“The Lord then said to Moses, ‘Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.’ And Moses built and altar and named it, ‘The Lord is My Banner.’ He said, ‘Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had someone you know do something completely out of character when you were with them? That kind of thing usually catches us totally off guard and leaves us wondering if we know them nearly as well as we thought we did. Walking through the various Old Testament narratives can give us that kind of an experience with God. What we see right here is a good example of this. If you are used to thinking of God as good and gracious and loving and patient and gentle and kind, seeing His response to the Amalekites’ totally unprovoked attack on Israel seems to come straight out of left field. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, and why God might have responded like this.

The Amalekites’ attack on Israel as they journeyed toward the Sinai Wilderness was unprovoked and unjust. Israel wasn’t posing them any kind of meaningful threat. They weren’t looking to gobble up any territory they claimed as theirs. They weren’t using up their natural resources. They didn’t show any kind of signs of settling down. Perhaps they encroached a bit on some territory the Amalekites controlled, but that was about it. This was Russia attacking the Ukraine except Israel didn’t control any territory. This was Hamas attacking Israel on October 7. (As a matter of fact, I recently heard in an interview that a popular anti-Hamas poster in Israel right now is “Remember the Amalekites.”)

Well, just like Israel is winning its current war against Hamas, ancient Israel won this battle. There no doubt would have been substantial casualties on both sides as is the case in every war, but Israel came away victorious under Joshua’s battlefield leadership, Moses’ commitment to holding God’s staff over the battle, Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’ arms, and God’s power overshadowing the whole affair.

When it was all said and done, then, God gave Moses some instructions. He was to take a memo. He was to write this down somewhere it would be remembered. He was to tell it to Joshua so that Israel’s military leader (who would one day take the mantle of national leadership from Moses) would remember it and pass it on to future leaders. And what was this critical, not-to-be-forgotten memo? God would destroy the Amalekites completely. There would be conflict between them and God’s people, Israel, for generations, but God would ultimately win the day.

Have you ever gotten so frustrated with something that you finally just destroyed it? I have occasionally tried to open toys for the boys that went this way. I generally try to be pretty careful when undoing packaging while opening their various toys, so I don’t accidentally damage what’s in it. Every once in a while, though, some manufacturer packages their stuff so well that I can’t get it out. I try to be careful for a while, growing more and more frustrated all the time. Finally, I get out a razor blade and slice the packaging to pieces (still being careful not to damage the contents). Then, when the toy is safely extracted, I continue breaking down the box until all that remains is little pieces of cardboard.

That’s kind of what it feels like God is doing here. Israel had won the battle. That should have been the end of things. There was no reason to continue pushing them forward from here. But when the dust had settled, God told Moses that He was going to continue the defeat until this people was completely gone and forgotten by history.

I don’t know about you, but reading about God’s declaring something like this is more than a little uncomfortable. I mean, this is God we’re talking about here. If Moses had declared something like this, that wouldn’t have been a good thing, but he was just one person. Sure, he was a powerful person, but he was temporally limited. He could have conceivably done a lot of damage in his remaining lifetime, but he didn’t have that many years left. For God to say this, though, packs a much harder punch. He has a lot more power than Moses. And, He’s eternal, so time isn’t an issue for Him.

What are we supposed to do with this? Is this just one of those places we have to tiptoe around or otherwise pretend isn’t here lest our image and understanding of God’s character be tarnished? Why would God respond so strongly to this admittedly unjust encroachment against His people? Isn’t this overkill?

Let me see if I can build a framework for understanding. First, this kind of language on the part of a victorious army when talking about their defeated foe was pretty common in the ancient world. If you do some research, you will fairly quickly find records of ancient conquering armies talking in much grander terms than these about the eternal destruction their gods are going to bring to their defeated foes. So then, did God really direct Moses to write this? Or was this just Moses running out on his own and claiming God as a justification for what he wanted to do? Probably the former, but with the understanding firmly in mind that God consistently took (and takes) people where they are, engages with them in a manner they can understand, and moves them forward toward His kingdom from there.

Another point to keep in mind is that like so much of the uncomfortably grand language of destruction we find scattered throughout Israel’s early history, things didn’t really play out the way they are evidently worded here. As a case in point, God declares that He will “completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven,” and then Moses included that declaration in the record of Exodus…which has been preserved down through 3,000 years of history, and we are talking about them today. I guess their memory hasn’t really been blotted out under heaven. Okay, so does this mean God was wrong? Not if we understand Him through the lens of the contemporary context. Once again, this was common language of victory in that day. It was not intended to be taken literally. So, we shouldn’t.

As it turns out, the Amalekites would be a thorn in Israel’s side for many more years. They are mentioned several times in the record of Judges as attacking Israel and oppressing them. King Saul was commanded by God to eradicate them as an act of judgment for this attack, but he didn’t, resulting in the termination of his dynasty. God allowed him to finish out his reign naturally, but it was that failure that prompted Him to direct Samuel to seek out and anoint David as the next king. David would complete the work of destroying the Amalekites, but evidently only to a point. Hundreds of years later, on the other side of the Babylonian exile, during the days of Queen Esther, Haman, the great enemy of the Jewish people who tried to have them eradicated by the Persians, was an Agagite. Agag was the king of Amalek who was spared by Saul. Haman’s death, and the death of his sons, and all those who joined his evil, genocidal plot, was understood by the Israelites as God’s at last fulfilling His promise to Moses.

So, God wasn’t running off the reservation here. He was communicating with Israel a message of solidarity and support in a language they could understand. He would (and will) ultimately bring judgment to sinful nations when the time for judgment arrives. He used Israel in that capacity several times, but also used several other nations against Israel when they were the ones steeped in sin. The people here, though, needed to know that God was for them. He was going to provide for them, yes, but He was also going to protect them.

I think there are two other things here we really need to not miss. The first is that Moses makes clear that Israel’s victory came from God. There could be no doubt that He was the source of their strength. He was the source of their power. If they achieved anything of note as a people, it came from him. God did not want them thinking otherwise, or they would have turned from Him to whatever else they saw as their “real” source of power including themselves. The same goes for us today. If we achieve anything of note in our lives, God is the reason for our success. If we fall into the trap of thinking our successes come from any other source, we’ll be sorely tempted to put our hope and trust in this other source. That will not end well for us as it will fail us eventually no matter what it is.

The other thing to note is that God was speaking here as a good and loving father. The Amalekites had messed with His people, with His children. If you want to get on my bad side, mess with my kids. You and I won’t be friends anymore after that. In fact, it would probably be better for both of us if you just stayed completely away from me after that. The same goes for God. If you want to make an enemy out of Him, mess with His children. As Jesus said in Matthew 18 when talking about people messing with His followers, “Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.” God is for His people. Period. If you are one of His people, then God is for you. Period. When the world messes with you, you can rest confidently in the fact that God has your back. He did then. He does now. As we continue to move into this new year together, let us go with this confidence and the humility that naturally comes from it as our banner and be bold in our kingdom-advancing efforts.