Exodus 17:11

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MOSES HELD UP HIS HAND, THAT ISRAEL PREVAILED: AND WHEN HE LET DOWN HIS HAND, AMALEK PREVAILED._ When Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed ... The object of the leader in this remarkable act has been the subject of much discussion. That it was the attitude of prayer is maintained by Origen, Sebastian Munster, Seiler, Keil and Delitzsch, Dr. Hall, etc., who dwell on these circumstances-that Moses did not act as the commander, having transferred the command to Joshua-that he retired to a hill where he might not be seen by the warriors in the heat of battle-that as not one hand only, but both hands (Exodus 17:12) were raised, which was the position of a suppliant, "the rod" having been the instrument of his formerly exercising supernatural power, was now grasped eagerly as the means of drawing down supplies of grace and divine strength from

8-16 Israel engaged with Amalek in their own necessary defence. God makes his people able, and calls them to various services for the good of his church. Joshua fights, Moses prays, both minister to Israel. The rod was held up, as the banner to encourage the soldiers. Also to God, by way of appeal to him. Moses was tired. The strongest arm will fail with being long held out; it is God only whose hand is stretched out still. We do not find that Joshua's hands were heavy in fighting, but Moses' hands were heavy in praying; the more spiritual any service is, the more apt we are to fail and flag in it. To convince Israel that the hand of Moses, whom they had been chiding, did more for their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands. The church's cause is more or less successful, as her friends are more or less...

Verse Exodus 17:11. _WHEN MOSES HELD UP HIS HAND_] We cannot understand this transaction in any _literal_ way; for the lifting up or letting down the hands of Moses could not, humanly speaking, influence the battle. It is likely that he held up the rod of God in his hand, Exodus 17:9, as an ensign to the people. We have already seen that in prayer the hands were generally _lifted up_ and _spread out_, (Exodus 9:29,) and therefore it is likely that by this act _prayer_ and _supplication_ are intended. The Jerusalem Targum says, "When Moses held up his hands _in prayer_, the house of Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands _from prayer_, the house of Amalek prevailed." We may there...

The act represents the efficacy of intercessory prayer - offered doubtless by Moses - a point of great moment to the Israelites at that time and to the Church in all ages....

EXPOSITION THE WAR WITH AMALEK. The Amalekites seem to have been descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). They separated themselves off from the other Edomites at an early date, and became the predominant tribe in the more northern parts of the Sinaitic peninsula, claiming and exercising a sovereignty over the whole of the desert country between the borders of Palestine and Egypt. We do not find the name Amalek in the Egyptian records; but the people are probably represented by the Mentu, with whom so many of the early Egyptian kings contended. The Pharaohs dispossessed them of the north-western portion of the mountain region; but they probably claimed the suzerainty of the central hills and valleys, which the Egyptians never occupied; and on these they no doubt set a high value as afford

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MOSES HELD UP HIS HAND, THAT ISRAEL PREVAILED,.... With his rod in it as a banner displayed, as some think, which inspired the Israelites with courage to fight, and they had the better of it; though Aben Ezra rejects that notion, observing, that if that had been the case, Aaron or Hur would have lifted it up, or fixed it in a high place on the mount, that it might have been seen standing; and therefore he thinks the sense of the ancients the most correct, that it was a prayer gesture. And among the Heathens, Moses was famous for the efficacy of his prayers; Numenius, the Pythagoric philosopher y, says of him, that he was a man very powerful in prayer with God: and so all the Targums interpret it, and particularly the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase the words, "when Moses lift up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed, but when he restra...

CHAPTER 17 AT REPHIDIM _ 1. The water from the rock (Exodus 17:1)_ 2. The conflict with Amalek (Exodus 17:8) From Sin they went to Dophkah and Alush before they came to Rephidim (Numbers 33:12). Again there was no water and Moses feared they might stone him. Without following the historical record we point out some of the most interesting lessons of the two events at Rephidim. The Rock is a type of Christ. Jehovah stood upon the rock to be smitten, even as “God was in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The smiting by the rod, used in judgment upon the river of Egypt, is the type of the death of Christ. There

EXODUS 27. WATER FROM THE ROCK (Exodus 17 :1 P (Rephidim), Exodus 17:1 b - Exodus 17:2 a (strove, strive) E, Exodus 17:3 and Exodus 17:2 b (tempt) J, Exodus 17:4 E, Exodus 17:5 a (people) J, Exodus 17:5 bd (and go) E, Exodus 17:5 c, Exodus 17:6 a J,...

WHEN. according as. HAND. Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint read "hands". Compare Exodus 17:12....

DISCOURSE: 90 THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS TYPICAL OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE Exodus 17:11. _And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed._ IT pleases God, in general, to effect his purposes by certain means; yet the very means he uses are, for the most part, such as tend only to illustrate his power, and to lead our minds up to him as the first great Cause of all. But on no occasion has the truth of this observation more manifestly appeared, than in the history now before us, wherein we are informed, that the success of the Israelites in an engagement with Amalek was made to depend, not on the bravery of the soldiers, or the skill of their commander, but on the holding up of the hands of Moses at a distance from the field of battle. In discoursing on this remarkable event, we shall consider it as,...