And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it came to pass when Moses raised his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
Israel had to fight Amalek, yet the day turned on Moses' raised hand rather than on the strength of the army. Why should a real battle hang on that?
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Fighting the Lord's battle was not, by itself, enough to win it.
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They fought the Lord's battle. But even fighting the Lord's battle is not enough, unless the Lord stretches out His hand to help them.
after Otherwise "Amalek prevailed." Israel might have reasoned about how they fought, about the strength of the enemy, and about ten thousand other things. But in the end, their success depended on Moses holding out his hands. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan as nothing, and God as everything. The moment we get out of dependence on God, we find out our own weakness.
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The Bible records no prayer from Moses here. His posture said everything.
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He knew full well that the outcome of the conflict lay with the Lord. It was more important to be before God than to have powerful forces to meet the enemy.
after The record gives no word spoken to the Lord, but the uplifted hands of Moses showed his attitude. It was a sign that he looked to God for the victory, and the Lord acknowledged it. When the hands of Moses were lifted, Israel prevailed. When they fell, Amalek prevailed... Moses also took the rod of God to the place of intercession. That rod had opened a way through the Red Sea, and it had been shown before Pharaoh as the rod of God's authority and power. It signified that Moses depended on the power of God in this conflict.
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Commentators differ on what Amalek pictures. One takes the name itself as the clue:
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The Spirit now lives in every believer. But we soon learn that there is another nature within us, and it is against the Spirit...
after Amalek speaks therefore of the lusts of the flesh. Its name means "licking up," for such lusts lick up all that is beneficial and necessary for our soul's welfare. This is not Satan's attack, but an attack from within us, fed by the desire to get what we want when we want it.
Another writer calls that only half the story, and points to the timing of the assault:
It is often stated that it is the flesh; but this is only part of the truth... So the power that challenges the onward march of the children of Israel is the power of Satan, perhaps acting through the flesh. And Satan's subtlety in the time he chose for the attack is plain. The attack came just after the people had sinned. At such a moment an enemy might suppose that they were under the displeasure of God.
after This is always his method.
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The fighting and the praying are not two separate stories.
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We have here two distinct things, namely, conflict and intercession. Christ is on high for us, while the Holy Spirit carries on the mighty struggle in us. The two things go together. By faith we enter into the prevailing power of Christ's intercession for us. That is how we make headway against our evil nature.
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The hand came down through plain weakness. And weakness needs help.
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Weakness made him "let down his hand," and then Amalek prevailed... In themselves, believers are powerless. The strain of battle is more than they can bear, and their hands hang down.
after Aaron and Hur go up with Moses, and they support and hold up his weary hands... So Aaron, a figure of God's High Priest, holds up the hand which would otherwise droop. Christ, as our High Priest, maintains our faith. As He once said to Peter, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." This is what He does for us now. His intercession assures us of victory, so we have boldness against the enemy.
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Moses' hands failed. There is One whose hands never do.
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We depend on the continual intercession of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think His hands ever hang down? No! Do they ever grow weary? Impossible! "And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:50-51). He was seen going up into heaven with His hands raised in blessing, and so they are to this day.
- Hand up. Success did not rest on how Israel fought or how strong the enemy was, but on Moses holding out his hands to God.
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- Hand as sign. Moses said nothing; his raised hands declared that he looked to God for the victory.
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- Hand down. The moment dependence on God stops, we find out our own weakness — and Amalek gains ground.
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- Hand held. Moses' hands grew heavy, so Aaron and Hur held them up. Christ our High Priest now holds up faith that would droop.
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- Hands unwearied. Our Lord went into heaven with hands lifted in blessing, and they have never come down. Victory in the fight rests on an intercession that never tires.
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And 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 this side, and one on that side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Israel has just drunk water from the rock. Now Amalek attacks the camp at Rephidim, and this time the people must fight. Yet the day is not won in the valley where the swords are. It turns on the hilltop, where an old man's arms grow tired.
Joshua leads real soldiers against a real enemy. Yet the swing of the day tracks Moses' arms, not Joshua's skill.
They fought the Lord's battle: but it is not enough even to be fighting the Lord's battle unless the Lord stretches out His hand to help them. Otherwise "Amalek prevailed." Israel might have reasoned about how they fought, about the strength of the enemy, and about ten thousand other things. But in the end, their success depended on Moses' hands stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan as nothing, and God as everything.
At the Red Sea, God told Israel to stand still. Here He tells them to fight. Commentators read the change as a change of enemy.
When it was a question of Pharaoh, the word was, "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." If the question is deliverance from the power of Satan, God does all the fighting. But the flesh is a different matter — and mark you, you always have the flesh in you. Then there must be conflict, and the order is, "Fight with Amalek." What is the power for the conflict? It is the Holy Spirit.
This unsettles anyone who expects the struggle to be over once they are saved.
Had Israel imagined that when Pharaoh's armies were gone their conflict was at an end, they would have been badly shaken when Amalek came upon them. The fact is, theirs only then began.
The scene runs on two levels at once.
We have here two distinct things: conflict and intercession. Christ is on high for us, while the Holy Spirit carries on the mighty struggle in us. The two things go together. It is as we enter, by faith, into the power of Christ's intercession on our behalf, that we make headway against our evil nature.
The verse does not hide Moses' weakness. Aaron and Hur stand for what their names and roles carry.
But no one man could be a perfect picture of Christ. Moses' hands were heavy, so Aaron and Hur held them up. This only brings out the truth of Christ's intercession more fully. Aaron, though not yet formally set apart, represents the priesthood, and Hur, if the meaning of the name may guide us, pictures light or purity. Together, then, they mean the priestly intercession of Christ, kept in holiness before God. That intercession rests on all that Christ is and has done. So it is always effective, and it always prevails.
