8594. 'And fought with Israel in Rephidim' means that they attacked them when they were enduring bitter temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'fighting' as attacking by means of falsities arising from interior evil; and from the meaning of 'Rephidim' as the essential nature of the temptation having to do with truth, dealt with in 8561. How to understand these things is clear from what has been stated immediately above in 8593, where it is shown that in the next life those represented by 'Amalek' attack those undergoing temptation when they are slipping and near to giving in.