Amalekites

John Reiss:  Romans 15:4 reads in the New International Version, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures ...

Richard Ritenbaugh, observing that the civil Festival of Purim in the Jewish community, commemorating the deliverance of the Jews from virulent anti-Semitism in ancient Persia, explains that this festival is celebrated with a notable spirit of merriment because it depicts a miraculous rescue from a hopelessly impossible situation brought about by a perennial, anti-Semitism. In terms of plot of the Book of Esther, the writer uses a chiastic X-like pattern, in which a situation grows grave and hopeless in the first half of a narrative, leading up to a peripeteia (that is, the axis point or the center of the X), in which a sudden reversal takes place, turning everything around from hopelessness to joy. This ubiquitous pattern of a sudden reversal recurs throughout scripture, demonstrating how God deals with the children of Israel, humbling them into repentance in order that He may bring them good in the end. This pattern of reversal-of-fortune provides an insight as to how God deals with us individually. God allows each of us to experience trials and tests to humble us, leading us to repent, obey and trust. Going through this process we learn to be steadfast and to endure. The axial moment in the Book of Esther seems to be a series of mundane events beginning with the king's inability to sleep—- mundane, yet leading to Haman's execution, Esther and Mordecai's advancement and the salvation of the Jewish people. These seeming coincidences (a powerful "unseen hand" reveals God's sovereign protection over His godly seed, which ultimately produced Our Savior Jesus Christ, who currently protects the godly spiritual seed (comprising the Church or the Israel of God, the Bride of Christ), descendants of Abraham through God's Holy Spirit.

Richard Ritenbaugh, focusing on Psalm 83:4-8, which describes the hideous character traits of Israel's ancient enemies, identifies descendants of Amalek, a particularly proud and hate-filled man, assembling a confederacy of vengeful peoples having ties to the lineage of Ishmael and Esau, all bearing an ever-burning hatred for the descendants of Jacob. The descendants of Esau (the Edomites) have perpetually hated the descendants of Jacob, pursuing them with a sword, cowardly attacking the weakest, showing no pity, constantly nurturing their wrath in supercilious satanic pride. As a result of Saul's failure to follow God's instruction to eliminate all the Amalekites, their remnants later re-emerged in Persia, as recorded in the Book of Esther. Haman was the treacherous and deceitful offspring of King Agag, and Mordecai was the godly descendant of King Saul. Their pairing in the Book of Esther provides a sequel to the unfinished story of I Samuel 15. Haman, like a 5th century Hitler plotting a 5th century holocaust, hated Mordecai so much (because he would not bow down to him) that he wanted to destroy his entire people. Tricking the gullible and inept King Ahasuerus to execute a genocidal order against the Jews, promising a sizeable cash bounty for the execution of the so-called "enemies to the state," Haman cast lots to determine the day this would be carried out. God, controlling the outcome of the fall, sovereignly, allowed enough time for Mordecai and Esther to foil the plan. As a sort of poetic justice, God brought about the execution of Haman and evil sons on the very pole the deceitful schemer has created for the purpose of slaying Mordecai. The Israel of God still lives in perilous times when the descendants of Amalek are ready to decapitate God's people. For their implacable hatred -put into-action, God will blot out the name of Amalek and descendants forever.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh:  About four centuries before the time of King Saul, the Amalekites had "ambushed [Israel] on the way when he came up from Egypt" (I Samuel 15:2; see Exodus 17:8-13), and with God's help, ...

Martin Collins, citing Dennis Prager's Town Hall article, Is America Still Making Men?, suggests that there is a profound dearth of real masculine leadership today, as young men seem to be protracting their pubescence, preferring to remain boys with no responsibilities than to embrace leadership roles. When boys fail to grow into men, women and all society suffers. The family is languishing for real leadership as well as all levels of government. As Joshua felt fearful at assuming leadership, most men also feel the same trepidation, but God Almighty has placed in their DNA the ability to lead, with a view that they lead their families with a balanced proportion of compassion and firmness. Courage is a gift given by God, augmented and amplified when we embrace His law as a part of us. God charges us to do a specific work (such as to lead one's family), requiring us to delve into the Scripture daily for guidance until we know the mind of God through continued practice of living and following His principles. The successful leader is first and foremost a follower of God and His Holy law. Confidence derives from a close relationship with God.

Ted Bowling, reminding us that prayer is our lifeline to God, a medium in which our faith is strengthened, focuses on several positions or postures used in prayer, including kneeling , bowing the head, or lying prostrate (all conveying degrees of submission and humility), but gives special attention to the posture of raising hands, symbolic of giving up or admitting vulnerability. David prayed with raised hands when he had come to the end of his tether, indicating that prayer is a time when we surrender unconditionally to God's power. Joshua's victory over the Amalekites was assured only after Moses in a posture of contrite submission with hands raised, assisted by Aaron and Hur. God honors the prayer of those who are contrite and tremble at His word, as symbolized by hands raised in submission.

