants to talk to them. So let's first talk about who Amalek was and his descendants. Amalek was a descendant of Esau. Genesis 36, 10 through 12 says, and this is the genealogy of Esau, the father of the Edomites, and Mount Seir. These were the names of Esau's sons, Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau, and Reul, the son of Basamath, the wife of Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Timon, Omar, Zepho, Godam, and Kines. Now Timna and was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Ada, Esau's Esau's wife. Now, I want to pause there for a second, okay? Because notice that Amalek was the son of the concubine, not a son of one of the wives. So it's a little different here, but we know that Esau, and especially the descendants of Esau, hated Israel. And how do we know that? And because we'll just read through scripture, right? I mean, they're constantly in fights, they're constantly in battles. Um, if you read the book of Jasher and you believe that, Zepho actually has a personal vendetta and war against all of Israel, which we'll we'll talk about at some point. Um, but understand that Esau hated Israel, hated Israel. So the Edomites and them have always been at battle. And so how do we know that and that this was the same Amalek? And in Jasher 8152, it says, and when the children of Israel were in Rephedim, Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, the brother of Zepho, came to fight with Israel. Um Josephus in Book 2 in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 2, chapter 2, verse 2, says he became the father of five sons, of whom Jaius and Jalamas and Corius were by one wife, whose name was Alabama, but of the rest Aliphaz was born to him by Ada, and Raguel by Basinmat, and these were the sons of Esau. Aliphaz had five legitimate sons, Themen, Omar, Saphas, Gotham, and Canaz, for Amalek was not legitimate, but by a concubine, whose name was Thamna. These dwelt in the land in the part of Idumea, which is called Gebalatus, and that is denominated from Amalek, Amalekitis. For Idumea was a large country and did then preserve the name of the whole, while in its several parts it kept the names of its particular and peculiar inhabitants. So understanding this, we know that they came from what would be Idomea or the land of Eden, Edom, I should say, um, which is Mount Seir, and that's the northernmost part of kind of the Arabian Peninsula towards the Dead Sea. There's a mountain range there, a mountainous region that's there that was divided up between the sons of Esau, but ultimately the provision that was made by God for Edom in that land. Now the Israelites were camped in Rephidim. Okay, again, this is in the Sinai Peninsula, southwest of where Mount Seir and was north of Mount Sinai. And this was the battle right before they were going to go and get the law. And I find this fascinating here, right? Because what ends up happening is that the Amalekites come down, they come down and attack them so that really to try and wipe them off the face of the planet, um, to make sure that they don't become a great nation, and really so that they really can't get the dispensation of the law, which shows us the character of God. Up until this point, though, the Lord had delivered them out of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, drowned Pharaoh's army, gave them manna from heaven, and gave them water from the rock. And now they're going to fight this enemy that would ultimately attack them in Amalek, even though they were not aggressive. So here's the other thing, too, is that they're not an army at this point. They are a bunch of freed slaves that the Lord had delivered, um, and they're walking in the wilderness, trying to go to Mount Sinai to worship the Lord, because that was the word of the Lord to them at that point in time. And God had not written his name in Jerusalem at that point yet. So you have this happening here, and now you have the Amalekites coming down to attack them. So the fact that the that Israel is going to get victory over here is another miracle that God does in the Exodus, um, because Lord knows that that had they had he not intervened, they would not have been able to defeat Amalek, given who they were and the fact that they weren't an army. Now they're gonna fight against this army that would attack them. And at some point, we know that the Amalekites would be a race of giants, and I personally believe that there was a second incursion into the lineage of Amalek, and and there's a whole host of reasons I believe that, but things I can't really get into for today. But they are ultimately drawn into the fight by the inhabitants of the land, and this is according to Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3, chapter 2, and verse 1. And this is what it says The name of the Hebrews began already to be everywhere renowned, and rumors about them ran abroad. Again, what do we just talk about? The things that the Lord did for the Hebrews, right? He delivered them out of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, drowned Pharaoh's army, gave them manna from heaven, gave them water from a rock. So all of these things happened, people are going to talk, all of that begins to spread around, and the rumors are abroad. And so Josephus goes on and says, This made the inhabitants of those countries to be induced the rest to do so, were such inhabited by Kabalatus and Petra. They were called Amalekites, and were the most warlike of the nations that lived thereabout, and whose kings exhorted one another and their neighbors to go to this war against the Hebrews, telling them that an army of strangers and such a one as had run away from slavery under it under the Egyptians, lay in wait to ruin them, which the all which army they were not, in common prudence and regard for their own safety to overlook, but to crush them before they gather strength and come to be in prosperity. And Protagus attacked them first in a hostile manner, as presuming upon our indolence and not attacking them before, and that we ought to avenge ourselves of them for what they have done in the wilderness. But that this cannot be so well done that they have once laid their hands on our cities and on our goods, that those