Exodus 17 commentary

The children of Israel journeyed according to the commandment of the Lord, led by the pillar of cloud and fire, yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink. We may be in the way of duty, yet may meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into, for the trial of our faith, and that God may be glorified in our relief. They began to question whether God was with them or not. This is called their “tempting God,” which signifies distrust of him after they had received such proofs of his power and goodness. Moses mildly answered them. It is folly to answer passion with passion; that makes bad worse. God graciously appeared to help them. How wonderful the patience and forbearance of God toward provoking sinners! That he might show his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. God can open fountains for us where we least expect them. Those who, in this wilderness, keep to God's way, may trust him to provide for them. Also, let this direct us to depend on Christ's grace. The apostle says, that Rock was Christ, 1Co 10:4, it was a type of him. While the curse of God might justly have been executed upon our guilty souls, behold the Son of God is smitten for us. Let us ask and receive. There was a constant, abundant supply of this water. Numerous as believers are, the supply of the Spirit of Christ is enough for all. The water flowed from the rock in streams to refresh the wilderness, and attended them on their way towards Canaan; and this water flows from Christ, through the ordinances, in the barren wilderness of this world, to refresh our souls, until we come to glory. A new name was given to the place, in remembrance, not of the mercy of their supply, but of the sin of their murmuring: “Massah,” Temptation, because they tempted God; “Meribah,” Strife, because they chid with Moses. Sin leaves a blot upon the name.

Israel engaged with Amalek in their own necessary defence. God makes his people able, and calls them to various services for the good of his church. Joshua fights, Moses prays, both minister to Israel. The rod was held up, as the banner to encourage the soldiers. Also to God, by way of appeal to him. Moses was tired. The strongest arm will fail with being long held out; it is God only whose hand is stretched out still. We do not find that Joshua's hands were heavy in fighting, but Moses' hands were heavy in praying; the more spiritual any service is, the more apt we are to fail and flag in it. To convince Israel that the hand of Moses, whom they had been chiding, did more for their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands. The church's cause is more or less successful, as her friends are more or less strong in faith, and fervent in prayer. Moses, the man of God, is glad of help. We should not be shy, either of asking help from others, or of giving help to others. The hands of Moses being thus stayed, were steady till the going down of the sun. It was great encouragement to the people to see Joshua before them in the field of battle, and Moses above them on the hill. Christ is both to us; our Joshua, the Captain of our salvation, who fights our battles, and our Moses, who ever lives, making intercession above, that our faith fail not. Weapons formed against God's Israel cannot prosper long, and shall be broken at last. Moses must write what had been done, what Amalek had done against Israel; write their bitter hatred; write their cruel attempts; let them never be forgotten, nor what God had done for Israel in saving them from Amalek. Write what should be done; that in process of time Amalek should be totally ruined and rooted out. Amalek's destruction was typical of the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his kingdom.

1. And all the congregation. Scarcely was the sedition of the people about the want of food set at rest when they again rebel on the subject of drink. They ought, at least, to have learnt from the manna, that as often as necessity pressed upon them, they should have humbly implored in prayer and supplication God’s help, in certain hope of relief. But such was their character, that they were hurried by despair into secret murmurings and impetuous cries. We have almost a precisely similar account in Numbers 20. A brief but able reply to the arguments of those who allege these similar passages against the authenticity of the Pentateuch, will be found in Hengstenberg, (Ryland’s Translation,) vol. 2, p. 310, etc. For the error of those who think it one and the same, is easily refuted by the circumstances of the time and place; and in Numbers 33, it is very clearly shown how great a distance there was between the one station and the other. Neither does the tradition of some of the Rabbins appear probable, that this thirst did not arise from natural appetite, because the manna was not only meat, but also served for drink. For there is no reason why we should be compelled to imagine this; and we gather from the text, that the commencement of their murmurings arose from the fact that the water now began for the first time to fail them. But it was God’s will in two ways, and at two different times, to try the minds of the Israelites, that they might more plainly show their natural intractability. If they had required bread and water at the same time, they would have been more excusable; but after they had experienced that a sweet and wholesome kind of food was bountifully given them from heaven, because that country produced no corn, it was an act of intolerable perversity immediately to murmur against God when they had no supply of drink. Moreover, a double accusation is here brought against them, for insulting God by quarrelling and chiding with Him, and also for tempting Him. Both arose from unbelief, the cause of which was ingratitude; for it was too vile of them so soon to bury in willful forgetfulness what God had so recently given them. He had brought them supplies when they were suffering from hunger; why do they not fly to Him when they are oppressed by thirst? It is plain, then, that the former favor was ill bestowed upon them, since it so directly vanished in their insensibility. Hence, too, appears their unbelief, because they neither expect nor ask anything of God; and with this, too, pride is conjoined, because they dare to proceed to chiding. Indeed this almost always happens, that those who neither depend on His providence nor rest; on His promises, provoke God to contend with them, and rush impetuously against Him; because the brutal violence of our passions hurries us on to madness, unless we are persuaded that God will in due time be our helper, and are, submissive to His will. In the beginning of the chapter Moses briefly indicates that the Israelites journeyed according to the commandment, or, as the Hebrew expresses it, “the mouth” על-פי. Literally, ”upon the mouth.” Noldius cites, however, various texts, in which it is equivalent to no more than according to, though in this instance, and in many others, he would render it “according to the command.” — Concord. Partic. Hebr. — W of God, as if he would praise their obedience. Whence we gather that, at the first outset, they were sufficiently disposed to their duty, until a temptation occurred, which interrupted them in the right way. By which example we are warned that, whenever we undertake anything at God’s bidding, we should carefully beware that nothing should hinder our perseverance; and that none are fitted to act rightly but those who are well prepared to endure the assaults of temptation.

2. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. Here now displays itself both their impiety against God, since neglecting and despising Him they make war against Moses, and also their malice and unkindness, because, forgetful of so many benefits, they wantonly insult Moses. They know that fountains and rivers cannot be created by mortal man; wherefore, then, do they quarrel with him, and not call directly upon God, in whose hand are the waters as well as all other elements? Certainly, if there had been a spark of faith in them, they would have had recourse to prayer. Rightly, then, does Moses expostulate, that in chiding with him, they tempt God Himself. What madness is there in their accusing Moses of cruelty in bringing them with him out of Egypt, that he might kill them, and their children, and cattle in the wilderness? But Moses chiefly reproves them on this ground, because God Himself is affected by this rebellious chiding. But the actual form of their tempting God is stated at the end, viz., because they had doubted “whether the Lord was among them or not?” Hence it follows, that the root of the whole evil was their unbelief; because they neither ascribed due honor to God’s power nor believed Him to be true to his promises.: For He had taken charge of them, and had promised that He would never fail them; why then, now, when circumstances demand it, do they not assure themselves that He will assist them, except because they wickedly detract both from His power and His truth?

4. And Moses cried. This cry seems not to have been conformed to the true model of prayer, but to have been mixed with confused complaint, to which Moses was impelled by the deep perturbation of his mind: for excessive earnestness sometimes carries away the godly, so that they rather fret in their prayer than duly and moderately express their requests. For there is something in these words which sounds angry and obstreperous, “What shall I do unto this people?” as if Moses, struck with indignation, complained that he was weighed down with a heavy burden, which he would willingly shake off if he could obtain permission and deliverance from God. Interpreters variously expound what follows. Some thus render it, that “Unless God immediately came to his help, or should He dissemble for ever so short a time, Moses must be stoned.” Some, “It is but little that they will rush upon me to stone me.” Some, too, read it in the past tense, but to this the particle עוד, Shortly. — W. gnod, which relates to the future, is an objection. I am most pleased with this sense; that if God delay His assistance but for a short time, the people’s rage could not be restrained from stoning Moses.

5. And the Lord said unto Moses. He commands him to go out into the midst, as if He would expose him to the danger of immediate death; but because Moses is persuaded that it is in His power to calm the passion of men, however fierce, as well as the waves and storms of the sea, he neither trembles nor retreats. But, thus did God magnify His power, so as to brand them with ignominy whilst He withheld the people from their previous attitude. In fact, Moses passes before them all, but he only takes the elders with him, before whom to bring the water from the rock, that they may be eye-witnesses of the miracle. This middle course, whilst it does not permit the glory of God’s bounty to be obscured, still shows the multitude that they are unworthy of being admitted to behold His power. To remind him that his rod would not be inefficient, He recalls to his memory what he had already experienced; yet does he not recount all the miracles; but only adduces what we saw at first, that, by its touch, the waters of the Nile were turned into blood. The declaration of God, that he will stand upon the rock, tends to remove all hesitation, lest Moses should be anxious or doubtful as to the event; for otherwise the smiting of the rock would be vain and illusory. Moses, therefore, is encouraged to be confident; since God, whom he follows in the obedience of faith, will put forth His power by his hand, so that he should undertake nothing vainly or ineffectually. Meanwhile, although He employs the operation of His servant, still He claims to Himself the honor of the work.

