ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Pulelulu Me 24, 2023

מחה Blotting out Names

TAMATE‘I ‘A E NGAAHI HINGOA

DEUTERONOMY 25:17-19

"REMEMBER WHAT AMALEK DID TO YOU ON THE WAY AS YOU CAME OUT OF EGYPT, HOW HE ATTACKED YOU ON THE WAY WHEN YOU WERE FAINT AND WEARY, AND CUT OFF YOUR TAIL, THOSE WHO WERE LAGGING BEHIND YOU, 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 FROM UNDER HEAVEN; YOU SHALL NOT FORGET."

TEUTALONOME 25:17-19

17 Manatu ki he me‘a na‘e fai kiate koe ‘e ‘Amaleki ‘i he hala, ‘i ho‘omou omi mei ‘Isipite; 18 he‘ene fakafetaulaki kiate koe ‘i he hala, ‘o ne taa‘i ho tukutau, ‘a ho kau vaivai na‘e fakatōtōmui, ‘i he taimi na‘a ke hela mo ongosia; ‘o ‘ikai te ne ‘apasia ki he ‘Otua. 19 Ko ia ka faifai pea fakamālōlō koe ‘e Sihova ko ho ‘Otua mei he fai mo ho ngaahi fili takatakai, ‘i he fonua kuo ne foaki kiate koe ke ke ma‘u mo‘ao tofi‘a, pea te ke tāmate‘i ‘a e manatu ki ‘Amaleki mei he lalo langi: ‘oua na‘a ngalo.

Among Hebrew curses, yimach shmo ranks near the top. Shmo is "his name" and yimach is from machah ("obliterate" or "blot out") - thus "may his name be blotted out." God machah all life in the flood (Gen. 6:7). David asks the Lord to machah his iniquities (Ps. 51:9). Because the Amalekites ambushed the most vulnerable, God commands that the memory of this people be machah from under heaven.

To the church in Sardis, Jesus puts a positive spin on this image: "The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels" (Rev. 3:5). Our names in the book of life are written not in pencil but in indelible ink. Jesus will never machah them. 

Blot out our iniquities, Lord Jesus, and joyfully speak our names before your heavenly host.