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Amalek Attacked. Jethro Converted. Both Heard the Same News.

Amalek and Jethro both received the same report about Israel's miracles. One chose the sword. One crossed the desert. The same information, two opposite lives.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The News That Reached Every Camp
  2. Why Amalek Attacked at Rephidim
  3. The Oil Poured Out at Sinai
  4. The Same Information, Two Opposite Lives

The News That Reached Every Camp

The news traveled fast across every caravan route in the ancient Near East. A nation of slaves had walked out of Egypt. The sea had split and closed again. Bread had fallen from the sky. Water had come from a rock. The army of the greatest empire on earth had drowned in the sea it had tried to cross.

This was not rumor. Kings had confirmed it. Generals had drawn their own conclusions. Priests had interpreted it according to their understanding of how the world worked. Everyone in the region had the same information.

Amalek gathered his forces and attacked Israel at Rephidim.

Jethro gathered his family and crossed the desert to find Moses.

Why Amalek Attacked at Rephidim

Midrash Tanchuma reads the name of the place. Rephidim: rafu yadehem, their hands became weak in the fulfillment of Torah. The attack was not geopolitical. It was timed. Amalek arrived precisely when Israel had let their grip on the commandments loosen. The midrash compares Israel in this moment to a child riding on his father's shoulders. The father carries him everywhere, satisfies every need, protects him from every difficulty. The child sees a stranger and asks: have you seen my father? The father puts the child down. A dog bites the child. That is Amalek.

Amalek read the loosening as an opening and moved on it. He was beaten in the battle but he had already done the damage. The nations that had feared Israel after the sea now understood that the fear had a limit. The scalding bath had been cooled for everyone who came after.

The Oil Poured Out at Sinai

Proverbs says: when you strike a scorner, the simple will become prudent. The scorner is Amalek, defeated at Rephidim. The one who becomes prudent by watching is Jethro. He had been Pharaoh's advisor and had been driven out of Egypt for speaking up on behalf of the Hebrews. He had lived in Midian, built a family, and waited. When he heard what happened at the sea and at Rephidim, he did not gather an army. He loaded his daughter and his grandchildren onto animals and crossed the wilderness to find his son-in-law.

The Tanchuma uses the image of oil floating on water. Every liquid mixes except oil. Jethro floated to the top. He was the one person among Pharaoh's former counselors who heard the same news everyone heard and came to a different conclusion: that there was something here worth joining rather than fighting.

The Same Information, Two Opposite Lives

The midrash is precise about this parallel. Both Amalek and Jethro had access to the same facts. Neither was ignorant of the miracles at the sea. Neither had missed the reports from Egypt. The difference between them was not information. It was what they did with it.

Amalek saw the miracles and calculated an opening. Jethro saw the miracles and recognized a claim. One set of facts, two opposite movements. The midrash offers no explanation of why one man chose as he did and the other chose differently. It presents the parallel and lets it stand as a permanent question about what separates the man who attacks from the man who converts.

JethroAmalekSinaiTorahTanchuma
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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Midrash Tanchuma, Yitro 3Midrash Tanchuma

18:1). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is an ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee (Song 1:3). R. Yannai the son of R. Simeon the son of Yohai said: The earlier generations merely chanted pleasant songs before You, but when we reached the sea we left unuttered no words of praise with which to extol You. Hence it is said: Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance.

Another explanation. You gave to the earliest generations only the fragrance of the commandments. To Adam you gave one commandment, and to Noah and his sons, six commandments, but when we reached Sinai, You poured upon us all the commandments, as men pour ointment from a barrel. Thy name is an ointment (shemen) poured forth. R. Berechiah said: Oil (shemen) is a light to the one who occupies himself with the oil of the Torah. Therefore do the maidens love thee alludes to the people of the world who come and convert. Who was one of these? It was Jethro. After he heard of the many miracles that had been performed for Israel, he came to them and converted. Now Jethro heard. What is written before this? It is the chapter describing the destruction of Amalek, and that is followed by Now Jethro heard. Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this: When thou smitest a scorner, the simple will become prudent (Prov. 19:25). When thou smitest a scorner refers to Amalek, and the simple will become prudent alludes to Jethro.

It is written concerning the time the wicked Amalek came to fight against Israel: And fought with Israel in Rephidim (Exod. 17:8). What is meant by refidim (Rephidim)? It means that rafu yadehem (“their hands become weak”) in the fulfillment of the law and the commandments. Observe that it is written: And the name of the place was called Massah and Meribah (ibid., v. 7). The Holy One, blessed be He, began to rebuke them, saying: How long will ye try Me; how long will ye strive against Me? And so Moses cried out: Why strive ye with me? Wherefore do ye try the Lord? (ibid., v. 2).

How did they try Him? R. Judah the son of Nehemiah and the sages differed over this. R. Judah held: They deliberated (amongst themselves) and said: If He supplies us with food, then just as a king is praised and honored by the people when he enters a city, because he satisfies all their needs, so we will serve Him, but if He does not do so, we will rebel against Him. Our sages maintained (that they said to each other): Wė will consider this in our hearts, and if He knows what we are thinking, we will serve Him, but if not we will not serve Him, as it is said: Is the Lord among us, or not? (ibid. 7). R. Berechiah said: While they were still reflecting upon the matter, the Holy One, blessed be He, answered them, as it is said: And they tried God in their hearts by asking for food for their craving (Ps. 79:18). But the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You have been asking, Is the Lord among us or not? Be assured, I will let you know. Hence, Then came Amalek.

R. Levi declared: This situation may be compared to a child that is being carried on his father’s shoulders. When he sees something that excites him he calls out: “Father, take me there.” The father carries him to that place, and then to another and finally to a third place, yet the child, on seeing another man approaching them, asks: “Have you seen my father?” His father calls out: “You have been riding on my shoulders, and wherever you wished to go I carried you, yet now you ask ‘Have you seen my father?’” He then put him down. Whereupon a dog rushed at the child and bit him. Similarly, when the Israelites left Egypt, He surrounded them with clouds of glory, and when they wanted bread, He sent them manna, as it is said: And He caused manna to rain upon them for food, and He gave them of the corn of heaven (Ps. 78:24). And when they wanted meat, He gave them quail, as it is stated: They asked and He brought quails (ibid. 105:40). That is why it says: He gave them that which they craved (ibid. 78:29). And though He gave them whatever they demanded, yet they asked: Is the Lord among us or not? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: This is what you have been thinking. Therefore, this dog will bite you. Hence, And Amalek came.

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Midrash Tanchuma, Yitro 2Midrash Tanchuma

18:1). Some hear and lose (their reward), while others hear and are rewarded. Joash heard and lost (his reward), just as it is said: Then the king hearkened unto him (II Chron. 24:17), but after that is written: So they executed judgment upon Joash (ibid. v. 24). Similarly, the peoples have heard and they tremble (Exod. 15:14). However, Jethro heard and was rewarded. Though he had been an idolatrous priest, he joined Moses, and entered under the wings of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). For that he became worthy of adding the portion dealing with judges to the Torah of Israel, when he told Moses: The thing that thou doest is not good (ibid. 18:18).

Thou shalt provide out of all the people mighty men such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain (ibid. v. 21). This refers to men who were mighty in their devotion to the law, as is said: Ye mighty in strength, that fulfill His word (Ps. 103:20). That fear God should be understood literally. Men of truth, refers to those who rely upon the truth of His law. Hating unjust gain refers to those men who disregard their own wealth, and all the more so disregard the wealth of others (and spurn bribes). He would say: Even though you burn my sheaves, even though you cut down my vineyards, I will judge you justly.

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