17:1 AND ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL JOURNEYED FROM THE WILDERNESS OF SIN, AFTER THEIR JOURNEYS, ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD, AND PITCHED (camped) IN REPHIDIM: AND [THERE WAS] NO WATER FOR THE PEOPLE TO DRINK.
A.AND PITCHED (camped) IN REPHIDIM: We do not know the exact location, but it is in the vicinity of Mt. Sinai.
B.THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE PEOPLE TO DRINK: Their supply was exhausted, and they expected to find water at Rephidim.
17:2 WHEREFORE THE PEOPLE DID CHIDE (CONTEND, NKJ) WITH MOSES, AND SAID, GIVE US WATER THAT WE MAY DRINK. AND MOSES SAID UNTO THEM, WHY CHIDE (CONTEND, NKJ) YE WITH ME? WHEREFORE DO YE TEMPT THE LORD?
A.THE PEOPLE DID CHIDE (contend, argue) WITH MOSES: They blamed and rebuke him as they had done before.
B.GIVE US WATER: They were being unreasonable, asking for the impossible. They knew Moses could not give water, because there was none to give. Perhaps they were insisting on a mir-acle. If so, they should have appealed to God, not Moses; God had supplied bread, and had sweetened bitter water -- He is the One Who could supply their needs.
C.WHEREFORE DO YE TEMPT THE LORD?: "Why are you trying to put Jehovah to the test?" To TEST God is to try His patience by lack of faith, to arouse His anger. This sin marked the Israelites during the many years in the wilderness.
17:3 AND THE PEOPLE THIRSTED THERE FOR WATER; AND THE PEOPLE MUR-MURED (COMPLAINED, NKJ) AGAINST MOSES, AND SAID, WHEREFORE [IS] THIS [THAT] THOU HAST BROUGHT US UP OUT OF EGYPT, TO KILL US AND OUR CHILDREN AND OUR CATTLE WITH THIRST?
17:4 AND MOSES CRIED UNTO THE LORD, SAYING, WHAT SHALL I DO UNTO THIS PEOPLE? THEY BE ALMOST READY TO STONE ME.
A.MOSES CRIED UNTO THE LORD: As usual, Moses turned to God.
B.It would have made sense to the scientifically minded, and the carnally minded, if God had told Moses to have the people dig a well; But something had to be done to let Israel know that only He was able to save them from death.
17:5 AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, GO ON BEFORE THE PEOPLE, AND TAKE WITH THEE OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL; AND THY ROD, WHEREWITH THOU SMOTEST THE RIVER, TAKE IN THINE HAND, AND GO.
A.GO ON BEFORE THE PEOPLE: Leave the people (perhaps to keep from being stoned)...AND GO.
B.TAKE WITH THEE OF THE ELDERS: Witnesses who could testify that the miracle was done.
C.THY ROD...: God was going to give miraculous relief; The fact that He referred to the smiting of the Nile may suggest that He was going to show the people that HE controls all water.
17:6 BEHOLD, I WILL STAND BEFORE THEE THERE UPON THE ROCK IN HOREB; AND THOU SHALT SMITE THE ROCK, AND THERE SHALL COME WATER OUT OF IT, THAT THE PEOPLE MAY DRINK. AND MOSES DID SO IN THE SIGHT OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL.
A.THE ROCK IN HOREB: Again, we do not know the exact location, but it is thought that HOREB is the same as Mt. Sinai; At least, it had to be near.
B.THERE SHALL COME WATER OUT OF IT: Again God was merciful to the people; With no reprimand or threat to them, He supplied all their need.
17:7 AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE MASSAH, AND MERIBAH, BE-CAUSE OF THE CHIDING OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND BECAUSE THEY TEMPTED (tested) THE LORD, SAYING, IS THE LORD AMONG US, OR NOT?
