SERIES C --- EXODUS FROM BONDAGE --- LESSON 15

WHERE IS YHVH?

VICTORY FROM UPLIFTED HANDS

From Exodus 17

One day Adonai gave orders for the people of Israel to move on from the Wilderness of Sin. They journeyed in stages until they came at last to Rephidim. But they were disappointed when they arrived, for there was no water. The people grumbled and complained to Moses again. [Give us water to drink!] they demanded. [Why are you grumbling and complaining to me?] Moses asked. [Are you trying to see how patient Adonai can be with you?] But the people were very thirsty and would not listen. [Why did you bring us out of Egypt?] they complained. [Are you trying to kill us and our children and our cattle too?] Moses prayed to Adonai for an answer. [These people will stone me if they don’t get water soon,] Moses pleaded. [What shall I do?] [Go ahead of the people to Mount Horeb,] Adonai told Moses. [Take with you some of the elders of Israel and the rod which you used to strike the Nile River. I shall be waiting for you at the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock with your rod and water will pour from it so that all may drink.] Moses did exactly what Adonai had told him, striking the rock in the presence of the elders. When he did, water poured from the rock as Adonai had promised. Moses gave the place two names: Massah, which spoke of the people testing Adonai and Meribah, which spoke of their grumbling and complaining. While the people camped at Rephidim, the Amalekites attacked. Moses gave orders to Joshua: [Choose some men and we will go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I shall stand at the top of the hill with YHVH’s rod in my hand.] Joshua chose some fighting men and went out to meet the Amalekites as he had been ordered. Moses went with Aaron and Hur to the top of the hill. As long as Moses, bearing the rod, held his hands high, the Israelites were winning the battle, but when he put his hands down to rest, the Amalekites began to win. At last, Moses was too tired to hold up his hands. Aaron and Hur brought a stone for Moses to sit on. Then Aaron held up one of Moses’ hands and Hur held up the other until sunset. Joshua and his warriors defeated the Amalekites with their swords. [Write this victory into your records,] Adonai told Moses, [and tell Joshua that I will remove the Amalekites from the face of the earth.] Moses built an altar at the place of the victory and named it YHVH-Nissi, “{Adonai Is My Banner,} for he said, [Adonai will lift His banner of war against the Amalekites for many generations.]

COMMENTARY

WHO WERE THE AMALEKITES?

When water supplies were gone, the people of Israel once again forgot YHVH’s faithfulness. Angrily they wrangled with Moses and were even ready to stone him! In spite of this, YHVH did supply water. When enemies attacked, YHVH helped His people fight. But Israel won only when Moses’ hands were raised in prayer. The people must learn to look to YHVH alone for aid. An old Hebrew saying announces: [The best of butchers is a friend of Amalek!] Butchers in the ancient world had the reputation of cheating their customers often and ruthlessly. And to someone who knows anything about the ancient tribe of the Amalekites, to be [a friend of Amalek] is a very bad insult. In the same way that Jacob was the {father} of Israel, Amalek was the {father} of the Amalekites. Interestingly, he was a grandson of Jacob’s brother Esau. The Amalekites, his descendants, were all nomads. Nomads are people who have no permanent home. They wander from place to place. They are usually shepherds or cattle-raisers. As long as there is water and grass for grazing, nomads stay put. But as soon as the land has been picked clean, they collect their tents and few belongings and move on to another pastureland. A way of life like that can be carried on only in countries where large areas of open land are owned by no one in particular. In countries like the United States, England, Africa, Australia etc., such a life is almost impossible. The Amalekites pastured in the Dead Sea desert region. They wandered as far west as Arabia and even Egypt. Being shepherds wasn’t enough for them. They added to their income by making fierce raids on any desert settlement they came across. They carried off whatever was of value and kidnapped unmarried women and children. The men and married women were killed. The captives were sold as slaves; more income for the Amalekites. Travelling through the Sinai Desert, the Israelites arrived at the oasis of Rephidim, which meant {Place of Refreshments.} The Amalekites had no intention of letting them rest there. They attacked ferociously. Rephidim is where Joshua defeated the nomads. But he was successful only as long as Moses held up the rod he used to perform YHVH’s miracles. When Moses’ arms became tired and he dropped them, the Amalekites would start winning the battle. Then Aaron and Hur gave him a place to sit and held up his arms for him and the Amalekites were defeated at sunset. The Amalekites attacked in a way that particularly angered the Hebrews. They would creep up on the rear of a travelling group and, when the safest moment had come, attack those who were the slowest and could not keep up with the rest; the sick, the old, the very young and women giving birth. Other tribes left the slow ones to their fate, even if that meant starvation and death. The Israelites were alone in their concern for members who fell behind and they vowed to destroy the Amalekites for their cruelty. But it took six hundred years more, after the judges and many kings, for the Amalekites to vanish from the earth.