Exhortation

In today’s sermon text, Israel fights Amalekites for the first time. It is not the last battle with Amalek. Saul has to fight them too, and David, and they aren’t finally wiped out until the book of Esther.

Each time Israel defeats Amalek, other Gentiles turn to the Lord. After the victory under Moses, Jethro the priest of Midian advises Moses. When David defeats the Amalekites who attack Ziklag, he forms an alliance with Hiram of Tyre. While the Jews in Esther’s day slaughter Haman’s allies, Gentiles throughout the Persian empire turn to Yahweh.

Balaam says, “Amalek was the first of the nations,” and when Israel defeats the first nation, the rest begin to submit to Israel’s God.

Though the Amalekites disappear after Esther, in the New Testament, the Jews are like the Amalekites; they are the “first nation,” and the same pattern recurs. Jesus frustrates the Jews who assault the church, and meanwhile the Gentiles stream in.

We want to see the nations streaming into the church, but that doesn’t happen without a fight. To see the nations turn to the Lord, we have to take up our Spiritual weapons and follow our Joshua into the valley where the Amalekites are waiting.