Complete Annilhation of the Amalekites?

Deuteronomy 25:17-19: "Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!"



In this passage of Deuteronomy, God seems very emphatic that He desires the complete destruction of the Amalekites, and this command is reiterated to King Saul 500 years later in 1 Samuel 15:3: "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys." When Saul refused to destroy neither the choicest of livestock nor the king, God decreed that Saul was now the enemy of the Lord and would die for his failure to carry out "God's fierce wrath against the Amalekites" (1 Samuel 28:18). So the question arises, "Why such vehement wrath upon one people?"



To find the answer, one must travel back to the accounts of the wandering Israelites in the first few books of the Old Testament. The Amalekites represented the group of people who attempted to thwart the entrance of God's chosen people from entering the Promised Land. First, one finds the Amalekites waging war against the Israelites at Rephidim in Exodus 17. Again in Numbers 14:45, the Amalekites were the ones who drove the Israelites away from the entrance into the Promised Land back into the desert at Hormah. The Amalekites were the pagans who desired to thwart any attempt by God's chosen people from reaching the intended destination from the LORD. God desired for His people to experience the blessing of His abundant provision, and the Amalekites wanted to prevent this from happening.



If we see the Promised Land in the Old Testament as a prefigurement of heaven, our eternal "Promised Land," then in a sense, the Amalekites represent everything that is anti-Christ. They embody the forces of evil that would desire to prevent God from redeeming his bride into His glorious presence. The Amalekites are not unlike Satan himself, who wants nothing less than to see all of humanity fall short of salvation. So it seems as if God's fierce wrath that brings utter destruction to the Amalekites (see David's account in I Samuel 28) is a symbolic parallel to the utter destruction that He will bring upon all the forces of evil that would attempt to keep His redeemed from heaven. Revelation 20 speaks of the eternal judgment upon Satan and his followers of evil. They will meet God's Divine wrath in the lake of fire, where they will be "tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10).

So, God's fierce wrath against this one nation had to do with their desire to challenge God's will for his chosen people. As God utterly destroyed this people from the face of the earth, so He will judge all evil in the last days. God will not be challenged. As the Almighty, Sovereign One, the Lord will prevail.