AMALEK
Exodus 17:14
Pastor Rex Deckard
Calvary Apostolic Church
Des Moines, Iowa
I. Introduction
The Amalekites were despised by God who wanted to utterly destroy them. What did they represent, and why were they such an obstacle to the people of Israel? I believe that they were more than just another pagan nation, such as the Jebusites or Philistines! I believe that they represented a spirit that would destroy anyone who tolerated its existence. Now first, a little background:
II. Amalek was the Grandson of Esau
(Gen 36:12 KJV) And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.
Because of their daddy’s carnality and sin, they did not receive the blessing that Isaac had passed on, and they had lost their birthright!
A. Sin of Iniquity is visited on the 3rd and 4th generations!
Iniquity= I know it’s wrong, but I’m going to do it anyway!
Amalek inherited the spirit of his grandfather, Esau, of whom it was said “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated! Why did God hate Esau? Because he did not value the blessing.
B. The Amalekites Became a Thorn when Israel tried to pass through the Wilderness to the Promised Land
(Exo 17:8 KJV) Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
An “I don’t care and I don’t value the things of God, will keep God’s people from the promises of God!”
III. There Was a Lesson on Leadership We See When Israel Fought the Amalekites
(Exo 17:12 KJV) And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
An “I don’t care and I don’t value the things of God, will wear down the strength of the leadership!”
IV. God Set a Promise to Israel that the Amalekites would Be Destroyed
(Exo 17:14 KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
(Num 24:20 KJV) And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
(Deu 25:17 KJV) Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
(Deu 25:19 KJV) Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
This battle was personal! God Himself vowed to blot out Amalek! God will not tolerate the spirit of apathy and lethargy! (The last battle that Israel faced before entering the Promised Land was the battle with Og of Bashan- and the only thing the Bible tells us about Og was that he had a “Big Bed!” The challenge of the ten virgins in the midnight hour before Jesus comes was Don’t Fall Asleep!)
V. God Chose Saul as the Instrument to Bring About the Judgement on Amalek
(1 Sam 15:2 KJV) Thus saith 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 all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
(Read on)
A. For hundreds of years God awaited Sauls appointment with destiny. Samuel, raised in the apostacy of the house of Eli yearned for it. And yet, when his hour came, he blew it and disappointed them all.
VI. Saul’s Sin Was Not Disobedience, but Incomplete Obedience
(1 Sam 15:20 KJV) And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
(1 Sam 28:18 KJV) Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.
A. Saul began to exhibit some of the very same character traits of the ones who he was sent to destroy!
B. Saul Meets His End By and Amalekite
(1 Sam 30:13 KJV) And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.
(2 Sam 1:8 KJV) And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.
(2 Sam 1:13 KJV) And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
C. Even a later descendant of Saul, Mordechai in the Book of Esther, is threatended by an Amalekite descendant of King Agag, a man by the name of Haman
VII. Various Other Scriptures Related to the Amalekites
(Gen 14:7 KJV) And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
(Num 13:29 KJV) The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
(Num 14:25 KJV) (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
(Num 14:43 KJV) For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
(Num 14:45 KJV) Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
(Judg 6:3 KJV) And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
(Judg 6:33 KJV) Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
(Judg 7:12 KJV) And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
(Judg 10:12 KJV) The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.
(Judg 12:15 KJV) And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.
(1 Sam 14:48 KJV) And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.
(1 Sam 15:6 KJV) And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
(1 Sam 15:7 KJV) And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
(1 Sam 15:8 KJV) And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
(1 Sam 15:15 KJV) And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
(1 Sam 15:18 KJV) And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
(1 Sam 15:20 KJV) And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
(1 Sam 15:32 KJV) Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
(1 Sam 27:8 KJV) And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
(1 Sam 30:1 KJV) And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
(1 Sam 30:18 KJV) And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.
(2 Sam 1:1 KJV) Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag;
(1 Chr 4:43 KJV) And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day.