who endeavor to crush a power in its first rise are wiser than those that endeavor to put a stop to its progress when it has become formidable. For these last seem to be angry only at the flourishing of others, but the former do not leave any room for their enemies to become troublesome to them. After they had sent such embassages to the neighboring nations and among one another, they resolved to attack the Hebrews in battle. So what we see here is we see that the neighbors that are in the wilderness of sin, that are in that Sinai Peninsula, okay. Hey, look, we're going to send emissaries, we're going to send ambassadors out to these regions, including Amalek, who, again, as the as Josephus puts it, they were called Amalekites, and they were the most warlike of the nations that live thereabout. So they're the most warlike. They're the ones that that are that can hopefully defeat the Israelites before they come to power, before they have some strength in them. And you know, we see what happens in the battle here, and I would encourage you again to go back and listen to those other episodes that I mentioned before. But God basically intervenes here and says, you know what, you can try to destroy them. And this isn't the first time that they've been tried to be destroyed either, right? And if you if you think about it, you had Pharaoh's army that was trying to be destroyed, they were trying to be destroyed in Egypt. And you had Pharaoh's army during the Red Sea event as well. Um, and then even the drought or the being in the desert couldn't stop them because they were given water from a rock and they were given bread from heaven, and then now they're coming up to their first battle. And and this is no different than a new Christian, right? If you think about the Exodus being a picture of salvation, and then the Red Sea experience being a picture of baptism, then God feeds them, God gives them water, lets them grow a little bit, and then it's time for their first major battle. And ultimately it's going to have to be God that that delivers them the same way it was here. But so you see who these people are. They're descendants of Esau, they're coming down from the mountain, they're going to put they're going to go into an area that did not belong to E to Israel, did not belong to the Edomites, it was not their land, and they're going to attack because they're trying to destroy the Jews before they have any power. Understand that they came out from uh from all from Egypt. In fact, they even go far as to say that they ran away from slavery under the Egyptians, which I when as I was reading that and studying this, I found that hilarious. And the reason I did was simply because you have all these tens of thousands of Israelites. How are tens of thousands of people going to be able to run away from the global empire at the time, which was Egypt? Uh, it's just not going to happen. So I found that that amazing that the Edomites would actually uh you know think to themselves, oh, that these people are actually runaway slaves. But the last part of this chapter is really key, and and it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this four memorial in the book and recount it in hearing of Joshua. They will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name the Lord is my banner, for he said, Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Now again, I want to put it into context what exactly what Amalek did. They attacked their brethren before they were an army, after coming out of bondage in Egypt. They attacked them in a land that did not belong to either group, and did so just because the others asked them and they wanted to utterly destroy the children of Israel. You know, and and as we take a look at this land, it it was very clear that the enemies of Israel, and I would include Satan in that too, never wanted them to get out of Egypt. If they were oppressed, if they never inherited the promised land, then you know what never gets established? A line of kings. And if there's not a line of kings established, then there's no Jesus Christ. If they can kill and destroy the Jews right out from the beginning, then guess what? There's no Jesus Christ. All of the promised land is a picture of really attaining of Jesus Christ and who the promise actually is. Yes, God promised Abraham, look, if you I will give you this land, I will give you this land, I will give you this land, and it will be yours, and it will be yours for your descendants. Yes, he promised all of that, but all the wandering that we do, all the things we do is for us to find Jesus Christ. That's really it. That's the ultimate promise here is the the promise of Jesus Christ and the rest that we get when we come into him, right? And but it doesn't mean that we're not going to be attacked. And I'm sorry, if someone told you that this Christian walk was going to be sunshine and roses the entire time, I'm sorry. They they told you that it they told you a lie, because it's not. And yeah, there's a Forrest Frank song that called Lemonade that I absolutely love. And in it he says, if everything's going great, then I must be doing something wrong. And I I truly believe that because I've seen that to be true in even in my own life. But you're Jesus said himself that in this world you will have tribulation. You will have trouble. There's no doubt about it, you're going to have trouble. Why? Because you're a human being, and that's what we do. Uh the book of Job, it says that man is just a few days out of the womb and full of trouble. That's what you're going to have. But then in that same verse in John 10, what Jesus says is that but but do not worry, because I have overcome the world. And that's the thing, is that he has overcome the world. So look, when Moses put his arms out and and God and he raised the staff of God up, and the moment that they that he began to worship the Lord, which is what he's doing, he's worshiping, because his hands are raised. And when you think about it in context of that, there was no possible way that they were going to lose that battle. But even more so, there wasn't a possible way for them to lose that battle because there is a God in heaven that had a purpose that he wanted to accomplish. So