AMALEK ON THE ATTACK
Today’s message brings to mind an important biblical principle; every time Israel is about to undergo a major turning point, many forces rise up, not only trying to hinder her development but working to annihilate her altogether. We saw this first attempt in the opening story of the Exodus when the Pharaoh of the time gave orders to kill all the newborn Jewish males to decimate the population. Then there was another attempt. After the Babylonian exile, Ezra and Nehemiah headed up the return of the Jewish people to the Land, in preparation for the rebuilding of the Temple and for the Messiah’s first coming. It was around that time when a man called Haman rose up, who wanted to annihilate all Jews from all over the world.
We see another attempt at annihilation during this latter half of the Diaspora, which happened just 76 years ago, in 1948 when Israel was called back to the land after being away for close to 2000 years. She was called back to build the country, now in preparation for the end time prophecies and for the Second Coming of Yeshua. But just before that, a man by the name of Hitler rose up and attempted to annihilate the Jewish people. He succeeded by wiping out one third of the Jews, but the nation still rose as we see it today.
But there is another instance when Israel was also under attack because it was about to reach a major turning point in its history; this story is found in our text for today, in the book of Exodus, chapter 19 where we see the birth and the election of the country of Israel. It is then when God elects Israel with these powerful words: You shall be My own treasure among all the peoples 19:5b and You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation 19:6b.
Israel was chosen as the nation to bring the knowledge of God to the other nations, but this did not go well with the god of this world, as Paul calls the evil one, and so he began an uprising against Israel, using hatred and antisemitism among her neighbors, this going on even until today. And so, the first nation to rise up were the Amalekites. We see this in Exodus 17 beginning in vs.8., They attacked Israel from the back, but for no reason! It was not for lack of food or wealth or territory as the Amalekites had no set area of land belonging to them.
The only reasonable motive is this eternal hatred as God calls it in Ezekiel, just like we see today with a few countries. Let’s take Yemen for instance. Why is this country attacking Israel? Geographically, it is far away and both countries have very little interests in common. Yet, see how illogical this all is: Yemen attacks Israel at a time when she is considered by the U.N. as among the poorest countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Half of Yemen’s population including five million children are malnourished and presently not attending school. Yet, it sends missiles against Israel that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The only answer for this is some kind of unexplainable hatred against Israel.
More about God’s Battle Tactics
In Exodus 17, vs.11, we learn that so long as Moses had his hands up, Israel won. As soon as he put his hands down, the Amalekites won, and this surely can be seen as an encouragement for us to pray and to pray without ceasing. But what might be behind this tactic? While both of Moses’ hands were held up by Aaron and Hur, the passage of vs.11 speaks of only one hand, in the singular. Why focus on one hand? Why the change from singular to plural then back to singular again? What was in that hand? This brings us back to vs.9 where we see another important element, the staff of God which is in Moses’ hand. What is behind this title, staff of God?
This term is used in Scripture only twice. The first time we hear of it is in Exodus 4:20 when Moses was returning to Egypt to bring the judgment of God on Egypt by way of the 10 plagues. And now here, the staff of God reappears in this war against the Amalekites. Let us remember why the Amalekites attacked Israel. It is because they did not fear the Lord. Here we have Moses, on top of the hill, visible mainly to the Amalekites as he was facing them with the staff of God raised. Could some of them have taken notice of these win-lose moments as it related to the position of the staff of God? Could this have been a warning call to them?
But let’s also take notice of something prophetic here. In verse 16 there are two words written in a very unusual way; only half the word is there, while the other half appears missing. The first partial word is seen in the statement the Lord has sworn. The word for sworn is kes כֵּס, which appears only here in the Hebrew and is not easily translated. What does kes כֵּס, mean?
Ancient rabbis and some modern translations have understood that kes כֵּס, is a part of the word throne (kee-seh). The NIV says because hands were lifted against the throne of God, the word kee-seh fits very well the original context.
So, the ancient rabbis asked, how come we have half of the word throne here and only part of the name of God, (Yah instead of the fuller Yaweh) coming right after the half word kess כֵּס. Their conclusion is this and I quote, The implication is that the Holy One swears that neither His name nor His throne can be complete until the name of Amalek has been completely wiped out. (Rashi@Carasik & Midrash). This is a prophecy pointing to the eventual destruction of Amalek when Messiah will take His throne in Jerusalem.
One more thing about the staff of God. Israel’s victory was assured so long as Moses’ hands were lifted up and holding the staff of God and we see a similar image during the Tribulation times from the Book of Daniel where the Messiah Himself is raising His hands during the last 3.5 years of the time of Tribulation, showing His full involvement during these hard times. We see this in Daniel 12:7 which tells us, I heard the individual dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.
Here we are brought to the final scene of the book. Daniel recognized the individual in linen. He met Him back in chapter 10. That individual is Yeshua Himself who comes to close the Book of Daniel.
You will recognize Him from Daniel 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. This description is almost identical to the one found in Revelation 1 when He appeared to John who was given the vision of the start of the Tribulation.
In Chapter 10, Yeshua is dressed in linen and gold, pure gold. The linen which was worn by the priest reminds us of His priestly office and the gold of His royal office as King.
But in chapter 12, He seems to appear only with His linen robe for it is a time when Yeshua will be so involved as the High Priest, protecting His people, Jews and Gentiles from the wrath of the tribulation.
Click Here for the Teaching on Exodus -2024, Sermon 18: Israel, the Birth of a Priesthood