Introduction
There is only one nation mentioned in the Bible that God said He would completely erase the memory of them from under heaven and that He Himself would be at war against from generation to generation and these were the Amalekites (Exodus 17:14-15). The Amalekites were to a degree a nomadic tribe that were very fierce, ruthless, ungodly, idolaters, demonic in nature and very violent especially against those who were weak and unable to defend themselves.
In Exodus 17:8-13, shortly after the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. At Rephidim, near Mount Sinai, the Amalekites launched an unprovoked attack on the weary travellers. Under Moses’ leadership and Joshua’s command, the Israelites repelled them, but the event left a lasting mark. Because of this unprovoked attack on His covenant people by Amalek God rejected them as a nation.
Across the centuries the hostility and malevolence towards Israel persisted. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 recalls how the Amalekites targeted the weakest Israelites—those “lagging behind”—during the Exodus, an act of cowardice that fuelled divine and human retribution.
Later, they allied with Canaanites (Numbers 14:45), Moabites (Judges 3:13), and Midianites (Judges 6:3), to harass Israel, often striking at agricultural settlements to destroy the Israelites crops and livelihoods.
The decisive blows came under Israel’s early kings. Saul, tasked by the LORD with annihilating the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:2-3), defeated them but spared their king, Agag, and livestock, an act of disobedience that cost him God’s favour. His compromise cost him his throne.
David, in contrast, pursued a relentless campaign, routing Amalekite raiders who had plundered his camp at Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:1-17), and further weakening their power. By the time of Hezekiah (700 BC), only a remnant remained, which the Simeonites eradicated at Mount Seir (1 Chronicles 4:42-43).
Mount Seir is believed to be located in modern-day Jordan, near the border with Saudi Arabia. It is part of the mountainous region that stretches between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
The hostility of the Amalekites towards Israel humanly speaking was traced back to Esau’s Grandson Amalek (Genesis 36:12, 16). Esau was from the Land of Edom which today covers southern Jordan and sweeps down into Saudi Arabia, the very heart of the Muslim world. The hate spawned on the inside of Esau against his brother Jacob was passed on down through generations. Ishmael was the father of the Arab nations which to this day still fight with each other (Genesis 16:12).
Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac whose decedents were the Jewish people, was passed on down to Esau who hated Jacob and at one point wanted to actually kill him because God’s blessing through Isaac was put on Jacob (Genesis 27:41). Esau married into the family line of Ishmael as a defiant act against Isaac his father (Genesis 28: 6-9).
Even in the womb of Rebekah their mother Jacob and Esau jostled with each other, an ongoing fight between the Arabs and the Jews we see today, a hostility that can only be removed by the message of the gospel of the kingdom producing the new spiritual creation through the new birth, making both Jew and Arab one new man in the Messiah (John 3:3) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Galatians 3:28).
Principalities and Powers
All of the Ancient pagan kings and their kingdoms and empires were steeped in the occult. We know from the Word of God that the worship of idols is the worship of demons (Deuteronomy 32:16-17) (Psalm 106:36-37) (1 Corinthians 10:20). We do know from the Word of God that there was a powerful fallen principality over Persia and Greece, which today still remains over Iran and Turkey (Daniel 10:20).
The word “Greece” in the Hebrew is the word “yavan” or “ionia” which today is located in Turkey. Ionia was part of the middle-eastern leg of Alexander the Great’s Empire. Likewise there is another principality over Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Sudan, Egypt, Turkey and Libya and over the Arab kingdoms located in Saudi Arabia which was part of ancient Edom, and it is the same spirit of Amalek. The grudge by Ishmael and Esau against the Israelites continues to this day among the Arab nations. It is a spirit or principality driving this hatred of the Jews. This is what lies behind the hostility of the Islamic Arab world against Israel.
A Malevolent Jealousy
The Edomites bore an old grudge against the Jews, not only because Jacob had got the birthright and blessing instead of Esau; but because they were made tributaries to the Israelites in David’s time, and afterwards severely chastised by Amaziah; and these things they laid up in their minds, and vowed revenge whenever they had an opportunity. The opportunity came for them in 586BC when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, an opportunity they took and revelled in.
When the Romans invaded Judah in 70AD there were Arab contingents among the Roman forces that destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 AD, as the Roman army increasingly included soldiers from various provinces, including those from the Middle East. The spirit of Amalek was dwelling among the Arab Auxiliaries.
Edom to be Judged again
In Ezekiel 25:12-14 we are told that God severely judged Edom and said He would stretch out His hand from Teman to Dedan, located in the heart of Saudi Arabia, against Edom and kill its men and their animals. He also said that He would take vengeance on Edom at the hand of His people Israel and that they would deal with Edom in accordance with His anger and wrath and that they would know His vengeance.
