By Mark Ellis –
Noted messianic rabbi Jason Sobel appeared on TBN’s Praise program with Erick Stakelbeck and gave viewers a deep-dive on the biblical background underlying the militant terror group Hamas.
“A lot of people don’t know hamas is actually a biblical word that goes back to Genesis 6,” Rabbi Sobel explained. “In Arabic, Hamas is an acronym for the Islamic Freedom (Resistance) Movement that Hamas represents, and it also can mean bravery in Arabic.”
Because Hebrew and Arabic are cognate languages, they bear similarities. “In Genesis 6 God looked at the world in the days of Noah and he saw the world was filled with hamas, which means violence. God was grieved that he made man, and he brought the flood upon the earth.”
The word hamas means violence in Hebrew and it’s connected to Noah.
Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37)
“So in the days of Noah there was literally hamas violence, senseless hatred that existed in this world, and this is exactly what we see being perpetrated by this organization,” Sobel said.
The rabbi observed a lineage of violence directed toward the Jewish people that began with Amalek, a descendant of Esau, and continued in the family line to Haman.” (Herod was also in the same family line.)
“Exodus tells us Amalek attacked the women, the children and the stragglers. He attacked the weak and defenseless. God says He will be at war with Amalek in every generation. Who is a descendant of Amalek? Haman, in the book of Esther, who tried to commit genocide, the first time of genocide against the Jewish people.
“This is history repeating itself before our eyes. This is the spirit of Amalek that we are witnessing.”
Rabbi Sobel believes another front will open in the north with Lebanon, because Hamas and Hezbollah are proxies of Iran. “The root of this conflict is with Iran,” he believes. “Iran is terrified of the Abraham accords…Any sort of peace that could exist between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states is one of their worst nightmares. They’re trying to derail that at the moment.”
“Iran is biblical Persia and Haman came out of Persia,” he notes. “The last holiday in the Biblical calendar is Purim. And that deliverance happens on the 14th day of the month of Adar when God delivered Israel, in Persia, from Haman.”
The rabbi sees something significant prophetically in this. “Purim at the end of the (Jewish) calendar represents what’s going to happen at the end of history. So it’s no surprise that Iran Persia has risen up again, in the spirit of Haman, which is the spirit of Amalek, alive today in the world coming after the Jewish people. They want to wipe out every Jewish man, woman and child and that’s exactly the same spirit that we see going on with Hamas and Iran today.”
“There is a battle in the spiritual realm for people’s hearts and minds. Jesus talks about before he returns there will be a great deception in the world. I believe part of that deception is turning the hearts of the world against Israel and the Jewish people.”
Certainly, the irrational hatred toward the Jews is rising up on college campuses and in the streets of major cities throughout the world.
The Hamas attack on October 7th coincided with the holiday immediately following Sukkot known as Simchat Torah (“Joy of the Torah”), and 50 years after the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The massacre at the “Supernova Sukkot Gathering” dance music fest outside the Re’im kibbutz became the deadliest concert attack in history.
“It is so significant…this attack happened on Simchat Torah. One of the psalms we read on Simchat Torah and through all of Sukkot is Psalm 27, the prayer saying deliver us from hamas, deliver us from violent people…Zechariah 12 thru 14 tells us the (End Times War) is going to happen on the Feast of Tabernacles on Sukkot, the very time the Bible says the nations are going to wage war against Israel.
“This is not the final battle, but it’s a sneak preview of what is coming,” he said.
Rabbi Sobel believes it is important for Christians to stand with Israel. “I believe one of the reasons why the United States has been blessed is because historically, America has been one of the greatest allies of Israel throughout Israel’s existence. And so I believe now is more important than ever for the United States, especially for believers to stand with Israel because things are going to get much worse before they get better.”
