Exodus 17

On April 18, 1874 the body of missionary/explorer David Livingstone was laid to rest in a grave in the center of the nave in Westminster Abbey. During the funeral service, the congregation sang a hymn by Philip Doddridge and John Logan that’s based on Genesis 28:20–21. O God of Bethel, by whose hand Thy people still are fed; Who through this earthly pilgrimage Hast all our fathers led: Through each perplexing path of life Our wandering footsteps guide; Give us each day our daily bread, And raiment fit provide.

During his difficult and demanding years in Africa, Livingstone rested his faith and his future on the parting words of Jesus, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). Concerning this verse, Livingstone had written in his journal on January 14, 1856: “It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor, so there’s an end of it!” He knew that his Lord’s word could be trusted!

It was the presence of the Lord that gave Moses the strength and confidence he needed as he led the people of Israel during their wilderness wandering. He had a difficult task, leading a thankless army of former slaves whom he was trying to build into a nation, but he persevered because the Lord was with him. The events recorded in these two chapters reveal to us what the presence of the Lord means to God’s people and their leaders as they are on their pilgrim journey.

As they moved toward Mount Sinai, the people of Israel were still being led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But the Lord was still directing Israel into difficult and trying situations in order to prove His power and build their faith and character. After all, life’s journey involves much more than merely reaching a destination. If we aren’t growing in faith, in the knowledge of God, and in godly character, we’re wasting our opportunities.

An old test repeated (vv. 1–3). Israel had a long way to go before they would qualify as a godly nation. So far, every new trial they experienced only brought out the worst in them. When they arrived in Rephidim, in the Wilderness of Sinai, they again found themselves without water. They had failed this test once before, so God had to test them again. He had proved that He was able to provide water and food for them, so why were they quarreling with Moses? Because their hearts were still in Egypt! They were guilty of ingratitude and unbelief, wanting to go back to the old life, and as a result, they again failed to pass the test.

Every difficulty God permits us to encounter will become either a test that can make us better or a temptation that can make us worse, and it’s our own attitude that determines which it will be. If in unbelief we start complaining and blaming God, then temptation will trap us and rob us of an opportunity to grow spiritually. But if we trust God and let Him have His way, the trial will work for us and not against us (Rom. 8:28; James 1:12–15) and help us grow in grace.

When people are out of fellowship with the Lord, and are angry and bitter, they usually want to do unreasonable things that could only make the situation worse. In this instance, the people wanted to stone their leader (Ex. 17:5)! How that would have changed their situation is difficult to discern, but disobedient people often look for a scapegoat.

An unfailing resource (vv. 4–7). Moses did what he frequently had to do as a leader: he called on the Lord for help (15:25; 32:30ff.; Num. 11:1–2; 12:13; 14:13ff.). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). The Lord instructed him to take some of the elders with him, plus the rod that symbolized God’s power (Ex. 7:20), and to smite the rock in the sight of the people. When Moses obeyed, the water gushed forth from the rock and met the needs of the people and the livestock (Ps. 78:15–16; 105:41; 114:8; Isa. 48:21). A gracious God met the needs of a complaining people.

The rock is a type of Jesus Christ smitten for us on the cross (1 Cor. 10:4), and the water is a type of the Holy Spirit whose coming was made possible by Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven (John 7:37–39). This explains why Moses was wrong to smite the rock when he should have spoken to it (Num. 20:1–13), because “[Christ] died to sin once for all” (Rom. 6: nkjv, and see Heb. 7:27; 9:26–28).

“Massah” means “to test,” and “Meribah” means “contention, quarreling.” The Jews had not yet learned that God tests His people in the everyday experiences of life. He uses the difficult experiences of life to strengthen our faith and mature our character. But Israel’s faith in God was very weak, for they thought their God had led them to a place where He couldn’t care for them! The trouble with the Israelites was that they had hard hearts that wouldn’t submit to the Lord, so they rebelled against His will. In fact, the older generation had unbelieving hearts throughout their entire journey from Egypt to Canaan (Ps. 95:6–11; Heb. 3). They complained about water at the beginning of their pilgrimage and also forty years later at the end (Num. 20:1–13).

