As a punishment because they had not had sufficient faith in God, and
had doubted whether He could fulfill all their wishes, and had grown
negligent in the study of the Torah and in the observance of the laws,
God turned Amalek against them during their sojourn in Rephidim, where
they had committed these sins. God dealt with them as did that man with
his son, whom he bore through the river on his shoulders. Whenever the
child saw something desirable, he said, "Father, buy it for me," and he
fulfilled the child's wish. After the son had in this way received many
beautiful things from his father, he called to a passing stranger with
these words, "Hast thou perhaps seen my father?" Then, indignantly, the
father said to his son: "O thou fool, that sittest on my shoulder! All
that thou didst desire, did I procure for thee, and now dost thou ask
of that man, 'Hast thou seen my father?'" Thereupon the father threw
the child off his shoulder, and a dog came and bit him. So did Israel
fare. When they moved out of Egypt, God enveloped them in seven clouds
of glory; they wished for bread, and He gave them manna; they wished
for flesh, and He gave them quails. After all their wishes had been
granted, they began to doubt, saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?"
Then God answered, "You doubt My power; so surely as you live shall you
discover it; the dog will soon bite you." Then came Amalek. [136]
This enemy of Israel bore the name Amalek to denote the rapidity with
which he moved against Israel, for like a swarm of locusts he flew upon
them; and the name furthermore designates the purpose of this enemy,
who came to suck the blood of Israel. [137] This Amalek was a son of
Eliphaz, the first-born son of Esau, and although the descendants of
Jacob had been weaker and more insignificant in earlier times, Amalek
had left them in peace, for he had excellent reasons to delay his
attack. God had revealed to Abraham that his seed would have to serve
in the land of the Egyptians, and had put the payment of this debt upon
Isaac, and after his death, upon Jacob and his descendants. The wicked
Amalek now said to himself, "If I destroy Jacob and his descendants,
God will impose the Egyptians bondage upon, me, grandson of Esau,
descendant of Abraham." Therefore he kept himself in restraint as long
as Israel dwelt in Egypt, but only after the bondage predicted to the
seed of Abraham had been served in full, did he set out to accomplish
the war of annihilation against Israel, which his grandfather Esau had
enjoined upon him. [138]
No sooner had he heard of Israel's departure from Egypt, then he set
out against them and met them by the Red Sea. There, indeed, he could
work them no ill, for Moses uttered against him the Ineffable Name; and
so great was his confusion, that he was forced to retreat without
having effected his object. [139] Then, for some time, he tried lying
hidden in ambush, and in this wise molesting Israel, but as length he
gave up this game of hide-and-seek, and with a bold front revealed
himself as the open enemy of Israel. Not alone, however, did he himself
declare war upon Israel, but he also seduced all the heathen nations to
assist him in his enterprise against Israel. Although these declined to
war upon Israel, fearing that they might have to fare like the
Egyptians, they agreed to the following plan of Amalek. He said:
"Follow my expedition. Should Israel conquer me, there will still be
plenty of time for you to flee, but should success crown my attempt,
join your fate to mine, in my undertaking against Israel." So Amalek
now marched from his settlement in Seir, which was no less than four
hundred parasangs away from the encampment of the Jews; and although
five nations, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Amorites,
and the Canaanites, had their dwellings between his home and the camp
of the Jews, he insisted upon being the first to declare war upon
Israel.
God punished Israel, who had shown themselves an ungrateful people, by
sending against them an enemy that was ungrateful, too, never recalling
that he owed his life to the sons of Jacob, who had had him in their
power after their brilliant victory over Esau and his followers. [140]
In his expedition against Israel he made use of his kinsman. Before
going over to open attack, he lured many unsuspecting Jews to death by
his kindly words. He had fetched from Egypt the table of descent of the
Jews; for every Jew had there to mark his name on the bricks produced
by him, and these lists lay in the Egyptian archives. Familiar with the
names of the different Jewish families, Amalek appeared before the
Jewish camp, and calling the people by name, he invited them to leave
the camp, and come out to him. "Reuben! Simeon! Levi! etc.," he would
call, "come out to me, your brother, and transact business with me."
Those who answered the enticing call, found certain death at his hands;
and not only did Amalek kill them, but he also mutilated their corpses,
following the example of his grandsire Esau, by cutting off a certain
part of the body, and throwing it toward heaven with the mocking words,
"Here shalt Thou have what Thou desirest." In this way did he jeer at
the token of the Abrahamic covenant.
So long as the Jews remained within the encampment, he could, of
course, do them no harm, for the cloud enveloped them, and under its
shelter they were as well fortified as a city that is surrounded by a
solid wall. The cloud, however, covered those only who were pure, but
the unclean had to stay beyond it, until they were cleansed by a ritual
bath, and these Amalek caught and killed. The sinners, too,
particularly the tribe of Dan, who were all worshippers of idols, were
not protected by the cloud, and therefore exposed to the attacks of
Amalek. [141]
Moses did not himself set out to battle against this dangerous foe of
Israel, but he sent his servant Joshua, and for good reasons. Moses
knew that only a descendant of Rachel, like the Ephraimite Joshua,
could conquer the descendant of Esau. All the sons of Jacob had taken
part in the unbrotherly act of selling Joseph as a slave, hence none of
their descendants might stand up in battle against the descendant of
Esau; for they who had themselves acted unnaturally to a brother, could
hardly hope for God's assistance in a struggle with the unbrotherly
Edomites. Only the descendants of Joseph, the man who had been generous
and good to his brothers, might hope that God would grant them aid
against the unbrotherly descendants of Esau. In many other respects,
too, Joseph was the opposite of Esau, and his services stood his
descendants in good stead in their battles against the descendants of
Esau. Esau was the firstborn of his father, but through his evil deeds
he lost his birthright; Joseph, on the other hand, was the youngest of
his father's sons, and through his good deeds was he found worthy of
enjoying the rights of a firstborn son. Joseph had faith in the
resurrection, while Esau denied it; hence God said, "Joseph, the
devout, shall be the one to visit merited punishment on Esau, the
unbelieving." Joseph associated with two wicked men, Potiphar and
Pharaoh, yet he did not follow their example; Esau associated with two
pious men, his father and his brother, yet he did not follow their
example. "Hence," said God, "Joseph, who did not follow example of
wicked men, shall visit punishment upon him who did not follow the
example of pious men." Esau soiled his life with lewdness and murder;
Joseph was chaste and shunned bloodshed, hence God delivered Esau's
descendants into the hands of Joseph's descendants. And, as in the
course of history only the descendants of Joseph were victorious over
the descendants of Esau, so will it be in the future, at the final
reckoning between the angel of Esau and the angels of the Jews. The
angel of Reuben will be rebuffed by the angel of Esau with these words,
"you represent on who had illegal relations with his father's wife";
the angels of Simeon and Levi will have the listen to this reproof,
"You represent people who slew the inhabitants of Shechem"; the angel
of Judah will be repulsed with the words, "Judah had illicit relations
with his daughter-in-law." And the angels of the other tribes will be
repulsed by Esau's angel, when he points out to them that they all took
part in selling Joseph. The only one whom he will not be able to
repulse will be Joseph's angel, to whom he will be delivered and by
whom he will be destroyed; Joseph will b the flame and Esau the straw
burned in the flame. [142]