Exodus 17:8-16--Israel Defeats Amalek

Israel Defeats Amalek
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

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Before we start today, let's take a trip down memory lane to see where we've heard of Amalek before, because this is not the first time that name has appeared in the Bible.  We saw it several times in the book of Genesis, and I may have even pointed out at that time to remember this particular name because it would come back.

The first time we see Amalek mentioned is in Genesis 14 as a territorial reference during the battle between the many kings of the nations and city-states where Lot was captures and Abram and his Amorites that were with him repel the invaders and rescue Lot and meet Melchizedek (we spent quite a bit of time talking about him).  However, we didn't really learn anything about the Amalekites here other than they lived in a territory near the Amorites that was also under attack by these pagan kings from the East.

The reason for this is because this is an allusion to us and the Amalekites didn't really exist yet (it was just a helpful geographical reference for the readers as it was a history that was written after the events took place).  We see that Amalek wasn't born until Genesis 36 when the descendants of Esau are described.  He was the son of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and one of Eliphaz's concubines, Timna.  That should give us a little more context now as we know there is bad blood between the sons of Jacob, the Israelites, and the sons of Esau, the Edomites, and these Amalekites are part of the larger Edomite clans though they are not the group that calls themselves "Edomites" or lives in the land called Edom.

That's all we know about Amalek so far, but it won't be the last we see of them here in the Old Testament--in fact, the LORD is going to make a promise concerning them at the end of today's passage that there will be some conflict throughout all generations between the Amalekites and the Israelites.

This is also the first time that we see Joshua mentioned as a military leader.  Moses chooses him to choose able-bodied men to go out and fight against the Amalekites, but we will learn something interesting about Joshua here (coincidentally, Joshua is the same Hebrew name that "Jesus" comes from Yeshua, which means "Savior"--he will be another one of the "types" of Christ in the Old Testament, so pay close attention to him).  We also see Aaron (we know who he is, the brother of Moses) and Hur, we really don't know who he is--we literally don't know anything about him other than the times that he's mentioned here in the book of Exodus, but we do know that he was of the tribe of Judah.  So Moses is there representing the role of the prophets, with Aaron there representing the office of the priests (the high priest), and Hur there representing the office of the king (as the scepter would not pass from between the feet of Judah if you recall the blessing giving by Jacob before his death).  All three offices standing together in solidarity in the face of the attacking enemy.

While Joshua and his men were fighting the battle down in the desert below, the real battle was going on high up on to of a hill nearby where Moses would keep the staff of God lifted up in his arms, and as long as the staff was raised, the Israelites would be willing, but as soon as Moses' arms got tired and the staff started to fall, the Israelites started to lose.  So Aaron and Hur stood one on each side and lifted up Moses' arms when they got tired and helped him bear the weight of the real battle that was going on, and they did they gave Moses a stone to sit on while they supported him, and they did this until sunset (remember that's when the next day starts for the Israelites) and the enemy was thoroughly defeated.

God knew that it would be important for Joshua to remember this story because God had already chosen Joshua at that point to be Moses' successor, even though no one else knew that yet.  God tells Moses to write this particular story down and keep telling it over and over again to Joshua so that he would remember, "The battle belongs to the LORD," and that it is He who gave them victory over the Amalekites just as He would with every other enemy they would face during the Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan.

We see again that pivotal moments in history are marked by the building of an altar and lead God's people to worship.  There was a physical reminder to look at and remember who God is and what He had done, and once again we learn something new about God and God gets a new name--The Lord is My Banner"--Jehovah Nissi.  A banner would be carried in front of the military unit to show which regiment or group they belonged to--this idea is still used today with tanks and planes being marked by what division or squadron they belong to.  Some today are more feared than others because they are part of the "special forces" or they are simply known for their military prowess, excellence in battle and for never quitting, never retreating, and never surrendering, and especially for leaving no man behind.  This is the same idea--the LORD would go before them in battle and everyone would see what He had done and strike fear in the hearts of their enemies because of this event and others like it.  While each tribe would raise their own banner to signal that all the tribes of Israel marched together as one nation against their enemies, it would be the LORD that would unite them all and His name and glory they would be fighting for and He would get credit for every victory and He that would drive them out and defeat them with hornets, and hailstones and that would make the walls of Jericho fall down on the people inside later.  "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."  (Psalm 20:7)