Friday, May 7, 2010

Exodus 17

The people complain—again (vs. 1-7)—For the fourth straight chapter, the children of Israel find something to gripe about. They had moved on from the Wilderness of Sin, “according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim.” But there was no water there. As if the Lord didn’t know that. But the people demand Moses give them water, to which he responds, “Why do you tempt the Lord?” (v. 2). They had seen Him provide water and food for them before, but it’s as if He had never done anything for them. Moses takes the complaint to the Lord, and He, patient with Israel again, provides the water they need. Verse 7 says “they tempted the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’” What did He have to do to prove that He was with them? Was there anything He could finally do to convince them? The answer to that will actually be “no,” these people who left Egypt will never have true faith in Jehovah.

The battle with Amalek (vs. 8-16)—A group of people called the Amalekites attacked Israel at Rephidim. Amalek was a grandson of Esau, so actually kin to the Israelites. But there was never any harmony between the two peoples. The battle here had a strange twist. Moses stood on top of a hill with Aaron and Hur, who may have been Moses’ brother-in-law, the information is not clear. During the battle, every time Moses held up his arms, Israel started winning. When his arms got fatigued and dropped, Amalek gained the advantage (v. 11). So Moses sat on a stone and Aaron and Hur supported his arms, and Israel finally won the battle. The significance of Moses’ hands being in the air is obscure—a supplication to God? It’s not clear, but whatever the rationale, it worked.

The Lord was pretty disgusted with the Amalekites; their close kinship to Israel should have produced filial support, not war, so in verse 14, “the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.’” Interestingly, some 400 years later, the Lord said to King Saul, “'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’” (I Sam. 15:2-3). Notice it was 400 years before God decided to destroy the Amalekites for their attack on Israel in Exodus 17. The Lord works in His own time. Saul botched the job (read I Samuel 15), but David finished off Amalek about a generation later (I Sam. 30:1-17).

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