We see this exemplified in the prayer of the Psalmist recounting what the Edomites did at Jerusalem. “Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!” O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us” (Psalm 137:7-8).
And again we read in the prophet Obadiah; “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever” (Obadiah 1:10).
This spirit of Amalek spawned from Esau’s grandson is one that hates Israel and everything Jewish to this very day and has been around for centuries intent on wiping Israel off of the map. It is the same spirit or principality of Amalek that had it in for the Israelites when they were coming out of Egypt under Moses. This is the principality behind Islamic hatred of Israel.
Prophetically the final demise of Edom (the militant armies of Islam) including the spirit of Amalek that drives it, will happen when the Messiah returns in His Second Coming. For further reading see “It was for Me the Day of Vengeance”
October 7, 2023
The violent, merciless, malevolent spirit of Amalek with its demonic hatred of Israel with genocidal intent toward Israelis in reality constituted a genocide or a genocidal massacre of Jews on October 7, 2023 when Hamas accompanied by many Gazan civilians launched a coordinated attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,200 Jewish citizens and taking more than 240 hostages.
This was marked as the deadliest day for Israel since it was attacked by five Arab nations in 1948: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria all under the power of the spirit of Amalek. This invasion occurred immediately after Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948.
The attack on October 7, 2023 involved a barrage of at least 2,200 rockets and ground incursions from the Gaza Strip. It was a massacre of innocent Jewish men, women and children. It involved systematic brutality including torture, rape, and the murder of children and the elderly across multiple communities.
The ferociousness in what they did mirrored the atrocities of the Nazis in the Holocaust. It was a demonic attack in the same vein when the Amalekites butchered the stragglers, the weak, the aged, women and children and babies and the sick travelling at the end of the Israelites coming out of Egypt in the time of Moses.
God Himself took vengeance against Amalek by the hand of Joshua the commander of the armies of Israel under Moses, a war that God has been waging for generations ever since even down to the present day (Exodus 17:8-16). It is the spirit or principality of Amalek that is behind the hostility of Israel’s immediate Islamic neighbours today. In the Middle-East today there are three main principalities at work behind the scenes in the unseen realm just above the surface of the earth.
Satan, the Prince of the power of the air (atmosphere) ranges to and fro across the surface of the earth (Job 1:6-7; 2:1-2), and has under his authority the principality of Amalek, Iran (Persia) and Turkey (Greece- Ionia). A satanic trinity if ever there was one we see exemplified in Revelation 16:13-14.
From the Garden of Eden
When God pronounced judgement on Satan in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:14-15), for his diabolical deception in causing the fall of Adam and Eve, that He in His absolute sovereign power would put enmity between Satan and the woman, and between Satan’s seed (offspring) and her seed (offspring) being the Messiah our Lord Jesus, the one that would crush Satan’s head.
The bruising of the Messiah’s heel would only be temporal in that even though Satan was behind His terrible death and intense suffering on the cross, by His atoning death, burial and resurrection the Messiah our Lord Jesus would bring about Satan’s ultimate and total downfall and that of his fallen principalities and demons, bringing them all to an open shame in the whole of the unseen spiritual realm (Colossians 2:14-15).
Now since that pronouncement of his ultimate defeat Satan’s radar went up watching for the one who would come into the world to defeat him. He knew from what God said to Abraham that one would come from this man’s decedents, the “seed” through the lineage of Isaac and Jacob, not through Ismael and Esau’s lineage.
From that time on Satan targeted the Jews with a ferocity and passion uncontrolled. Israel received its name from God through the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 38:28), and Satan knew that Israel was the nation through whom the one to decimate and destroy Satan’s kingdom was to come.
Hence Satan set out to destroy the Jews. Satan had his “seed” which is the man of lawlessness also called the Antichrist; one Satan wants to use to gain the worship of nations through this man, the “seed” of Satan with his beast empire which for three and a half years will persecute both Jews and faithful new covenant believers spiritually grafted into Israel (Revelation 13:5-8) (Revelation 12:1-6, 13-17).
Many Antichrists
The Bible is a Jewish book, written by Jews and to be understood with the Jewish way of interpretation. It is centred in the Middle-East including eschatology. The apostle John tells us that there is the Antichrist, many antichrists, and the spirit of antichrist that works in and through the many antichrists (1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-3). In the Bible and down through history we see many antichrists which all collectively point to the final Antichrist to come.
