Who held up Moses' hands in the Bible?

285 Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up to the top of the hill, and Israel under Joshua fights in the plain below with Amalek (v. 10). They fought the Lord's battle: but it is not sufficient even to be fighting the Lord's battle unless the Lord stretches forth His hand to help them. Otherwise "Amalek prevailed." Israel might have reasoned on the manner of their fighting, on the strength of the enemy, and on ten thousand things; but after all, their success depended on Moses' hands being stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan to be as nothing, and God to be everything. The moment we get out of dependence on God, we find out our own weakness; though we have this comfort, that under whatever circumstances, through the priesthood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, our blessing is substantially maintained for us, and this until the going down of the sun. "And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But 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," v. 11, 12. Enemies were as nothing when Israel had the power of God with them. The day is won - "Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword."

"Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And 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. So 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. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But 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. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." (vv. 8-13.)

In Exodus 17:8-16 we read of Amalek fighting with the children of Israel at Rephidim. To the top of the hill ascended Moses with the rod of God in his hand, accompanied by Aaron and Hur. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Moses’ hands, however, growing heavy, Aaron and Hur placed him sitting on a stone, while they propped up his hands till the setting of the sun. So Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

In this we have a beautiful type of our Lord’s intercession on high for His people, fighting as they are with the enemy—the world, the flesh, the Devil. Yet how vivid is the contrast. Moses’ hands, being heavy with age needing to be propped up; our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, living after the power of an endless life (Heb. 7:16). No hanging down of His blessed hands. No failure with Him. What brings failure and humiliation to us is our failure to avail ourselves of the wonderful resources we have in our Lord for our support in the fight. There is nothing but victory with Him.

"And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So 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. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But 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. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword" (vers. 9-13). When it was a question of Pharaoh, the word was, "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. … The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" (Ex. 14:13-14). God does all the fighting if it be a question of delivering you from the power of Satan. But when it is a question of the flesh — and mark you, you have always the flesh in you — then there must be conflict, and, "Fight with Amalek" is the order. What is the power for the conflict? It is the Holy Ghost. The very fact of the conflict shows that the Holy Ghost is in me. It is not a question as to whether I am saved or not, but it is a question as to whether the will of God is to be wrought out, or whether the flesh, which is always trying to hinder me, is to stop me in my course as a Christian.

The next morning battle was joined, and the manner of the combat was unique. Joshua, with spear and sword, met the foe in the valley; Moses, with the rod and uplifted hands, upon the overlooking hill, prayed for victory. So long as the intercessor's hands were uplifted, Israel prevailed; but when they slackened Amalek gained the advantage. As the day wore on, Moses's hands grew heavy, and then the future high priest, Aaron, with Hur whose name signifies purity formed a seat for the intercessor, and supporting his hands, kept them steady until the sun went down. Thus the day ended, and Israel, in the power of the uplifted hands, were more than conquerors.

But no one man could be a perfect type of Christ. The hands of Moses were heavy, so that they were sustained by Aaron and Hur. This, however, only brings out more fully the truth of the intercession of Christ. Aaron, though not yet formally set apart, represents the priesthood, and Hur, if the significance of the name may guide us, typifies light or purity. Together therefore it will mean the priestly intercession of Christ maintained in holiness before God; and hence an intercession, since it is based upon all that Christ is and has done, which is ever effectual and prevailing. The lesson should be well observed. The battle below depended not upon the strength of the warriors, nor even upon the Holy Spirit, but upon the enduring and efficacious intercession of Christ. For when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Hence the necessity of dependence. Apart from it, we may be ready for the conflict; the cause may be a just one, but our failure will be sure and inevitable. But with it, having Christ on high on our behalf, and Christ in the energy of the Spirit as our Leader, "when the wicked, even our enemies and our foes, come against us, they will stumble and fall." Then no foe can stand before the Lord's people.

