So in this passage there is a strategy given for warfare, it's a divine strategy, and so that's why it's important. So when you face battles and face pressures, there is a divine strategy to follow to ensure success and we want to succeed, we want to win in the battles we face. No matter what our battles are worth, we want to succeed in them, so I want to just talk firstly a little bit, spend a little bit of time so we just understand Amalek, and you just have a little understanding of where they came from, what they were all up about. Now in Genesis 36, Verses 10 through to 12, it tells us that Amalek was a descendant of Esau. In fact he was Esau's grandson. Now why is that important? His grandson - because in the Bible generations are connected, and so therefore where someone originates from tells you the DNA, tells you the nature of that person, where they've come from. So he descended, or he was the grandson by a concubine, so it's an immoral relationship of someone who's seeking to gain influence by being connected into the family of Esau.
So there's immorality in the background. There's agendas to try and gain influence, not through a right marriage, but through just being a concubine, trying to get in on Esau's family. Now why is this? What's so significant about Esau? Why all these interesting things about Esau? The thing is that Esau was the firstborn son; so Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Esau. Now of course immediately you think that's not right; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. No, but it should have been Esau, but you see Esau made bad choices. Esau did not value spiritual inheritance. He did not value, he did not understand, or get the importance of, blessing flowing down from one generation to another. He did not understand the significance of the blessing on Abraham being a generational blessing. He did not understand fully the power of that blessing that came, by being connected to Abraham: In Abraham I'll bless the nations of the earth. I will bless you, and you'll become a blessing. I will bless you financially, bless you in your marriage, bless you in your family, bless you in your relationships, bless you in your work. I will bless you - and Abraham was blessed. He was a multi-millionaire, a very rich man.
See Isaac also was a very rich man, so it should have been Abraham, Isaac and Esau. However, Esau despised, or did not see the significance of, spiritual values. He was a very worldly man, man of the earth, and so he valued just meeting his immediate needs. He was more interested in just having a good time, or filling up; and so the Bible calls him in Hebrews 11: a profane man. That word 'profane' means literally to open up or to create a door of opportunity for something to come in. It's the same word used when the Bible says: don't give a place to the devil, so this man Esau, he didn't place value on spiritual blessing, and the flow of spiritual blessing down a family line, didn't place any value on it at all. In fact actually what he did do, was he traded his blessing for a meal. I won't get into the issue of trading, but what he did was, he made an exchange. He exchanged something that was worth millions to him, for one meal. He compromised, in other words, and traded away what God intended, or he could have had.
The Bible says Esau have I hated, Jacob have I loved. Now Jacob wasn't exactly a very honest man, in fact he was very manipulative and he lied, deceived, did all kinds of things. Nevertheless, he had this that was good, and this is what God looked at. See we look at the lying and cheating and deceiving and manipulating, all that kind of thing and think oh man, what a guy, you know? But God looked him and saw: here's a man who has true values, eternal values. So Jacob was a man who loved the blessing God.
So this descendant of Esau, the whole thing about Esau was that one, he despised the blessing, and then he hated Jacob when he got it, so the roots of this Amalek are this. It's about despising, and holding of no place or value, your spiritual inheritance in Christ; trading it away for something that'll just get you by today, and having resentment against those who walk in that blessing - hatred actually. Hatreds manifest by accusations, judgements, back-biting, all that kind of stuff there, so that's the spirit behind it. So what does Amalek actually mean? That's its source and its origin. It means to dwell in the valley, but it means actually this. It comes from a word - I looked up the Hebrew meaning, so I just tried a different source. I found it really quite interesting what it means. It means literally this, it means: to toil, and it's combined with another word meaning: to remove spirit life. So this is what Amalek means: to remove, or empty out, your spiritual life, through seasons when you're under pressure, where it's difficult and you're struggling.