1. Conflict among two closely related peoples
2. Pride (self-glorification) the root of all sin
3. Before salvation is received, pride must be destroyed
4. Out with Chametz
5. Whose voice was it that Haman & Judas obeyed?
   

Conflict among two closely related peoples:

קֹדֶשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל לַ ה’ רֵאשִׁית תְּבוּאָתֹה כָּל־אֹכְלָיו יֶאְשָׁמוּ רָעָה תָּבֹא אֲלֵיהֶם נְאֻם־ה’׃

“Israel was holy to Adonai,
The first of His harvest.
All who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them,” declares Adonai.

וַיַּרְא אֶת־עֲמָלֵק וַיִּשָּׂא מְשָׁלֹו וַיֹּאמַר רֵאשִׁית גֹּויִם עֲמָלֵק וְאַחֲרִיתֹו עֲדֵי אֹבֵֽד׃

And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said,
“Amalek was the first of the nations,
But his end shall be destruction (lit. to destroying).”

Israel and Amalek are both first among the nations. “Israel was holiness unto God, and the first fruits of His increase” (Jeremiah 2:3). “Amalek was the first of the nations” to oppose the “Rule of God” (Numbers 24:20). The Torah  verse of Numbers referring to Amalek as the ‘first’ of the nations does not refer to that nation being the first of the nations to come into existence. Rather, this preeminence of Amalek refers to the nation and its people being the first among all the nations to come against Israel and the God of Israel. Israel is presented as the root of holiness.

Israel’s name means the “Rule of God.”

In contrast, Amalek is identified as being the root of defilement. Amalek is derived from the Hebrew root word “amal” meaning “works.” “labor,” “toil.” As a descendant of Esau Amalek is literally the works of Esau (i.e. works of the flesh). Since Esau’s works are centered on self-glorification and self-satisfaction it could be said:

Amalek’s name means “Rule of Man”(lit. of ‘Self’).

Esau could have served under the Rule of God as the high priest of his family. Rather, he foolishly chose to throw this great privilege away for a mess of pottage (lentil stew; meaning “his deity is in his belly“). This phrase ‘his deity is in his belly’ means Esau is solely possessed by his own physical appetites and therefore, he is not in the least interested in experiencing the spiritual life that is freely offered by God.

Pride (self-glorification) the root of all sin:

וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי־גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם אַרְבַּע מֵאֹות שָׁנָֽה׃

[God] said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”

וְדֹור רְבִיעִי יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה כִּי לֹא־שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָאֱמֹרִי עַד־הֵֽנָּה׃

Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.

וּמֹושַׁב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָשְׁבוּ בְּמִצְרָיִם שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְאַרְבַּע מֵאֹות שָׁנָֽה׃

Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

Jacob went into Egypt for 430 years. Isaac’s descendants were required to make this sacrifice because Adonai our God said “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full” (Genesis 15: 13,16; Exodus 12:40).

The term Amorites means “mouthy and blatant,” therefore, these people were characterized as being full of pride; self-praise, the root of all sin. Unlike his Amorite counterparts Esau–Jacob’s twin brother–did not have to immediately be expelled from the Holy Land. He could have learned from responding positively to God’s harsh discipline but he refused to do so. Therefore, that is why his birth-right was allowed to be past on to his crafty younger brother, Jacob.

Thereafter God harshly disciplined Esau’s younger brother Jacob for twenty years at the hands of his even craftier uncle Laban and unlike Esau, Jacob responded positively. In time Jacob patient endurance of God’s discipline (training) yielded the fruit of righteousness that God desired. Therefore, Ja’acov became humble and spiritually useful to God; whereas Esau’s mouthy pride and spiritual uselessness remained quite intact.

It was Esau’s lack of openness to correction that was passed on to his descendants. When the time of the people of Israel’s subservience in Egypt ended, our people emerged from our bondage as a free nation and people. Then came the opposition to Israel (the Rule of God). ‘Then came Amalek’ (Exodus 17:8). Amalek is the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). Haman, the Agagite, is the descendent of Amalek (Esther 3:1).

Before salvation is received, pride must be destroyed:

The picture in view here is that the praise of man (pride) must be destroyed before salvation can ever truly be received. When the Salvation of Adonai (Yeshua) is manifest, Amalek (the evil one) comes. When the Israel was released from the Babylonian captivity, ‘then came Amalek.’

It was also the descendants of Amalek who delayed the rebuilding of the Second Temple in the city of Jerusalem. It was the descendants of Amalek who delayed the building of Jerusalem’s walls of defense. It was Amalek who was behind Haman successfully acquiring a Decree of Total Annihilation against all the people of Israel.

There is an interesting prophetic thread woven here, as already stated Amorite means ‘mouthy, blatant pride’. Haman is a type of the false-messiah (antichrist). In the Book of Daniel:

The false-messiah is depicted as ‘the Mouth’ who utters great boasts.

Once again, as it has prophetically happened before, when “the iniquity of the Amorites is full,” then the false messiah will be defeated and judged just as has been the case in the past with his predecessors who have gone before him: Pharaoh, Haman, Antiocus Epiphanes, Hitler and nuclear Iran.

Out with Chametz:

וְזָכַרְתָּ אֶת־כָּל־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הֹלִֽיכֲךָ ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ זֶה אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בַּמִּדְבָּר לְמַעַן עַנֹּֽתְךָ לְנַסֹּֽתְךָ לָדַעַת אֶת־אֲשֶׁר בִּֽלְבָבְךָ הֲתִשְׁמֹר מצותו אִם־לֹֽא׃

“You shall remember all the way which the Adonai Eloheicha has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His mitzvot or not.”

