היש ה' בקרבנו?, if He is going to give us water.

כאשר ירים משה ידו, and his staff.

וגבר ישראל, it is a psychological axiom that when the warriors see their flag being held aloft they are inspired with additional courage. When they cannot see their flag being held aloft they interpret this negatively and are liable to flee from the battlefield.

אמונה; keeping them steady. We find a parallel to this in Isaiah 22,23 ותקעתיו יתד במקום נאמן, ”I will fix him as a peg in a firm place.” Also in Psalms 100,5 and in Deuteronomy 28,59 we find aimilar syntax.

ויחלש, he defeated them. The word חלושה in the same sense occurs in Exodus 32,18 when Moses describes the noise he hears when descending from Mount Sinai as not being typical of the sounds one hears from soldiers suffering a defeat.

באזני יהושע, that he shall prevail over them when he will be king and keep My commandment to wipe out the name of Amalek.

(2) THAT I WILL UTTERLY BLOT OUT ETC. That I want him [Yehoshua] to blot out his [Amalek's] name.

הי נס, the staff of G’d [in Moses’ hand Ed.] had become a miracle or equivalent to a flag, (an inspiration) on the hill on which Moses was positioned. Moses prayed that G’d would also use it in this manner in the future in order to conduct the war against Amalek, because G’d had already now given the commandment and assurance that He would completely wipe out even the memory of Amalek [this being the inspiration of the anti God forces on earth. Ed.] This is also what is spelled out in verse 16. 'ויאמר כי יד על כס י-ה וגו, this is why I call the altar ה' נסי, “G’d is my banner, my flag.” This is the same as when a father calls his son Eliezer, which means the same thing in Hebrew. (compare Exodus 18,4 where the reason for Moses calling his son by that name is explained.) Also the name Emanuel means the same, i.e. two words עמנו א-ל, “G’d is with us.” (Isaiah 7,14) G’d raised His hand in an oath, swearing by His throne that He would conduct ongoingמלחמה לה' בעמלק מדר דר, war against Amalek throughout the generations until he would be wiped out completely. Invoking the word יד here in connection with G’d’s utterance (as opposed to visible action) is the same as the line כי אשא אל שמים ידי, “I raise My hand to heaven” in Deuteronomy 32,40 it clearly is the formula for G’d swearing an oath. This is the plain meaning of these words. There are some who explain that when a king will sit on the throne of Israel, such as King Sha-ul, the time will have come to wipe out Amalek completely. I cannot accept this interpretation at all, as if it were correct, the Torah should have written כי תהיה יד אל כס י-ה “when the throne of Israel will be occupied by a real powerful king, representing G’d on earth.” The meaning of the words כי יד על כס י-ה is: “whenever a deliberate threat is posed against the kingdom of G’d on earth, etc.”

HE SAID, “IT MEANS, ‘HAND UPON THE THRONE OF THE LORD!’ ETC. That is why I name the altar "Adonai Nisi," like the name of a person called Eliezer [God is my help] or Imanu'el [God is with us], for God has lifted His hand on His throne that He has a war against Amalek through the generations, in the manner of (Isa. 32:40), "I raise My hand to heaven." This is the essential plain meaning. And some interpret it: "When My hand and strength will be on Yah's throne, which is the throne of the kings of Israel, then there will be a war against Amalek. But this does not seem to me correct at all, for [if so,] it should have said, "When there will be [ki tihyeh] a hand." However, this refers above, as I have explained, and its meaning is "Hereby [harei] hand on the throne of Yah."