Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 1-3 

: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 in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured 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?” 

As children of God it seems our faith is put to the test every day.  Before the children of Israel murmured because they had no food to eat in the wilderness.  Now they murmur because they have no water to drink.  The same God who provided them deliverance across the Red Sea and had done so many miracles before them in the land of Egypt and had provided for them daily bread in the wilderness is quite capable of meeting their needs for water.  Like the children of Israel we get so caught up in our current needs and circumstances that we quickly forget what the Lord has already done for us and the great care and concern he has already shown us.  Once again the murmuring of the children of Israel is directed toward the Lord’s servant, Moses.  However, it was truly against the LORD that they were murmuring.  Now the task to provide water was no easy task.  With about 2 million people and the multitudes of cattle and sheep that they possessed, millions of gallons of water would be needed to supply their daily needs for water.  Moreover, this was a barren desert land.  To cross a burning desert with this many people and cattle would seem like an impossible task.  Moreover, they did not have tankers to bring water to them and they did not have a visible source of water from which to tap.  Yet the Lord’s arm is not shortened that he cannot save or deliver.   

Truly it was foolish of them to tell Moses to give them water that they may drink.  Moses was a man like them and had no ability to bring them water.  We must look beyond the servant of the Lord for our needs.  He is not capable of supply all of our needs.  We need to look to the Lord who is capable of supplying our needs.

Verses 4-7 

:4 “And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 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. 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. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?” 

“And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me.”  The servant of the LORD is subject to the same type of doubts as the congregation of the Lord’s people whom he serves.  Moses crying out as he did showed that he also had doubts of the Lord’s deliverance and he also was afraid of his circumstances.  Truly Moses could not deliver himself from the murmurings and anger of the people and like they congregation of the children of Israel feared for their own lives because of a lack of water, so Moses feared from his own life because of the mortal fear of the people.   

“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.”  The gracious compassion of the LORD is manifest here as he acts not in anger towards the unbelief and irrational fears of the people and his servant, but grants them the things that they did not even ask for.  How many times in the lives of God’s people do we see the Lord moving with gracious compassion towards them and granting them according to their great needs even when they are murmuring against him and failing to ask him for their needs.   

In granting the people that which they were in dire need, he told his servant to go before the people and take with him of the elders of Israel and with his rod in his hand that he had smote the river.  Moses smiting the river did not part the waters of the Red Sea, but the Lord parted the Red Sea.  Yet, the rod was a symbol of God’s authority and Moses was being directed to go in the authority of the LORD and to take the elders of Israel to be witnesses of what was to transpire.   

“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.”  Moses was to smite the rock and God would cause water to come out of it that the people may drink.  In the New Testament we are told that the rock was a symbol of Christ: 1 Cor. 10:4 “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”  Figuratively the smiting of the Rock represented the sufferings of Christ upon the cross and our blessing to be able to drink spiritually upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Christ was smitten and as a consequence we have spiritual waters to satisfy our thirsting souls.   

“And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”  Thus, the names “Massah” means chiding and the name “Meribah” means tempting.  The children of Israel had chided Moses and had tempted the Lord by saying “Is the LORD among us, or not?”  When we doubt the Lord and chide with his servants and question whether the LORD is among us or not, then we are on the same ground as the children of Israel, we are on Massah and Meribah.   

Verses 8-16

:8 “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. 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. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 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 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. 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 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. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” 

“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”  Amalek was a descendant of Esau.  He and his descendents were continual enemies to the children of Israel.  Their intentions were to destroy Israel.  A few hundreds years after this incident they will still be fighting against Israel. 

“And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.”  Joshua was the captain of the host and would later become the leader of Israel as they went forth to occupy the land of Canaan.  The name Joshua is a contraction of Jeho-Oshua and means Jehovah saves.  The New Testament rendering of the name Joshua is Jesus.  Joshua was appointed by Moses to go choose out men and go fight with Amalek.  This is similar to our Captain Jesus Christ choosing out disciples to go and fight as an army against the enemies of the Lord’s people.  Joshua as captain of the Lord’s host led the army he chose out into battle and gave them their instructions.  Likewise, Jesus leads his army of disciples into battle and gives us our instructions as to how we are to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ and to fight the good fight of faith, mortifying the deeds of the flesh and fight against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, by putting on the whole armor of God.   

While Joshua and the chosen men go to fight against Amalek, Moses is to stand upon the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand.  Again, the rod of God is symbolic of the authority of God.  The hill he was to stand upon is typical of the holy hill of Zion or the Lord’s church kingdom. 

“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.”  Aaron would become the high priest and his descendents would become priests and his sons after him would ascend to the high priesthood.  While a lot of detail is not given us of Hur we do know that he was a descendant of Judah of the kingly line of Judah.  In contrast to this, the Lord’s disciples are called to be kings and priests unto God offering spiritual sacrifices.  Like Aaron and Hur who went up to the top of the hill with Moses, the disciples of God are likewise helpers together with the gospel ministry of our day.   

“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.”  How often has it been the experience of a child of God that when he lifts up his hands in prayer unto God that he prevails against his enemies, but when he grows weary and fails to lift up his hands in prayer that the enemy prevails against him.   

“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 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.”  There are times that we grow weary in our prayer life and fail to maintain vigilant in prayer.  This is when we need friends who will stay up our hands and assist us to stay vigilant to pray for God’s deliverance in our lives and in the lives of our fellow workers in the kingdom of God.  As a result of the conjoint efforts of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, Moses hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 

“And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”  While Joshua and the chosen army fought and won the battle, the above lesson also tells us that an important part of the warfare is accomplished by the prayers of the Lord’s people.   

“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.”  The above lesson was important for Joshua who would lead the children of Israel in their battles against the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.  It taught him to pray unto God and to trust in the Lord’s direction and deliverances.  In the end the remembrance of Amalek would be put out from under heaven.  It also teaches us that our prayer life is very important in our everyday battles against our enemies and that ultimately the enemies will all be destroyed.  It teaches us to depend upon the leadership, direction, and delivering power of the Lord.   

“And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”  The name Jehovahnissi means Jehovah is my banner.  We fight our battles under the banner of Jehovah.  The name Jehovah literally means a covenant making, covenant keeping God.  The purpose of an altar is to praise and worship God.  Moses in building an altar was doing so to praise God for his deliverances and worship him because he is God.   

While the children of God have war with their enemies from generation to generation, we can rest in the assurance that we are not fighting alone, but that God is also helping us in our fight against our enemies.