Komentarz do Wyjścia 23:22

וצרתי — render this as the Targum does: I will distress.

כי אם שמוע תשמע בקולו...ואיבתי את אויביך, My relationship to you then will not be protective, defensive, i.e. that I need to protect you, but aggressive, by treating your enemies as My enemies. This is the reverse of G’d’s attitude to Nineveh in Jonah 4,11 where G’d asked Jonah: “how can I not relate protectively to a city of over 120.000 people?”

ואיבתי את אויביך, "For I will be an enemy unto your enemies, etc." Perhaps the Torah hints here that by means of busying oneself with Torah and the performance of its commandments G'd will uproot the source of the קליפה, i.e. Satan, as well as the various branches which are constantly active trying to seduce people and thereby to degrade and dishonour the banner of Torah. You are advised to read what I have written in connection with the confrontation between Cain and G'd in Genesis 4,9-15.