7. And he called the name of the place. The verb here might be taken indefinitely, as if it were said, that this name was given to the place; but it is more probable that Moses, at God’s command, so called the place, in order that the Israelites might be more ready to acknowledge their crime, when thus it was marked with double infamy. Although it was not only His intention to impress this feeling upon their minds, but also to hand down the memory of it to posterity. The same reproof is afterward repeated at Cades, as we shall see; because the former notice had been buried in oblivion by these foolish people. The very name of the place Massah, i.e., temptation. was as much as to say that the earth itself cried out, that the people, in their perverse nature, were rebellious, and given to unbelief. Now, temptation is the mother of contentions; for as soon as anything occurs contrary to the wishes of one who distrusts God, he has recourse to murmuring and dispute. When Moses relates that the Israelites “tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?” he does not mean that they openly spoke rims; but that this was the tendency of their cries, when on account of the want of water they rose against Moses, and complained that they were deceived by him, as though God had no power to help them. But though God branded the people for their malignity and perversity, with a lasting mark of ignominy, yet did He afford them an extraordinary proof of His goodness, not only in bestowing on them the drink by which their bodies might be refreshed, but by honoring their souls also with spiritual drink, as Paul testifies, (1 Corinthians 10:4,) “that rock was Christ,” and therefore he compares the water which flowed from it to the cup of the holy supper. So do we see how God’s immeasurable bounty surpasses all the wickedness of man, and how, by turning their vices to salvation, He brings light out of darkness; so far is He from giving them the reward of their deservings, when He confers upon them what is profitable. But we must remember the warning which is here interposed, that it availed many of them nothing to drink of that spiritual drink, because they profaned by their crimes that excellent gift.

Exodus 17:8-16

8. Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

8. Venit autem Amelec et pugnavit cum Israel in Raphidim.

9. And Moses said unto 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.

9. Tunc ait Moses ad Josuah, Elige nobis viros, et egrediens pugna contra Amalec: et cras ego stabo in vertice collis, et baculus Dei erit in manu mea.

10. 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.

10. Et fecit Josuah sicut dixerat ei Moses, pugnando cum Amalec, Moses autem et Aharon et Hur ascenderunt in verticem collis.

11. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

11. Et factum est, quum levaret Moses manum suam, praevaluit Israel, et quum demitteret manum suam, praevaluit Amalec.

12. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hut 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.

12. Manus autem Mosis erant graves: itaque tulerunt lapidem et supposuerunt ei, et sedit super ilium, Aharon vero et Hur sustentaverunt manus ejus, alter hinc et alter inde. Mansitque manibus suis firmis usque ad occasum solis.

13. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

13. Et fregit Josuah Amalec et populum ejus in ore gladii.

14. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

14. Tunc dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Scribe illud pro memoriali in libro, et trade auribus Josuah: quoniam delendo delebo memoriam Amalec de sub coelo.

15. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it JEHOVAH-nissi:

15. Et aedificavit Moses altare: vocavitque nomen ejus Jehova miraculum meum, (vel, exaltatio mea.)

16. For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn, that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

16. Et dixit, Certe manus super solium Jehovae: praelium Jehovae cum Amalec a generatione in generationem.

8. Then came Amalek. These were the first enemies whom God arrayed against Israel, after having delivered them from Egypt, and having kept them for some time in peace and quietness. It was principally for two reasons that He chose them now to be involved in war, either to punish them for their recent sin, or as a correction of their idleness, lest it should ensnare them into iniquity; for, as among soldiers sedition often arises from a cessation of labor, so also the more God spared this people and indulged them, the more did their forwardness increase. No wonder then that they were awakened by war, when they had taken occasion from their state of tranquillity to wax wanton. But some imagine that the Amalekites were impelled to take arms with this design; first, to avenge Ut paternae abdicationis ultores essent. — Lat. Pour venger l’opprobe de leur pere, de ce qu’il avait ete desherite — Fr. This, Willet in loco paraphrases: “to revenge their father Esau’s quarrel for the loss of the birthright.” The Jews themselves appear to have recognized the double cause of this war, viz., the jealousy of Amalek, and the sin of Israel, referred to by Calvin. “After they had passed through the sea, they murmured for waters: then came against them Amalek, who hated them for the first birthright and blessing which our father Jacob had taken from Esau; and he came and fought against Israel, because they had violated the words of the law,” etc. — Targum on Song 2:15, quoted by Ainsworth in loco. For a popular account of the origin of Amalek see Illustrated Commentary on 1 Samuel 15. the abdication of their ancestor; and secondly, because they were unwilling that the posterity of Jacob should enjoy the inheritance of which Esau, the grandfather of Amalek, the founder of their nation, had been deprived. And, certainly, it is probable that the recollection of the injury which had been inflicted on their ancestor still remained, and that they were instigated by the devil, in order that the promise of God, whereby the right of primogeniture had been transferred from Esau to Jacob, should be frustrated and fail of its effect. This might, indeed, have been their reason for the war; but God had another object, viz., to render the people more obedient to Him, by humbling their pride. Perhaps it was on that account that He withdrew Moses from the leadership, and substituted Joshua, as some token of His indignation; for although the assistance He gave them was sufficiently manifest, and their victory was obtained by His grace and the prayers of Moses, yet would He have them reminded, by the absence of Moses, of their recent transgression, that, being humiliated by their fear, they might submissively ask for pardon, and fly more earnestly to Him for His aid. He orders chosen men to go forth, partly to inspirit the whole people, and encourage them to hope for victory, because He does not deign to employ the whole army to repel their enemies; and partly in consideration of the cowardice of this unwarlike mob, lest they should faint with terror if the enemies should make an incursion into the midst of their camp. For Moses does nothing of himself, but occupies the station appointed him by God on the top of the hill, to contend with the enemy from afar, but he sends down the others to fight hand to hand before him, since it had pleased God thus to order the battle. It is plain that he did not avoid the fight to spare himself, but because God had given him a different employment; and this appears from his wielding the rod of God, like their general and standard-bearer, and promising the successful issue of the battle, of which he had been assured. For that single rod was of more avail than as if they had gone into the field preceded by a thousand banners. I have already observed that this is sometimes called the rod of God, sometimes of Moses, sometimes of Aaron, according to circumstances; because God used it as an instrument to exercise His power through His ministers. So God does not detract from His own honor, when He works effectually by His ministers. It is a prelude to Joshua’s future call, which we shall notice in its place, that. he should be appointed commander of the troops; for he had not yet reached the dignity of next in command to Moses, unless an extraordinary commission had been given him by God.

10. So Joshua did as. Although Joshua is by no means backward, but diligently executes what he knows to be commanded him by God Himself, and it is probable that the soldiers whom he had taken to accompany him did their duty properly, yet is it expressly stated that they gained the victory by no care, or striving, or courage of their own, but by the prayer of Moses, by whose support their leader as well as the army was sustained. Yet does not Moses here boastfully commend his own zeal in praying, but is rather the public witness. and proclaimer of his weakness, that the glory might be entirely attributed to the gratuitous favor of God. Nor is there any question, that, conscious of the infirmity which he afterwards confesses, he associated with him Aaron and Hur, who might assist him in his task. There “Divers allegories are made of this place: as that Moses’ hands, i.e., the precepts of the law are heavy, but that by Aaron, who signifieth Christ, and Hur, i.e., the Holy Ghost, they are made easy and light. — Ferus. Some, by Moses and Hur, understand the two Testaments, upon the which our prayer must rely. Some again thus allegorize: — Aaron, they say, signifieth montanus, hilly, and Hur, fire, so two things support our prayer, high and heavenly meditation, and fervent charity. — Lyranus,” etc. — Willet in loco. is more acuteness than solidity in the notion which some have, that these two men present a figure of the Old and New Testament, on which the prayers of the saints must rest; and that the stone which they gave to Moses to sit upon was offered him because our faith is only founded upon Christ. I know how plausible such allegories are; but what I have just said is enough for me, that because Moses mistrusted his own weakness, therefore he sought these two assistants. And surely when they stayed his hands they also lifted up their minds, and prayed together to God in common supplications; but Moses speaks chiefly of himself, to show that this charge was entrusted to him by God. For he did not only offer his prayers as a work of charity, but because God had chosen him as intercessor, to conquer the enemies from afar by the stretching forth of the rod, and by his secret earnestness in prayer; and in this respect he was a type of Christ; although the similitude does not hold in all its parts. Doubtless his failure arose from his extreme earnestness, and the extraordinary vehemence of his zeal, and, therefore, praise is mixed up with blame, just as the saints, when they are stirred to make great efforts in prayer, find that not only does their vigor grow cold, but they fail from being almost consumed by their own ardor.

