Amalekites

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The Amalekites (עֲמָלֵק) were a tribe in the land of Canaan who fought with the Israelites for land ownership in the early days of Israel . In the Bible they are considered to be descendants of Esau , the son of Isaac and older twin brother of Jacob ( Gen 36.12  EU ). Amalek is named as Esau's grandson. Esau is said to have taken Canaanite women ( Gen 36.1  EU ), which made his descendants a mixed people. From then on, the name “Amalek” - often without further explanation - stands for enemies of the people of Israel.

The Amalekite people

The Amalekites settled in southern Canaan near what is now the Negev . They apparently lived differently from the Hebrew semi-nomads in permanent cities, each of which was subordinate to a city prince. Some of their names indicate that they worshiped the Ba'al (a Canaanite god of fertility) (Gen 36: 31-39). On the other hand, like belligerent nomads, they lived from attacks on neighboring tribes.

Amalek as an enemy of Israel when it left Egypt

Moses ' arms are held up, miniature from a world chronicle (14th century)
Aaron and Hur support Moses in prayer, picture frame on the large Knesset menorah

Their conflict with the newcomers from the desert is shown in Ex 17  EU : After the people of Israel rebelled against Moses because of lack of water and had questioned their God, they camped weakened at a newly discovered rock spring ( Massa and Meriba , v. 7). Here they were attacked by Amalek. Amalek here can be the name of the leader or the personified name of the tribe. Moses entrusted Joshua, son of Nun , with the defensive battle , his later successor, and he led this by stretching his arms towards heaven from a height in order to receive God's help (v. 11):

“And when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but if he let it sink, Amalek won. "

After two men supported Moses' arms until sunset, Israel finally triumphed. Moses then received God's commission to record the event for Joshua (v. 14):

"Because I want to wipe Amalek out from under heaven so that one no longer thinks of him."

The story is an etiological tale that interpreted the conspicuous rock on a hill as the seat of Moses and probably used it as an altar for field services before a battle (v. 15f):

“The hand on the throne of YHWH ! He wages war against Amalek from child to child. "

This hereditary enmity in the tradition of the holy war of the time of the judges was later reaffirmed in the Deuteronomic review of the pre-state traditions of Israel ( Dtn 25.17–19  EU ):

"Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the way when you left Egypt: how they attacked you on the way and slayed your stragglers, all the weak, ... when you were tired and weary and did not fear God."

This justifies the commandment to wipe out the Amalekites. But this request is now in the context of the detailed protection laws for precisely these weaknesses (Deut. 23.16 to 25.16): A domestic policy that upholds and defends their rights is also seen as the best protection of the people from foreign powers in foreign policy. Judgment on these is reserved to God alone, who himself will also enforce the 1st commandment there ( Dtn 32,35f  EU ):

"Vengeance is mine ... For YHWH will justify his people, and he will have mercy on his servants."

Important rabbis like Maimonides and Rabbi Pinhas Halevi of Barcelona taught that there were still Amalekites, and with them the duty to remember their deeds and to destroy them.

Submission and extermination of the Amalekites under Saul, David and Hezekiah

In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul claims to have defeated the Amalekites and exterminated them as a people. Since Saul did not initially kill King Agag the Amalekites, the prophet Samuel deprived him of his right to kingship. Samuel himself hacked up the agag.

In 1st book Samuel 27 and 30 it is reported that afterwards David waged war against the Amalekites and subjugated the people (cf. 2nd book Samuel ; 2 Sam 8,12  EU ). However, according to the report in the 1st book of the Chronicle ( 1 Chr 4,43  EU ), the people will only be completely exterminated by the sons of Simeon under Hezekiah in the mountains of Seir .

Haman and Ester

The tribe of Amalek is also assigned to Haman in the Book of Esther , an official at the court of the Persian king Ahasuerus , who, through his hatred of Mordechai , brings himself and his ten sons to the gallows.

Amalek and Amalekites as recurring figures in Jewish history

In Jewish tradition, various people who distinguished themselves through particular hostility towards the Jews were assigned to the Amalek tribe. These include, for example, the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnyzkyj (1595–1657) and Adolf Hitler . The National Socialists were seen by prominent Jews, such as Simon Dubnow , Arthur Szyk and Raul Hilberg , as Amalekites. Such traditions are related to ideas about reincarnation , which is called Gilgul in Hebrew (literally: "roles", here the soul ).

Some rabbis even go so far as to identify certain peoples with the Amalekites, such as the Gaon of Vilna , to whom Rabbi Joseph Chaim Sonnenfeld referred when he refused to greet Kaiser Wilhelm II on his visit to Palestine in 1898 because the Germans descended from the Amalekites. Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik and other rabbis teach that all Jew haters came from the seed of Amalek, such as the National Socialists, the Soviets, Nasser and the Mufti . Still others, such as Rabbi Jack Riemer , see Amalekites in Islamic fundamentalists . The Palestinians as a people have been equated with Amalek since Rabbi Moshe Ben-Tzion Ishbezari of Ramat Gan referred to them as such in 1974. Rabbi Israel Hess followed this approach in 1980. Hess was a rabbi on the Bar Ilan University campus and published an article in February 1980 with the title "The Invitation to Genocide in the Torah".

After the death of Yasser Arafat , 200 rabbis from Pikuach Nefesh called him "Amalek of our generation" and suggested that the day of his death be celebrated as a day of joy.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The First Word: Are Jews still commanded to blot out Amalek? - Jerusalem Post ( Memento of March 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  2. ↑ Nur Masalha: The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archeology and Post-Colonialism in Palestine-Israel. Zed Books (English).
  3. ^ Robert Eisen: The peace and violence of Judaism: from the Bible to modern Zionism. Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 152 (English).
  4. ↑ Yisrael Hess: Mitzvot Hagenocide Batorah. In Bat Qol. Bar Ilan University , February 26, 1980 (English).
  5. ↑ Nur Masalha: The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archeology and Post-Colonialism. Zed Books, 2007, p. 150 f. and 199 (English).
  6. ^ Elliott S. Horowitz: Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence. Princeton, University Press, 2006, p. 3.