IS HAMAS IN THE BIBLE?

What the Bible says about Hamas.

Did you know that the word “hamas” can be found in the Bible?

In the account of Noah, Moses described what conditions were like just before the great flood. In Genesis 6:11 he said “the earth also was corrupt before Yahweh, and the earth was filled with violence.”

This word “violence” is חָמָס or “chamas.” Phonetically that is, “hamas” or “ghamas”. This is how it appears in the original Hebrew text from which the passage was translated into English.

This biblical “hamas” is a short word which actually has a broader meaning. Strong’s Bible Dictionary describes its meaning as: “cruelty, damage, false, injustice, oppressor, unrighteous, violence against, done.”

Surprising, isn’t it?

In fact, the meaning could perhaps be explained even more precisely. During the first half of the 1700s, the highly-regarded Toraic scholar, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar defined the word hamas as “the trait of quarreling, thievery, sexual perversion, idolatry, and spilling blood.”

Some Jews have already drawn the ironic parallel with the terrorist group of Hamas which has featured so prominently during our own time, and this description in the Bible. The definition of the word fits the name of the organization most precisely, even though in Arabic it is supposed to mean “Islamic Resistance Movement”.

There is, however, an additional part of the puzzle which the Jews do not know about yet. The verse in which the word “Hamas” features happens to be not only a description, but it is also the answer to a question that was asked nearly 2,500 years after the flood had wiped out all all the evildoers on earth.

This is how it happened:

Just before He was killed Yahshua was upon the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives,” the Bible tells us, “the disciples came unto him privately, saying: Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).

To this question Yahshua, who so often spoke in parables that were hard to understand, suddenly provided an astonishingly long and detailed answer. After an exhaustive description of what would happen before the end, He concluded in verse 37 that, “as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

He did not describe the time of Noah, because it had already been described by Moses, as we have just seen. So putting the two narratives together, we are clearly told that the time directly preceding the end will be corrupt and filled with “hamas” – or violence.

It will be a time, exactly like we are living in right now. The end is not immediately upon us just yet, though. There are still a few significant prophetic events that must yet happen. But it is close. And we can see more signs of it all the time.

So maybe this is just an interesting little piece of Bible trivia. Perhaps the word “hamas” in the Bible has no specific encoded meaning for our own time at all. Maybe it is just a coincidence. But still, it fits well enough to make us think and wonder. It could easily seem as if this might be a clue that was hidden for our own time.

Indeed, there is still one last piece of the story that I haven’t told yet. Right near the very end of His long answer, Yahshua rounded off by saying, “now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is still tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. So you, likewise, when you see all these things, shall know that it is near, at the doors” (v 32-33).

We are living in unusual times. In some ways the world of Christian and Jew is drawing closer together, as we are confronted with an enemy whom we do not hate, but who hates us with a passion that knows no reason.

The Torah of the Jews and the Bible of the Christians speak in harmony, each illuminating the other, as it was meant to be. Things are starting to make sense now, that used to be a mystery not so long ago.

Christians are expecting the second coming imminently. Jews are expecting the first coming soon. And the Arabs are expecting the arrival of their Magdi within the foreseeable future.

Three climactic expectations for roughly the same time. When it all comes together, probably not too many years from now, it will be the most explosive time in the history of man on earth. It will be a time exactly as Yahshua described upon the Mount of Olives.

By the leaves of the fig tree we can indeed see that the season is far advanced, and that change is very near. The good news is that when it is over “hamas” in every definition of the world, will no longer exist at all.

When it is finally over, Yahweh tell us, “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).