Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the mysterious rise and fall of Israel's fortunes during the battle with Amalek. When Moses raised his hands toward heaven, Israel grew strong. When he lowered them, Israel weakened. But Rabbi Eliezer insisted this was not about Moses' hands as some kind of magical gesture. It was about Torah.
The connection is precise: whenever Moses raised his hands heavenward, the Israelites strengthened themselves in the words of Torah — the very Torah that was destined to be given through Moses' hands at Sinai. And whenever he lowered his hands, Israel weakened in those same words of Torah.
This reading transforms the battlefield scene from a story about physical endurance into a parable about spiritual commitment. Moses standing on the hilltop with raised arms was a living symbol of Torah study and devotion. When the people looked up and saw his hands reaching toward heaven, they were reminded of their purpose and their covenant. That remembrance gave them strength. When the hands fell, so did their awareness, and with it their power.
Rabbi Eliezer's interpretation also foreshadows Sinai. The battle with Amalek occurred before the giving of the Torah, yet the Mekhilta reads Torah into the story retroactively. The words of Torah were already the source of Israel's strength even before they were formally revealed. The power that would sustain Israel for millennia was already operative in the wilderness, channeled through the raised hands of their greatest prophet.