I Samuele 15:2 Kabbalah: Zohar

AND MOSES ASSEMBLED ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, ETC. R. Hiya opened here a discourse on the text: “And Saul said unto the Kenites: Go depart”, etc. (I Sam. 15, 6). ‘Observe’, he said, ‘that in regard to Amalek it is written: “I remember that which Amalek did to Israel”, etc. (Ibid. 15, 2). What is the reason that none of the wars waged by other nations against Israel was so displeasing to the Almighty as was the war waged against them by Amalek? The reason, assuredly, is that the battle with Amalek was waged on both fronts, both on high and below; for at that time the evil serpent gathered all its forces both above and below.

It is the way of a serpent to lie in wait on the cross-roads. So Amalek, the evil serpent of Israel, was lying in wait for them on the cross-roads, as it is written: “how he set himself against him in the way” (Ibid.). He was lying in ambush on high in order to defile the Sanctuary, and below in order to defile Israel. This we deduce from the expression, “how he met thee by the way” (Deut. 25, 18), where the term qar’kha is meant to suggest the kindred term in the passage, “If there be among you any man that is not clean by reason of that which chanceth him (miqre) by night” (Ibid. 23, 11).