Category Archives: People of the Bible

Amalekites: An enemy from Moses to Mordecai to_______! Part 1

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We are not finished with Esau and his descendants and the trouble they are going to be to Jacob’s side of the family. Esau had Eliphaz, by Adah his first wife, who had a concubine named Timna who had Amalek (Gen. 36:12). She is attributed to Adah (a true wife in the genealogy) but is listed last. For Timna see 1 Chronicles 1:36-39.

The Amalekites are cursed, and the Israelites are to be fighting them from generation to generation because they attacked the Israel column (Exodus 17:8-15) as they headed to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 25:17 – 19 is a serious statement to the Israelites about that incident; it is that commission that King Saul is trying to accomplish in I Samuel 14 and 15.

Josephus 2.1.2 assigns Amalek to the country of Idumea; this is where King Herod came from. Davis Dictionary of the Bible says the Idumeans had circumcision forced on them after being conquered by John Hyrcanus a Maccabean ruler. This is why the Jews hated Herod so much, he was not a Jew and very possibly an Edomite and he could have even been an Amalekite.

A side thought on this – there was always some kind of contention within Abraham’s family; Ishmael and Esau did not seem like contented brothers and uncles, but their genealogies made it into the Bible so that tells me that some communication did exist between parts of the family.  Since Moses is credited with writing Genesis and parts of Esau’s history was definitely happening while they were in Egypt there was communication.  Moses may have gotten some of the information while he was in Midian.

Other references to Esau/Edom/Amalek being destroyed or facing the judgment of God.

Jeremiah 2:

Ezekiel 35

Obadiah

Malachi 1:2-5

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-2

Moabites and Ammonites: Family and Foe – Part 3

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https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-1

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-2/

I find it unsettling that four of Israel’s major enemies are “family.”  Now at times, they were civil towards one another and we have to remember that Ruth, David’s and Jesus’ grandmother, was a Moabitess.  But Edom, Moab, and Ammon are frequently mentioned together as joining forces to fight Israel and in many of the Prophetic Books, they are together when the Lord is handing out judgment.

It should also be noted that God warns Moses and the Israelites about fighting with them on the way back to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 2:5,9,19 it is stated that each of them had been given that land by the Lord and Israel was not to start trouble.

Lot is the father of Moab and Ammon (see Timeline) by his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:30 – 38). Now a question that has been asked is whether they should have ever been there, to begin with!  Abraham was to leave his country and family and go to the Promised Land but there is Lot with his uncle as he leaves the rest of the family.

Ishmael and Esau: Family and Foe – Part 2

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Esau (Edom) is also a shadowing of personal/family troubles but he is more complicated even than Ishmael.  When Jacob was sent off to find a wife Esau did something interesting, he went to Ishmael for a third wife.  At one time I thought that was to make Isaac and Rebekah mad but I now think it was just the opposite; in an attempt to please mom and dad he went back to “family” just like Jacob was doing (Genesis 28:6-9).  Esau married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. So all of the types and shadows that may apply to Ishmael live on in Esau’s family. ( see Part 1 and Three Books)

Now the bad blood, remember it started in Rebekah’s womb (see Timeline), that had existed between Esau and Jacob (Genesis27: 41-45) seems to have been forgiven in the 20 years that they were separated (Genesis 33) but you have to wonder if Jacob’s mistrust was well-founded or did he create another offense when he did not travel back right away to the family area.

I am sure it was different then but he certainly had two interesting names, Esau means “hairy” and Edom means “red.”

Edom and Israel were always fighting in the Old Testament and all of the Major and Minor Prophets have sections that talk about the destruction and downfall of Edom. Since this area corresponds to modern-day Jordan you just know that this story is not over yet.

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/three-books-three-views/

Please see the above link for more about Edom.

References: NIV footnotes,

Josephus is a Jewish historian, his writings may seem a little frightening but I only read the section that corresponds to what I am reading in the Bible.  My copy is a Nelson’s Super Value Series book and it does a good job of describing what each section covers and the parts in the “books” are very well labeled.  It adds an interesting perspective to the Bible passages that I am studying.

Ishmael and Esau: Family and Foe – Part 1

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These are the first-born children of both Abraham and Isaac. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael but he was not considered the “promised child” and Esau (see Three Books and The Day) sold his birthright to Jacob. So neither of these men received the rights of the first-born; this is in agreement with the shadowing of Adam and Jesus. ( FYI Muslims say they are the spiritual children of Abraham through Ishmael.) You can read that both of these men maintained a relationship with their fathers because both of them showed up to help bury their fathers; Genesis 25:9 for Abraham and Genesis 35:29 for Isaac. Josephus, a Jewish historian, actually uses the death of Isaac as a dividing point for his history book The Antiquities of the Jews.

Ishmael is an interesting “type and shadow” he was born from an Egyptian and got an Egyptian wife; Egypt for Christians is associated with our bondages and addictions before we are saved.  So even though Egypt still holds that shadow Ishmael takes on an added shadowing because he is something personal/family in our lives.  One of the last mentions of him is in Genesis 25:18 which refers to the fact that his descendants lived in hostility (or to the east of) all of their brothers. According to Josephus Ishmael became the father of the Arabians. (see Part 2)

Now the Arabians do show up later in Scripture in some interesting places. In  2 Chronicles 17 Jehoshaphat has tribute brought to him by Arabs, Jehoram is attacked by them in chapter 21, and in chapter 26 Uzziah is beating them again with God’s help.  Nehemiah has trouble with them because of Geshem and they are mentioned in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel where they are condemned to the sword or are under God’s wrath.  But a scripture that ties all of this together is in Galatians 4:21 – 31. Hagar represents Mount Sinai (the Law) that is in Arabia and Paul links that to physical Jerusalem while the heavenly Jerusalem is linked to Sarah.

References:1.12.2 The Antiquities of the Jews, Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/patriarch-timeline/

Rock or chip off of the Block?

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Simon, son of John, we know him better as Peter (Cephas) and he is a favorite character in the Bible and one that shows “God-growth” from the beginning to the end of his story.  A meaning of Simon comes from the word for “hearing” and John means “Jehovah-favored” and this may all come from a word that means, “dove” and it is a possible form of Jonah (some Bible translations will use Jonah instead of John).  (Those “Jonah” people and fish, boats and water, sounds like another Bible study to me.) Cephas or Peter means a “piece of rock” or small pebble.

Matthew 16:18 is a verse that I think needs to be looked at a little different. Why would Jesus say that Peter, a “small piece of rock”, would have the church built on him when he used a term for a “large rock” in the same passage?  Lets try it this way; Jesus points at Peter and says he is a “part of the rock” and then gestures towards himself and says but on the “big rock (Jesus)” will the Church be built.

Resources: The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, my brother Luther