Exodus 17

Water from the Rock// Numbers 20:1–13

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as Yahweh commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

• EX 17:1[MIRACLE]Water from the rock at Horeb

“Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test Yahweh?”

³But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to Yahweh, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”

⁵And Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.”

So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us or not?”

• EX 17:6[FORESHADOW]The Rock that gives life in the wilderness → 1CO 10:4

The Defeat of the Amalekites

⁸After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

• EX 17:8[MIRACLE]Victory over Amalek while Moses' hands were lifted

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed. ¹²When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

• EX 17:14[PROPHECY]God promised Amalek would be utterly blotted out from under heaven → 1SA 15:1-9; 1CH 4:43

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh Is My Banner. ¹⁶“Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of Yahweh. Yahweh will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

• EX 17:16[PROPHECY]Yahweh would war against Amalek from generation to generation → 1SA 15:7-8; 1CH 4:43MEDIUM