Ki Tavo (When You Come) Deut. 26:1-29:8

Remembering our Adversary

The month of Elul is a season of reflection, personal accounting, and teshuvah—returning to ADONAI. Each of these practices requires us to remember.

This theme continues into Yom T’ruah. Leviticus 23:24 commands:

“In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing shofarot, a holy convocation.”

The sound of the shofar calls us to remember ADONAI, examine where we have been, and prepare for where He is leading us. Biblical remembrance is never merely recalling information. It calls us to respond.

At the conclusion of Parashat Ki Tetze, Israel receives a sobering command in Deuteronomy 25:17–19:

“Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt—how he encountered you along the way and attacked your stragglers at the rear, when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God. Therefore, when ADONAI your God gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

Israel is commanded both to remember Amalek and to blot out the memory of Amalek. How can we remember something while erasing its memory?

We are to remember what Amalek did so that the evil represented by Amalek is recognized, resisted, and removed. Remembrance is not passive. It produces vigilance and action.

Amalek did not attack Israel’s strongest warriors. He preyed upon the stragglers—the exhausted, the weak, and those falling behind. Amalek therefore represents an adversarial spirit that hates God’s covenant purposes, attacks the vulnerable, and seeks to destroy the people through whom God’s promises are revealed.

The command to remember Amalek is first introduced in Exodus 17. While Yehoshua fought below, Moshe stood above with his hands raised. When Moshe’s hands became weary, Aharon and Hur supported them until Israel prevailed.

Exodus 17:14–16 records:

“Then ADONAI said to Moshe, ‘Write this in a scroll as a memorial and recite it in the hearing of Yehoshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ Then Moshe built an altar and called its name ADONAI-Nissi—ADONAI is my Banner. He said, ‘ADONAI will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’”

Yehoshua fought, Moshe interceded, and ADONAI brought the victory. This is a picture of co-laboring with God. We are called to confront evil, but victory cannot come through human strength alone. The battle belongs to ADONAI.

For us, remembering Amalek also means remembering the spiritual condition from which we were delivered. We must identify and remove the remaining traces of our former slavery. Old patterns, bitterness, pride, deception, and compromise cannot be permitted to regain authority over us.

Yet our remembrance must begin with the comforting truth that ADONAI first remembers us. Isaiah 49:15–16 declares:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”

ADONAI has not forgotten Israel. His covenant promises have not been erased. Because He remembers us, we must remember Him.

Psalm 103:18 speaks of those “who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them.” Notice again that remembrance leads to action. We remember His commandments in order to practice them.

In Ki Tavo, Israel was commanded to erect large stones after crossing the Jordan, coat them with plaster, and write the words of Torah upon them. Deuteronomy 27:8 says:

“You shall write on the stones all the words of this Torah very clearly.”

These stones were visible witnesses. They reminded Israel who they were, whose land they had entered, and how they were called to live. As the blessings were proclaimed from Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal, Israel was reminded that covenant faithfulness carries real consequences.

The same principle appears in the Apostolic Scriptures. Sha’ul tells us in Ephesians 6:13:

“Take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist when the times are evil, and after you have done everything, to stand firm.”

This imagery did not originate with Roman military equipment. Sha’ul drew from Isaiah’s picture of ADONAI as the Divine Warrior. Isaiah 59:17 says:

“He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.”

When we put on God’s armor, we are imitating the Messiah. We are clothed with His righteousness, salvation, truth, faith, and readiness. We hold the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Our adversary depends upon forgetfulness. If we forget what ADONAI has done, forget His Word, or forget the danger of returning to our former ways, the enemy gains an opportunity.

But when we remember, teach our children, sound the shofar, rehearse God’s mighty acts, and obey His commandments, we weaken Amalek’s influence one life at a time.

Do not forget where ADONAI brought you from. Do not allow the stones of remembrance to disappear from view. Remember your adversary—but even more importantly, remember your God.

ADONAI remembers His covenant, remembers His people, and fights for Israel from generation to generation.