On this shabbat, that proceeds Purim, we read the section from parashat Ki Tetzei commanding “Zachor et asher asah lecha Amalek”, “Remember what Amalek did to you”. This section poses many challenging questions which we will not attempt to answer. However, we will pose some general thoughts on the commandments found in the section.
Firstly, it is important to remember that from the perspective of a religious, God believing Jew, this is the word of God. We may find certain aspects of the section difficult to understand and even, from our human perspective, morally disturbing. However, remembering this is Gods commandment, we must exercise modesty recognizing that we are limited in understanding the thoughts and ways of God. This does not and should not exempt us from trying to understand. It does call on us not to be judgmental and accept that which we cannot answer, for now, is not wrong.
From here we can move on to noting some interesting points about this commandment. The Torah commands, “Remember what Amalek did to you” and then, “when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you… you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”. What is considered “the Lord your God grants you safety”? Is it when there are no more enemies threatening the wellbeing of the Jewish people? Was that the situation when Shaul (Saul) was told to wipe out Amalek, were there not the Philistines who were at war with the Israelites?
The Gemara Sanhedrin (20b) teaches: “It is taught Rabbi Yosei says: Three mitzvot were commanded to the Jewish people upon their entrance into Eretz Yisrael: To establish a king for themselves, and to cut off the seed of Amalek, and to build for themselves the Chosen House. But I do not know which one first. When the verse states: ‘The hand upon the throne [kes] of the Lord: The Lord will have war with Amalek’ (Exodus 17:16), you must say to establish a king for themselves first, and the verse is interpreted as follows: ‘Throne’ of the Lord, is nothing other than a symbolic name for a king, as it is stated: ‘Then Solomon sat on the throne [kisei] of the Lord as king”. The Gemara then shows that wiping out Amalek should precede the building of a Mikdash.
This is precisely what we read in Tanach. After Shaul is appointed king, he is commanded to wage war with Amalek and wipe them out. Interestingly, the other place in Tanach that the Jewish people wage war with Amalek occurs in the story of the Megila. There too, the war takes place only after Ester is recognized as a Jewish Queen and Mordechai is given governing power in Achashverosh’s monarchy.
Why is it that we need to appoint a king before dealing with Amalek?
We may suggest that Amalek seems not to be a nation with a geographic homeland. He comes out of nowhere to attack Yisrael in the desert. While we read that the meraglim report they saw Amalek in the Negev (South end of Israel), we never find a mention of Amalek as a nation to be conquered when entering Eretz Yisrael. It may be that Amalek is a nation only in the sense that they are a collection of people who come together to battle the glorification of God as reflected by the success of the Jewish people.
The appointment of a king represents a certain stability in the nation. It is therefore the first of the commandments “to the Jewish people upon their entrance into Eretz Yisrael” This may be a certain expression of “when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you”.
Furthermore, we may propose that a Jewish king represents God’s governance in the world, as reflected in the Gemara Sanhedrin. Only then does Amalek appear, and only then can there be a fulfillment of, “It means, ‘Hand upon the throne of God!’ God will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.” The king who represents the throne of God in this world must wage the war of God against His enemies.
We have presented some basic non developed ideas in this piece. Please feel free to comment, complete or suggest alternates to these ideas.
Shabbat Shalom
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