look, I know you're in a fight, I know you're in a battle, I know you're questioning things, I know that you're wondering where God is in the whole situation. I'm sure the Israelites were saying the same exact thing. Why do I have to go to war here outside of Rephedim? I'm not even in the promised land yet, and they're trying to come after me now. And we all get that way, and we all understand it. But here's the thing Jesus Christ has overcome the world. He has overcome it for you. Rest in him. Put your rest in him. Raise your hands and say, Thank you, Jesus. You don't have to do it in public setting, you don't have to do it in front of everyone. You can do it in your prayer closet or wherever you do that. But raise your hands and just say thank you, Jesus, because I put my faith and my trust in you. Because yes, I will have trouble. Yes, I will have tribulation, but you have overcome this world, and I know that you have me in your hands. And look, the moment you do that, you're gonna feel things wash away from you. You're gonna feel relief, and you're gonna triumph over whatever it is that you're facing, the exact same way that Joshua triumphed over that. And guess what? God did not take kindly to the way the Amalekites came against Israel in this moment in time. And look, he's gonna be at war for the Amalekites from generation to generation. And we know that the Amalekites are gonna be an issue for the Israelites during the day of provocation, during the Canaanite conquest, for Saul, for David, all the kings of Judah, all the way down to Hezekiah. God is never going to forget what they did until they were fully, completely blotted out. And God's not going to forget what you're going through. God's not going to forget what you're what you're trusting him for. God's not going to forget you. But if you just focus on him, find Jesus in the problem, find where he is, raise your hands and just say, Thank you, Lord. Thank you for all the things that you have done. Then just like it was in this situation, you can overcome. And we can be, because we are more than overcomers. We are conquerors. We are more than conquerors. We really truly are in this, you know, but not in ourselves, not in our own carnality, and not in our own iniquity, but rather through Jesus Christ, because of his work, because of who he is. You see, the road to a reprobate mind begins with not recognizing God for who he is, and then not recognizing and not being thankful for the things that he has done in our lives. If we're thankful, he will take care of everything because we remain humble. You know, because God gives grace to the humble, but he resists the pride, the prideful. So remember all of this, understand all of this, because at the end of the day, these are the things that matter. You know, I can tell you about the the Israelite land. I can tell you about all of these things, I can tell you about a whole lot of things, right? I can tell you about everything that I that that you need to that I shouldn't say everything because I don't know everything, but I can tell you a lot about scripture, I can tell you a lot about the history of this stuff, I can talk to you about the lineage, I can tell you about a bunch of stuff. But at the end of the day, if you can't take that and apply it to your own life, then what's the point? And here, even though this land's being fought for, you know, even though they're being attacked, you know, the Israelites still stood on what God had given them, which was the rod of Moses and the praise that had that Moses had. So we're here, we're in the same boat, people are attacking us. You're gonna see that more and more and more and more and more as we continue to to go um through this world because there's Christian pure persecution. I saw a stat today and I don't know how true it is. Um, but it was like one in seven Christians worldwide are being persecuted right now. That's a big number. That's a really big number. Christian persecution is definitely on the rise. Um, so understanding all of that, you know, we just have to get to the point where, you know, we can we can focus on Jesus Christ and find him in everything that we need. Amen. So look, I hope you're getting something out of this, but understand that look, they're trying to destroy the Jews, and it's no different than what people are trying to do right now. But God has ordained the Jews for that time, God has ordained them for a time such as this, God has ordained them to come back. And I I'm really curious what happens in New York City if we don't see uh many begin to go back uh from Israel, because the scripture says that he would gather them from the four winds of the earth, and they've come back from the north, they've come back from the south, they've come back from the east, but they have not come back to Israel from the west yet. And and I think that that that's a key point of prophecy that's gonna need to be fulfilled here as we kind of go forward. So um next week we're gonna continue into this. We're gonna I'm gonna talk a little bit um about what happened in Numbers 14 because there's a battle over the land there um as well, and that's in the day of provocation, and we're gonna talk a lot about that because there's that's a pretty important story um relative to what happens to Israel and also to the land. And then we'll get back into the into the Canaanite conquest, which I think is very important. There's a lot of really neat things that happened in the Canaanite conquest that kind of get overlooked. So we'll go through um through the book of Joshua at that point, um, and then we'll we'll get through through kind of who who came back and attacked and tried to take uh take things from from um from uh the Israelites during the book of Judges. So um I hope you're getting something out of this. Look, again, pray for Israel, pray for peace of Israel, um, pray that for revival in Israel, even more so, um, because that's ultimately what we want is revival um amongst the Jewish people, that they may see Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So um, with that being said, I hope you have a great week. Um, and just remember the simple truth the Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. God bless.