When Israel came out of Egypt, God had the people wander for forty years in the wilderness to humble us, to prove us, to know what was in our heart, whether we would put their trust in Him, or not (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Six hundred thousand men plus women, children, and a mixed multitude of people, or approximately 2-3 million people in all came out of Egypt. However, due to our unbelief we refusal to wholly follow the Holy One; so a vast number of us died in the wilderness (Numbers 32:11& Hebrews 3:19):

אִם־יִרְאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים הָעֹלִים מִמִּצְרַיִם מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה אֵת הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹב כִּי לֹא־מִלְאוּ אַחֲרָֽי׃

“None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully.”

וַאֲנַחְנוּ רׂאִים שֶׁלּא יָכְלוּ לָבוֹא עַל־אֲשֶׁר לׂא הֶאֱמִינוּ׃

So we see that they–the generation of our ancestors who perished in the wilderness–were not able to enter [the Rest, the fulfilled promises of God] because of unbelief.

Only two men, over the age of twenty who had come out of Egypt entered into the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were the only two men who refused to be afraid by what they saw. And and out of twelve witnesses these two men were the only two who walked by faith. Therefore we learn:

Without faith in God modern Israel and our people will be defenseless against the hateful opposition of the evil one.

However, we must remember the testimony of the wife of Haman. Haman’s wise wife warned him about attacking righteous Mordecai–the Administration of the Humble Man–because she was shrewd enough to know Israel can only be defeated when it is not trusting in the LORD our God. Therefore we learn:

With faith in God modern Israel is invincible!

Mordecai was a righteous man who only trusted in the Holy One. Mordecai feared no one but the Holy One of Israel, El-Elyon, the Most High. On the 13th of Nisan, in preparation for the deliverance of the Passover, and in response to the faith of Mordecai and Hadassah-Esther, the Almighty One of Heaven (Elah Shemaiya) issued His own Annihilation Decree of Bedikat Chametz:

“Out with leaven, out with sin!”

On the 13th of Nisan, proud (hateful) Haman issued an Annihilation Decree “out with the Yehudim and out with righteousness.” Therefore, this calendar date of the 13th of Nisan is the exact same date when Judas Iscariot (יהוּדָה אִישׁ־קְרִיּוֹת)—whose name pridefully means, “Praise of the Village of Man”—betrayed the Messiah Yeshua.

Whose voice was it that Haman & Judas obeyed?

The answer to this question is answered by going back to the time when Messiah was anointed by Miryam at Bethany.

Just six days before the Messiah was crucified in Jerusalem the Messiah was dining on Shabbat at Bethany, just after sunset on Friday, Nisan 8 (March 31, C.E. 30), at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Miryam. As providence would have it something happened that evening of Shabbat that likely cost *Moshia HaOlam his life:

*The Savior of all humankind.

The Messiah openly rebuked his most senior ranking disciple, his treasurer, the Elder Judas!

The Messiah Yeshua, therefore, six days before Pesach, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Yeshua had raised from the dead. So they made Him a [Shabbat] supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with  him. Miryam then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Yeshua and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to steal what was put into it. Therefore Yeshua (the Salvation of God) said, “Let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial! For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

Therefore, after the above personal rebuke by the Messiah it was Judas Iscariot’s wounded pride and vanity–just like Haman–that caused him just five days later to get his revenge on the 13th of Nisan. Regarding this betrayal three observations need to be made.

Observation #1. Judas was intending to betray Yeshua the Messiah already. He knew already that He was the enemy of the Messiah. How did he arrive at this understanding? Judas came to fully believe that the Messiah was his enemy when the Messiah called him a “devil.” Previously (twelve months before) the Messiah had said to his disciples:

“Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

By this word of the Messiah that one of his twelve chosen disciples was a devil the Messiah was referring to Yehudah ben Shimon Ish Keriot; whose full name quite literally means:

Praise, hear, understand, and obey the village of man.

*The name שמעון (Shimon) is related to the verb לשמוע (lishmo’a, “to hear”). In Hebrew to ‘hear’ means more than just one thing: to listen. The root word for to hear (שָׁמַע-shama) means three things: to hear, understand and obey. Yehudah means “praise.” Keriot means “village.” Ish means “man.” Therefore, the hidden lesson here is that we should at all times:

Praise, hear, understand, and obey God; not the village of man!

Observation #2. Even though he was a Jew Judas Iscariot (like the Gentile Haman) was just like his (their) father the Devil who is a betrayer, a liar, a thief, and a murderer.

Observation #3. Up until the Shabbat meal above Judas had been allowed to be tested without interference. Therefore, throughout the Messiah’s more than three years of ministry Judas was allowed to lie and steal without the Messiah publicly exposing and disciplining him. The Messiah did openly warn Judas one time before but that was graciously done in a way that the other disciples did not (at first) understand.

The Messiah said to the group of the Twelve ‘one of you is a devil.’ Yet, Judas did not heed the warning. So parallel to the narrative of Esther (prophetically) just before Pesach, the Messiah openly rebuked the liar, the thief, and the soon to be “murderer” Judas.

The open rebuke and embarrassment was just too much for the vanity of the very proud and arrogant Judas (and His gentile counterpart Haman) to accept. So on the evening of the 13th of Nisan, in wounded pride wicked Judas (and Haman) rose up in hateful anger to betray Moshia HaOlam and the administration of the Spirit of the Holy One (blessed be Mordecai). Therefore, in conclusion we must ask, What is it specifically that wicked men like Haman and Judas Iscariot hear and praise? The answer Is: They only hear, understand, obey, and praise the voice of their father, the evil one!

Messiah in Purim Chapter 13 >>