God gives water from the rock
17
📚And all the congregation of the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sin for the next stage of their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink.17:1 Ex 15:22-24. They were there at God’s command and should have been sure He would give them all they needed (Ps 23:1).⚜
2 📚Therefore the people quarreled 📖 with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink”. And Moses said to them, “Why quarrel with me? Why do you test 📖 the LORD?”
3 📚But the people were thirsty for water there, and so the people grumbled against Moses, and said, “Why is it that you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”
4 📚And Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me”.
5 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. And take your rod in your hand, with which you struck the river, and go. 6 📚See, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb 📖, and you are to strike 📖 the rock. And water will come out of it, so 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 quarreling of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”
17:7 The Hebrew word “massah” means test or testing. “Meribah” means quarrel or quarreling. See Num 14:22; 20:13; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-11. They tested God by their unbelief – “Is the LORD among us or not?” Their duty and privilege was to trust God to meet their every need and not grumble and complain at His leading. Had not God repeatedly shown His love and power toward them?⚜
War with Amalek
8 📚Then Amalek came, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
17:8 Amalek was a people descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother (Gen 36:12; Deut 25:17-19; 1 Sam 15:2-3). They were a semi-nomadic people usually occupying desert areas south of Canaan. From this time on they were enemies of Israel. Notes at 1 Sam 15:2; Esther 3:1.⚜
9 📚And Moses said to Joshua 📖, “Choose some men for us, go out, and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod 📖 of God in my hand”.
10 📚So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur 📖 went up to the top of the hill. 11 📚And it was like this: When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
17:11 This signified dependence on God’s power alone. Perhaps the lifted arm is a picture of intercession for the people of God. Observe that when Moses’ arm came down God’s enemies gained ground and defeated God’s people.⚜
12 📚But Moses’ hands were heavy, and so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and one on the other side, and his hands remained steady until sundown. 13 📚And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Write 📖 this in a book as something to be remembered, and tell it in the hearing of Joshua, because I will completely blot out 📖 the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”.
15 📚And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi 📖, 16 📚for he said, “Because the LORD has sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation”.
17:16 The first part of this verse may also be translated “Because a hand was against the throne of the LORD”.⚜