I was reading chapter 17 of Exodus this morning. The people of Israel had already grumbled in the previous chapter about not having food — God gave them food; they grumbled in this chapter about being thirsty — God gave them water.
All fine and well.
But then I read the final verses of chapter 17 about the Amalekite people attacking the Israelites in the wilderness, and a doubt overcame me that this part was a true story. It seemed so, well, unbelievable — even bothersome — that God would magically use Moses’ staff to overcome the enemy on the battlefield. This account must have been a later insertion.
So I immediately prayed that God would forgive me. Before I could even fully form the thought, God told me not to worry — it’s ok, even natural, to doubt like that. I smiled to myself and then finished reading the story. It ended with this verse:
“The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Curious, I googled Amalek. Who the heck is that? Well, it turns out that he was the grandson of our hairy friend Esau. His people, the Amalekites, lived in the area near Horeb where Moses struck the rock to water his people. But here’s a quote from the googled commentary that struck me:
“Amalek is the constant doubter, brazenly rushing to any sign of passion for holiness and cooling things down.”
That, sayeth the LORD, is the bad kind of doubt.
Source: chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3942715/jewish/Who-Were-Amalek-and-the-Amalekites