Exodus 17 -- Old Testament -- Gospel Daily

Exodus

Chapter 17

Water from the Rock and Amalek Defeated

At Rephidim the Israelites find no water and quarrel bitterly with Moses, who cries out to the LORD on their behalf. God instructs Moses to strike the rock at Horeb with his rod, and water flows out for the people to drink; Moses names the place Massah and Meribah because the people tested the LORD. When the Amalekites attack Israel at Rephidim, Joshua leads Israel's fighters in battle while Moses stands on a hilltop with the rod of God; as long as Moses holds his hands up Israel prevails, so Aaron and Hur support his hands until sunset, and Joshua defeats Amalek. The LORD commands Moses to record the victory as a memorial and declares perpetual war against Amalek, after which Moses builds an altar and names it Jehovah-nissi.

Grumbling and testing GodWater from the rockIntercessory leadershipDivine enablement in battleMemorial and remembrance

¹And 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.

²Wherefore 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?

³And 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?

⁴And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

⁵And 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.

⁶Behold, 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.

⁷And 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?

⁸Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰So 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.

¹¹And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

¹²But 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.

¹³And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁵And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:

¹⁶For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.