Do Not Forget What Amalek Did
The Command to Remember and the Prohibition on Forgetting
Deuteronomy 25:17–19: “Remember what Amalek did to you as you came out of Egypt — how he met you on the way and attacked your rear, the stragglers among you, all who were faint and weary, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God. Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek; you shall not forget.” The passage closes with two parallel commandments: the positive command to blot out Amalek's memory, and this negative commandment not to forget. Commandment #604 is the prohibition — “lo tishkach” — against allowing the memory of what Amalek did to fade.
The specific act described is surgical: Amalek attacked “the stragglers among you, all who were faint and weary.” Rather than confronting Israel's army directly, Amalek targeted the weakest — those who had fallen behind the column, exhausted from the wilderness journey. The characterization “he did not fear God” (v'lo yare Elohim) identifies the fundamental cause of the attack: no restraint from divine fear means no restraint on predatory behavior toward the weak.
The Battle at Rephidim — The First Amalekite Attack
Exodus 17:8–13: “Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.” The attack in Exodus precedes the description in Deuteronomy 25:17 and gives it context: Amalek attacked Israel while they were still in the early wilderness, before any military structure was established. Joshua led the military response while Moses held his hands raised on the hill above — when Moses' hands were raised, Israel prevailed; when they dropped, Amalek prevailed (Exodus 17:11). Aaron and Hur held Moses' hands through the day until the battle was won.
Exodus 17:14: “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” The divine command to write it as a memorial is the origin of the commandment to remember. The act of writing — of committing to permanent record — is the institutional form that the remembrance takes. Commandment #604 (“do not forget”) is the other side of this institutional remembering: not just to write it once but to maintain active, living memory of what occurred.
Saul's Failure and the Consequence of Partial Obedience
1 Samuel 15:3: Samuel conveys God's command to Saul: “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” Saul defeated the Amalekites but spared King Agag and the best of the livestock (1 Samuel 15:9). Samuel's response to Saul's self-justification: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). Saul's selective compliance — obeying most of the commandment while keeping what seemed valuable — lost him the kingship.
The Agag whom Saul spared is connected by the Midrash to Haman the Agagite in the Book of Esther. Haman's near-extermination of the Jews is traced to Saul's failure to complete the commandment against Amalek. Whether or not this genealogical connection is historical, it expresses a theological point: incomplete obedience to divine commands can have consequences that extend across generations.
- The Stragglers — Deuteronomy 25:18: “attacked your rear, the stragglers among you, all who were faint and weary.” The specific targeting of the weakest defines Amalek's moral character in the Torah's narrative. The commandment to remember is rooted in this specific act of predatory cowardice.
- Moses at Rephidim — Exodus 17:11: when Moses' hands were raised, Israel prevailed. The battle's outcome depended on sustained spiritual support, not military superiority alone. Aaron and Hur held Moses' arms until sunset.
- Saul and Agag — 1 Samuel 15:9: sparing Agag cost Saul his kingdom. 1 Samuel 15:22: “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Partial compliance with a total commandment is treated as non-compliance.
Read the source passage in the reader.
Open in Reader — Deuteronomy 25:19