The Battle with Amalek

The name of the Hebrews was already famous everywhere, and rumors about them spread abroad, which put the inhabitants of those countries in no small fear. So they sent envoys to one another, urging one another to defend themselves and to try to destroy these men. Those who stirred up the rest were the people who lived in Gobolitis and Petra. They were called Amalekites, the most warlike of the nations living in those parts, and their kings urged one another and their neighbors to go to war against the Hebrews. An army of foreigners, they told them, one that had run away from slavery under the Egyptians, was lying in wait to ruin them. Common prudence and regard for their own safety forbade them to overlook it; they must crush it before it gathered strength and came to prosperity. “They may even attack us first, presuming on our sluggishness in not attacking them before. We ought to take revenge on them for what they have done in the wilderness, but that cannot be done so well once they have laid hands on our cities and our goods. Those who try to crush a power as it first rises are wiser than those who try to stop its progress once it has become formidable. The latter only seem to resent the success of others; the former leave their enemies no room to become troublesome to them.” After they had sent such embassies to the neighboring nations and among themselves, they resolved to attack the Hebrews in battle. [a]

These moves by the peoples of those countries brought perplexity and trouble to Moses, who had expected no such preparations for war. When these nations were ready to fight, and the Hebrew multitude had to try the fortunes of war, they were in great disorder and lacked every necessity, and yet they had to make war on men who were thoroughly prepared for it. So it was then that Moses began to encourage them. He urged them to take heart and rely on God’s help, which had brought them to freedom, and to hope for victory over those who were ready to fight them to take that blessing away. They were to think of their own army as numerous and lacking nothing — neither weapons, nor money, nor provisions, nor any of the other advantages that make men fight without fear — and to count all these as theirs in God’s help. They were to think of the enemy’s army as small, unarmed, and weak — men of a kind by whom God would not let them be beaten, knowing them for what they were. How valuable God’s help was, he said, they had learned in a great many trials — trials more terrible than war, for war is only against men, but these had been against hunger and thirst, things that by their own nature cannot be overcome, and against mountains, and against the sea that left them no way of escape. Yet all these difficulties had been conquered by God’s gracious kindness to them. So he urged them to be brave now, and to consider that their whole prosperity depended on conquering their enemies in this battle. [b]

With these words Moses encouraged the multitude. He then called together the heads of their tribes and their chief men, both separately and all together. He charged the young men to obey their elders, and the elders to listen to their leader. So the people were lifted up in spirit and ready to try their fortune in battle, hoping by it at last to be delivered from all their miseries. They even begged Moses to lead them against their enemies at once, without the least delay, so that no hanging back might hinder their present resolve. So Moses sorted all who were fit for war into separate companies and set over them Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. He was a man of great courage and patient in hard labor, very able both to understand and to say what was fitting, and outstanding in the worship of God. He had taken Moses as his teacher in piety toward God, and he was held in honor among the Hebrews. Moses also posted a small party of armed men near the water to guard the children, the women, and the whole camp. All that night they prepared for battle. They repaired any of their weapons that were damaged and waited on their commanders, ready to rush into battle as soon as Moses gave the word. Moses, too, stayed awake, teaching Joshua how to draw up his army. When day came, Moses called Joshua again and urged him to prove himself in action the man his reputation led people to expect, and by his exploits in this battle to win glory in the eyes of those under him. He also gave a special exhortation to the leading men of the Hebrews, and encouraged the whole army as it stood armed before him. When he had put heart into the army by his words and his actions and had made everything ready, he withdrew to a mountain and committed the army to God and to Joshua. [c]

So the armies met in battle, and it came to close fighting hand to hand, both sides fighting eagerly and cheering one another on. As long as Moses stretched out his hands toward heaven, the Hebrews had the better of the Amalekites. But Moses could not keep his hands stretched out — and every time he let them down, his own people were beaten back — so he told his brother Aaron, and Hur, the husband of their sister Miriam, to stand on each side of him and hold up his hands, and not let his weariness stop it, but help him keep his hands stretched out. When this was done, the Hebrews overpowered the Amalekites by main force. Indeed, the Amalekites would all have perished, had not nightfall forced the Hebrews to stop the killing. So our forefathers won a most remarkable and timely victory. They not only overcame those who fought against them but also terrified the neighboring nations, and by their hard labor in this battle they won great and splendid gains from their enemies. When they took the enemy’s camp, they got ready plunder for the people as a whole and for their own families, whereas until then they had had no plenty of anything, not even of necessary food. This battle, once won, was the beginning of their prosperity, not only for the present but for ages to come; for they not only made slaves of their enemies’ bodies but broke their spirits too, and after this battle they were feared by everyone who lived around them. They also acquired a vast quantity of riches. Much silver and gold had been left in the enemy’s camp, as well as bronze vessels for everyday household use. There were also many embroidered articles of both kinds — woven goods and the ornaments of armor — and other things for household use and for furnishing rooms. They also took the cattle as plunder, and whatever usually follows a camp when it moves from place to place. So the Hebrews now prided themselves on their courage and claimed great credit for their valor, and they kept training themselves to hard work, believing that by it every difficulty could be overcome. Such were the results of this battle. [e]

The next day Moses stripped the bodies of the enemy dead, collected the armor of those who had fled, and gave rewards to those who had distinguished themselves in the action. He praised Joshua their general highly, and the whole army bore witness to the great things he had done. Not one of the Hebrews was killed, but the enemy dead were too many to count. Moses offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God and built an altar, which he named The Lord the Conqueror. He also foretold that the Amalekites would be utterly destroyed and that in time to come none of them would remain, because they had fought against the Hebrews while they were in the wilderness, and in distress besides. He also refreshed the army with feasting. So they fought this first battle against those who dared to oppose them after they left Egypt. When Moses had kept this victory festival, he let the Hebrews rest for a few days, and then he led them out after the fight in battle order, for they now had a large force of armed infantry. Advancing by stages, he came to Mount Sinai three months after they had left Egypt. It was at this mountain, as we have related before, that the vision of the bush and the other wonderful appearances had taken place. [g]