13. And Joshua discomfited Amalek. The copula is here used instead of the illative particle; for Moses here concludes that the Israelites overcame their enemies, because he had continually persevered in prayer. There is, too, an implied antithesis between the firmness of his hands and the weakness of the enemy, that we may know that they were discomfited or conquered, not so much by the sword as by the uplifting of the rod, and by the intercession of the holy man.

14. And the Lord said unto Moses. By this command God made it known that He had performed a work which not only ought to be celebrated by word “Par la bouche de ceux qui vivoyent alors;” by the mouth of those who were alive then. — Fr. of mouth, but which also was deserving of eternal glory with posterity; for therefore did He command it to be written in a book, that its memory might never perish. The dispute of commentators respecting this book seems to me to be superfluous; for God simply wills that the memorial of this circumstance should exist in all ages; and this was effected by the narration of Moses, for he handed down in writing even to the end of the world the praise of this favor, together with the perpetual and immortal doctrine of the Law. Yet God did not only wish the memorable event of this battle to be written down, but also that Joshua should be reminded of it, lest he should faint under the many difficulties which awaited him. For nothing could better support him with invincible firmness than the recollection of this history, from whence he might be assured that the people would ever be victorious under the auspices of God. But although this promise was not immediately fulfilled, yet the Amalekites were a long time afterwards totally destroyed by Saul; but it was a great encouragement to Joshua and the people to know that Amalek, who had first made war upon them, was already condemned by the divine decree, and could not escape the destruction to which he was devoted.

15. And Moses built an altar. The purpose of this was that not he alone, but the whole people should testify, by solemn sacrifice, their gratitude; which the very name of the altar proves. For neither did he wish to erect a statue to God, nor to honor the altar by God’s name, but he shows that this was the object he proposed to himself, that the Israelites, being inflated by their good success, should not boast of their own strength, but glory only in God. I see not why some should translate it “miracle,” for the word נס, It was in S M ’s version that C. found this clause rendered Dominus miraculum meum; and Munster cites Onkelos, the Chaldee paraphrast, as his authority for so translating the word נסי; but the text of that paraphrase, as given in Elias Hutter’s Heptateuch, does not justify this singular rendering. — W nis, is undoubtedly always rendered “banner.” Yet I do not deny that the word is here used metaphorically for “exaltation;” as if Moses had said, that the God who had sustained His people was worthy only to be exalted among them.

16. For he said, Because the Lord. “Truly the hand is upon the throne of Jehovah.” — Lat. Margin, A. V., “Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of the Lord, therefore,” etc. Heb.,” The hand upon the throne of the Lord.” Holden agrees with Rosenmuller, and, as he says, the most eminent Biblical critics, in preferring the explanation of the margin, A. V. He confirms by repetition the same declaration which he had lately pronounced from the mouth of God, viz., that God would be ever at war with the Amalekites, until He should have utterly destroyed them. Translators do not agree as to the meaning of the expression, “The hand is upon the throne of the Lord.” Some imagine it to be a form of oath, as though God swore by His throne. Others understand by His throne the Church, which is the rest of God, in which he is said to sit. But I have no doubt but that what was said as to destroying and extinguishing the memory of Amalek is confirmed by this reason, viz., that as God is omnipotent He will contend with this wicked nation. Therefore the hand is said to be upon the throne of God, because he does not sit idly in heaven, (as the Epicureans imagine,) but exercises His dominion in the government of the world, as if he had said, that God, who rules in power, and who by His hand and authority controls and moderates, sustains and overthrows all things, as long as He shall reign upon His throne, endued with supreme and formidable might, will never cease to pursue the Amalekites with His just vengeance. And, indeed, it may have been the case, that He inflicted divers punishments upon them, though their last great overthrow was delayed till the days of Saul.

EXODUS 18

Exodus 18:1-12

1. When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt;

1. Audivit autem Jethro sacerdos Midian, socer Mosis, omnia quae fecerat Jehova Mosi, et Israeli populo suo: nempe quod eduxisset Jehova Israelem ex Aegypto.

2. Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

2. Tulit ergo Jethro socer Mosis uxorem Mosis, postquam miserat eam,

3. And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Getshorn; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

3. Duos quoque filios ejus: quorum nomen unius erat Gerson: quia dixerat, Peregrinus fui in terra aliena.

4. And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

4. Nomen vero secundi Eliezer: quia Deus patris mei in auxilium meum, et eripuit me gladio Pharaonis.

5. And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

5. Venit itaque Jethro socer Mosis, et filii ejus, et uxor ejus ad Mosen in desertum, ubi castra fixerat prope montem Dei.

6. And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

6. Et dixit ad Mosen, Ego socer tuus Jethro venio ad te, et uxor tua, et duo filii ejus cum ea.

7. And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare: and they came into the tent.

7. Egressus autem Moses in occursum soceri sui, incurvavit se atque osculatus est eum: et interrogavit alter alterum de pace, veneruntque in tabernaculum.

8. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them.

8. Et narravit Moses socero suo quaecunque fecerat Jehova Pharaoni et AEgyptiis propter Israel, et omnem molestiam quae invenerat eos in itinere, unde liberaverat eos Jehova.

9. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

9. Et laetatus est Jethro, super omni beneficentia quam exercuerat Jehova erga Israelem qui liberaverat eum e manu Pharaonis.

10. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

10. Et ait Jethro, Benedictus Jehova, qui liberavit vos e manu Aegyptiorum, et e manu Pharaonis, qui liberavit populum e subjectione manus Aegyptiorum.

11. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

11. Nunc cognosco quod magnus Jehova prae omnibus diis: quia secundum rationem qua superbe egerunt contra eos.

12. And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

12. Et accepit Jethro socer Mosis holocaustum et sacrificia ad Deum. Venitque Aharon et omnes seniores Israel ad coinedendum panem cum socero Mosis coram Deo.

CHAPTER 17

Ex 17:1-7. The People Murmur for Water.

1. the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin--In the succinct annals of this book, those places only are selected for particular notice by the inspired historian, which were scenes memorable for their happy or painful interest in the history of the Israelites. A more detailed itinerary is given in the later books of Moses, and we find that here two stations are omitted (Nu 33:1-56).

according to the commandment of the Lord, &c.--not given in oracular response, nor a vision of the night, but indicated by the movement of the cloudy pillar. The same phraseology occurs elsewhere (Nu 9:18, 19).

pitched in Rephidim--now believed, on good grounds, to be Wady Feiran, which is exactly a day's march from Mount Sinai, and at the entrance of the Horeb district. It is a long circuitous defile about forty feet in breadth, with perpendicular granite rocks on both sides. The wilderness of Sin through which they approached to this valley is very barren, has an extremely dry and thirsty aspect, little or no water, scarcely even a dwarfish shrub to be seen, and the only shelter to the panting pilgrims is under the shadow of the great overhanging cliffs.

2-3. the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink, &c.--The want of water was a privation, the severity of which we cannot estimate, and it was a great trial to the Israelites, but their conduct on this new occasion was outrageous; it amounted even to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an opposition to His minister, a distrust of His care, an indifference to His kindness, an unbelief in His providence, a trying of His patience and fatherly forbearance.

4. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people?--His language, instead of betraying any signs of resentment or vindictive imprecation on a people who had given him a cruel and unmerited treatment, was the expression of an anxious wish to know what was the best to be done in the circumstances (compare Mt 5:44; Ro 12:21).

5. the Lord said unto Moses, &c.--not to smite the rebels, but the rock; not to bring a stream of blood from the breast of the offenders, but a stream of water from the granite cliffs. The cloud rested on a particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant Saviour was lodged [Mt 2:9]. And from the rod-smitten rock there forthwith gushed a current of pure and refreshing water. It was perhaps the greatest miracle performed by Moses, and in many respects bore a resemblance to the greatest of Christ's: being done without ostentation and in the presence of a few chosen witnesses (1Co 10:4).

7. called the name of the place--Massah ("temptation"); Meribah ("chiding," "strife"): the same word which is rendered "provocation" (He 3:8).

Ex 17:8-16. Attack of Amalek.

