Exodus · chapter 17 of 40
Updated on
Exodus 17 tells of two episodes at Rephidim. First, the people quarrel with Moses over lack of water, and God tells him to strike the rock at Horeb so that water comes out; the place is named Massah and Meribah. Then Amalek attacks Israel, and while Moses keeps his staff raised with help from Aaron and Hur, Joshua and his army win. Moses builds an altar and names it The Lord Is My Banner.
After the manna of Exodus 16, Israel's next test in the wilderness is thirst. Exodus 17 gives two tests in a row, lack of water and the first enemy, and in both God responds to his people despite their doubts. The chapter also introduces Joshua, who will later lead Israel into the promised land.
The whole congregation of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water to drink. The people quarreled with Moses and demanded water; Moses asked why they quarreled with him and why they tested the Lord. Thirsty, the people grumbled against Moses and asked why he had brought them up out of Egypt to kill them, their children and their livestock with thirst. Moses cried out to the Lord, saying they were almost ready to stone him.
The Lord told him to pass on before the people with some of the elders of Israel and take the staff with which he had struck the Nile. He would stand before him on the rock at Horeb. Moses was to strike the rock and water would come out for the people to drink. Moses did so in the sight of the elders. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the Israelites and because they tested the Lord, saying whether the Lord was among them or not.
Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. Moses told Joshua to choose men and go out to fight the next day, while he would stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand. Joshua fought Amalek, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered it, Amalek prevailed. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side, until the going down of the sun. Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
The Lord told Moses to write this in a book as a reminder and to tell Joshua that he would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek. Moses built an altar and called it The Lord Is My Banner, saying the Lord would be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord tells Moses he will stand before him on the rock at Horeb, and that when he strikes it water will come out for the people. The provision comes from God's presence, not from the staff or from Moses.
Moses names the place Massah and Meribah because the people quarreled and tested the Lord, asking whether he was among them or not. The question sums up the people's doubt, though they had just seen God's presence in the cloud.
Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered it, Amalek prevailed. Victory comes not only from the strength of swords but from dependence on the Lord expressed in intercession.
Aaron and Hur hold up Moses' hands when they grow tired, until sunset. Leaders also grow weary, and God's people serve in community, holding one another up.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Water for the people to drink. — Exodus 17:1
Answer: Strike it with the staff, and water would come out for the people. — Exodus 17:6
Answer: Massah and Meribah, because of the people's quarreling and because they tested the Lord. — Exodus 17:7
Answer: Joshua, with the men he chose. — Exodus 17:9-10
Answer: With his hand up Israel prevailed, and with it down Amalek prevailed. — Exodus 17:11
Answer: The Lord Is My Banner. — Exodus 17:15
Exodus 17 shows that we can see the Lord at work and still ask whether he is with us. The people had seen the manna, and a few days later thirst made them doubt. This chapter helps us recognize that doubt in need is human, and to bring it to God, like Moses, instead of quarreling with others.
The battle with Amalek teaches us to pray and serve together. Joshua fought below, Moses interceded above, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands. In a class or small group you can ask whom we need to hold up, and who holds us up, and remember that victory belongs to the Lord.
Exodus 17 ends with an altar called The Lord Is My Banner and the promise of war against Amalek. In Exodus 18, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes to the camp with Moses' family and gives him advice to organize leadership better.
The text presents the act as God's command, with God declaring that he will stand before Moses on the rock. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:4, connects the rock with Christ, in the sense that God provided for his people and that provision pointed to him.
The Amalekites were a desert people south of Canaan, descended from Esau according to Genesis 36. They attacked Israel from behind when it was weary, according to Deuteronomy 25, and for that reason God declares there will be war against them from generation to generation.
Hur appears beside Aaron and Moses as a trusted man among Israel's leaders. Later in Exodus he is mentioned again, when Moses leaves him with Aaron in charge of the people while he goes up the mountain. The text gives no further details of his life.