Amalek from generation to generation
Exodus 17:16 is a very interesting verse that is translated in a variety of ways in modern English versions. It’s literal translation is quite interesting and was often commented upon by the founder of UIWU, the late David Horowitz.
The setting and context for the verse is the scene of the first battle the Israelites faced in coming out of Egypt. They were attacked by the clan of Amalek, one of the descendants of Esau through his Canaanite wife Adah, known for their brutal cruelty, particularly the murder of women, children, and the old, sick, and feeble, that were in the back of the camp on Israel’s journeys. Moses stood on the top of a hill overlooking the battle below with the “rod of God” that he held high in the air. Aaron the Priest and Hur the Prince of Judah flanked him right and left, holding up his arms. Joshua, of Ephraim was the field commander of the battle. Following the defeat we get this declaration, literal translation here:
“Because a Hand is upon the seat of Yah, war will be between YHVH and Amalek from a generation of a generation.”
Israel is later told in the Torah that they are to REMEMBER to NOT FORGET to utterly blot out Amalek for this cruelty (Deut 25:17-19).
This scene was understood to be both literal and symbolic, a kind of proleptic precursor of the “eternal war” between the forces of Amalek against the “seat of Yah.” Yes, a “hand against the throne.” This means that in every generation, as the Rabbis tell us, the forces of Amalek will seek to work their evil and must be opposed. This is not just a “spiritual” warfare, in the sense of it having no literal historical consequences and realities. It is very spiritual in that it involves cosmic forces of darkness, but it is manifested in very real, physical, historical ways–namely the slaughter of innocents and in particular, a hatred of the Israelites/Jews and all they represent.
The first battle scene is also most interesting in that what we have represented, as a kind of generation to generation symbol, are the THREE FIGURES on the hill–Moses the Center figure, in the place of the Adon of the whole earth, the Prophet in this case, who is flanked by his two “messiahs,” one of Aaron and one of Judah. This precisely the scene we get in Zechariah 4 with the two olives branches, or “sons of fresh oil,” elaborated in Zech 6, which properly translated is two figures, not one.
Anyway, this means that “Amalek” can represent many things. On a global level there are forces that want to blot out not only those who have returned to the Land of Judah, but really all things they call “Zionist” or Jewish. Saddam talked of turning Tel Aviv into a crematorium, and Ahmadinejab has echoed the same. The same shrill voice, calling for the slaughter of the Jews used to come for hours out of Egypt when Nasser would rant and rave on the radio in the 1950s and 60s. It has been heard down through the ages, in the mouths of world leaders as well as individuals.
That first battle and the declaration of Exodus 17:16, taken with all the other references to Amalek in the Torah, indicate there is something here that unfolds from generation to generation.