8. Then came Amalek--Some time probably elapsed before they were exposed to this new evil; and the presumption of there being such an interval affords the only ground on which we can satisfactorily account for the altered, the better, and former spirit that animated the people in this sudden contest. The miracles of the manna and the water from the rock had produced a deep impression and permanent conviction that God was indeed among them; and with feelings elevated by the conscious experience of the Divine Presence and aid, they remained calm, resolute, and courageous under the attack of their unexpected foe.

fought with Israel--The language implies that no occasion had been furnished for this attack; but, as descendants of Esau, the Amalekites entertained a deep-seated grudge against them, especially as the rapid prosperity and marvellous experience of Israel showed that the blessing contained in the birthright was taking effect. It seems to have been a mean, dastardly, insidious surprise on the rear (Nu 24:20; De 25:17), and an impious defiance of God.

9. Moses said unto Joshua--or, "Jesus" (Ac 7:45; He 4:8). This is the earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is not here a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as according to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trained than themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and open country around this wady would afford ample space [Robinson].

10-12. Moses ... went up ... the hill ... held up his hand--with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.

13. Joshua discomfited Amalek--Victory at length decided in favor of Israel, and the glory of the victory, by an act of national piety, was ascribed to God (compare 1Jo 5:4).

14-16. Write this for a memorial--If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Psa 83:4).

Pitched in Rephidim - In Num 33:12-14 it is said, that when the Israelites came from Sin they encamped in Dophkah, and next in Alush, after which they came to Rephidim. Here, therefore, two stations are omitted, probably because nothing of moment took place at either. See the notes on Numbers 33 (note).

Why chide ye with me? - God is your leader, complain to him; Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? As he is your leader, all your murmurings against me he considers as directed against himself; why therefore do ye tempt him? Has he not given you sufficient proofs that he can destroy his enemies and support his friends? And is he not among you to do you good? Exo 17:7. Why therefore do ye doubt his power and goodness, and thus provoke him to treat you as his enemies?

And the people murmured - The reader must not forget what has so often been noted relating to the degraded state of the minds of the Israelites. A strong argument however may be drawn from this in favor of their supernatural escape from Egypt. Had it been a scheme concerted by the heads of the people, provision would necessarily have been made for such exigencies as these. But as God chose to keep them constantly dependent upon himself for every necessary of life, and as they had Moses alone as their mediator to look to, they murmured against him when brought into straits and difficulties, regretted their having left Egypt, and expressed the strongest desire to return. This shows that they had left Egypt reluctantly; and as Moses and Aaron never appear to have any resources but those which came most evidently in a supernatural way, therefore the whole exodus or departure from Egypt proves itself to have been no human contrivance, but a measure concerted by God himself.

I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb - The rock, הצור hatstsur. It seems as if God had directed the attention of Moses to a particular rock, with which he was well acquainted; for every part of the mount and its vicinity must have been well known to Moses during the time he kept Jethro's flocks in those quarters. Dr. Priestley has left the following sensible observations upon this miracle: - "The luminous cloud, the symbol of the Divine presence, would appear on the rock, and Horeb was probably a part of the same mountain with Sinai. This supply of water, on Moses only striking the rock, where no water had been before nor has been since, was a most wonderful display of the Divine power. The water must have been in great abundance to supply two millions of persons, which excluded all possibility of artifice or imposture in the case. The miracle must also have been of some continuance, no doubt so long as they continued in that neighborhood, which was more than a year. There are sufficient traces of this extraordinary miracle remaining at this day. This rock has been visited, drawn, and described by Dr. Shaw, Dr. Pocock, and others; and holes and channels appear in the stone, which could only have been formed by the bursting out and running of the water. No art of man could have done it, if any motive could be supposed for the undertaking in such a place as this."

This miracle has not escaped the notice of the ancient Greek poets. Callimachus represents Rhea bringing forth water from a rock in the same way, after the birth of Jupiter. Πληξεν ορος σκηπτρῳ, το δε οἱ δεχα πουλυ διεστη. Εκ δ' εχεεν μεγα χευμα.

Hymn ad Jov., ver. 31. - With her scepter struck

The yawning cliff; from its disparted height

Adown the mount the gushing torrent ran.

Prior.

The rock mentioned above has been seen and described by Norden, p. 144, 8vo.; Dr. Shaw, p. 314, 4th., where there is an accurate drawing of it; Dr. Pocock, vol. i., p. 143, etc., where the reader may find some fine plates of Mount Horeb and Sinai, and four different views of the wonderful rock of Meribah. It is a vast block of red granite, fifteen feet long, ten broad, and twelve high. See Dr. Shaw's account at the end of Exodus. My nephew, who visited this rock in 1823, confirms the account of the preceding travelers, and has brought a piece of this wonderful stone. The granite is fine, and the quartz mica, and feldspar equally mixed in it. This rock or block of granite is the only type of Christ now existing.

He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah - מסה Massah signifies temptation or trial; and מריבה Meribah, contention or litigation. From 1Cor 10:4, we learn that this rock was a type of Christ, and their drinking of it is represented as their being made partakers of the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus; and yet many who drank fell and perished in the wilderness in the very act of disobedience! Reader, be not high minded, but fear! On the smiting of the rock by the rod of Moses, Mr. Ainsworth has the following pious note: "This rock signified Christ, and is therefore called a spiritual Rock, 1Cor 10:4. He being smitten with Moses's rod, and bearing the curse of the law for our sins, and by the preaching of the Gospel crucified among his people, Gal 3:1, from him floweth the spiritual drink wherewith all believing hearts are refreshed." Joh 7:37, and Isa 53:1-3.

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel - The Amalekites seem to have attacked the Israelites in the same way and through the same motives that the wandering Arabs attack the caravans which annually pass through the same desert. It does not appear that the Israelites gave them any kind of provocation, they seem to have attacked them merely through the hopes of plunder. The Amalekites were the posterity of Amalek, one of the dukes of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, and consequently Israel's brother, Gen 36:15, Gen 36:16.

Fought with Israel - In the most treacherous and dastardly manner; for they came at the rear of the camp, smote the hindmost of the people, even all that were feeble behind, when they were faint and weary; see Deu 25:18. The baggage, no doubt, was the object of their avarice; but finding the women, children, aged and infirm persons, behind with the baggage, they smote them and took away their spoils.

Moses said unto Joshua - This is the first place in which Joshua the son of Nun is mentioned: the illustrious part which he took in Jewish affairs, till the settlement of his countrymen in the promised land, is well known. He was captain-general of the Hebrews under Moses; and on this great man's death he became his successor in the government. Joshua was at first called Hoshea, Num 13:16, and afterwards called Joshua by Moses. Both in the Septuagint and Greek Testament he is called Jesus: the name signifies Savior; and he is allowed to have been a very expressive type of our blessed Lord. He fought with and conquered the enemies of his people, brought them into the promised land, and divided it to them by lot. The parallel between him and the Savior of the world is too evident to require pointing out.

Top of the hill - Probably some part of Horeb or Sinai, to which they were then near.

Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up - It is likely that the Hur mentioned here is the same with that Hur mentioned 1Chr 2:19, who appears from the chronology in that chapter to have been the son of Caleb, the son of Ezron, the son of Pharez, the son of Judah. The rabbins and Josephus say he was the brother-in-law of Moses, having married his sister Miriam. He was a person in whom Moses put much confidence; for he left him conjoint governor of the people with Aaron, when he went to confer with God on the mount, Exo 24:14. His grandson Bezaleel was the chief director in the work of the tabernacle; see Exo 31:2-5.

When Moses held up his hand - We cannot understand this transaction in any literal way; for the lifting up or letting down the hands of Moses could not, humanly speaking, influence the battle. It is likely that he held up the rod of God in his hand, Exo 17:9, as an ensign to the people. We have already seen that in prayer the hands were generally lifted up and spread out, (See Clarke's note on Exo 9:29), and therefore it is likely that by this act prayer and supplication are intended. The Jerusalem Targum says, "When Moses held up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands from prayer, the house of Amalek prevailed." We may therefore conclude, that by holding up the hands in this case these two things were intended:

1. That hereby a reference was made to God, as the source whence all help and protection must come, and that on him alone they must depend.

2. That prayer and supplication to God are essentially necessary to their prevalence over all their enemies.

It is indisputably true that, while the hands are stretched out, that is, while the soul exerts itself in prayer and supplication to God, we are sure to conquer our spiritual adversaries; but if our hands become heavy - if we restrain prayer before God, Amalek will prevail - every spiritual foe, every internal corruption, will gain ground. Several of the fathers consider Moses, with his stretched-out hands, as a figure of Christ on the cross, suffering for mankind, and getting a complete victory over sin and Satan.

Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people - Amalek might have been the name of the ruler of this people continued down from their ancestor, (see Clarke on Exo 17:8 (note)), as Pharaoh was the name of all succeeding kings in Egypt. If this were the case, then Amalek and his people mean the prince and the army that fought under him. But if Amalek stand here for the Amalekites, then his people must mean the confederates he had employed on this occasion.

Write this for a memorial in a book - This is the first mention of writing on record: what it signified, or how it was done, we cannot tell. But it is evident that either this passage is introduced here instead of Deu 25:17, by way of anticipation, or that by the words כתב שפר kethob and sepher was intended only a monumental declaration of the defeat of Amalek by Joshua, by some action or symbolical representation; for it is immediately subjoined, "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi." See Dr. A. Bayley, and see the note on Exodus 30 (note). It is very likely that the first regular alphabetical writing in the world was that written by the finger of God himself on the two tables of stone. What is said here was probably by way of anticipation, or means some other method of registering events than by alphabetical characters, if we allow that God gave the first specimen of regular writing on the tables of stone, which did not take place till some time after this.

Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua - Thus showing that Joshua was to succeed Moses, and that this charge should be given to every succeeding governor.

I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek - This threatening was accomplished by Saul, 1Sam 15:3, etc.; four hundred and twelve years after. Judgment is God's strange work; but it must take place when the sins which incensed it are neither repented of nor forsaken. This people, by their continued transgressions, proved themselves totally unworthy of a political existence; and therefore said God to Saul, Go, and utterly destroy the Sinners the Amalekites; 1Sam 15:18. So their continuance in sin was the cause of their final destruction.

Jehovah-nissi - Jehovah is my ensign or banner. The hands and rod of Moses were held up as soldiers are wont to hold up their standards in the time of battle; and as these standards bear the arms of the country, the soldiers are said to fight under that banner, i.e., under the direction and in the defense of that government. Thus the Israelites fought under the direction of God, and in the defense of his truth; and therefore the name of Jehovah became the armorial bearing of the whole congregation. By his direction they fought, and in his name and strength they conquered; each one feeling himself, not his own, but the Lord's soldier.

The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, etc. - This is no translation of the words כי יד על כס יה מלחמה ki yad al kes yah milckamah, which have been variously rendered by different translators and critics; the most rational version of which is the following: Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of God, therefore will I have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This gives a tolerably consistent sense, yet still there is considerable obscurity in the passage. Houbigant, a most judicious though bold critic, supposes that, as יהוה נסי Jehovah-nissi, Jehovah my ensign, was spoken of immediately before, כס kes, a throne, in this verse, is an error of some transcriber for נס nes, an ensign, which might be readily occasioned by the great similarity between the כ caph and the נ nun. He thinks farther that the two letters יה yah, which are supposed to be here a contraction of the word יהוה Yehovah, are separated, the י yod from the נס nes, which should be written נשי nissi, and the ה he, from מלחמה milchamah, which should be written המלחמה hammilchamah, and then the whole verse will run thus: For the hand shall be upon the ensigns of war unto the Lord, against Amalek for ever, i.e., God makes now a declaration of war against the Amalekites, which shall continue till their final destruction. The conjecture of Mr. Julius Bate, in his Literal Translation of the Pentateuch, deserves attention. He supposes that, as כס cos signifies a cup, and a cup is emblematically used for wrath, on one of the stones of the altar, mentioned in the preceding verse, a hand holding a cup was sculptured, this being a memorial, according to the custom of hieroglyphical writing, that the Lord would continue the cup of wrath, portending continual war, against Amalek for ever. I prefer Houbigant's exposition.

1. This first victory of Israel must have inspired them with a considerable measure of confidence in God, and in his servant Moses. Though God alone could give them the victory, yet it was necessary to show them that it was by the influence of Moses they got it. Moses could not deliver Amalek into their hands; yet if Moses did not continue to hold up his hands, i.e., to pray, Amalek must prevail. God, therefore, wrought this work in such a way as to instruct the people, promote his own glory, and secure the true honor of his servant. The Divine Being always performs the greatest number possible of ends, by the fewest and simplest means. In every work of God there is as much of wisdom and economy, as there is of sovereign uncontrolled power.

2. It is not probable that the people whom Joshua chose out to lead against Amalek were unarmed; and we have already seen that it is not at all likely that they came armed out of Egypt. And as the whole circumstances of this case show that those who fought against the Amalekites were properly equipped for the fight, we may then safely presume that they got their arms from the Egyptians, whose bodies were thrown on the shore after having been overwhelmed in the Red Sea. Thus, what was a judgment in the one case, was a most gracious providence in the other. Judgment on God's foes is mercy to his friends.

3. Of the efficacy of prayer we have already had the most striking examples. He who has the spirit of prayer, has the highest interest in the court of heaven; and the only way to retain it, is to keep it in constant employment. Apostasy begins in the closet: no man ever backslid from the life and power of Christianity who continued constant and fervent, especially in private prayer. He who prays without ceasing is likely to rejoice evermore.

They journeyed according to the commandment of the Lord, led by the pillar of cloud and fire, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink - We may be in the way of our duty, and yet meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into for the trial of our faith.

Go on before the people - Though they spake of stoning him. He must take his rod with him, not to summon some plague to chastise them, but to fetch water for their supply. O the wonderful patience and forbearance of God towards provoking sinners! He maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him. If God had only shewed Moses a fountain of water in the wilderness, as he did to Hagar, not far from hence, Gen 21:19, that had been a great favour; but that he might shew his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. He directed Moses whither to go, appointed him to take of the elders of Israel with him, to be witnesses of what was done, ordered him to smite the rock, which he did, and immediately water came out of it in great abundance, which ran throughout the camp in streams and rivers, Psa 78:15,16, and followed them wherever they went in that wilderness: God shewed his care of his people in giving them water when they wanted it; his own power in fetching it out of a rock, and put an honour upon Moses in appointing the water to flow out upon his smiting of the rock. This fair water that came out of the rock is called honey and oil, Deu 32:13, because the people's thirst made it doubly pleasant; coming when they were in extreme want. It is probable that the people digged canals for the conveyance of it, and pools for the reception of it. Let this direct us to live in a dependance, Upon God's providence even in the greatest straits and difficulties; And upon Christ's grace; that rock was Christ, 1Cor 10:4. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to rivers of living waters, John 7:38,39 4:14. These flow from Christ. And nothing will supply the needs and satisfy the desires of a soul but water out of this rock. A new name was upon this occasion given to the place, preserving the remembrance of their murmuring, Massah - Temptation, because they tempted God, Meribah - Strife, because they chide with Moses.

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel - The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated Jacob because of the birth - right and blessing. They did not boldly front them as a generous enemy, but without any provocation given, basely fell upon their rear, and smote them that were faint and feeble.

I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my land - See how God qualifies his people for, and calls them to various services for the good of his church; Joshua fights, Moses prays, and both minister to Israel. This rod Moses held up, not so much to Israel as to animate them; as to God by way of appeal to him; Is not the battle the Lord's? Is not he able to help, and engaged to help? Witness this rod! Moses was not only a standard - bearer, but an intercessor, pleading with God for success and victory.

Hur is supposed to have been the husband of Miriam.

And when Moses held vp his hand in prayer (so the Chaldee explains it) Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand from prayer, Amalek prevailed - To convince Israel that the hand of Moses (with whom they had just now been chiding) contributed more to their safety than their own hands; the success rises and falls, as Moses lifts up or lets down his hand. The church's cause is ordinarily more or less successful, according as the church's friends are more or less fervent in prayer.

Though God gave the victory, yet it is said Joshua discomfited Amalek, because Joshua was a type of Christ, and of the same name, and in him it is that we are more than conquerors.

And Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah - niffi - The Lord is my banner. The presence and power of Jehovah was the banner under which they were lifted, by which they were animated, and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners: He that doth all the work should have all the praise. Write this for a memorial - This is the first mention of writing we find in scripture; and perhaps the command was not given till after the writing of the law on tables of stone.

1 AND all the Congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys , according to the Commandment of the LORD , and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

By divers stations, recorded Numb. 33. 12, 13. &c. but here omitted, because there was nothing extraordinary hapned in them.

Expressed either by word of mouth, or by the motion or rest of the cloudy pillar, Exod. 13. 21.

2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD ?

By distrusting Gods power and providence, and faithfulness and goodness, upon such a small occasion, by refusing to submit to Gods will, and to wait upon him by humble and servent prayers for relief, and in stead thereof quarrelling with me as if it were my fault, and murmuring against God under my name.