A.MASSAH: Trial, or temptation; MERIBAH: Quarrel, or contention. Rather than these names marking the power and providence of God, they marked the unbelief of the people, so they would be constantly reminded of it. They might become self-satisfied and think they would never again be tempted to disbelieve, but when they looked back, these names would warn them, and show them it is a serious thing to question God. We may not have been guilty of the exact same sin as were they, but we all have been guilty of terrible sin, and we need to be reminded that it is only by Grace and mercy that we have hope; as a writer put it in PULPIT COMMENTARY: "We cannot dispense with any recollection of the past, however disagreeable it may be, which keeps before us our own deficiencies, and impresses upon us the need of constant humility."
B.THEY TEMPTED THE LORD: The idea of tempting or testing God seems to be a proposing of tests to Him, of making conditions for Him to meet. If He can comply, and will do so, then He is given the right to continued trust and obedience. It is a
challenge to God, a demand of Him that He prove His faithful-ness. So, actually, it is an irreverent display of disbelief. The Psalmist considered this sin of Israel, in Psa 78: "19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? 21 Therefore the LORD heard [this], and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven."
17:8 THEN CAME AMALEK, AND FOUGHT WITH ISRAEL IN REPHIDIM.
A.It is assumed that the Amalekites were descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau - Gen 36:12.
B.Historians think they separated from the other Edomites and became the predominant tribe in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, between Palestine and Egypt.
C.They would feel threatened by the approach of the Israelites, so they CAME from all over the region to meet and fight them.
D.This was a savage attack because it was cowardly and unpro-voked (Israel was going mostly south, away from Amalek); It was made with no fear of God; With no respect for kinship with Israel; And it involved great hostility and cruelty as it was made at a time when the people were already much afflicted.
E.This attack was malicious, and its horror was not to be forgotten -- Those attacked were the people whom Amalek knew God had chosen to be His own, and for whom He had worked many mighty miracles; Because of it, God was going to see that the Amalekites were completely and forever destroyed; Moses re-minded the Israelites of it when the wilderness journey was almost over - Deu 25:17-19, "17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; 18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, [even] all [that were] feeble behind thee, when thou [wast] faint and weary; and he feared not God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it, [that] thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget [it]."
F.This attack was one of those things in history which burn themselves into the long-term memory of people (compare the bloody attack on Pearl Harbor, etc.)
G.The Amalekites must have both hated and feared Israel because of their selection by Jehovah; And they also must have thought
this sneak attack would bring an easy victory over people who were inexperienced in war and who were already fatigued.
17:9 AND MOSES SAID UNTO JOSHUA, CHOOSE US OUT MEN, AND GO OUT, FIGHT WITH AMALEK: TOMORROW I WILL STAND ON THE TOP OF THE HILL WITH THE ROD OF GOD IN MINE HAND.
A.JOSHUA: He was here made captain of the Lord's army. Moses was not a military man, so he turned to a qualified man.
B.CHOOSE US OUT MEN: That is, he was to select a sufficient number of good men to FIGHT WITH AMALEK.
C.TOMORROW I WILL STAND ON THE TOP OF THE HILL: Some students think they can point to a prominent hill in the vicinity of Rephidim where Moses may have gone.
D.WITH THE ROD OF GOD: This was going to be God's victory.
17:10 SO JOSHUA DID AS MOSES HAD SAID TO HIM, AND FOUGHT WITH AMALEK: AND MOSES, AARON, AND HUR WENT UP TO THE TOP OF THE HILL.
A.MOSES, AARON, AND HUR: This is the first mention of Hur. Jew-ish tradition says he was either the son or husband of Miriam.
B.TO THE TOP OF THE HILL: To view the battle, and to lift the rod (Verse 9).
17:11 AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MOSES HELD UP HIS HAND, THAT ISRAEL PREVAILED: AND WHEN HE LET DOWN HIS HAND, AMALEK PREVAILED.
A.WHEN MOSES HELD UP HIS HAND: This would be an appeal to God for His assistance; No doubt it was accompanied by prayer.
B.ISRAEL PREVAILED: As long as the appeal was made to God, the necessary strength and courage was given for the victory.
C.AMALEK PREVAILED: When Israel was left to their own strength.
