(1) Some time afterward, King Achashveirosh promoted Haman son of Hammedata the Agagite; he exalted him and seated him higher than any of his fellow officials. (2) All the king’s servants in the palace gate knelt and bowed low to Haman, for such the king had ordered concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel or bow low.

(1) This is the line of Esau—that is, Edom. (2) Esau took his wives from among the Canaanite women—Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholivamah daughter of Anah, daughter of Ziveon the Hivite— (3) and also Basemat daughter of Yishmael and sister of Nevaioth. (4) Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; Basemat bore Reuel; (5) and Oholivamah bore Yeush, Yalam, and Korah. Those were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. (6) Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Jacob. (7) For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock. (8) So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir—Esau being Edom. (9) This, then, is the line of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir. (10) These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah; Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. (11) The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (12) Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. Those were the descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.

(8) Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (9) Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the staff of God in my hand.” (10) Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. (11) Then, whenever Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. (12) But Moses’ hands grew heavy so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands were steady until the the setting of the sun. (13) And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people by the sword. (14) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Inscribe this in the scroll as a reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!” (15) And Moses built an altar and named it Adonai-nissi ["The Lord is my banner"]. (16) And he said, "My hand upon the throne of Yah, the LORD's war with Amalek is from generation to generation.”

(16) My hand on the throne of Yah: The hand of the Holy One, who is blessed, is raised up to swear by His throne that He will have perpetual war and enmity against Amalek. But why is it kes [כס, a shortened form of the word for throne] and not kisei [כסא, the usual form]? And the Divine Name is also divided in half [י-ה is only half of the four-letter name]! The Holy One, who is blessed, swore that His name will not be complete, nor His throne complete until the name of Amalek is totally blotted out. And when his name is blotted out, then will the divine name be complete and the throne complete.

(1) Now Balaam, seeing that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, did not, as on previous occasions, go in search of omens, but turned his face toward the wilderness. (2) As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him. (3) Taking up his theme, he said:

Word of Balaam son of Beor,

Word of the man whose eye is true,

(4) Word of him who hears God’s speech, Who beholds visions from the Almighty, Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled:

(5) How fair are your tents, O Jacob,

Your dwellings, O Israel!

(6) Like palm-groves that stretch out,

Like gardens beside a river,

Like aloes planted by the LORD,

Like cedars beside the water;

(7) Their boughs drip with moisture,

Their roots have abundant water.

Their king shall rise above Agag,

Their kingdom shall be exalted.

(8) God who freed them from Egypt

Is for them like the horns of the wild ox. They shall devour enemy nations,

Crush their bones and smash their arrows....

(14) And now, as I go back to my people, let me inform you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.” (15) He took up his theme, and said...

(18) Edom becomes a possession,

Yes, Seir a possession of its enemies;

But Israel is triumphant.

(19) A victor issues from Jacob

To wipe out what is left of Ir.

(20) He saw Amalek and, taking up his theme, he said:

Amalek is the first among nations,

But in the end it will perish forever.

(20) Amalek is the first among nations: He was the first of them all to make war with Israel, and so too did Onkelos [the Aramaic translation of the Torah] render it.

(Ibid.) But in the end: He will be destroyed at their hands, as it is stated, “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek" (Deut 25:19).

(17) Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey as you left Egypt: (18) how he surprised you on the journey, and attacked you from behind, all those trailing in the rear, and you were famished and weary, not fearing God. (19) So when the LORD your God grants you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

(1) Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over His people Israel. Therefore, listen to the LORD’s command! (2) “Thus said the LORD of Hosts: I am exacting the penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the journey, on their way up from Egypt. (3) Now go, strike down Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!” (4) Saul mustered the troops and enrolled them at Telaim: 200,000 men on foot, and 10,000 men of Judah. (5) Then Saul advanced as far as the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the wadi. (6) Saul said to the Kenites, “Come, withdraw at once from among the Amalekites, that I may not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they left Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites. (7) Saul destroyed Amalek from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is close to Egypt, (8) and he captured King Agag of Amalek alive. He proscribed all the people, putting them to the sword; (9) but Saul and the troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the second-born, the lambs, and all else that was of value. They would not proscribe them; they proscribed only what was cheap and worthless.