Marginal references: Numb. 20. 4.; Psal. 78. 41. 1 Cor. 10. 9.

5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the Elders of Israel : and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river , take in thine hand, and go.

That they may be eye-witnesses of this glorious work, and may report it to the people.

Either the Red-sea; for an arm of the Sea is sometimes called a river: or, the river Nilas.

Marginal references: chap. 7. 20.

6 Behold, I will stand before thee there , upon the rock in Horeb , and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall water come out of it. And Moses did so , in the sight of the Elders of Israel.

In my cloudy pillar, which shall stand over that place.

Horeb and Sinai are sometimes spoken of as the same place, and sometimes as two differing places, as here compared with Exod. 19. 2. The learned write, that this was one long mountain, whereof there were two eminent parts or tops, the one at a considerable distance from the other, and Horeb was the first part of it, and near Rephidim, and Sinai, the more remote, to which they came afterwards.

(i. e.) Smote the rock and the waters flowed out plentifully and continually, making a river, which God caused to follow them to their several Stations. See 1 Cor. 10. 4.

Marginal references: Numb. 20. [illegible: 1+ letters]. Psal. 78. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. & 105. 41. Wisd. 11. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD amongst us , or not?

Viz. To protect and provide for us according to his word given to us. Will God be as good as his word, or will he not? for it is to us very doubtful.

Marginal references: That is, tentation.; That is, chiding or strife.

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

When they were upon their march from Rephidim to Horeb, Deut. 25. 17, 18.

The ground of the quarrel was the prosecution of the old hatred of Esau against Iacob, and the revenging of themselves and their father upon the posterity of Iacob: for which they thought this the fittest season, they being now a great and potent people, Numb. 24. 20. and Israel now weak and unarmed and dispirited with long servitude.

Marginal references: Deut. 25. 17. 1 Sam. 15. 2. Wisd. 11. 4.

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Chuse 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.

Out of the camp, to meet the enemy.

Both to observe thy carriage, and success or defeat, that I may govern my self accordingly, and that I may in that retirement pour out my soul [illegible: 1+ letters]to the Lord of hosts that he may give thee victory.

[illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] having done so great exploits formerly, doubt no[illegible: 1+ letters] of the same▪ divine assistance to accompany it and make thee victorious.

Marginal references: Called Iesus, Act. 7. 45.; chap. 4. 20.

10 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.

A person of eminency both for wisdom and experience and for place and authority, supposed to be the husband of Miriam. See Exod. 24. 14.

11 And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand , that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed .

With the rod of God in it. This gesture, though fervent prayer was doubtless joyned with it, seems not to have been the gesture of one praying, which is the lifting up of both hands, but of an Ensign-bearer, or of one ready to smite his enemies. Howsoever this was onely a sign whereby Moses strengthned his faith and quickned his prayers and heightned the courage of the Souldiers below, and protested that he expected victory not from the skill and prowess of his Army, but from the assistance of God.

God so dispensing his favour, that the honour of the day and victory might be wholly ascribed to the rod and power of God, not to Israel.

12 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 untill the going down of the Sun.

Not that both hands were erected and joyned together, which was not a fit posture for one holding a rod in his hand, but that Moses shifted the rod out of one hand into the other when the former was weary, and that Aaron and Hur did each of them with both hands hold up that hand which was next to them successively, that they also might relieve one the other.

13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek, and his people , with the edge of the sword.

Either 1. The King of the Amalekites, and his people: or 2. the people of the Amalekites, and those other people who were leagued with them.

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua : for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven .

Even in this book, which Moses was to write by Gods inspiration and appointment. See Exod. 34. 27. Deut. 31. 9, 22.

Thy successour and the captain of my people, that he and all succeeding governours may watch all occasions to execute this command.

(i. e.) I will utterly destroy them: for a person or people dead or destroyed are soon forgotten. Psal. 31. 12. and the grave is called the land of forgetfulness, Psal. 88. 12. Or thus, though they are now a numerous and flourishing people and in great repute, I will make them few and inglorious, for such are little minded or remembered: for this is not to be understood absolutely of a speedy and utter extinction of them, for he supposeth their being from generation to generation v. 16. but comparatively.

From the face of the whole earth.

Marginal references: Num. 24. 2[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 1 Sam. 15. 3▪ [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ and 30. 1, 17. 2 Sam. 8. 12. Esth. 9. 14.

15 And Moses built an Altar and called the name of it JEHOVAH-nissi.

Both for the offering of sacrifices of praise unto God, and to be a monument of this victory and of the Author of it.

viz. Of the Altar, which he so calls metonymically, because it was the sign and monument of Iehovah Nissi; even as circumcision is called Gods covenant. Gen. 17. 13. and the lamb the passeover, Exod. 12. 11. and the cup, the new Testament, Luk. 22. 20. because they were the signs of them. Or the word, altar, is to be repeated out of the former member, which is frequent, and the place to be read thus, he called the name of it, the altar of Iehovah nissi. Or the name given to it signifies onely the inscription ingraven upon it, which was not the single name of God, but an entire sentence, the lord is my banner. By which words he takes all the praise of the victory from the Israelites, and gives it to God.

Marginal references: That is, the LORD my [illegible: 1 word] ner.

16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworne that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Or, And, as the Hebrew particle properly signifies: for these words are not a reason of the passage next preceding, but an additional sentence.

Or, surely, as that particle is oft used, as Iob 8. 6. and 20. 20. Psal. 10. 14. and 44. 22, &c. [illegible: 1 word] Heb. the hand upon the throne of the Lord, for the hand of the Lord upon his throne, which is perfectly the same thing, onely the order of the words is a little varied after the manner of the Hebrew tongue. These words then are a paraphrastical description of a solemn oath, by the usual posture of it, viz. the listing up the hand, which is usually put for swearing, and in that sence is ascribed both to men, as Gen. 14. 22. and to God, as Deut. 32. 40. And this hand of God lifted up upon his throne, where his Majesty doth peculiarly and gloriously dwell, signifies that God swears by himself, as is said, Heb. 6. 13. And thus the Chaldee and Arabick Interpreters understand it. Others render the place thus, Because the hand (or, his hand, the pronoun being here understood, as it frequently is in the Hebrew language, of which several instances have been given before, i. e. the hand of Amalek, which may easily be understood out of the following clause in which Amalek is named) was against the throne of the Lord; i. e. was stretched out against God himself; for so God esteems it because it was done against that people among whom God had placed his throne or seat or dwelling, according to his covenant made with them; which also was well known to the Amalekites by the relation of their progenitours, who in all probability had acquainted them with their own rights, and with Iacobs arts whereby he robbed Esau, the father of Amalek, Gen. 36. 15, 16. of his birthright and blessing and consequently of the land of Canaan, to which now God was bringing them, that he might plant them there and set up his throne among them. And the Amalekites doubtless heard, as the other neighbours also did, in what a miraculous manner God had brought them out of Egypt and over the Red-sea. And they knew better then others, by tradition from their Parents that God had promised Canaan to them, and now they saw that he was conducting them thither. And therefore to prevent this they now commence a War against them and against God or his throne, whose presence with and conduct over them was most manifest: which was a great aggravation of their sin. And this latter translation and interpretation seems most probable, 1. because it exactly agrees with the Hebrew words and the order in which they are placed. 2. It makes the coherence more clear than our translation doth, the former part of the verse containing a reason of the latter, to wit, of that severe curse and everlasting war denounced against Amalek, because they attempted by force to overthrow Gods throne and people, and that with so many aggravating circumstances, of which see Deut. 25. 17, 18.

Marginal references: Or, because[illegible: 1+ letters] hand of [illegible: 1 word] is against the throne of the LORD, there[illegible: 1+ letters] &c.; Heb. the [illegible: 1 word] upon th[illegible: 1+ letters]t [illegible: 1 word] of the LORD▪

Exo 17:2-6

As there was no water to drink in Rephidim, the people murmured against Moses, for having brought them out of Egypt to perish with thirst in the wilderness. This murmuring Moses called “tempting God,” i.e., unbelieving doubt in the gracious presence of the Lord to help them (Exo 17:7). In this the people manifested not only their ingratitude to Jehovah, who had hitherto interposed so gloriously and miraculously in every time of distress or need, but their distrust in the guidance of Jehovah and the divine mission of Moses, and such impatience of unbelief as threatened to break out into open rebellion against Moses. “Yet a little,” he said to God (i.e., a very little more), “and they stone me;” and the divine long-suffering and grace interposed in this case also, and provided for the want without punishing their murmuring. Moses was to pass on before the people, and, taking some of the elders with him, and his staff with which he smote the Nile, to go to the rock at Horeb, and smite upon the rock with the staff, at the place where God should stand before him, and water would come out of the rock. The elders were to be eye-witnesses of the miracle, that they might bear their testimony to it before the unbelieving people, “ne dicere possint, jam ab antiquis temporibus fontes ibi fuisse” (Rashi). Jehovah’s standing before Moses upon the rock, signified the gracious assistance of God. לפני עמד frequently denotes the attitude of a servant when standing before his master, to receive and execute his commands. Thus Jehovah condescended to come to the help of Moses, and assist His people with His almighty power. His gracious presence caused water to flow out of the hard dry rock, though not till Moses struck it with his staff, that the people might acknowledge him afresh as the possessor of supernatural and miraculous powers. The precise spot at which the water was smitten out of the rock cannot be determined; for there is no reason whatever for fixing upon the summit of the present Horeb, Ras el Sufsafeh, from which you can take in the whole of the plain of er Rahah (Robinson, i. p. 154).