The first major type was Nimrod who was a rebel and one who built the cities of Babylon and Assyria. In scripture all of the rulers of Babylon and Assyria and Egypt in some way were types of the final Antichrist to come. In the Word of God whenever you see a Gentile leader seeking to destroy the Jews you have a type of the future Antichrist. The final Antichrist will be a Gentile.
Haman and Herod the Great
Two in particular that were Edomites wanting to destroy the Jews were Haman and King Herod. Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, an official in the Persian court under King Ahasuerus who plotted to exterminate all Jews in the empire because Mordecai refused to bow to him.
His plan was foiled by Queen Esther, and he was ultimately hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. His byname, Agagite, indicates that Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. So we see the spirit of Amalek at work in and through Haman.
Then you have Herod the Great who was an Idumaean (Edomite) by descent. The Gospel of Matthew recounts that King Herod the Great ordered the murder of all Israelite male children two years old and under in Bethlehem after being outwitted by the Magi. The spirit of Amalek was at work in this despotic king. Satan was working through these wicked men to try to stop the birth of the Messiah which Satan would have known that the one to crush his head would be born in Bethlehem.
When you consider Pharaoh of Egypt, a type of the Antichrist, before the Exodus who sought to have the Hebrew baby boys murdered, this was another attempt by Satan to stop the Messiah from being born. Of course Satan’s efforts were futile to say the least.
It is interesting to note that on the headdress or crown of the Pharaohs’ of Egypt was a carved image depicted as a rearing Egyptian cobra or serpent. The Egyptians were past masters in the power of the occult as we saw in the confrontation between Moses and Aaron with Jannes and Jambres the magicinas that opposed them. In the end Moses and Aaron won the day!
When you consider the hostility of Israel’s Jihadist Islamic neighbours they are all plotting to destroy the Jews. We see this prophetically revealed in detail in Psalm 83 which is clearly exemplified. The Islamic nations gathering together to attack Israel mentioned are all within the jurisdiction of the spirit of Amalek today which has spread through Israel’s immediate Islamic neighbours.
For further reading see “Like chaff before the wind”
While Islam is divided between Sunni and Shiite and the Arab nations are often at odds with each other because Ishmael’s seed will always be divided (Genesis 16:12), they will close ranks when faced with a common enemy.
The day is coming when the spirit of Amalek will fully manifest itself when the armies of the Islamic Antichrist invade Israel accompanied by many nations with them. The spirit behind Iran and the spirit behind Turkey will also be at work in league with the spirit of Amalek, the unseen satanic trinity!
Today Israel is fighting the spirit of Amalek. Western politicians seek to do peace deals and broker ceasefires with the Jihadist Islamic world but have no spiritual insight or revelation about these principalities at work behind the scenes hell-bent of the annihilation of Israel as a nation and the conquest of the western democracies, especially those nations traditionally and historically associated with Judeo-Christianity.
While Prime Minister Netanyahu is not a Messianic believer in the Lord Jesus as far as we know, he does know his Old Testament, especially Torah and about the spirit of Amalek, and knows that the enemy he is dealing with has a spiritual dimension to it and must be eliminated as God ordained in the Torah concerning ancient Amalek, and that their memory is to be erased.
He would also know according to the Torah that from generation to generation that the God of Israel has been at war with the decedents of the Amalekites and the spirit that drives them to destroy Israel.
In Israel today there are Jews and Arabs still working side by side in Jewish businesses, enterprises and in settlements side by side. While there are some tensions between Jewish and Arab new covenant Messianic assemblies in Israel there are assemblies where Jewish and Arab believers in Messiah worship side by side as one new man in Messiah.
Having said this the time is rapidly approaching when the tensions between Jews and Arabs living in settlements in Judea and Samaria, the heartland of Israel, will increase as we already see tensions arising between the decedents of Jacob and Esau in these settlements.
This is what is happening behind the scenes where Jacob and Esau are still at odds with each other through their decedents. It is the spirit of Amalek at work even in the very heartland of Israel today.
Epilogue
When we see Jacob wrestling through the long dark night with his pre-existent Messiah before His incarnation we have a picture of the Messiah our Lord Jesus wrestling with Israel through the night of the time of Jacob’s Trouble also called the time of Great Tribulation, but coming to a place of victory. When daylight dawns, as it did for Jacob and he was reconciled to his brother, when Israel sees the one they have pierced at His Secolnd Coming and repent and believe in Him the Time of great tribulation will come to an end.
In that day the remnant of Jacob and Esau will be reunited in Messiah and the Messianic kingdom on earth will commence. As for the spirit of Amalek and those that have followed it, after the Messiah has destroyed all opposition, the memory of all who have followed the spirit of Amalek will be erased forever according to the Word of the LORD through His servant Moses. Selah.
