Amalek the Scoffer and Jethro the Simpleton Made Wise

"Remember" (Deuteronomy 25:17). It is written, "Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become prudent" (Proverbs 19:25). "Strike a scoffer" — this is Amalek. "And the simple will become prudent" — this is Jethro. When Amalek came to make war with Israel, what is written? "Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim" (Exodus 17:8) — because they had slackened their hands from the Torah and the commandments, as the verse says, "And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah" (Exodus 17:7). Rabbi Levi said: To what were Israel like? To one who had a son and set him on his shoulder and was leading him through the market. The son would see something he desired and say to his father, "Buy me this," and he would buy it for him, a first time and a second time. The third time the son saw a man and said to him, "Have you seen my father?" His father said to him, "Fool! You ride on my shoulder and whatever you ask I buy for you, and you say to this man, Have you seen my father?" What did his father do? He cast him down from his shoulder, and a dog came and bit him. So when Israel went out from Egypt, the Holy One surrounded them with seven clouds of glory, as it is said, "He encircled him, He cared for him" (Deuteronomy 32:10). They asked for manna, He gave it; they asked for quail, He gave it. Once He had given them all their needs, they began to doubt and to say, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, "You doubt Me? By your lives, I will make it known to you. Here is the dog, and it will bite you." And which is this? This is Amalek, as it is said, "Then came Amalek" (Exodus 17:8). Therefore it is said, "Remember" (Deuteronomy 25:17). It is written, "And Moses said to Joshua" (Exodus 17:9). Why did he say it to Joshua? Because he came from the tribe of Joseph, and it is written, "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame" (Obadiah 1:18) — let a flame go out from the house of Joseph and consume the stubble of the house of Esau; this is Joshua, who slew Amalek, as it is said, "And Joshua weakened" Amalek (Exodus 17:13). "Behold, I will stand" (Exodus 17:9) — from here we learn that the righteous lend themselves to the needs of the community. "I will stand" — in prayer, as you say, "And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there" (Exodus 34:5). "On the top" (Exodus 17:9) — I will invoke the merit of the fathers of the world, as it is said, "From the top of the rocks I see him" (Numbers 23:9). "Of the hill" (Exodus 17:9) — I will invoke the merit of the mothers, as it is said, "And from the hills I behold him" (Numbers 23:9). "And the staff of God in my hand" (Exodus 17:9) — which has seventy names upon it. Joshua said: How many great ones are here in this generation — Aaron and Hur and the seventy elders — and Moses commanded none but me? He did not command me over the people, but because he saw that Amalek would fall by my hand. "And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek" (Exodus 17:10). "And Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill" (Exodus 17:10) — from here we learn that three are needed to go down before the ark: the prayer-leader, and two who assist. "And Joshua weakened" (Exodus 17:13). Our rabbis said: He cast lots over them, as you say, "And as they cast lots over the portions" (Nahum 3:10). Four names are given to the lot — chalash, pur, goral, chevel — and by all of them the sons of Esau were stricken. By chalash Amalek was stricken, as it is said, "And Joshua weakened" (chalash) (Exodus 17:13). By goral and by pur Haman was stricken, as it is said, "He cast pur, that is, the lot, before Haman" (Esther 3:7). By chevel Edom is destined to be stricken, as it is said, "The pangs (chevlei) of a woman in travail shall come upon him" (Hosea 13:13). Therefore it is said, "And Joshua weakened" (Exodus 17:13). And when Jethro heard all these miracles that the Holy One, blessed be He, did in Egypt and against Amalek, at once he came and converted; therefore it is said, "Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become prudent" (Proverbs 19:25). What was his reward? His sons merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone and to be counted among Israel, as it is said, "The families of scribes who dwelt at Jabez: Tirathites, Shimeathites, Sucathites" (1 Chronicles 2:55). It is written, "Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17), and another verse says, "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother" (Deuteronomy 23:8). Come and see that the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like the measure of flesh and blood. The measure of flesh and blood: if one's fellow does him a wrong, it never departs from his heart. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. Israel were enslaved in Egypt, as it is said, "And they made their lives bitter with hard labor" (Exodus 1:14), and when Israel went out from Egypt, Amalek came from the seed of the wicked Esau and did Israel many evils; even so the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother" (Deuteronomy 23:8). Rabbi Levi said: To what is the matter like? To a king who made a feast and had two enemies, and he invited them and said to the guests, "Receive these enemies of mine with a cheerful countenance." And so they did. After they had eaten and drunk, the enemies took iron rods and began to demolish the palace of the king. The king said, "Was it not enough that I commanded that you be honored, but you demolish my palace and do not recognize the honor I did you?" He took them out and impaled them, one opposite the other. So you find: after all the evils Egypt and Edom did to Israel, He commanded concerning them, "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian" (Deuteronomy 