Water in the Rock
Amalek Fought
8 Then [c]Amalek [and his people] came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to [d]Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek [and his people]. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and [e]Hur went up to the hilltop. 11 Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand [due to fatigue], Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy and he grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so it was that his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed and defeated [f]Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in the book as a memorial and [g]recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek [and his people] from under heaven.”(B) 15 And Moses built an altar and named it [h]The Lord Is My Banner; 16 saying, “The Lord has sworn [an oath]; the Lord will have war against [the people of] Amalek from generation to generation.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 17:6 Horeb may refer to the mountain range of which Sinai is an individual mountain.
- Exodus 17:7 A similar incident occurred when the Israelites were in the Wilderness of Zin at Meribah-kadesh (Num 20:8-13; Deut 32:50-52). On that occasion Moses disobeyed God’s specific instruction and paid a terrible price for his action.
- Exodus 17:8 These were a group of nomads descended from Amalek, a grandson of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother.
- Exodus 17:9 Joshua, leader of the tribe of Ephraim, was one of the great warriors of the OT and was an attendant to and the successor of Moses.
- Exodus 17:10 According to Josephus, Hur was the husband of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron.
- Exodus 17:13 These nomadic people were the descendants of Esau.
- Exodus 17:14 Lit put in the ears of.
- Exodus 17:15 Heb YHWH (Yahweh)-Nissi.
Cross references
- Exodus 17:6 : 1 Cor 10:4
- Exodus 17:14 : 1 Sam 15:2-8