But the battle of Rephidim. Read carefully these verses — Ex. 17:8-16. Golden lesson for the young soldier of Christ. Some teachers would tell you, In the hour of temptation, your only safety is to try your utmost to keep the law. I once knew a young Christian, when fighting in Rephidim, as a last resource, write down all the denunciations and commands of God respecting the sin that so harassed him. But this helped him not at all. Nothing could be more striking than God's teaching and man's on this important point. Says man, You are under the law as the rule of life, and sin will surely have the dominion if you do not strive to keep it. Says God, "It was the ministration of death, and is now abolished;" (2 Cor. 3:7-14;) and "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14.) Thus you see, my young traveller, if you are led of man, you will be under law and bondage; "But if led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Gal. 5:18.) The contrast between God's teaching and man's is very striking, is it not? But, then, the question is, when passing through Rephidim, that is, through fierce temptation — tempted to commit fearful sins — If the law does not help me at such a time, but only excites lust still more — as is said in Rom. 7:7, 18; I say, if the law does not help, what does? And what is the principle of victory over the lusts of the flesh? I look at the battle of Rephidim, I say, as a golden answer to this perplexing difficulty in the hour of need. To human reason, perhaps, nothing could be more foolish. There was no digging of trenches, forming parallels, or display of military skill; but Moses says, "I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand." "And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." What a picture of the divine principle of prevailing faith! And especially valuable, as I have said before, when we bear in mind this is the only battle Israel fought, whilst on the principle of grace, and not as yet under the law. And, now, if my reader has travelled some length of the wilderness journey, let me ask him to turn over the pages of memory, and then tell me, as we say, is not this picture true to the very life? Just as your hands have been lifted up to God — just as faith has trusted Him, you have prevailed; and just as your hands have been let fall down — just as you have trusted in anything else but God, sin has prevailed. Thus the mighty principle of faith is set before us as the only means of victory in temptation. We never make resolutions but we fail and break them; and we never look alone to God but we are delivered. Do, my young Christian, remember the battle of Rephidim in the hour of temptation. Lift up your heart, and let the cry of faith go up to God. Perhaps you say, My heart is so heavy. And so were the hands of Moses. "But 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."

Now there are some very precious and important points of soul-sustaining truth set before the believer, in conflict, in this verse. It is of the greatest moment at such a time that you remember that great stone — nay, the Rock of Ages supports you. Oh to know that however the storm of temptation may assail, your feet are on the Rock that cannot be moved! Beware of those shifting sands, those unbelieving thoughts that you may be on the Rock to-day and off and lost tomorrow. Nothing can more tend to weaken the child of God, in the hour of sore temptation, than these false doctrines. No, my reader, if you have redemption, it is eternal redemption; if you have life, it is eternal life; If you are on the Rock, none can pluck you off for ever. The stone, however, was not put under Moses that he might hang down his hands, but that they might be steadily held up. Neither would I put this blessed truth before you, or rather show you the Rock that sustains you, that you may become careless and cease to steadily trust in God for victory over lust and sin. No! but for the very purpose of encouraging your faith in the darkest hour.

But further, for the support of the heavy hands of Moses, Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. And does not He whose name is Jesus, by whose death and resurrection we are justified, "also make intercession for us." "Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what to pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." What divine strength this gives in the hour of strong temptation. 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 there is on the other side, that is, down here, in the believer, the Holy Ghost making intercession. How doubly held up!

Moses is aware of his own weakness: “And so it was when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” But Moses' hands become tired. Is it not the same with us? Even if we have understood that the sole remedy for our infirmity is to persevere in prayer, we often are slack and lack constancy! Aaron and Hur come near and support the hands of Moses. Here Aaron is a type of Christ as Priest, “always living to intercede” for His own.

In Aaron and Hur two other necessary accompaniments appear, for Moses needed to be maintained in the attitude of faith. Weakness made him "let down his hand," and then Amalek prevailed. It was impossible that the enemy should finally prevail; that would touch God's glory, would make void His promise. But God not only prevails, victory for man, but, according to His grace, it must also be by man. Saints in themselves are impotent, the strain of battle more than they can bear, and their hands hang down. Aaron and Hur go up with Moses, and they support and keep up his weary hands. Nay, such is the picture of weakness, that they provide a stone for Moses to sit upon; and this manifestation of weakness is worthy of note, for when he died, forty years after, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." It is another lesson concerning faith, which is only mighty in the strength of Christ. So Aaron, type of God's High Priest, bears 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 thee that thy faith fail not." This is His action now for us, and, assured of victory through His intercession, we have boldness against the enemy. This may be called the upward aspect of faith.

Joshua, then, is our leader; but even Joshua's success is dependent, as we see directly, upon Moses being on the hill-top before God, and the holding up of the rod of power — God's rod, as it is significantly called here — before Him. If Moses' hands are kept up, Israel prevails; but if Moses' hands are let down, then Amalek prevails. They put, therefore, a stone under Moses, and Aaron and Hur on either side hold up his hands, and his hands are upheld till the going down of the sun. "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword."

Moses is here also a type of Christ, as he is almost everywhere. And his position on the mount, holding up the rod of power, speaks plainly enough of Christ gone in to God, presenting before Him the value of that work in which divine power has acted in behalf of His people. All spiritual actings in us depend upon the position Christ has taken for us. And these supporters of Moses' hands figure, as it seems, that in Him (not external to Him) which keeps Him in the place He has taken for us. On the one hand Aaron represents the priestly character of One "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," gracious and compassionate; on the other, Hur, "white," speaks to us as the manna did, of one who fully reflects the light which God is. Here, then, is mercy towards man, with righteousness Godward: an "Advocate with the Father," and also "Jesus Christ the righteous."