23:8). Yet they rose and demolished His house, as it is said, "Remember, O LORD, against the children of Edom" (Psalms 137:7), and it is written, "Egypt gave the hand" (Lamentations 5:6). Israel said, "Master of the world, see what those have done to us of whom it is written, You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Impale them, one opposite the other," as it is said, "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness" (Joel 4:19). Therefore it is said, "Remember" (Deuteronomy 25:17). "Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17). "May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD" (Psalms 109:14). Were the fathers of Esau wicked? Were they not wholly righteous — Abraham his grandfather, Isaac his father? And yet you say, "May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered"? Rather, the sin that he sinned against his fathers. And what sin did he sin against his fathers? You find that Isaac came from the strength of Abraham. Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years; Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Aibu, Rabbi Pinhas in the name of Rabbi Levi: Within the five years that were withheld from the life of Abraham, the wicked Esau committed two grave transgressions — he violated a betrothed maiden and he murdered. This is what is written, "And Esau came in from the field" (Genesis 25:29), and "field" means none other than a betrothed maiden, as it is said, "And if a man find a betrothed maiden in the field" (Deuteronomy 22:25). "And he was faint" (Genesis 25:29) — "faint" means none other than a murderer, as it is said, "For my soul is faint before the slayers" (Jeremiah 4:31). Rabbi Zakkai the Great said: Also he stole. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "I promised Abraham, 'You shall go to your fathers in peace' (Genesis 15:15)" — and is this the good old age, that he should see his grandson uncovering nakedness and shedding blood and stealing? And is this the good old age? Better for that righteous one to be gathered in peace, "for Your lovingkindness is better than life" (Psalms 63:4). And what sin did he sin against his father? He caused his eyes to dim. From here they said: Whoever raises a wicked son or a wicked disciple, his eyes will in the end grow dim. A wicked son — from our father Isaac: "And it came to pass when Isaac was old, that his eyes were dim from seeing" (Genesis 27:1); why? Because he raised Esau, a wicked son. A wicked disciple — from Ahijah the Shilonite: "And Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age" (1 Kings 14:4); why? Because he raised a wicked disciple — and who is this? Jeroboam son of Nebat, who sinned and caused Israel to sin; therefore his eyes grew dim. And what sin did he sin against his mother? Rabbi Tanhum bar Abun and Rabbi Yudah and Rabbi Nehemiah and the rabbis. Rabbi Yudah said: When he came out from his mother's womb he severed her uterus so that she could not give birth, as it is written, "Because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity" (Amos 1:11). Rabbi Berekhiah said: Lest you say it was after he came out from his mother's womb, rather while he was still in his mother's womb he stretched himself out against her. And what is the reason? "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth" (Psalms 58:4). Rabbi Nehemiah said: He caused her not to raise up twelve tribes, for Rav Huna said: Rebekah was fit to raise up twelve tribes, from this verse: "And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb" (Genesis 25:23) — that is two; "and two peoples shall be separated from your bowels" — that is four; "and one people shall be stronger than the other people" — that is six; "and the elder shall serve the younger" — that is eight; "and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb" (Genesis 25:24) — that is ten; "and the first came out red" (Genesis 25:25), "and after that came his brother out" (Genesis 25:26) — that is twelve. And some derive it from this verse: "And she said, If it be so, why am I thus (zeh)?" (Genesis 25:22) — this "zeh": zayin is seven, heh is five, behold twelve. And the rabbis said: He caused her bier not to go out in public. You find that when Rebekah died they said, "Who shall go out before her? Abraham is dead; Isaac sits in the house with his eyes dim; Jacob has fled from before Esau; shall the wicked Esau go out before her, so that people say, Cursed are the breasts that suckled such a one?" What did they do? They brought her out at night. Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Hanina said: And because her bier did not go out in public, Scripture too did not explain her death but only by indirection, as it is written, "And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died" (Genesis 35:8), "and the name of it was called Allon Bakhut" (Genesis 35:8). What is Allon? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: It is a Greek word; allon means "another," Allon Bakhut, two weepings. While Jacob sat keeping the mourning of his nurse, news of his mother came to him; this is what is written, "And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him" (Genesis 35:9). What blessing did He bless him with? Rabbi Aha in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: He blessed him with the blessing of mourners. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: His father parted from him in evil; his mother parted from him in evil; his brother parted from him in evil; his grandfather parted from him in evil; you parted from him in evil; I too will part from him in evil. Let them mention his name below and I will blot out his name above, "Let them be before the LORD continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth" (Psalms 109:15). "Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17).