Exo 17:7

From this behaviour of the unbelieving nation the place received the names Massah and Meribah, “temptation and murmuring,” that this sin of the people might never be forgotten (cf. Deu 6:16; Psa 78:20; Psa 95:8; Psa 105:41).

Exo 17:8-13

The want of water had only just been provided for, when Israel had to engage in a conflict with the Amalekites, who had fallen upon their rear and smitten it (Deu 25:18). The expansion of this tribe, that was descended from a grandson of Esau (see Gen 36:12), into so great a power even in the Mosaic times, is perfectly conceivable, if we imagine the process to have been analogous to that which we have already described in the case of the leading branches of the Edomites, who had grown into a powerful nation through the subjugation and incorporation of the earlier population of Mount Seir. The Amalekites had no doubt come to the neighbourhood of Sinai for the same reason for which, even in the present day, the Bedouin Arabs leave the lower districts at the beginning of summer, and congregate in the mountain regions of the Arabian peninsula, viz., because the grass is dried up in the former, whereas in the latter the pasturage remains green much longer, on account of the climate being comparatively cooler (Burckhardt, Syr. p. 789). There they fell upon the Israelites, probably in the Sheikh valley, where the rear had remained behind the main body, not merely for the purpose of plundering or of disputing the possession of this district and its pasture ground with the Israelites, but to assail Israel as the nation of God, and if possible to destroy it. The divine command to exterminate Amalek (Exo 17:14) points to this; and still more the description given of the Amalekites in Balaam’s utterances, as גּוים ראשׁית, “the beginning,” i.e., the first and foremost of the heathen nations (Num 24:20). In Amalek the heathen world commenced that conflict with the people of God, which, while it aims at their destruction, can only be terminated by the complete annihilation of the ungodly powers of the world. Earlier theologians pointed out quite correctly the deepest ground for the hostility of the Amalekites, when they traced the causa belli to this fact, “quod timebat Amalec, qui erat de semine Esau, jam implendam benedictionem, quam Jacob obtinuit et praeripuit ipsi Esau, praesertim cum in magna potentia venirent Israelitae, ut promissam occuparent terram” Münster, C. a Lapide, etc.). This peculiar significance in the conflict is apparent, not only from the divine command to exterminate the Amalekites, and to carry on the war of Jehovah with Amalek from generation to generation (Exo 17:14 and Exo 17:16), but also from the manner in which Moses led the Israelites to battle and to victory. Whereas he had performed all the miracles in Egypt and on the journey by stretching out his staff, on this occasion he directed his servant Joshua to choose men for the war, and to fight the battle with the sword. He himself went with Aaron and Hur to the summit of a hill to hold up the staff of God in his hands, that he might procure success to the warriors through the spiritual weapons of prayer.

The proper name of Joshua, who appears here for the first time in the service of Moses, as Hosea (הושׁע); he was a prince of the tribe of Ephraim (Num 13:8, Num 13:16; Deu 32:44). The name יהושׁע, “Jehovah is help” (or, God-help), he probably received at the time when he entered Moses’ service, either before or after the battle with the Amalekites (see Num 13:16, and Hengstenberg, Dissertations, vol. ii.). Hur, who also held a prominent position in the nation, according to Exo 24:14, in connection with Aaron, was the son of Caleb, the son of Hezron, the grandson of Judah (1Ch 2:18-20), and the grandfather of Bezaleel, the architect of the tabernacle (Exo 31:2; Exo 35:30; Exo 38:22, cf. 1Ch 2:19-20). According to Jewish tradition, he was the husband of Miriam.

The battle was fought on the day after the first attack (Exo 17:9). The hill (גּבעה, not Mount Horeb), upon the summit of which Moses took up his position during the battle, along with Aaron and Hur, cannot be fixed upon with exact precision, but it was probably situated in the table-land of Fureia, to the north of er Rahah and the Sheikh valley, which is a fertile piece of pasture ground (Burckhardt, p. 801; Robinson, i. pp. 139, 215), or else in the plateau which runs to the north-east of the Horeb mountains and to the east of the Sheikh valley, with the two peaks Umlanz and Um Alawy; supposing, that is, that the Amalekites attacked the Israelites from Wady Muklifeh or es Suweiriyeh. Moses went to the top of the hill that he might see the battle from thence. He took Aaron and Hur with him, not as adjutants to convey his orders to Joshua and the army engaged, but to support him in his own part in connection with the conflict. This was to hold up his hand with the staff of God in it. To understand the meaning of this sign, it must be borne in mind that, although Exo 17:11 merely speaks of the raising and dropping of the hand (in the singular), yet, according to Exo 17:12, both hands were supported by Aaron and Hur, who stood one on either side, so that Moses did not hold up his hands alternately, but grasped the staff with both his hands, and held it up with the two. The lifting up of the hands has been regarded almost with unvarying unanimity by Targumists, Rabbins, Fathers, Reformers, and nearly all the more modern commentators, as the sign or attitude of prayer. Kurtz, on the contrary, maintains, in direct opposition to the custom observed throughout the whole of the Old Testament by all pious and earnest worshipers, of lifting up their hands to God in heaven, that this view attributes an importance to the outward form of prayer which has no analogy even in the Old Testament; he therefore agrees with Lakemacher, in Rosenmüller's Scholien, in regarding the attitude of Moses with his hand lifted up as “the attitude of a commander superintending and directing the battle,” and the elevation of the hand as only the means adopted for raising the staff, which was elevated in the sight of the warriors of Israel as the banner of victory. But this meaning cannot be established from Exo 17:15 and Exo 17:16. For the altar with the name “Jehovah my banner,” and the watchword “the hand on the banner of Jehovah, war of the Lord against Amalek,” can neither be proved to be connected with the staff which Moses held in his hand, nor be adduced as a proof that Moses held the staff in front of the Israelites as the banner of victory. The lifting up of the staff of God was, no doubt, a banner to the Israelites of victory over their foes, but not in this sense, that Moses directed the battle as commander-in-chief, for he had transferred the command to Joshua; nor yet in this sense, that he imparted divine powers to the warriors by means of the staff, and so secured the victory. To effect this, he would not have lifted it up, but have stretched it out, either over the combatants, or at all events towards them, as in the case of all the other miracles that were performed with the staff. The lifting up of the staff secured to the warriors the strength needed to obtain the victory, from the fact that by means of the staff Moses brought down this strength from above, i.e., from the Almighty God in heaven; not indeed by a merely spiritless and unthinking elevation of the staff, but by the power of his prayer, which was embodied in the lifting up of his hands with the staff, and was so far strengthened thereby, that God had chosen and already employed this staff as a medium of the saving manifestation of His almighty power. There is no other way in which we can explain the effect produced upon the battle by the raising and dropping (הניח) of the staff in his hands. As long as Moses held up the staff, he drew down from God victorious powers for the Israelites by means of his prayer; but when he let it fall through the exhaustion of the strength of his hands, he ceased to draw down the power of God, and Amalek gained the upper hand. The staff, therefore, as it was stretched out on high, was not a sign to the Israelites that were fighting, for it is by no means certain that they could see it in the heat of the battle; but it was a sign to Jehovah, carrying up, as it were, to God the wishes and prayers of Moses, and bringing down from God victorious powers for Israel. If the intention had been the hold it up before the Israelites as a banner of victory. Moses would not have withdrawn to a hill apart from the field of battle, but would either have carried it himself in front of the army, or have given it to Joshua as commander, to be borne by him in front of the combatants, or else have entrusted it to Aaron, who had performed the miracles in Egypt, that he might carry it at their head. The pure reason why Moses did not do this, but withdrew from the field of battle to lift up the staff of God upon the summit of a hill, and to secure the victory by so doing, is to be found in the important character of the battle itself. As the heathen world was now commencing its conflict with the people of God in the persons of the Amalekites, and the prototype of the heathen world, with its hostility to God, was opposing the nation of the Lord, that had been redeemed from the bondage of Egypt and was on its way to Canaan, to contest its entrance into the promised inheritance; so the battle which Israel fought with this foe possessed a typical significance in relation to all the future history of Israel. It could not conquer by the sword alone, but could only gain the victory by the power of God, coming down from on high, and obtained through prayer and those means of grace with which it had been entrusted. The means now possessed by Moses were the staff, which was, as it were, a channel through which the powers of omnipotence were conducted to him. In most cases he used it under the direction of God; but God had not promised him miraculous help for the conflict with the Amalekites, and for this reason he lifted up his hands with the staff in prayer to God, that he might thereby secure the assistance of Jehovah for His struggling people. At length he became exhausted, and with the falling of his hands and the staff he held, the flow of divine power ceased, so that it was necessary to support his arms, that they might be kept firmly directed upwards (אמוּנה, lit., firmness) until the enemy was entirely subdued. And from this Israel was to learn the lesson, that in all its conflicts with the ungodly powers of the world, strength for victory could only be procured through the incessant lifting up of its hands in prayer. “And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people (the Amalekites and their people) with the edge of the sword” (i.e., without quarter. See Gen 34:26).

