Moses and the Amalakites

Preached on 23 October 2022 at St Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead

Introduction

I understand that you have been working through a series on Moses, so today I will be looking mainly at Moses in this passage and trying to see what lessons his actions and his relationship to the Lord provide for us.

Background

I don’t know what you’ve looked at so for, so I’ll start with some scene setting, and I apologise if I’m covering old ground.

The attack by the Amalakites came less than three months after the Israelites had miraculously escaped from Egypt. It must have seemed longer as they were already facing hardships. They had travelled to Rephidim, which is probably the large wadi Refayid in south-west Sinai. A wadi is a valley with a stream at the bottom, but the stream will only run during the rainy season, for the rest of the year it will be dry.

They had hoped to find water there, but the wadi had already dried up. So the Lord had provided water from a rock, which Moses had been instructed to strike with his staff.

They are not travelling across flat desert, but through hills and along valleys. This means that there is a long train of people following the pillar of cloud or fire – cloud during the day, fire at night.

Amalakite Attack

As they are strung out they are vulnerable to attack and the Amalakites take advantage of that. This is how Deuteronomy 25 later described the attack:

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.
¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who was the twin of Jacob. There’s no love lost between those two. It seems that the Amalakites were intent on the destruction of the Israelites, and that didn’t end well for them. Perhaps nations today that are intent on the destruction of Israel should take note.

Joshua

After the Amalakite attack Joshua is chosen to select an army and to prepare to fight them off. This is the first mention of Joshua in Exodus. He must have been known and already trusted to some degree by Moses, but this would be his biggest test so far. Moses is looking to grow his leaders and may already be thinking of who will succeed him as leader of the Israelites. We used to call that succession planning at work. It was one of the things I had to do as team leader that I really enjoyed.

Hur

We hear of Hur for the first time in this passage, too. He is asked to join Moses on the hill to observe the battle. Later, he will be left with Aaron to look after the Israelites when Moses goes up the mountain to receive the commandments. You may remember that while Moses was away, they made an idol to worship. The people seem to have focussed on Aaron as their leader by then, and Hur doesn’t get much of a mention. Not all potential leaders make it.

Preparation for battle

I imagine that after the initial Amalakite raid, there is some frantic planning to be done by the Israelites. Moses gets his people organised and plans are prepared for the divisive battle the following day. Joshua will organise some troops, and Moses with the staff of God, Aaron and Hur, will oversee the battle from a hill they have chosen.

Staff of God

When morning comes, they ascend to the top of the hill and Moses raises his staff above his head. The staff is just an ordinary shepherds staff – a long, heavy stick.

When God first called Moses to set his people free from the Egyptians, he was very unsure of his call. God had to do a number of miracles to convince Moses that God was really calling him. Here’s that incident from the start of Exodus 4.

¹Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

²Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

After this, Moses’s staff became the “Staff of God”. There is nothing special about it. It does not somehow contain God, or God’s power, it is simply a prop that God uses to give Moses confidence that God is with him, and has called him to his difficult task. It is a symbol for him and for those around him of God’s presence.

Pleading, Prayer, or Worship

So what is Moses doing sitting on the top of the hill with his arms in the air and holding his staff aloft?

Well, the stance is one of pleading, or prayer, or possibly worship. Moses has had quite a lot of grumbling from the people when things haven’t gone their way. Now though, they have a common enemy, so for a while they are united. I believe that Moses is probably doing all three.

He’s pleading, because he knows that this is a battle that has to be won.

He’s praying, because he knows that the battle can only be won, if victory is the will of God.

He’s worshipping, because he sees what’s happening – they are winning – until he relaxes a bit, then they are losing. Then he applies a little extra strength, his arms go up, and they are winning again. So he is their praising and worshipping God for the victories that he’s seeing, praying for his own strength to hold his arms up, and praying and pleading for the battle to be won. Eventually he needed help, he’d been there a long time and he’s an old man.

Psychological effect

There is some suggestion that the Israelites may have been encouraged to fight harder when they could see Moses with his arms raised, praying to God.

This very much depends on a geography that we don’t have. Maybe the Israelites could see Moses from down in the valley where they were fighting, but it’s by no means a given. It is entirely possible that Moses was up on a hill behind the battle, if they were looking back, it’s unlikely that they were winning. So maybe there was a demoralizing effect on the Amalakites.

Real war

Before we get to the lessons that we can learn from all of this, we must remember that this was a nasty hand to hand battle, in which many of the men on both sides would have been killed or seriously wounded. It’s very easy to forget how hard these battles were and to talk about them as if no-one was really hurt. It was not like that. A lot of blood was spilt, sons and husbands did not return. Some of those that did would die later of their wounds, or be crippled by them for life.

Power of God

Now the Israelites see the power of God. They could not have won the battle on their own. They have been arguing and complaining to Moses when little things didn’t go their way. Now they have won an important battle only because the Lord was there, and His servant was following His instruction.

Lessons

What have we learnt about Moses, and what does that teach us today?

Moses

We have seen that Moses is a man of God, but doesn’t seem to have a secure faith in God. He still needs his props to show him, and those around him, that God is present with him. But, whatever his level of faith he, above all the Israelites, is obedient. He does what God asks of him, even when he is unsure.

And when he is in need, he turns to God in prayer and doesn’t stop praying.

He is also a thoughtful leader, watching those he leads, looking for those who may one day take his place and providing them with opportunities to practice their leadership.

As a godly leader, he is a great example for those around him, especially those who might aspire to lead.

Lessons for us

The attack by the Amalakites shows us how the spiritual realm and the physical realm work together. For God to work in our world, there have to be people pleading, praying and worshipping, all within the will of God. That’s Moses.

There have to be people supporting that prayer, and probably praying themselves too. That’s Aaron and Hur.

There have to be people at the sharp end (no pun intended), taking action, and most importantly being willing to make sacrifices to get the job done. That’s Joshua and his carefully selected band of Israelite soldiers.

There really isn’t a split between the spiritual realm and the physical realm, it’s all part of the world we live in. It’s just that some of our actions are focussed more in one area than another.

Let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Augustine of Hippo:

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

Because I believe that’s what was going on with Moses and the Israelites.

Amen.

 

References

https://unionvillebpc.com/sermon-on-exodus-178-16-on-the-undefeated-team/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/spiritual-warfare-pastor-author-terry-sisney-sermon-on-spiritual-warfare-203803https://bibleask.org/why-did-moses-lift-his-hands-during-the-battle-against-the-amelekites/https://craigkeener.com/the-staff-of-moses-becomes-the-staff-of-god-exodus-42-17-20/