Pharaoh of Egypt and Haman The Amalekite

Ps 109:13 & 15 February 1, 1997

“Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out…
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.” Psalm 109:13, 15

Genocide, says my dictionary, is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group. This horrific crime against humanity is one of Satan’s most sophisticated instruments to make the Word of God of none effect. If this travesty is directed against God’s people, the Jews, and prevails, most of the prophecies and promises in the Bible would never come to pass; they would never achieve fulfillment. One of the most baneful effects of the entire destruction of this particular people is that this form of genocide would give Satan grounds for accusing God to be a liar. The race, the line from which the Seed of the woman sprung would be completely eliminated. Satan would have foiled God’s plans. His head could never be bruised. His person and power would remain secure. The Enemy of men’s souls would be forever triumphant. This horrendous state of affairs, of course, can never take place. God will not allow this disastrous turn of events ever to happen. But the Evil One has attempted genocide in the past and, assuredly, he has plans for it in the future.

It is not only the Jewish race that has been threatened with complete annihilation. From 1894 through 1915 the Turks sporadically massacred the Armenian peoples. Saddam Hussein of Iraq has tried to deliberately destruct the Kurds. Both Kurds and Armenians are ancient peoples whose continued existence could somehow lineup with the complete fulfillment of scriptural prophecies. In Serbia, it went by the name: ‘ethnic cleansing’. The spirit of genocide and the ongoing destructive forces of Satan are promoted whenever humans lash out against their fellow man and angrily propose the elimination of any nation or ethnic group. Genocide is Satan’s most powerful and profound solution to the human problem complete destruction; total annihilation!

The Pharaoh Tried First

According to Exodus, chapter one, verses 15-17, the Pharaoh of Israel’s oppression in ancient Egypt, probably Rameses II, was used by Satan in an attempt to eradicate the entire Jewish race. The Bible tells us: “And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shipprah, and the name of the other was Puah: And he said, when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the children alive.“

I’m sure the reader can see through this subtle satanic plot to systematically destroy the Chosen People completely. Pharaoh was merely Satan’s human agent to command the planned execution of every Hebrew child of masculine gender born from that time on. If the midwives had obeyed the king’s command and killed every male child, as his law decreed, it would only be a matter of time before the entire race would eventually die out. God Himself had to intervene in this disastrous situation. He gave the Hebrew midwives the courage and determination to disobey this ruthless leader’s murderous orders. God also inspired these God-fearing nurses with a ready response for the royal inquisitors so that their jobs would be protected and the safety of their charges would be secured. When Satan saw that his perfect plan of genocide was failing, he resorted to another tactic. Instead of killing off God’s people directly, he prompted Egypt’s rulers to overwhelm the Jews by reducing them to menial slaves, forcing them to serve with rigor and making their lives bitter with hard bondage. This increased oppression, of course, eventually turned on the oppressors. God raised up Moses to deliver His people from bondage and lead them to the Promised Land. Satan not only failed to destroy them. Pharaoh, his agent, lost his entire slave population. But, People of the Word, whether Jew or Gentile, should not at all be surprised that the Enemy of their souls would seek to destroy them. Failing extinction, he plans to make their lives as difficult as possible.

Haman did it in Persia
Another biblical figure with genocidal tendencies, lesser known but no less powerful, was Haman. His name crops up in the Book of Esther. Some important facts about Haman are: 1) He was a chief prince of the Persian Empire. 2) He was an Agagite, which means he was a descendant of the Amalekite kings. 3) He was the only person in all of Scripture to merit the disgraceful title, “the Jews’ enemy”. Esther, I’m sure you remember, was a beautiful devout Jewess who became the wife of Ahasuerus, the king. Queen Esther’s cousin and mentor, Mordecai, was a loyal palace official. But when Haman achieved his lofty position at court, Mordecai refused to bow before him. Mordecai’s recalcitrance in this matter was not caused by a rebellious spirit, a superior attitude, or by personal animosity. The simple fact of the matter was that Haman was an Amalekite and Jehovah had declared perpetual war on the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:16).

No matter the consequences this dedicated, reverential Jew chose to obey God rather than men. Risking great danger both to himself and his beloved cousin and queen, Mordecai chanced ruining his own and Esther’s careers. In retaliation for Mordecai’s insubordination, Haman sought not only to destroy him personally but connived to eradicate the entire race. Here is what the wily Haman proposed to King Ahasuerus:“There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed… Esther 3:8-9If Haman had been able to follow through completely with this plan of genocide, all the Jews would have been wiped out at this crucial juncture in history. The promised Seed of the woman would not have had the opportunity to enter the world scene in accordance with God’s eternal plan of redemption. Once again the Almighty intervened and turned Haman’s destructive plot around so that not only were His people spared annihilation but great honors were bestowed upon his faithful, obedient servants.

Satan will try it again
I describe these two scriptural incidents at length not as a mere exercise in recalling interesting events of Bible history. Through this series of THE CONFLICT OF THE AGES, I hope to show our readers trends and patterns that are clearly described in the Scriptures and have been played out in verifiable historical events upon the stage of world history. As well-intentioned as they may be, and however useful and enlightening the facts that they unearth may seem, secular anthropologists, historians and political analysts fail to connect their findings with the fact based spiritual revelations that only God’s inerrant Word can provide. If we can grasp the beautiful comprehensive design of God’s overall plan; if we can simply follow the unerring direction the Holy Spirit inspires through the revealed Word, many of the events of the past would make deeper sense. And current issues and concerns can be evaluated in the light of spiritual reality. Broad vistas of solid hope for the attainment of realistic future goals are graciously opened to us.

Volumes have been written about the First and Second World Wars. Even now, on television, PBS and the History channel are bringing archeological findings of the remote past and the pictures and newsreels of recent conflicts daily before our eyes. Experts in various and sundry fields evaluate the economic, the political, the cultural and social implications of all these matters. But who is there to guide us about the spiritual ramifications? Who is there to tell us what all this accumulated historical data really means? The Lord Jesus has sent us the Holy Ghost. And the promise is that He will lead us into all truth. We can look at the First and Second World Wars from a vast array of standpoints, but when we view these earth shaking events from a spiritual perspective what a deep and satisfying insight is given to us. From a purely secular standpoint the two world wars brought about significant geopolitical changes and shifts in world power. But from the prophetic viewpoint these mammoth hostilities at the cost of innumerable lives and profound human misery served mainly to prepare a homeland for the Chosen race. Even more importantly these wars created a worldwide atmosphere so threatening to the Jewish people at large that they would be forced to create the State of Israel and maintain for themselves the refuge of a recognized national state. A long line of oppressors from Pharaoh, Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the Great, the Roman Caesars, the Holy Roman Emperors, the Roman Catholic inquisitors to Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler have, each in his own way, massacred and sought to annihilate the Jews. Each has found himself “fighting against God” and has left a bloody trail of murder and mayhem for all the world to see. Yet, all was clearly forecast through the Prophetic Word in God’s Holy Bible. All have been forewarned by “The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords”. 1 Tim 6:15