On the map of our lives, how many places ought to be named “Testing and Quarreling” because of the way we’ve complained about our circumstances and failed to trust God? It’s one thing to sit comfortably in church and sing “All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside?” and quite something else to be confronted with distress and disappointment and meekly say, “Not my will but Thine be done.” Corrie ten Boom used to say, “Don’t bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

On the journey of faith, we not only experience trials involving the necessities of life, such as bread and water, but we also face battles when our enemies attack us. We’re pilgrims who are also soldiers, and that means we must occasionally endure hardship as we follow the Lord (2 Tim. 2:3–4).

The enemy (v. 8). The devil is our greatest enemy (1 Peter 5:8), and he uses the world and the flesh to oppose us (Eph. 2:1–3). Just as Israel was delivered from Egypt by the power of God, so God’s people today have been delivered from “this present evil world [age]” (Gal. 1:3–4) through the victory of Christ. We are in the world physically but not of the world spiritually (John 17:14–16), and therefore must not become conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2). We renounce the things of the flesh (Gal. 5:16–21) and resist the attacks of the devil (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8–9).

The Amalekites were the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau (Gen. 36:12, 16) who was “a profane person” (Heb. 12:16). The word translated “profane” (“godless,” niv) comes from a Greek word that means “a threshold”; it refers to somebody who is accessible and can be “walked on” by anybody or anything. The English word “profane” comes from the Latin and means “outside the temple,” that is, unhallowed and common. Esau lived for the world and the flesh and despised spiritual things (v. 17). Esau opposed his brother Jacob and threatened to kill him (Gen. 27:41), and Esau’s descendants opposed the children of Jacob (Israel) and threatened to annihilate them.

There’s no record that the Jews ever had to fight any battles in Egypt, but once they were delivered from bondage, they discovered they had enemies. So it is in the Christian life. When we identify with Jesus Christ, then His enemies become our enemies (Luke 12:49–53) and we must “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). But we need the battles of life to help balance the blessings of life; otherwise, we’ll become too confident and comfortable and stop trusting the Lord.

The strategy (Deut. 25:17–19). The Amalekites attacked Israel suddenly from behind, at the weakest place in the camp, for they struck those Jews who were weary and feeble and were at the rear of the march. Amalek attacked after Israel had experienced a great blessing in the provision of the water from the rock. Satan and his demonic army (Eph. 6:10–12) know what our weakest point is and when we’re not ready for an assault. That’s why we must “watch and pray, lest [we] enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14: nkjv).

The enemy often attacks God’s people after they’ve experienced special blessings, but the Lord can use those attacks to keep us from trusting the gifts instead of the Giver. It was after his victory over the four kings that Abraham was tempted to take the spoil, (Gen. 14:17–24), and after the victory over Jericho, Joshua became overconfident and was defeated at Ai (Josh. 7). After Elijah defeated the priests of Baal, he became discouraged and was tempted to quit (1 Kings 18:41—19:18), and it was after the blessings at His baptism that our Lord was led into the wilderness to be tempted (Matt. 3:13—4:1). “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

The victory (vv. 9–13). There’s no evidence that Israel fought any battles in Egypt. Even on the night of their deliverance from Egypt, they didn’t have to fight the attacking Egyptian army, because the Lord fought for them. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today” (Ex. 14:13). But now that they were on their pilgrim journey, Israel would have to enter into battle many times and trust the Lord for victory. “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

This is the first mention of Joshua in the Bible, but he will be named 200 more times before Scripture ends. He was born in Egypt and named Hoshea, which means “salvation.” Later, Moses changed his name to “Joshua—Jehovah is salvation” (Num. 13:8, 16), which is the Hebrew equivalent of “Jesus” (Matt. 1:21; Heb. 4:8). He knew the rigors of Egyptian slavery and must have had an aptitude for military leadership for Moses to make him general of the army. He became Moses’ servant (Ex. 24:13; 33:11; Josh. 1:1), for God’s policy is that we first prove ourselves as faithful servants before we can be promoted to being leaders (Matt. 25:21, 23). Joshua had only one day to rally his army and get them ready for the attack, but he did it.

