“Israel is my firstborn son,” and “Amalek is first among the nations”
When a couple’s first child is born, they become parents. They assume a new role, they are instilled with a new essence, and the world begins to recognize them in a different way. When God sent Moshe to Pharaoh, he armed him with the statement, “Israel is my firstborn son” (Ex. 4:22). God chooses Israel to be the nation that makes him into a parent, and changes the way God is viewed in the world.[1] When Israel emerges from Egypt, Israel becomes God’s nation, and the Lord becomes their God. Amalek, the first nation to undermine this relationship by attempting to harm Israel, is appropriately referred to as “the first among nations” (Num. 24:20).[2]
The biblical description of Amalek’s attack on Israel focuses on two elements: the first is Amalek’s targeting of the weak; perhaps they are able to do the most harm in the absence of social solidarity, when weakness is present: “how he … struck down those who lagged behind you” (Deut. 25:18).[3] The second: “you were faint and weary, and feared not God.” According to some commentators, Amalek arrives specifically when Israel does not fear God.[4] Indeed, in the story in Exodus, Amalek is described as targeting Israel immediately after the nation questions “whether God is in our midst, or not” (Ex. 17:7). These two elements are the foundations of the statement “Israel is my firstborn son,” which outlines both Israel’s purpose as a nation, and their representation of the God of Israel. This dual significance is expressed later, when Moshe appoints Joshua to choose people from among the nation to defend Israel, and himself goes to the top of the hill to turn his hands – and the hearts of the nation – toward the heavens.[5]
Although Joshua weakened the enemy, he was not able to defeat Amalek. The factor that prevented an unequivocal victory may have been the nation’s social weakness, or perhaps their spiritual frailty, which led to Moshe’s inability to keep his heavy hands elevated long enough. Regardless, the war did not end with victory, and God commanded Moshe: “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered, and sound it to Joshua’s ears, that I will utterly erase the memory of Amalek from under the heaven” (Ex. 17:14). God promises to destroy any memory of Amalek in the future.
Why does God make a promise, instead of simply destroying Amalek? Because of God’s relationship with the nation of Israel. Only when Israel is ready to be united as God’s firstborn son, the memory of Amalek can be wiped out entirely. This will be formulated later in Moshe’s speech:
Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget(Deut. 25:19).
God will give Israel rest from the enemies all around – but the damage to Israel as God’s people and children cannot be healed by God alone; this requires an active role by the nation that represents God in the world. The promise “I will utterly erase the memory of Amalek from under the heaven” depends on the imperative to the nation: “you shall erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven,” making the first stage of this process the nation’s responsibility.
Subsequent to God’s promise, Moshe erects an altar:
Moshe built an altar and called it ‘The Lord is my Banner.’ He said, ‘Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation’ (Exodus 17:15-16).
The altar commemorates the miracle of the victory in battle, but also announces the fact that Israel holds God as their banner: the carry the banner of faith in the world, as God’s representatives; therefore, God’s war against the Amalekites from generation to generation is also Israel’s battle against Amalek.
Chazal interpreted the pair ‘the throne of the Lord’ while noting the abbreviation of both words in the phrase (כס as an abbreviation of כסא, and י-ה as an abbreviation of God’s name):
R. Levi in the name of R. Huna in the name of R. Hanina: As long as the progenies of Amalek exist in the world, God is not whole, and his throne is not whole; once Amalek’s progeny is lost from the world, God is whole, and his throne is whole.[6]
God chose to dwell among Israel, and his throne represents Israel as a whole. When God is whole, his representation in the world is whole as well. Later we read: “Then Shlomo sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David, and he prospered and all Israel obeyed him” (1 Chr. 29:23). When Shlomo views Israel as the representation of God in the world, and successfully unites the nation around their unified designation – the throne is whole, and God’s name is whole.
These two elements will return once again in the story of Esther. Haman the Aggagite identifies the weakness of the Jews as a nation that is separate and scattered among the nations, and rises to power on the background of a weakened Jewish identity and questionable loyalty to the God of Israel. Israel’s ability to overcome Haman’s edict of annihilation depends on their ability to unite: “go, gather all the Jews,” and turn their hearts toward the heavens: “and fast for me.”[7]
Modern Amalekites hurt us again and again in our time as well. The weakness of social solidarity enables our external enemies to breach our defenses and harm God’s throne. The question of Jewish identity, and whether our outstretched hands point to the heavens and look to God, affects Israel’s resilience.
Today we face the great dilemma of where to invest first – do we attempt to elevate a disparate nation upwards, or do we first find the way to unify the nation, and begin with “gather all the Jews.” The current harm to Israel at this time seems to emphasize the nation’s dispersion as the primary element that plays into the hands of God’s enemies, undermining God’s choice of Israel as his representative and firstborn son. Great efforts need to be taken to amend our solidarity, first and foremost. The tired and weary nation is not always God-fearing, but the weakness has to be eradicated, and our hearts need to be strengthened, so that we may rebuild God’s throne, with the hope of someday restoring the wholeness of God’s name.
[1] See Ibn Ezra, Ex. 4:22.
[2] Cf. Ibn Ezra, Num. 24:20. Egypt might have been viewed as “the first among nations,” but they harmed Israel before they became a nation which is charged with carrying God’s name, and for Egypt’s own personal gain.
[3] Parallel to Israel’s weakness, the battle against Amalek will be described: “Joshua weakened the Amalekite and his army with the sword” (Ex. 17:13).
[4] See e.g. Hizkuni, Netziv, and other commentators.
[5] Mishna Rosh Hashana 3:8.
[6] Psikta deRav Kahana 3.
[7] Es. 4:16.