Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offered his own version of Moses' prayer during the battle with Amalek, and it carried an even more cosmic weight than Rabbi Yehoshua's teaching.
Moses said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: "Lord of the universe, Your children — whom You are destined to scatter under the winds of heaven" — and here Rabbi Elazar cited the prophet Zechariah: "For as the four winds of heaven have I scattered you" (Zechariah 2:10). The scattered future of Israel was already known to God. The exiles, the dispersions, the centuries of wandering among the nations — all of it was part of the plan.
"This wicked one," Moses continued, referring to Amalek, "is coming to destroy them from under Your wings. The book of Torah that You gave them — who will read it?"
Rabbi Elazar's version adds a layer that Rabbi Yehoshua's does not. Moses was telling God: You already know that Israel will be scattered across the entire world. That scattering is Your design. But if Amalek destroys them now, before they even reach the land, the entire architecture of future history collapses. There will be no exile because there will be no people to exile. There will be no return because there will be no one to return.
Moses was arguing from God's own long-term plan. If Israel has a future — even a painful one filled with dispersion — then they must survive the present. Amalek was threatening not just a generation but a timeline. And the Torah, God's own gift, would vanish with them.