שמות יז:טז - ויאמר משה כי יד על כס קה מלחמה להשם בעמלק מדר דר.
After the Torah records the Jewish people’s victory over Amalek in the desert, 17:16 records a cryptic statement from Moshe. Moshe said, “Because the hand on kes G-d, a war between G-d and Amalek from (for, through?) the generations.” The major difficulty of this verse is, what does the two-letter word kes mean? The word does not appear again in the remainder of Tanakh, and commentators assume that it is a shortened version of a longer word. Another difficulty of 17:16 is what was Moshe saying when he referred to a hand?
Rashi (on 17:16) explains that the word kes is short for the word chair, kiseh, as then one adds an aleph to the word kes. Rashi then explains that the chair is the throne of G-d and Moshe’s reference to a hand refers to G-d swearing on His throne that He would destroy Amalek. This explanation is difficult. It depicts G-d as having a chair to sit in and having a need to raise a hand to signal that He was swearing. Why did G-d have to swear altogether? Why would G-d have to swear on His throne? Where is this throne? In the sky? Why would G-d need a throne? In his comments on Bereshit 1:2, Rashi also refers to the kiseh ha-kavod, the Divine throne, but in the Torah, there is no mention or idea that G-d has or sits on a throne. (Note, Shemot 24:10 does not refer to a throne or a chair.)
Rashi also writes that Moshe was saying that G-d’s name and throne is not complete or perfect, hence the word kes is missing the letter aleph, until the name of Amalek is blotted out. This idea seems to be popular in some circles in Judaism, but is quite odd that G-d’s name depends on the non-existence of Amalek. This idea is also not recorded in the Torah.
Other commentators (see Bekhor Shor and Ibn Ezra on 17:16) also follow the idea that kes refers to a chair and a throne, but they suggest that it could be referring to a human king sitting in his throne. These commentators suggest that Moshe was making a prophetic statement in 17:16 that when the Jewish people would have a king who would assume the throne, then the king would lead the people to attack Amalek. This is also difficult since the reference to a hand is not obviously to a future king and the end of 17:16 refers to G-d fighting with Amalek and not this future king.
Cassuto (1967, pp. 206,207) suggests that the reference to a hand in 17:16 is to a memorial, and the word kes is short for kasas (adding the letter sameach), which means to count or reckon. According to Cassuto, Moshe is saying that the altar that he built in the previous verse, 17:15, should be a memorial to G-d’s plan to obliterate Amalek. I am not sure why a memorial is needed to express this idea, especially as the people were going to be leaving the area where the altar was built, 17:5, 19:2. Maybe the memorial was to stop the people from wanting to continue fighting with Amalek.
My guess is that the word kes is short for the word kesah, which entails adding the letter heh to the word kes. The word kesah appears in Tehillim 81:4 and Mishlei 7:20 where it means at the appointed time. Also, the reference to the phrase “hand on” could refer to G-d’s power being evident, as in 9:3 and 14:31. The meaning of the verse would then be that Moshe was saying that G-d’s power would be evident in its appointed time as in the future at some time G-d would fight with Amalek. This understanding connects 17:16 with 17:14, where G-d had told Moshe that He would destroy Amalek. Also, it might connect with the previous verse, 17:15, which records that Moshe built an altar and called it “G-d is my banner,” since with this interpretation, in 17:16 Moshe was explaining that the evidence for this “banner” would be apparent in its appropriate time in the future.
Note, G-d could have destroyed Amalek on the spot instead of waiting for the future, but maybe G-d chose not to in order not to give the people a feeling of a great victory since the war with Amalek was a punishment for doubting G-d.
Bibliography:
Cassuto, Umberto (1883-1951),
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