Exodus 17-18: “Strike The Rock & Battle Amelek / Moses Appoints Judges”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapters 15-16 of the book of Exodus.

1.1.1. We saw that the Lord’s delivering Israel by the parting of the Red Sea so that they could walk through on dry ground, and then His drowning of Pharaoh and his army, caused Moses and the children of Israel to write what is the first song that is found in the Bible (and perhaps also in the ancient world in general).

1.1.2. We noted in that song that the children of Israel sang that they employed the only means by which we may know God, namely, ‘anthropomorphisms’ which speak of God as appearing and acting in human-like ways and means.

1.1.3. Then, we saw that the children of Israel traveled for three days without water and ended up in Marah, but there the waters were bitter and they couldn’t drink them. But, the Lord worked a miracle and showed Moses to throw a certain tree into the waters which then purified them and made them sweet so that they could drink.

1.1.4. Next, when the children of Israel were hungry the Lord and cried out to Moses for meet and food, in the evening the Lord miraculously provided quail for them to eat which covered the ground. And, in the morning the Lord provided “bread from heaven” for them to eat which the children of Israel called “manna,” which means “What is it?” We saw the amount of manna that it took on a daily basis to feed the children of Israel the 2 ½ million or so children of Israel, and this spoke of how great his miracle was. We saw that Pink wrote that, “Ten trains, each having thirty cars, and each car having in it fifteen tons, would be needed for a single day’s supply. Over a million tons of manna were gathered annually by Israel.”

1.1.5. We saw that the “manna” which fell in the morning symbolized the word of God which we need to spend time in. every day because it is the spiritual food of the believer. Jesus Himself is the word of God, and this bread from heaven symbolized Him. Jesus Himself told His disciples, “I am the bread come down from heaven” in John 6:51, and that in His Bread of Life discourse that He told His disciples that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood if they were to have life in themselves. Jesus is to be the disciples sustenance and we are to partake of and dwell in Him. When Jesus gave the disciples the bread at the Last Supper, He said, “This is my body which is broken for you.”

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 17 and 18 of the book of Exodus.

1.2.1. The Lord leads the people to a place where there is no water to show them that they hadn’t yet learned to look to Him to provide for them instead of complaining and grumbling about everything.

1.2.2. After the Lord tells Moses to speak to the rock so that it gushes forth water, the nation of Amalek come to battle against Israel. We will look at spiritual types that are portrayed in this.

1.2.3. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law returns to Moses with Moses’ wife and sons, then rejoices in what God has done for Israel and Moses.

1.2.4. Jethro talks Moses into appoint elders over the people as judges to loosen Moses’ burden and load. We will discuss if this was of God or not.

2. VS 17:1-3 - “¹ Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may 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 they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”” - The sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim, however there was no water for the people to drink and so they began to quarrel with Moses asking for water and grumbling against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt to kill them, their children, and their livestock

2.1. Here we see that the children of Israel were being led by the Lord in the cloud by day and by the pillar of fire by night, and yet the Lord led them to ‘Rephidim,’ a place where there was no water. Arthur Pink has asked the question of why now that the children of Israel had seen God could provide water for them to drink, and bread from heaven and even quail for their food, did He not now immediately lead them into the promised land to begin to conquer and take possession of the land that the Lord had promised them? Then Pink goes on to explain that this story reveals that the Lord keeps bringing us back to the same trials and tribulations until we have learned our lesson and learned to trust in Him for all of our sustenance.

2.2. This passed week saw my first book finally become available for purchase from Amazon.com (“The Body of Christ in all her glory”), and I also finished the first cut of the writing of my second book. Yet, my family’s personal world was rocked this Thursday morning when my wife was laid off from the company she has worked for the past nine years, and a management position that she had finally worked up into, one which paid her a good salary and a means for us to retire through her 401K program. Then, last night I read Pink’s remarks and thought about how God always leads the one who teaches his word to apply that which they are teaching as they go through it.