Now the explanation for why Moses commanded Joshua to make war on Amalek [and did not lead them himself] was so that he [Moses] could pray with hands uplifted on top of the hill. And he went up there to be able to see Israel fighting and to set his eye upon them for good. And they too would see him spreading out his hands toward heaven and praying at length, and they would trust him and have greater courage and strength.

And furthermore in [the midrash collection] Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer (chapter 44): All Israel came out of their tents [during the war with Amalek] and saw Moses down on his knees, and they went down on their knees; [they saw him] falling face down on the ground, and they fell face down on the ground; [they saw him] spreading his hands to heaven and they spread their hands to heaven--just like when the prayer leader [in synagogue] prays in a certain way and all the people respond with the same words....

And all the things that Moses our master did were because Amalek was very powerful and mighty, and Israel was not trained in warfare and had never even seen it, as it says, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war" (Ex 13:17), and they [Israel] were "famished and weary," as written in Deuteronomy (25:18). Therefore, they were afraid of them and needed all this prayer and supplication.

And it is possible that Moses feared he [Amalek] might conquer by the sword given that he was a nation whose family inheritance was the sword due to the blessing of his great-grandfather [Jacob] who said of him, "And you shall live by your sword" (Gen 27:40).

For the war with this family is the first and last one for Israel since Amalek is from the offspring of Esau, and from him [Amalek] came the war that was 'first among nations.' And from the offspring of Esau the most recent exile and destruction [i.e., through Rome] happened to us, as our Rabbis said: Today we are in the exile of Edom. And when he [Edom/Rome] is defeated, and he and many nations allied with him are weakened, we will be saved from exile forever, just as it says, "And saviors will ascend the Mount of Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingship will belong to the Lord" (Ovadiah 1:21). And in fact everything which Moses and Joshua did with them originally, Elijah and Messiah, son of Joseph will do with them [at the end of days]. Therefore Moses went all out in this matter.

When Sancheriv, king of Assyria, rose to power, he confused [the identity of] all the nations, and mixed them together, and exiled them from their places. And those Egyptians who are now in the land of Egypt are different people [than the biblical Egyptian ethnicity was]. And so too the Edomites who are in the Plain of Edom. And since the four nations which are forbidden [to marry into the Jewish People] have become mixed among all the nations of the world who are permitted, everyone is permitted, because anyone who emerges from them in order to convert is presumed to have emerged from the majority. Therefore, when a convert converts in this time anywhere, whether Edomite, Egyptian, Ammonite, Moabite, Cushite, or the rest of the nations, both men and women are permitted to enter the community [of Israel] immediately.

"You shall blot out the memory of Amalek" (Deut 25:19). This verse also implies the promise that the Israelites will, without doubt, blot out his name. But to the extent that the phrase, "So when the LORD your God grants you rest from all your surrounding enemies..." is fulfilled, to the same extent is the blotting out of Amalek fulfilled.

And it is written, "My hand on the throne of Yah" (Ex 17:16). Rashi explained: The Holy One swore that neither his name nor his throne would be complete until the memory of Amalek has been blotted out. The meaning is this: Amalek completely dedicated himself to evil, even though he knew he would ultimately perish, but he wanted [above all else] to disrupt the Jewish People. For this reason his punishment was that he would have no share of holiness. For in fact all the [other, gentile] nations have some root in holiness, as it is written, "Then I will transform the nations with purified speech, etc." (Zechariah 3:9). For in the future His name, may it be blessed, will be magnified, and all the nations will know that the kingship belongs to the Lord, as it is stated, "Peoples shall be glad and rejoice, etc." (Psalms 67:5). But Amalek, may his name be blotted out, will have no share in this, as it is stated, "Amalek is the first among nations, but in the end it will perish forever" (Numbers 24:20).

Therefore, the Holy One swore that the complete perfection, in which all the nations will recognize His glory and His great name, blessed be He, would not come about until the memory of Amalek is blotted out, so that Amalek will not be included, and will not be privileged to see the truth. And therefore, to the extent that redemption approaches, and His glory, may He be blessed, is revealed in the world, to the same degree the name of Amalek is blotted out. And thus it is written, "So when the LORD your God grants you rest from all your surrounding enemies...."--at that time it is certain you will blot out the memory of Amalek. For this reason one who hopes for the recognition of God's great name, may He be blessed, hopes [as well] for the blotting out of Amalek, since each thing is dependent upon the other.