<b>Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim (Exod. 17:8).</b> R. Eliezer the son of Hisma said: This verse should be understood and interpreted in relation to the verse quoted in Job: <i>Can the rush shoot up without mire? Can the reed grass grow without water?</i> (Job 1:11). Just as that is impossible, so is it impossible for Israel to survive unless the people devote themselves to the law. It was because Israel turned away from the law that the enemy attacked them. Indeed, the enemy attacked them only as a consequence of their sins and transgressions. Hence it says: <i>Then came Amalek</i>.
R. Judah the Prince stated: Amalek had to travel through the land of five nations to wage war against Israel at Rephidim, as it is said: <i>Amalek dwelleth in the land of the south; and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan</i> (Num. 13:29). From this verse you learn that Amalek dwelt farther away than (the others). R. Nathan stated: Amalek came from the mountains of Seir and traveled nearly four hundred parasangs to Rephidim to wage war against Israel. Others say: He allowed the ungrateful Amalek to come and exact retribution from an ungrateful people. Thus it says: <i>And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shemeath the Ammonitess</i> (II Chron. 24:26). He let these ungrateful ones come and exact retribution from the ungrateful Joash, as it is said: <i>Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said: “The Lord look upon it, and require it”</i> (ibid., v. 22). What was his punishment? <i>And it came to pass, when the year was come about, that the army of the Arameans came up against him. And they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people…. so they executed judgment upon Joash</i> (ibid., v. 23–24). Do not read the word as <i>shefatim</i> (“judgment”) but as <i>shiputim</i> (“sport”). They stationed cruel guards over him who had not had sexual relations with women, and they tortured him with acts of sodomy, as is said: <i>And tortured but the pride of Israel</i> (Hos. 5:5). It is written also: <i>And when they were departed from him—for they left him in great diseases—his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings</i> (II Chron. 24:25).
<i>And he fought with Israel in Rephidim</i>. R. Hanina said: I asked R. Eliezer: Why does Israel redeem the firstborn asses but not firstborn horses or camels? He answered: The King decreed it, since they had only asses at the time of the Exodus. There was not a single Israelite who did not bring ninety asses laden with silver, gold, and garments with him.
Others say that <i>refidim</i> (Rephidim) means that their hands became lax (<i>sherafu yedehem</i>) in upholding the law. Therefore Amalek attacked them. Hence you find that the enemy attacks Israel because it becomes lax in upholding the law, as it is said: <i>And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him</i> (II Chron. 12:1). What was his punishment? <i>Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made</i> (I Kings 14:25).