Israel’s great victory over Amalek involved three elements: the power of God in heaven, the skill of Joshua and the army on the battlefield, and the intercession of Moses, Aaron, and Hur on the top of the hill. God could have sent angels to annihilate the enemy (Isa. 37:38), but He deigns to use human instruments to accomplish His purposes. Joshua and his army would trust God and fight, Moses and his associates would trust God and intercede, and God would do the rest. In this way, God’s people would grow in faith and God’s name would be glorified.

It was customary for the Jews to lift up their hands when they prayed (Ps. 28:2; 44:20; 63:4; 134:2; 1 Kings 8:22, 38, 54; 1 Tim. 2:8), and since Moses held the staff of God in his hands, he was confessing total dependence on the authority and power of Jehovah. It wasn’t Moses who was empowering Joshua and his army; it was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “the Lord of Hosts.” As long as Moses held the rod up in his hands, Israel prevailed, but when he brought his hands down, Amalek prevailed.

We can understand how Joshua and the army would grow weary fighting the battle, but why would Moses get weary holding up the rod of God? To the very day of his death, he didn’t lose his natural strength (Deut. 34:7), so the cause wasn’t physical. True intercession is a demanding activity. To focus your attention on God and “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) can weary you as much as strenuous work. Like Epaphras, we must be “always laboring fervently” in our prayers (Col. 4:12) and not just casually mentioning our requests to the Lord. Samuel M. Zwemer, missionary to the Muslim world, used to call prayer “the gymnasium of the soul,” and John Bunyan wrote, “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart.” To put your full heart into intercessory prayer will cost you, but it will also bless you.

Joshua couldn’t have succeeded without Moses, but Moses couldn’t have prevailed without the support of Aaron and Hur. Not everybody can be a Moses or Joshua, a D. L. Moody or Billy Graham, but all Christians can be like Aaron and Hur and help hold their hands as they obey God. God is looking for people who will share in the battle and the victory because they continue steadfastly in prayer (Rom. 12:12; Isa. 59:16).

There’s also a reminder here that our Savior ever lives in heaven to make intercession for us as we fight the battles of life, and His strength never fails (Heb. 7:25). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit within also intercedes for us and guides us in our praying (Rom. 8:26–27). God promises victory to those who will pray and wield the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17–18).

The testimony (vv. 14–16). Moses didn’t build a monument to himself or to Joshua, or even to the victorious army of Israel. Instead, he was careful to give all the glory to God for Israel’s victory by building an altar and naming it “The Lord is my Banner.” In Egypt, he had probably seen the various divisions of the army, each identified with one of their many gods, so he lifted a banner to honor the only true God. Moses also gave the reason for this memorial: “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord” (v. 16 niv), referring to Moses’ intercession on the hill. God had answered prayer and helped His people, and Moses wanted to praise His name.

But Moses also put an entry into the official book of records that Israel should contend with Amalek until that nation was completely destroyed. Israel fought them again at Kadesh-Barnea but was defeated (Num. 14:45); Gideon conquered them along with the Midianites (Judg. 6:33). King Saul failed to obey God and exterminate the Amalekites, so he lost his crown (1 Sam. 15) and was himself killed by an Amalekite (2 Sam. 1:1–16). David defeated the Amalekites who raided his camp (1 Sam. 30), and when he became king, finally subdued them (2 Sam. 8:11–12). During the reign of Hezekiah, his armies annihilated the few Amalekites who still remained. God’s judgment of the Amalekites teaches us that you can’t attack the throne of God and get away with it.