time, he tried lying hidden in ambush, and in this wise molesting
Israel, but as length he gave up this game of hide-and-seek, and
with a bold front revealed himself as the open enemy of Israel. Not
alone, however, did he himself declare war upon Israel, but he also
seduced all the heathen nations to assist him in his enterprise
against Israel. Although these declined to war upon Israel, fearing
that they might have to fare like the Egyptians, they agreed to the
following plan of Amalek. He said: "Follow my expedition. Should
Israel conquer me, there will still be plenty of time for you to flee,
but should success crown my attempt, join your fate to mine, in my
undertaking against Israel." So Amalek now marched from his
settlement in Seir, which was no less than four hundred parasangs
away from the encampment of the Jews; and although five nations,
the Hittites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the
Canaanites, had their dwellings between his home and the camp of
the Jews, he insisted upon being the first to declare war upon
Israel.

God punished Israel, who had shown themselves an ungrateful
people, by sending against them an enemy that was ungrateful, too,
never recalling that he owed his life to the sons of Jacob, who had
had him in their power after their brilliant victory over Esau and
his followers. [140]

In his expedition against Israel he made use of his kinsman. Before
going over to open attack, he lured many unsuspecting Jews to
death by his kindly words. He had fetched from Egypt the table of
descent of the Jews; for every Jew had there to mark his name on
the bricks produced by him, and these lists lay in the Egyptian
archives. Familiar with the names of the different Jewish families,