The Book of Exodus

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Israel comes to Rephidim by God's own leading, "according to the commandment of the LORD," and finds no water. At once the old murmuring returns, but sharper now: they "chide with Moses," demanding water and accusing him of bringing them out to kill them with thirst. Moses answers that their quarrel is really with God, "wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?" This was not honest need brought humbly to God; it was accusation. And behind it lay the worst doubt of all, which the next verse names: "Is the LORD among us, or not?" After the plagues, the sea, the manna, and the pillar, they still questioned whether God was with them. Moses, worn down, cries to the LORD, "they be almost ready to stone me." The shepherd is caught between a thirsty, angry people and the God who alone can help.

Gospel Focus

The heart of Israel's sin was the question, "Is the LORD among us, or not?" It was not their thirst that offended God but their doubt, for they asked it with the Red Sea barely dry behind them and manna on the ground at their feet. This is the peril of a forgetful heart: every fresh trial erases every past mercy, and we question God's presence as if He had never proved it. Scripture points back to this very day as a warning: "Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness" (Psalm 95:8). To "tempt the LORD" is to demand that He prove Himself again when He has already proved Himself a hundred times. The believer is called to a better way, to remember what God has done and to trust Him in the new trial because of the old deliverances. When the water runs out, the question is never really "Is the LORD among us?" He has answered that at the cross forever. The question is whether we will trust the God who is undeniably there.

Explanation

God answers accusation with grace. He tells Moses to take "thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river", the same rod that had brought judgment on Egypt, and to strike the rock. Then comes a striking word: "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb." God Himself would stand on the rock as it was struck. Moses smites it, and water gushes out, enough for a whole nation and its cattle. The rod that had fallen in judgment now falls on the rock, and instead of a plague, life-giving water flows. Moses names the place "Massah, and Meribah," because of the people's chiding and their tempting of the LORD. The memorial of the miracle carried the memory of the murmuring, a place named both for God's provision and for man's unbelief.

Gospel Focus

Paul lifts the veil on this rock: "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). The smitten rock is one of the great pictures of Calvary. The Rock had to be struck before the water could flow, and Christ had to be smitten before the living water could pour out to us. Notice that God said, "I will stand ... upon the rock", the blow fell where God Himself stood, as at the cross the judgment fell on God manifest in the flesh. And out of the stricken Rock came water for all who were dying of thirst, as Jesus cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," and "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38), speaking of the Spirit. There is a further lesson: at a later rock God told Moses only to speak, not strike, because the Rock, once smitten, need never be smitten again. Christ was offered once for all; now we come to the living Rock not to wound Him afresh but to ask, and the water of the Spirit still flows freely to every thirsty soul.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Amalek is the first nation to make war on Israel after the exodus, striking the newly freed people in the wilderness. Moses sends Joshua to fight in the valley while he climbs the hill "with the rod of God in mine hand." The battle follows a strange rhythm: "when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." The fight below rose and fell with the hands lifted above. But Moses grew weary, "Moses' hands were heavy," so Aaron and Hur set him on a stone and held up his hands, one on each side, "and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." So Joshua "discomfited Amalek." Victory came through both the sword in the valley and the lifted hands on the hill, and through the two who held those hands up when they failed.

Gospel Focus

Amalek, who struck the weak and the weary at the rear (Deuteronomy 25:18), is a fitting picture of the flesh that wars against the redeemed. He attacked right after the Red Sea and the manna, just as the flesh assaults the believer most fiercely after spiritual blessing. And God declared endless war on him, "from generation to generation," for "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit" (Galatians 5:17), and there is no truce to be made with it, only battle. But see how the victory was won. It was not by the sword alone; it turned on Moses' lifted hands, a picture of intercession. While hands were lifted in prayer, the battle was won below. Prayer sustains the fight we cannot win by effort alone. And when the intercessor's hands grew heavy, Aaron and Hur held them up. Even the strongest servant of God needs others to hold up his hands; we are meant to bear one another up in prayer. Above all, this points to our great Intercessor, Jesus, whose hands never grow heavy, for "he ever liveth to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25). Our victory over the flesh is secured by the One on the hill whose hands are never let down.

Explanation

After the victory God tells Moses to "write this for a memorial in a book" and to tell Joshua that He "will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." The battle Israel fought that day was part of a longer war that God Himself had taken up. Then Moses builds an altar and names it "Jehovahnissi," the LORD my banner, marking that the victory belonged to God and that He was the standard His people rallied to. And he declares that "the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." This enemy would not be finished in a day; the conflict would continue for ages, but it was the LORD's war, and the outcome was certain, Amalek's remembrance would at last be blotted out.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD my banner." A banner is what an army rallies to and fights under, and Israel's banner was not a flag but the LORD Himself. So it is for the people of God still: we do not fight under our own strength or name but under His. The victory over Amalek belonged to God, and the altar declared it. And the truth that "the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" reminds us that the conflict with the flesh and with the powers of darkness is lifelong; there is no discharge in this war until the Lord blots out the enemy for ever. Yet the outcome is not in doubt. God has sworn to put out the remembrance of the enemy, and He keeps His oath. We fight a defeated foe under an undefeated banner. Lift up the name of the Lord as your standard, gather to Him, and fight in His strength, for Jehovahnissi has already sworn the victory, and He will surely blot out every enemy of His redeemed.