2.3. The children of Israel were right where the Lord had led them, and they hadn’t yet learned the lesson that the Lord would provide for them all that they needed. Here they begin to demand that Moses get them water, and then also complain to him that he had led them out of Egypt to cause them, their children, and their livestock to die of thirst. They hadn’t yet learned that they merely needed to lift their needs up to the Lord in prayer.

2.3.1. The scriptures tell us as Christians that our “God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). We just simply need to learn to trust Him to do so.

3. VS 17:4-7 - “⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your 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 will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”” - Moses cried out to the Lord about what to do with the people, and the Lord told him to pass before the people with some of the elders of Israel, and then take the staff in his hand and strike the rock, and then water will come out of it so that they people may drink, and they called the place Massah and Meribah

3.1. Each time the children of Israel come and cry out to Moses in the book of Exodus we see Moses do exactly what he should do. He in turn cries out to the Lord, and then the Lord simply shows Moses what He is going to do next to provide for the people.

3.2. Moses cries out to the Lord here and he is a little desperate because he fears that the people are so fed up with him that they are about to take him and stone him. He asks the Lord what he (Moses) should do “to this people.” I find it interesting that he doesn’t instead ask God what He wants to do for the people, or ask God what he (Moses) can do for the people.

3.3. The Lord tells Moses that he is supposed to “stand on the rock,” and then Moses is to ‘strike the rock’ so that the ‘water will come out of it.’

3.4. Moses’ striking of the rock causing the water to come out is symbolic of “Christ being struck down” or crucified for mankind. The ‘water’ is symbolic of the Holy Spirit that flows into and out of the life of the believer because of Christ having been struck down.

3.5. ‘Massah´ in Hebrew means “test,” and ‘Meribah’ in Hebrew means “quarrel.” The names of the two places where the children of Israel complained to Moses and grumbled against him were named by Moses “test” and “quarrel” because of the testing and quarreling of the children of Israel and the state of their hearts at this time and in these places.

3.6. The Hebrew word translated “Horeb” simply means “desert.”

3.7. They say that when you go camping that each person should take at a minimum a gallon of water with them for each day that they camp. In the hot desert more would be needed. In normal usage today in America, I read once that the average American uses about 20 gallons of water a day. I would guess that throughout the entire 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that the Lord had to provide at least 2 gallons of water per person per day. This would mean that each day the Lord had to provide at least 5 million gallons of water, and 1.825 billion gallons of water a year. This miracle of providing water for the children of Israel to drink is staggering to consider. And, do remember I haven’t even factored in all of the water that the Lord provided for all of Israel’s livestock!

4. VS 17:8-13 - “⁸ Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. ⁹ So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. ¹³ So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” - Amalek came and fought against Israel, and Moses had Joshua choose men to fight against Amalek, then as the battle raged Moses stationed himself up on top of the hill and as he kept his hands holding his staff up Israel prevailed, but when he let his hands down Amalek prevailed, and so Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands throughout the battle until Joshua and Israel defeated Amalek

4.1. The name ‘Amalek’ means “war like.” Also, ‘Amalek’ was the “grandson of Esau” according to Genesis 36:12.

4.2. It is significant that as soon as Moses struck the rock and water came which symbolized the Holy Spirit being received by the believer, that a nation immediately came to war against Israel. This would symbolize that spiritual warfare always follows when a person begins to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

4.3. I would propose to you also that ‘Amalek’ symbolizes the old sinful nature within the believer. We saw previously in Genesis that it was almost always the case that when Jacob was called “Israel” that he was walking in faith but that when he was called “Jacob” he was not walking in faith but was acting in the flesh, and thus his two names bore a picture of the struggle that a Christian has with two different natures. When a person is born again there from that moment on begins a warfare that will last the rest of the person’s physical life. Galatians 5:16-17 tells us about how that within the believer that the flesh struggles against the Spirit, and visa versa, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” In that passage it then goes on and describes the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, when one or the other is allowed to dominate us.

4.4. Now we see that God told Moses to hold his ‘staff’ up and that as he held his ‘staff’ up the children of Israel had victory over the enemy. The holding up of the hands symbolizes lifting up our holy hands in prayer to the Lord as men of God, and as believers. As we do that we have victory over the enemy in our lives and God uses our lives.