Because of the millennia-long conflict between Israel and Edom, one might think that the prophet Obadiah would predict the Edomites' downfall with a certain gleeful relish, but in fact, he laments Edom's horrible end. Richard Ritenbaugh reviews the middle passage of Obadiah, in which God describes the complete devastation of Edom and His reason for it.

One of the greatest honors a man can achieve is to be called 'father of his country.' Esau was prophesied to be the father of a nation, Edom, and as Richard Ritenbaugh details, the Bible gives us plenty of clues about the character of his descendants.

Richard Ritenbaugh suggests that religious and cultural differences, especially the raging Western-Islamic conflict, will become the fault lines of dangerous conflicts and clashes of civilizations. The King of the South (Daniel 11:40) might be a confederation of Arab nations continually at war with the people of Israel. Psalm 83 identifies such a confederation that continually harasses Israel'events that appear in today‚s headlines. The Bible's characterization of Ishmael, Esau, Amalek, Moab, and Ammon fit the national traits of present-day, anti-Western Arab peoples. Numerous prophecies (including Nahum, Zephaniah, and Amos) predict the eventual demise of their evil efforts. Throughout history, the Kings of the North and the South, always reckoned from the viewpoint of Jerusalem, have changed identities, but the principal players of the conflict exist today in the bitter conflict between militant Islam fundamentalism and the West.

The Bible reveals a definite pattern of God's displeasure with acts of presumption. John Ritenbaugh expounds several of these circumstances, showing that God's justice is always consonant with His righteousness—and that we should be grateful for His mercy, as we are all guilty of this sin.

In this keynote address of the 2002 Feast of Tabernacles, John Ritenbaugh focuses upon the prophecy of Deuteronomy 28:42-49 concerning the curse of the stranger rising higher and higher above us, displacing our Israelitish culture with an alien Gentile culture. Like leaven in bread dough, the minority alien cultures, further corrupting the integrity and fabric of the majority or indigenous culture, putting a tremendous strain on the economic resources, our educational, social, and religious institutions, displacing the Israelite population, rapidly rendering it a dependent minority culture. Third world immigration into America and Europe is greatly diluting and destroying the white, English- speaking culture, making America, Canada and Britain the world's colony. The bounds of habitation that God has originally established are being destroyed in this curse. We march to the beat of a different drummer, having our citizenship in God's Kingdom.

Mordecai, a Jew living in the Persia capital, faithfully guided Esther through a time of potentially great trouble. Mark Schindler uses his example to show that such character is not out of our reach!

Queen Esther, faced with the destruction of her people in Persia, put her life on the line. Ronny Graham describes how her example should be an inspiration to us. Also contains the inset article, God—Absent from Esther?

Unlike the deplorable picture presented in the world's religions depicting God as a helpless, effeminate, maudlin, hand-wringing sentimentalist, desperately trying to save the world, repeatedly frustrated and thwarted by Satan, John Ritenbaugh brings into sharp focus the proper picture of God as governor, manager, and controller of all nations from the big picture to the minutest detail, having elaborate back-up plans and fail-safe mechanisms. Nothing and no one can thwart God's purposes. None of us, in or out of the body of Christ, have any control over the gifts, powers, experiences, or events that He prescribes for us. We need to develop the faith to yield and conform to His will as clay in the potter's hands.

In this Feast of Trumpets message, Richard Ritenbaugh indicates that God (sometimes referred to as the Lord of Hosts) will marshal an army of resurrected saints who will wage a just war. Trumpets represent a cry of alarm and a call to action. The only time warmaking is just is when God decides, indicating that man's conscience has become so defiled, seared, and perverted that no other solution is possible. God also wages war to defeat His people's enemies (such as the Amalakites) and to put down the Satan-inspired end-time rebellion (Revelation 19:15; Joel 2:1-11).

John Ritenbaugh teaches that God has given us a checkpoint against which we can check ourselves in times of despondency and despair, so whether we doubt, fear, or the self—whether the problems are moderate or deep—we can go back to see whether we are keeping God's commands and working on developing our fellowship with Him. God has created mankind with the need to face challenges—the need to overcome—or we quickly become subject to boredom or "ennui." Our major responsibility is to govern ourselves scrupulously and conscientiously within the framework of God's Laws, overcoming negative impulses by the knowledge and Spirit of God, seeking a total relationship with Him in thought, emotion, and deed, extending to our relations with our brethren. Fellowship with God is the only antidote to overwhelming feelings of despair, doubt, and self-condemnation.