When Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of ground operations in Gaza on October 28, weeks after Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 civilians and abducted 240 hostages on October 7, he summoned the memory of an ancient foe.
“Remember what Amalek did to you,” the Israeli prime minister stated. “We remember and we fight.”
It was a reference his audience would understand.
In the Exodus narrative, the Amalekites attack the Hebrew people in the wilderness and are defeated in a dramatic conflict where Moses raises his arms over the battlefield. Later, in Deuteronomy 25:17–19, Moses exhorts the Israelites to “remember what the Amalekites did to you” and, after they have come into possession of the Promised Land, to “blot out the name of Amalek under heaven.” Finally, in 1 Samuel 15, God ordered King Saul to “totally destroy” the Amalekites, including women, children, and infants. Saul defeats the enemy, but is condemned for sparing their king and cattle.
Rabbinic commentary came to identify Amalek as a kind of paradigm for any enemy of the Jews that seeks their total destruction. Netanyahu had previously hinted the “new Amalek” could be a nuclear-armed Iran, and one of his advisors explained the word is used as a stand-in for “existential threat.” It has been invoked in reference to the Romans, the Nazis, and the Soviets.
Christians made the biblical comparison with Hamas even before Netanyahu, however, prompting discussion of responsible biblical interpretation in the midst of war.
Shortly after October 7, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) said the Hamas attack was “rooted in the demonic realm as a manifestation of the Spirit of Amalek.” The ICEJ invited Christians around the world to “ascend to our spiritual vantage point and join in this battle, just as Moses prayed while Joshua was fighting Amalek on the ground.”
Some Messianic Jewish leaders have agreed.
“In every generation the hatred of Amalek rises up in an attempt to annihilate the Israelites,” said Ariel Rudolph, director of operations for Jerusalem Seminary, citing Exodus 17:16. “Once one understands the spirit of hatred for God’s chosen, that originates from Satan, one understands that evil of hatred must be eradicated.”
Rudolph criticized Christians who call for mercy on Hamas and the salvation of terrorists as failing to recognize the biblical principle to eliminate any threat that would wipe out the people of Israel.
Other Messianic Jewish leaders are more conflicted.
“On the one hand, something must be done to prevent Hamas from repeating anything like what happened on October 7,” said Ray Pritz, a retired pastor of a Messianic Jewish congregation between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. “But on the other hand, the great loss of life in Gaza is sad beyond words.”
With a PhD in early Jewish Christianity from Hebrew University, Pritz clearly critiqued Hamas’s equation with Amalek. “Anyone making the connection must rely heavily on interpretation,” he said. “With a preconception and a concordance, it is possible to prove almost anything you want from the Bible.”
The text does not say that…
This article was originally published at Christianity Today, on December 15, 2023. Please click here to read the full text.
Jayson Casper 