Amalek: The Godless Nation?

I was speaking to my little brother Urchin tonight when he pointed out something brilliant. I had asserted that Amalek was a nation like every other nation in Tanakh, i.e. a pagan nation that worshipped idols. My brother pointed out that he had learned from Rabbi Shuman, his rebbe in Skokie Yeshiva, that the essence of Amalek was the desire not to defer to God in anything, and therefore, to choose to believe no god to whom they owed anything existed.

"Really?" I exclaimed. "That's fascinating. You mean they had no idols?"

He wrinkled his brow. "Except there's the idea that Haman was from Amalek, and Haman was wearing an idol on his breastplate," he mused aloud. "Although that's only a midrash; it's not anywhere in the text, right?"

"Precisely so," I answered. "That's a midrash."

Curious, I went to look up Urchin's point. From what I found, he is right. Every other nation has gods or idols ascribed to them. Examples:

A. SEVEN NATIONS

א כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ; וְנָשַׁל גּוֹיִם-רַבִּים מִפָּנֶיךָ הַחִתִּי וְהַגִּרְגָּשִׁי וְהָאֱמֹרִי וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַפְּרִזִּי, וְהַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי--שִׁבְעָה גוֹיִם, רַבִּים וַעֲצוּמִים מִמֶּךָּ. 1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

[...]

ה כִּי-אִם-כֹּה תַעֲשׂוּ, לָהֶם--מִזְבְּחֹתֵיהֶם תִּתֹּצוּ, וּמַצֵּבֹתָם תְּשַׁבֵּרוּ; וַאֲשֵׁירֵהֶם, תְּגַדֵּעוּן, וּפְסִילֵיהֶם, תִּשְׂרְפוּן בָּאֵשׁ. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

~Deuteronomy 7: 1, 5

B. PHILISTINES

כג וְסַרְנֵי פְלִשְׁתִּים, נֶאֶסְפוּ לִזְבֹּחַ זֶבַח-גָּדוֹל לְדָגוֹן אֱלֹהֵיהֶם--וּלְשִׂמְחָה; וַיֹּאמְרוּ--נָתַן אֱלֹהֵינוּ בְּיָדֵנוּ, אֵת שִׁמְשׁוֹן אוֹיְבֵנוּ. 23 And the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said: 'Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.'

~Judges 16: 23

C. MOAB

אָז יִבְנֶה שְׁלֹמֹה בָּמָה, לִכְמוֹשׁ שִׁקֻּץ מוֹאָב, בָּהָר, אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי יְרוּשָׁלִָם; וּלְמֹלֶךְ, שִׁקֻּץ בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן. 7 Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the detestation of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestation of the children of Ammon.

~Kings I 11:7

D. AMON

ה וַיֵּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה--אַחֲרֵי עַשְׁתֹּרֶת, אֱלֹהֵי צִדֹנִים; וְאַחֲרֵי מִלְכֹּם, שִׁקֻּץ עַמֹּנִים. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the detestation of the Ammonites.

~Kings I 11:5

But there is no mention that I can find of Amalek's gods or idols. And that is totally fascinating. Here are all the places that Amalek comes up and not once is there a reference to this nation's idols or gods.

Indeed, when God commands Saul to wipe out the Amalekites, he makes mention of destroying all their posessions but says nothing of destroying their idols. This suggests that they have no idols because in other places there are explicit commands given to destroy idols and gods as well. Here is God's decree:

עַתָּה לֵךְ וְהִכִּיתָה אֶת-עֲמָלֵק, וְהַחֲרַמְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ, וְלֹא תַחְמֹל, עָלָיו; וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק, מִשּׁוֹר וְעַד-שֶׂה, מִגָּמָל וְעַד-חֲמוֹר. {ס} 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.'

~Samuel I 15: 3

And you know what else is fascinating? When Samuel comes to kill Agag, the king states, "'Surely the bitterness of death is at hand." But even there he is stubborn- he does not acknowledge God or the role of God in his death. In contrast, when Samuel hews him into pieces, he does so "before God."

(Incidentally, this explains why Saul's rebellion was looked upon in such harsh terms. If the Amalekites were a godless nation who were total atheists and saw the material world as the only thing that existed, then for Saul to refuse to heed God's command in its totality shows that he has ingested/ been negatively affected by their creed. It is almost as though Saul has taken on a bit of the Amalekite spirit and thus rebels...this is why his punishment was so harsh.)

Thus, the reason we are meant to kill Amalek is because Amalek is the root of total godlessless and "kochi v'otzem yadi" in this world. This was a nation that had no idols. Every nation had its gods but Amalek has no gods, none at all, and refuses to acknowledge the role of God in this world. This is the reason they must be utterly wiped out- their ideology and their creed is anathema to God.

Incidentally, Urchin's totally brilliant idea regarding all this was stated by Rav Moshe Sternbuch and Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin (as noted in this devar torah.) The actual devar torah was given by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis. He notes:

Amalek’s basic assumption is that only teva, nature, has true existence. Anything which does not fit into this framework is discounted. Today, as Amalek’s influence grows stronger, doubt of the existence of the Alm-ghty is almost a given in most Western societies. What is it that fuels Amalek to challenge the most basic tenets of our belief?

[...]

In contrast to Amalek, who completely deny Hashem’s existence, the erev rav and all idol-worshipers through the generations believed in a Divine power. No one was ever so foolish as to think that manmade idols of gold and silver created the universe. The ideology of idol worshipers is based on the erroneous idea that Hashem is too exalted to trouble Himself with our petty, day-to-day existence, so people should pray for assistance to idols that act as intermediaries between us and the Alm-ghty.

I would like to point out that a 15-year-old boy and a 20-year-old girl were mechaven to the thoughts of these very respected Chareidi leaders. How's that for the universality of Torah?

Urchin, you are fabulous!