Komentarz do Wyjścia 17:13

ויחלש יהושע AND JOSHUA DISCOMFITED [AMALEK] (more lit., he weakened Amalek) — he cut off the heads of his mighty men and left only the weak amongst them, and he did not kill all of them (leaving the weak men alive: thus Amalek was made weak, and powerless for further mischief). From this we may learn that they acted according to the expressed pronouncement of the Shechina (otherwise they would, in the stress of battle, not have so discriminated) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 17:13:2).

את עמלק ואת עמו, fellow travelers from other nations who had joined Amalek in his attack against the Israelites.

ויחלש, he defeated them. The word חלושה in the same sense occurs in Exodus 32,18 when Moses describes the noise he hears when descending from Mount Sinai as not being typical of the sounds one hears from soldiers suffering a defeat.

ויחלוש יהושע, “Joshua succeeded in weakening, etc.” He did not kill the Amalekites. Some commentators claim that the soldiers that the Amalekites had dispatched against Israel were demons, sorcerers, whom it was impossible to kill by normal means as they employed all kinds of sorcery.

And left only. . . Rashi is answering the question: Why is it written, “Yehoshua weakened. . . with the edge of the sword”? If Yehoshua killed with the sword, then they were not weakened but killed. Therefore Rashi explains, “And left only the weak. . .”

V. 13. חלש ,ויחלש : während חלץ das Lösen eines hemmenden Bandes, somit ein Freimachen bedeutet, heißt חלש das Lösen der natürlichen zusammenhaltenden Kraft, somit: schwächen. Josua schwächte nur Amalek. Seine endliche Besiegung bleibt der fernen Zukunft vorbehalten. Ist ja auch Israel noch nicht reif. Bis zu Israels Reife ist selbst für Israels entwickelnde Erziehung der Gegensatz Amalek notwendig.

ויחלוש, ”he threw a lot;” when Haman was described as looking for a suitable date to decree the destruction of the Jewish people he did so also. (Esther 3,7) There are three different words for lots which appear at different points in the Bible, (גורל, פור, חולש (ישעיה 14,14. Alternate explanation: Instead of using the customary ויכה, “he smote,” the Torah used a word meaning “he weakened,” as Amalek had read in his astrological calendar where it was indicated that not all of its soldiers would die as a result of that war. Joshua used the same method (verse 9) where he is described as selecting a relatively small number of men of military age to confront Amalek. He did not kill the Amalekites on this occasion but only disabled them from fighting by cutting of their hands or feet. Hence the verb ויחלוש is most appropriate.

ויחלוש יהושע את עמלק, “Joshua succeeded in weakening the armies of Amalek.” [In order to understand the following it is important to realise that in this battle we do not hear of either side suffering fatalities. The word חרב, for “lethal sword,” does not appear once. Ed. The Amalekites had employed the weapon of sorcery in order to weaken the Jewish people. The swords used had not caused a single death, hence the Torah only speaks of the Amalekites having been “weakened.”Another interpretation of the unusual expression: ויחלוש. This term was used since the Torah had previously written that when Moses’ hands had weakened וגבר עמלק, “Amalek was gaining the upper hand,” it was appropriate to use a word meaning the opposite after the battle ended, i.e. while the Israelites had gotten the upper hand, they had only succeeded in beating off the attack. On the other hand, there is an instance where the expression ויחלוש, is used as describing someone dying, i.e. וגבר ימות ויחלש, (Job 14,9).

From this we may conclude. . . Meaning: Hashem’s command was not mentioned at the beginning of this war. Rather, it is written “Moshe said to Yehoshua” (v. 9), as if Moshe commanded him on his own. Thus Rashi explains that Moshe acted according to Hashem’s command. And the proof is from our verse, for if it was not according to Hashem’s specific command, then Yehoshua [who was able to kill the mighty ones] would not have left the weak ones alive, but he would have killed them all.