אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג ס״וAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 66
א׳
1[186] And their warfare is patent. When mind is victorious, devoting itself to immaterial things its proper object, passion quits the scene: and on the other hand, when passion has won an evil victory, mind gives in, being prevented from giving heed to itself and to all its own occupations. Moses elsewhere says, “Whenever Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed, but when he dropped them, Amalek prevailed” (Exod. 17:11), showing that when the mind lifts itself up away from mortal things and is borne aloft, that which sees God, which is Israel, gains strength, but when it has lowered its special powers and grown weak, immediately passion, named “Amalek,” which means “a people licking out,” will become strong: for in very deed it eats up the whole soul and licks it out, leaving behind in it no seed or spark of virtue.
ב׳
2[187] In keeping with this are the words “Amalek the first of the nations” (Numb. 24:20), because passion rules and lords it over promiscuous hordes that have drifted together without purpose or meaning. Through passion all the war of the soul is fanned into flame, and so God promises to minds to which He vouchsafes the gift of peace, that He will blot out “the memorial of Amalek from under heaven” (Exod. 17:14).