Exodus 17 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Exodus 17

Water from the Rock

17:1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the 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 shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah¹ and Meribah,² because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne³ of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Footnotes

[1] 17:7 Massah means testing
[2] 17:7 Meribah means quarreling
[3] 17:16 A slight change would yield upon the banner

Commentary

So far, the Israelites has travelled from Rameses to Succoth (12.37), to Ethan (13.20), through the Red Sea (ch 14), to the Wilderness of Shur (15.22), to Marah (15.23), to Elim (15.27), to the Wilderness of Sin (16.1), and to Rephidim (17.1).

v1: The people had travelled as directed by the Lord. But, at Rephidim, again, there was no water.

v2-3: Again the people began to grumble against Moses. They tested the Lord by their grumbling and unbelief.

v4: Moses again went to the Lord. Prayer was his first resort, not his last.

v5-6: God's solution was different. We see that God uses different means to fulfil His promises. But again there was faith, as Moses struck the rock to produce water. The apostle Paul refers to this incident in 1 Cor 10.4, "that rock was Christ", referring to God's constant provision for the people.

v7: Another testimony of grumbling, Massah and Meribah (testing and quarrelling). The question is significant, "Is the Lord among us or not?" This was the question he put to the Israelites. Their grumbling was a sign of their unbelief.

Moses had again used the staff. The Hebrew word is MATTAH, meaning "to stretch"; see 15.12 "you stretched out your right hand". The staff had been used, from 4.2, by Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, to bring the various plagues upon Egypt. The Lord was not limited by the staff, but rather it was a symbol of His power and authority, and that Moses, in particular, had been appointed by God. Only in the Passover was the staff not used.

v8-16: The battle against Amalek at Rephidim. This was the first occasion that the Israelites had to fight.

v8: The Israelites were still at Rephidim, having experienced one test there already.

v9: Joshua is introduced here. He was to lead the army of the Israelites. At this point he is 40-50 years old, having come out of Egypt with the people. He later follows Moses as the leader of the people when they go into the land of Canaan. The battle here was preparation for later leadership. The battle was also preparation for the people, for they had never experienced warfare, and they would have to fight to gain possession of Canaan. Moses' part was to pray, which we see was no less important; indeed, prevailing in prayer meant prevailing in the battle.

v10: Joshua led the Israelite army, and Moses prayed.

v11: Moses' prayers clearly had an effect in the battle. The indication here is that the battle lasted many hours.

v12: The pray-er needed help.

v13: The end result was victory for the people of God.

v14: The testimony after the battle, especially for Joshua. The explanation appears in Deut 25.17-19, for God's command that the people of Amalek be wiped out.

v15: An altar, a place of testimony, just as Abraham had honoured God in this way.

v16: The Lord has sworn; literally "a concealed hand"; see Gen 24.2; 47.29.