Amalek Fought Against Emunah:
Sefer Tiferes Shmuel explains the commandment to never forget to destroy Amalek “from under the Heavens” by quoting the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 29A) that says that whenever Klal Yisroel looked up, they beat Amalek. His father, the Yismach Yisroel of Alexander zy”a explains this to mean that whenever they recognized that all their power and strength comes from above, they were able to defeat Amalek.
The Tiferes Shmuel adds that Amalek wants to get Yidden to forget this important concept. He wants us not to believe that Hashem is in control of all events and to believe in “nature” and “coincidence”. This is hinted to in the words (Devarim 25:17): “He happened upon you on the road.” He wants us to believe that things just “happen” and are not sent from Hashem. And he attacks us “on the road”, meaning on the “road to emunah in Hashem” (Tehillim 119:30).
The pasuk (Shemos 17:7) says that Klal Yisroel asked if Hashem was with them or not. Amalek had succeeded in placing doubts in their hearts about whether Hashem was guiding them or not. The pasuk continues (ibid:11) to say that when Moshe lifted his hands, and taught the people to have emunah in Hashem and His Divine guidance, the people were victorious over Amalek. They overcome the doubts and defeated the power of Amalek.
He concludes that when we are commanded to destroy Amalek from “under the Heaven” the intent is that we must eradicate the ideas of Amalek. He wanted us to believe in nature and to think that events happen on their own. He wanted us to believe in things “under the Heavens”. But we must destroy that mindset and to look “above the Heavens” and see that only Hashem guides everything that occurs.
