The hidden message of Purim: Amalek’s war with Israel throughout the generations

The holiday of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther, chapter 9, has become an important celebration in the Jewish calendar. Celebrated in the middle of the Hebrew month of Adar, you will see people wearing costumes, giving gifts, and eating special food for the Purim holiday, which commemorates yet another miraculous rescue of Israel from destruction.

However, behind all the glitz and fancy costumes, there are profound lessons hidden in the biblical story that are more relevant today than ever.

It’s often pointed out that the name of God is conspicuously absent from the entire book of Esther, even though we see His saving hand of deliverance after three days of earnest prayer and fasting. But it’s not only the name of God that’s hidden from view.

The identity of the star of the story, Esther, is also kept under wraps until the moment she reveals that she is Jewish, in a bid to plead for her people. Her petition to the king was successful, and the people of Israel were saved from certain death. More than that, there’s a whole battle happening under the surface going way back before the story set in the Persian palace ever took place. 

Wicked Haman, the jealous courtier who wished to wipe out the Jews from the whole empire (after Esther’s guardian Mordecai refused to bow to him) was a descendent of Agag, the King of Amalek.

Mordecai the Jew, on the other hand, the main protagonist along with Esther, was a relative of Israel’s first king, Saul the Benjamite. Centuries earlier, King Saul had been tasked with ending the genocidal Amalekites. Now, the old battle was being replayed.

The Purim story tells of the Amalekite determination to annihilate the Jewish people – and God’s refusal to allow it. It’s a story that is played out over and over again. Indeed, God explicitly says that this will be the case. 

In Exodus 17, God says to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:14-16).

Soon after the people of Israel were rescued from Egypt, the Amalekites attacked from the rear, hitting the old and infirm, the young and the weak. God’s response was to command their utter destruction: “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven,” He tells Israel in Deuteronomy 25:19. “You shall not forget!” He warned them, but somehow, it slipped their minds. The Amalekites reappear to fight against the Lord and His people over and over again.

Though God, Himself, states that He will have war with Amalek from generation to generation, there’s a prophecy in Numbers 24:20 that Amalek’s ultimate end will be “utter destruction." It seems like their end will only come right at the end, but it will come.

And here we are today. The genocidal aspirations of Israel’s enemies have continued, just as God said they would. However, we must understand that this is a war against God, ultimately. It is the Lord that Amalek fights against, according to Exodus 17:16. It’s Satan’s battle against God and His purposes which He is working through the people of Israel.

God’s desire in choosing Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to bless all nations through the people of Israel, through the seed of the Messiah and the promise of salvation (salvation is “Yeshua” in Hebrew) and to be a living, breathing, tangible example of who He is and how He treats people. God calls Israel the apple of His eye, His special possession, and declares that He has set His affection on the Jewish people (Deuteronomy 7:6-7, 32:10). 

The adversary, unsurprisingly, takes the exact opposite stance, directing a special hatred toward Israel. Satan desires to wipe God’s flagship nation off the face of the earth, to prevent His plan to speak to the world through His people in His land and His faithfulness to them. 

Satan seeks agents through whom to carry out his diabolical plans against Israel, and from generation to generation finds those happy to help. Adolph Hitler exemplified the Amalek determination to destroy Israel in his generation and today jihadi terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis have picked up the baton.

For much of history, the Jewish people have been in exile, vulnerable and exposed to those seeking their destruction. Today, at last, God has brought Israel back to the land where the Jewish people can defend themselves from attack. Yet, even as Israel battles their enemies, the nations under the influence of the “prince of the powers of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), seem outraged when Israel appears to be winning.

In Mordecai’s day, the Jewish people “killed 75,000 of those who hated them” according to Esther 9:16, thanks to the invisible hand of God turning the tables on their enemies. That manifestation of Amalek was soundly defeated.

Interestingly, even back then, two extremes of response to the people of Israel were demonstrated in the same Persian empire. Haman may have acted as an Amalek, to his demise, but Persian king Cyrus later decreed that Israel could return and rebuild Jerusalem, even giving them all they needed to do the job. The temple had previously been destroyed by the Babylonians along with the city of God, the precious things in God’s house had been plundered, but now all was being restored. 

Satan worked through Amalekite agents at Purim but God anointed the Persian king, Cyrus, to bring His blessing back to Israel. The people of Israel returned, Jerusalem was restored, and the worship of the God of Israel was resumed from the spiritual epicenter of the world – all in preparation for the Jewish Messiah to come and fulfil the prophecies the world was waiting for.

Who knows if today’s “Persian Empire” of Iran and its proxies might accept defeat of its Amalekite aspirations and, instead, turn to bless Israel as a friend? Stranger things have happened. Tables can turn in radical ways, as the story of Purim perfectly demonstrates.