4.5. But, Moses’ ‘hands were heavy’ and on his own he couldn’t hold them up. Whenever he lowered his hands the children of Israel began to lose the battle to the Amalekites. Then, Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands. There are a couple of symbolisms in this part of the story:

4.5.1. We as Christians need to the Lord to support us as we are not strong enough on our own. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we pray (Rom. 8:27), and Christ always lives to make intercession in prayer for us (Hebrews 7:25).

4.5.2. Those who are pastors and leaders in the church need others to come alongside of them and carry the burden with them. The burden of ministry is too great for one person to carry, and thus those who share the same vision and serve the Lord as leaders need to simply help out with some of the responsibilities and support pastors and leaders who have a burden too great for them to carry on their own.

5. VS 17:14-16 - “¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; ¹⁶ and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”” - The Lord told Moses to write in a book as a memorial what had happened with Amalek, and that it was the Lord’s plan to blot out the memory forever of Amalek, and Moses built an altar and named it ‘The Lord is My banner’

5.1. The Lord tells Moses to write in a book as a memorial and then recite it to Joshua that the Lord promises that He will ‘blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ Yet isn’t it also curious that the Lord declares that He will ‘have war against Amalek from generation to generation’? Obviously this has not happened yet or we wouldn’t be talking about Amalek, so when is it that this will take place? Perhaps it will be during the Millennial Reign of Christ, and if not then during the period afterwards of the New Heavens and Earth?

5.2. Now, if ‘Amalek’ is a symbol of the old man within the Christian, would not this blotting out of ‘Amalek’ symbolize that one day when these bodies of Christians are glorified, or we go to meet the Lord, that the old nature will forever be destroyed. One day we will no longer have two natures battling within us.

5.3. Why did the Lord tell Moses to dictate this to Joshua? Joshua had gathered the army together but he was a minor player at this time. God’s foreknowledge is involved here. Forty years from this point in time God will turn the leadership of the nation over from Moses to Joshua, a man who along with Caleb were the only two spies of the land of Canaan who had faith to believe that the Israelites could conquer the giants in the land of Canaan. Foreknowing Joshua’s place in leadership, God told Moses to dictate this truth to Joshua. Joshua would also be the next writer of God’s word after Moses, and this truth even more confirms God’s foreknowledge demonstrated in this incident.

6. VS 18:1-7 - “¹ Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away, ³ and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” ⁴ The other was named Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” ⁵ Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. ⁶ He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” ⁷ Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.” - When Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, heard how that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, he came to Moses with Moses’ wife Zipporah and her two sons, and Moses met with his father-in-law

6.1. It appears that chapter 18 of Exodus is a parenthesis in our story and actually contains an incident that occurred perhaps a year and a half after the events of chapter 17. In chapter 17 the Israelites are at Rephidim and chapter 19 has them at Sinia, something that happened about three months after leaving Egypt.

6.2. Here we see that Zipporah is living with her father and has become estranged from Moses, her husband, but when her father Jethro hears of the great things that ‘God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt,’ he brings her and her two sons to Moses. It is almost as if it is when he sees that Moses is now successful enough then he brings his daughter back to Moses.

6.3. We mentioned previously when Moses had first left Midian to go to Egypt and deliver Israel, that Zipporah had evidently not allowed her son to be circumcised. Then, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses and was about to kill him because one of his sons had not been circumcised, Zipporah circumcised this boy and then threw the cut-off flesh at Moses’ feet and called him a “bridegroom of blood.” This indicated Zipporah’s rebellion against and defiance of the Lord. Evidently, she since then left Moses or been sent away by him. Now, she is being reconciled to Moses.

6.4. Arthur Pink has stated that he believes that since Moses symbolizes Christ, or God, that ‘Zipporah’ symbolizes Israel who has become estranged from the Lord, her husband, but who will later be reunited with Him when as it says in Rom. 11:26, “all Israel shall be saved.”