Moses needed help. Another writer turns to Christ going up into heaven.
He goes up with His hands lifted in blessing — as a priest. Have they ever been let down? Surely not. No Aaron and Hur are needed to hold up the hands of the blessed One I am speaking of. His hands have never grown heavy. He has been blessing ever since — carrying on a ministry of love that makes the heart dance with joy.
The stone is not an incidental prop. It carries the weight so the hands can stay up.
At such a time it matters more than anything to remember that great stone — no, the Rock of Ages — supports you… The stone was not put under Moses so that he could let his hands hang down. It was put there so that his hands could be held up steadily. I do not show you this Rock so that you may grow careless and stop trusting God for victory over sin. I show it to encourage your faith in the darkest hour.
The same writer reads "one on one side, and the other on the other side" as help from two directions at once.
There is the exalted Son of God on the one side — that is, in the very presence of God — holding up the hands of faith, making intercession. And on the other side, that is, down here, in the believer, is the Holy Spirit making intercession. How doubly held up!
The verse ends by marking the time: the hands held out until the sun went down.
We have this comfort: whatever the circumstances, through the priesthood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, our blessing is kept up for us — and this until the going down of the sun.
- Enemy. The conflict starts after deliverance, not before. God fought Pharaoh for Israel; the flesh Israel must fight.
- Dependence. The valley never decides the day; lifted hands do. We and Satan are nothing, and God is everything.
- Intercessor. Christ is on high for us; the Holy Spirit fights in us. Faith in that intercession gains ground.
- Support. Weak hands need a stone and two helpers — priesthood and purity. Christ's hands need neither, and have never come down.
- Sunset. Through the priesthood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, our blessing is kept up — steady until the sun goes down.
And Joshua broke the power of Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Israel's first battle after leaving Egypt ends in a single line: Joshua defeats Amalek in the valley. But the chapter has already shown where that strength came from: not the swordsmen below, but the hands lifted on the hill.
The timing matters. The fight breaks out right after the rock is struck and the water flows.
In type, Israel had been sheltered from judgment by the blood of the lamb, and redeemed from the world and Satan at the Red Sea. They had been miraculously fed, and now through the smitten rock the gushing water, a picture of the Spirit, had been given. Immediately afterwards Amalek appears, a picture of the flesh. How fitting all this is!… So it is not until we as believers receive the Holy Spirit that this conflict begins. In our unconverted days the flesh reigned supreme, and its power in our lives was unchallenged.
The name itself tells you what this enemy does.
Amalek speaks therefore of the lusts of the flesh. Its name means "licking up," for such lusts lick up all that is beneficial and necessary for our soul's welfare. This is not Satan's attack, but an attack from within us, fed by the desire to get what we want when we want it.
Commentators differ here. Some say that naming the flesh does not go far enough:
What then does Amalek symbolise? It is often said that he is the flesh; but this is only part of the truth… The point to be seen here is that Amalek sets himself in open opposition to the people of God. He seeks to hinder their progress, and even to destroy them from the face of the earth. It is therefore the power of Satan — acting through the flesh, it may be — that challenges the onward march of the children of Israel.
The man at the head of the fighting men points past himself.
Joshua represents Christ, in the energy of the Spirit, leading His redeemed to the conflict. What a consolation! If Satan marshals his forces to attack the Lord's people, Christ leads out His chosen men to meet the foe. The battle therefore is the Lord's… It would help us to stop depending on man, and to count upon the Lord.
Being on the right side of the war was not enough on its own.
They fought the Lord's battle: but it is not enough even to be fighting the Lord's battle unless the Lord stretches out His hand to help them. Otherwise "Amalek prevailed." Israel might have reasoned about the way they fought, about the strength of the enemy, and about ten thousand other things. But in the end, their success depended on Moses' hands being stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan as nothing, and God as everything.
Two things happen at once here, and they belong together.
Christ has fought for us; the Holy Spirit fights in us… The comfort is that we are victors before we enter the field of conflict at all… We have here two distinct things: conflict and intercession. Christ is on high for us, while the Holy Spirit carries on the mighty struggle in us. The two things go together. It is as we enter, by faith, into the power of Christ's intercession on our behalf, that we make headway against our evil nature.
The weapon itself matters. (Older translations read "with the edge of the sword" where the ESV has simply "with the sword.")
Let us remember, too, that it was "with the edge of the sword" that Joshua defeated his enemies. And the "sword of the Spirit is the word of God."… It is this which enables self-judgment — the judgment of the foes of our peace and blessing. Our Amalek is within. Our battleground is that of our own hearts.
Joshua won the day, but the enemy was not wiped out. That difference matters for how a believer reads his own experience.
Amalek was driven back and defeated, but he was not yet utterly destroyed, as he will be… There is power for us to keep the sentence of death on the flesh, so that we do not fulfil its lust. We are kept from doing the things we otherwise might. But the flesh still remains in us, though we have received the Spirit.
- Water, then war. The conflict starts only once the Spirit comes. Struggle inside a believer is a sign of new life, not proof against it.
- Amalek named. Some writers read him as the lusts of the flesh. Others see Satan's power working through the flesh. Either way, he is an enemy who wants to stop God's people moving forward.
- Joshua below. Christ leads His redeemed into the fight by the Spirit. So the battle is the Lord's, not ours.
- Hands above. Fighting on the right side is not enough on its own. The battle below turned on the hands held up above. Conflict in us rests on intercession for us.
- Sword in hand. Victory came by the sword: the word of God turned on our own hearts. The win is real, but the enemy is not wiped out yet.