Exodus

17.1-16

Reading that the people journeyed "by stages," according to the command of Yahweh, seems incomplete when read in isolation from the context. Moses records in Numbers 33:12-14 that these stages included camps enroute to Rephidim at Dophkah and Alush. This testifies to the size of the multitude of God's people as they traveled. Exodus 12:37 states that there were 600,000 men who departed Egypt, aside from the little ones. Add to this the women and non-Israelites, and this number would be closer to two million people. With that context, consider the complaints against Moses when the people became thirsty and "contended with Moses," saying, "Give us water that we may drink." (v2). God's delivery of water to His people here lays a strong foundation for Christ to deliver His message of redemption. "Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst—ever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:13–14). The Amalekites (v8) are the first peoples the Israelites fought and defeated after their departure from Egypt, yet they are not among the nations from which Yahweh declared to Abram that his people would receive the land of the covenant (Gen 15:19-21). Although the Israelites are yet to demonstrate their lack of faith in Yahweh to the degree that God denies them entrance into the promised land (delay for 40 years of wandering in the wilderness), He knows their hearts and does not grant them victory over the peoples who "possess" Canaan. Nonetheless, the Amalekites would have been a formidable foe if they were bold enough to attack a people traveling with such a large population. Despite the Massah and Meribah (Testing and Quarrelling v7) of His people, God continues showing His might as He ensures that the Israelites overwhelm the Amalekites by the hand of His faithful servant Joshua (v13).

CHAPTER 17

Water from the Rock

1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to put us and our children and our livestock to death with thirst?”
4 So Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.”
5 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 So he named the place Massah and Meribah because of the contending of the sons of Israel, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us or not?”

Israel Overwhelms Amalek

8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.
9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
10 And Joshua did as Moses told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 So it happened when Moses raised his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.
13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it in Joshua’s hearing, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 And Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh is My Banner;
16 and he said, “Because He has sworn with a hand upon the throne of Yah, Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”