Let’s Talk About the Amalekites

In recent weeks, I have stressed the fact that each time you hear biblical Hebrew or see a Semitic triliteral in the Bible, like it or not, you are hearing or seeing a cross of the many Semitic languages extant at the time of the Bible’s writing. 

Like it or not, each time you hear or see biblical Hebrew, you are also hearing and seeing Arabic. 

The word “extant” is derived from the Latin, extans, which means “to stand out.” In English, it has come to mean “still in existence” or “surviving,” like the teaching of Scripture under the boot of Hellenism, written in a concoction of the many Semitic languages that the proto-colonial, Alexander the “small,” tried to “unhouse” in his conquest of everyone. 

So why all this talk about the Amalekites in biblical literature when one need look only to human history, to Alexander, to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or for that matter, current events, to learn about Cain’s building project and its legacy of “unhousing?”

The literature—the text—not the history of Scripture, is instruction, a “cautionary tale,” an exhortation. All of us must teach this fact. We must teach it to our fundamentalist Christian friends—those who built a wall in my mom’s hometown, in Bethlehem of Palestine—in defiance of St. Paul, who said:

“For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” (Ephesians 2:14)

In the parable of Scripture, the Amalekites, the enemies of the literary characters Israel and Judah, are the descendants of the characterEsau (Genesis 36:12, 16). As Fr. Paul explains in his most recent book, Decoding Genesis 1-11:

“Early in Genesis, we hear the author using the appellation of sadeh,that is, the earth as life supporting (2:5, 19, 20), and then applying it to the living area of the Amalekites, well before the story of Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23) and the story of the two brothers Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25, 27). In other words, early on in chapter 14, the author magisterially preempts the hearers from concluding that the special story about their ancestor, Abram, and his superman feats, makes them different from other peoples, especially their sworn adversaries.” (Tarazi, p. 197)

So why does God command the annihilation of the Amalekites? (1 Samuel 15:2-3)

‘Amaleq, is an interesting word in Hebrew. Don’t waste time looking it up in a colonial dictionary; you will not find anything useful. melek, in both Arabic and Hebrew, is the triliteral MLK and means “king.” Did you catch my nonviolent irony? I hope so. In any case, the biblical character ‘Amaleq, which begins with the letter ‘ain, has the same root as melek. In Arabic, the word for “giant” is ‘amlaq.

So, in the story, these powerful giants are introduced through Samuel as Saul’s first test of obedience. 

There is a parallel tale about Joshua and the Amalekites in Exodus. It’s a parable. A mashal. A dark saying. A riddle. It’s a metaphoric text contained within an epic storyline, not an historical instruction manual. Pretend you are watching Avengers Endgame. When you leave the movie theatre, ask yourself, is the moral of this story an advisory on how to become Thanos and kill half of all inhabitants in the land? 

This is not a trick question.

Who, pray tell, is the King of Glory, Saul? 

Who rescued you from Egypt when you could not fight? Who overcame Agag, king of the giants, a people whose strength was beyond your might? Who saved Joshua and Moses in Exodus? 

Who is the King of Israel, Saul? 

Again, this is not a trick question.

“Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,” taking the spoils of a victory that you did not win, and claiming things that do not belong to you, the Lord “has rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23)

“Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and listened to their voice.” (1 Samuel 15:24)

Of course, you did, Saul, because the people demand spoils, security, barriers, and dividing walls in the land—the land—which, like the spoils you took, does not belong to you; it is the property of the Lord. 

In total view of the biblical epic, long before the story of Ephron the Hittite, (let alone Saul or Joshua), Abraham came from the same sadeh as the Amalekites—from the same earth as life supporting.

We human beings refuse to accept our fate as ‘afar,—as people taken from and returning to the dust. This fate, Fr. Paul explains: 

“Will be unexpectedly redressed in Genesis 23 via 'ephron, (Ephron) the (outsider) Hittite who will prove to be the Lord God’s medium for establishing ḥebron, the place of brotherhood, the gathering place of Abraham’s descendants, which ironically will end as the inheritance, not of Joshua, but of Caleb, “the (outsider) dog” (keleb, KLB, Arabic, kalb), in the Book of Joshua (14:13-15).” (Tarazi, p. 174)

Caleb, the triliteral KLB. In Arabic, kalb, the dog, the barbarian, the unclean thing—the standard bearer for brotherhood in the Book of Life. 

Let’s hope so. 

Richard and I discuss Luke 5:8-9. (Episode 509)