17:12 BUT MOSES' HANDS [WERE] HEAVY; AND THEY TOOK A STONE, AND PUT [IT] UNDER HIM, AND HE SAT THEREON; AND AARON AND HUR STAYED UP (SUPPORTED, NKJ) HIS HANDS, THE ONE ON THE ONE SIDE, AND THE OTHER ON THE OTHER SIDE; AND HIS HANDS WERE STEADY UNTIL THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN.
17:13 AND JOSHUA DISCOMFITED (DEFEATED, NKJ) AMALEK AND HIS PEOPLE WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD.
A.MOSES' HANDS WERE HEAVY: He may have held up the rod with one hand, and then the other, until he grew tired, so tired that a seat had to be provided for him, and support for his arms.
B.JOSHUA DISCOMFITED (defeated) AMALEK AND HIS PEOPLE: All of the Amalekites and other PEOPLE who were subject to them were overcome as God gave Israel the complete victory.
17:14 AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, WRITE THIS [FOR] A MEMORIAL IN A BOOK, AND REHEARSE [IT] IN THE EARS OF JOSHUA: FOR I WILL UTTERLY PUT OUT THE REMEMBRANCE OF AMALEK FROM UNDER HEAVEN.
A.WRITE THIS FOR A MEMORIAL IN A BOOK: This victory was to be in the memory of all future ages, for at least three reasons:
B.REHEARSE IT IN THE EARS OF JOSHUA: The tradition about per-petual hostility with Amalek until they were finally destroyed was to be handed down through Joshua, and the memory was to be preserved among the Israelites.
C.PUT OUT THE REMEMBRANCE OF AMALEK: God wanted the Amalekites to be forgotten forever. We might better grasp His reason if we note that this was the first attack upon the people of God. Mr. Keil said, "In Amalek the heathen world commenced that conflict with the people of God, which, while it aims at their destruction, can only be terminated by the complete annihilation of the ungodly powers of the world." That explains the severe sentence pronounced against them, and the great sig-nificance which is attached to it. On all that, compare the words of Jde 14-15, "14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
D.WRITE THIS FOR A MEMORIAL: This would be a powerful lesson for Israel (and can be for us) that people are needed to hold up the hands of the mighty (that is, to encourage them - cf Phi 2:19-20, "19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I
know your state. 20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state, 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. 22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel;" and Phi 4:3, "And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and [with] other my fellowla-bourers, whose names [are] in the book of life;" and 1Th 5:25, "Brethren, pray for us."
E.In that connection note that Moses was a man of faith and prayer who was qualified to lead; Joshua was a military man who was qualified to do battle; Aaron and Hur were not qualified for those leading parts, but they had prepared themselves to assist and support those who did lead -- anyone who wants to serve can find a place.
17:15 AND MOSES BUILT AN ALTAR, AND CALLED THE NAME OF IT JEHOVAH-NISSI:
A.JEHOVAH-NISSI: (THE LORD IS MY BANNER, NKJ); This apparently was to declare that all of the honor of the victory was to be given to Jehovah.
B.The history which follows leaves the distinct impression that this victory was so decisive that other nations stood in fear of Jehovah and did not bother Israel for nearly forty years.
C.Moses was declaring that he would never acknowledge or serve any other Master, nor depend on any other Power to sustain him in battle or in any other situation in life. Do we have the same kind of faith and reverence? - cf Ac 4:12, "11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
17:16 FOR HE SAID, BECAUSE THE LORD HATH SWORN [THAT] THE LORD [WILL HAVE] WAR WITH AMALEK FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
A.FOR HE SAID: Moses now explains something (FOR).
B.The marginal reading is, "because the hand of Amalek was against the throne of the Lord." That may be saying that in attacking Israel, Amalek was so irreverent that he lifted up his hand against Almighty God, on the Throne of the Universe.
C.FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION: This may be suggesting that "In future generations, Jehovah will have to fight the Amalekites again, until they are finally completely defeated." In this first defeat of the enemies of God's people, there seems to be a type or picture of all that was (and is) to come from all the diabolical powers of Satan. As long as there is evil in the world we will be at war, and as long as we under the ban-ner of Jehovah we are assured of victory and that our enemy will be forgotten forever.
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