6.5. The name ‘Gershom’ means “a stranger there.” The name “Eliezer” means “God is my helper.” Israel has been a stranger everywhere she has been and yet the Lord has continually helped her and kept her from being assimilated or destroyed, as the result of genocide.

6.6. Jethro was the pagan priest of Midian, but we will see that on this visit he seems to become convinced that Moses’ God is God and perhaps his life is then changed forever. However, the fact that later he goes back home instead of staying with the people of God and going towards the promised land with them seems to indicate that he loved this world more than he loved God.

7. VS 18:8-12 - “⁸ Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ So Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.” - Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, all the hardships of the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them, and Jethro said that the Lord was blessed and that he knew now that the Lord is greater than all the gods, then Jethro took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God and Aaron then came with all of the elders and they ate a meal with Jethro before God

7.1. Moses told Jethro about the miraculous Red Sea crossing as well as all of the great things that the Lord had done in bringing a total of ten plagues upon Egypt. He told him about how they had had difficulties upon the journey out of Egypt but how the Lord had delivered them through those things as well.

7.2. Jethro is impressed with the great works of God, and he spontaneously declares, ‘Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh.’ Jethro also extolled the Lord for delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

7.3. Being so impressed with the great things that the Lord had done on Israel’s behalf, we see here that Jethro, being the priest that he was, ‘took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God.’

7.4. Next, Aaron and the elders of Israel came and had a meal with Jethro.

8. VS 18:13-21 - “¹³ It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. ¹⁴ Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” ¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.” ¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹ “Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, ²⁰ then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. ²¹ “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. ²² “Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” ²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. ²⁶ They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. ²⁷ Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land.” - Moses’ father-in-law talks him into appointing elder judges to help him judge the people

8.1. It is hard to imagine how busy Moses must have been being the sole leader over what surely must have been at least 2 ½ million people. People came to him to settle disputes amongst themselves of every kind imaginable. There was really no place for Moses to hide from the people either. He couldn’t ignore them and he must have literally gone from settling one dispute to another for all waking hours and way off into the night.

8.2. It says here that Moses sat and would daily ‘make known the statutes of God and His laws’ indicates that this story is out of place sequentially in the book of Exodus and had to occur after Moses had received the Law.

8.3. The question that has been posed is, “Was the Lord leading Moses through the suggestion of his father-in-law, Jethro?” Or, did Moses follow his father-in-law’s advice when he should instead have been seeking the Lord for strength to just continue what he was doing?

8.3.1. There is another incident that may give us some insight as to whether this proposal by Jethro was a good thing for Moses to implement. In Numbers 11:13-18, there is an incident recorded that happened quite some time after this in which when Moses complained to the Lord about the burden of leading being too great, and the Lord told him to appoint 70 elders over the people to share both the anointing of God and the burden of his leadership, “¹³ “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’ ¹⁴ “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. ¹⁵ “So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.” ¹⁶ The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ¹⁷ “Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone. ¹⁸ “Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat.”

8.3.2. The proposal by Jethro for Moses’ division of the people showed orderliness, and God is a God of order: ‘leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.’

8.3.3. Jethro showed his wisdom also in stating what should be the qualifications for the elders to appoint: ‘you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them.’

8.3.4. Burnout is one of the main reasons that men leave the ministry, therefore it just makes practical sense for Moses in this incidence to appoint elders to serve as judges over the people.

8.4. One thing we do know for sure is that in this leadership model that the Lord established is that the Lord intended for Moses to be over the people. Any others appointed to leadership were to serve under Moses and at his discretion. They were to handle the simple matters and leave the difficult decisions to be resolved by Moses.

8.5. God did not create the democracy model for church leadership. Rather, God has always raised up men who are gifted, godly, wise, and mature to lead, and then He has brought others around to help them out and share some of the burden of ministry with them.

9. CONCLUSIONS:

9.1. Remember that when God leads you to that place where you have needs, perhaps even great needs, that you simply need to go to the Lord in prayer to seek Him to provide for you your needs.

9.2. Expect that the Lord shall bring spiritual warfare into your life as you are walking with Him.

9.3. Remember that you are battling the old nature or flesh in that spiritual warfare, every day of your life as a Christian. Be vigilant.

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