Exo 17:14

As this battle and victory were of such significance, Moses was to write it for a memorial בּסּפר, in “the book” appointed for a record of the wonderful works of God, and “to put it into the ears of Joshua,” i.e., to make known to him, and impress upon him, that Jehovah would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; not “in order that he might carry out this decree of God on the conquest of Canaan, as Knobel supposes, but to strengthen his confidence in the help of the Lord against all the enemies of Israel. In Deu 25:19 the Israelites are commanded to exterminate Amalek, when God should have given them rest in the land of Canaan from all their enemies round about.

Exo 17:15-16

To praise God for His help, Moses built an altar, which he called “Jehovah my banner,” and said, when he did so, “The hand on the throne (or banner) of Jah! War to the Lord from generation to generation!” There is nothing said about sacrifices being offered upon this altar. It has been conjectured, therefore, that as a place of worship and thank-offering, the altar with its expressive name was merely to serve as a memorial to posterity of the gracious help of the Lord, and that the words which were spoken by Moses were to serve as a watchword for Israel, keeping this act of God in lively remembrance among the people in all succeeding generations. כּי (Exo 17:16) merely introduces the words as in Gen 4:23, etc. The expression יהּ על־כּס יד is obscure, chiefly on account of the ἁπ λεγ. כּס. In the ancient versions (with the exception of the Septuagint, in which יה כץ is treated as one word, and rendered κρυφαία) כּס is taken to be equivalent to כּסּה   (1Ki 10:19; Job 26:9) for כּסּא, and the clause is rendered “the hand upon the throne of the Lord.” But whilst some understand the laying of the hand (sc., of God) upon the throne to be expressive of the attitude of swearing, others regard the hand as symbolical of power. There are others again, like Clericus, who suppose the hand to denote the hand laid by the Amalekites upon the throne of the Lord, i.e., on Israel. But if כּס signifies throng or adytum arcanum, the words can hardly be understood in any other sense than “the hand lifted up to the throne of Jehovah in heaven, war to the Lord,” etc.; and thus understood, they can only contain an admonition to Israel to follow the example of Moses, and wage war against Amalek with the hands lifted up to the throne of Jehovah. Modern expositors, however, for the most part regard כּס as a corruption of נס, “the hand on the banner of the Lord.” But even admitting this, though many objections may be offered to its correctness, we must not understand by “the banner of Jehovah” the staff of Moses, but only the altar with the name Jehovah-nissi, as the symbol or memorial of the victorious help afforded by God in the battle with the Amalekites.

The Israelites Murmur for Water. (b. c. 1491.)

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord , and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord ? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried unto the Lord , saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, 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 chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord , saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

Here is, I. The strait that the children of Israel were in for want of water; once before the were in the like distress, and now, a second time, v. 1. They journeyed according to the commandment of the Lord, led by the pillar of cloud and fire, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink. Note, We may be in the way of our duty, and yet may meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into for the trial of our faith, and that God may be glorified in our relief.

II. Their discontent and distrust in this strait. It is said (v. 3), They thirsted there for water. If they had no water to drink, they must needs thirst; but this intimates, not only that they wanted water and felt the inconvenience of that want, but that their passion sharpened their appetites and they were violent and impatient in their desire; their thirst made them outrageous. Natural desires, and those that are most craving, have need to be kept under the check and control of religion and reason. See what was the language of this inordinate desire. 1. They challenged Moses to supply them (v. 2): Give us water, that we may drink, demanding it as a debt, and strongly suspecting that he was not able to discharge it. Because they were supplied with bread, they insist upon it that they must be supplied with water too; and indeed to those that by faith and prayer live a life of dependence upon God one favour is an earnest of another, and may be humbly pleaded; but the unthankful and unbelieving have reason to think that the abuse of former favours is the forfeiture of further favours: Let not them think that they shall receive any thing (Jam. i. 7), yet they are ready to demand every thing. 2. They quarrelled with him for bringing them out of Egypt, as if, instead of delivering them, he designed to murder them, than which nothing could be more base and invidious, v. 3. Many that have not only designed well, but done well, for their generation, have had their best services thus misconstrued, and their patience thereby tried, by unthinking unthankful people. To such a degree their malice against Moses rose that they were almost ready to stone him, v. 4. Many good works he had shown them; and for which of these would they stone him? John x. 32. Ungoverned passions, provoked by the crossing of unbridled appetites, sometimes make men guilty of the greatest absurdities, and act like madmen, that cast firebrands, arrows, and death, among their best friends. 3. They began to question whether God were with them or not: They tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not? v. 7. Is Jehovah among us by that name by which he made himself known to us in Egypt?" They question his essential presence—whether there was a God or not; his common providence—whether that God governed the world; and his special promise—whether he would be as good as his word to them. This is called their tempting God, which signifies, not only a distrust of God in general, but a distrust of him after they had received such proofs of his power and goodness, for the confirmation of his promise. They do, in effect, suppose that Moses was an impostor, Aaron a deceiver, the pillar of cloud and fire a mere sham and illusion, which imposed upon their senses, that long series of miracles which had rescued them, served them, and fed them, a chain of cheats, and the promise of Canaan a banter upon them; it was all so, if the Lord was not among them. Note, It is a great provocation to God for us to question his presence, providence, or promise, especially for his Israel to do it, who are so peculiarly bound to trust him.

III. The course that Moses took, when he was thus set upon, and insulted. 1. He reproved the murmurers (v. 2): Why chide you with me? Observe how mildly he answered them; it was well that he was a man of extraordinary meekness, else their tumultuous conduct would have made him lose the possession of himself: it is folly to answer passion with passion, for that makes bad worse; but soft answers turn away wrath. He showed them whom their murmurings reflected upon, and that the reproaches they cast on him fell on God himself: You tempt the Lord; that is, "By distrusting his power, you try his patience, and so provoke his wrath." 2. He made his complaint to God (v. 4): Moses cried unto the Lord. This servant came, and showed his Lord all these things, Luke xiv. 21. When men unjustly censure us and quarrel with us, it will be a great relief to us to go to God, and by prayer lay the case before him and leave it with him: if men will not hear us, God will; if their bad conduct towards us ruffle our spirits, God's consolations will compose them. Moses begs of God to direct him what he should do, for he was utterly at a loss; he could not of himself either supply their want or pacify their tumult; God only could do it. He pleads his own peril: "They are almost ready to stone me; Lord, if thou hast any regard to the life of thy poor servant, interpose now."

IV. God's gracious appearance for their relief, v. 5, 6. He orders Moses to go on before the people, and venture himself in his post, though they spoke of stoning him. He must take his rod with him, not (as God might justly have ordered) to summon some plague or other to chastise them for their distrust and murmuring, but to fetch water for their supply. O the wonderful patience and forbearance of God towards provoking sinners! He loads those with benefits that make him to serve with their sins, maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him. Thus he teaches us, if our enemy hunger, to feed him, and if he thirst, as Israel did now, to give him drink, Rom. xii. 20; Matt. v. 44, 45. Will he fail those that trust him, when he was so liberal even to those that tempted him? If God had only shown Moses a fountain of water in the wilderness, as he did Hagar not far hence (Gen. xxi. 19), that would have been a great favour; but that he might show his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. He directed Moses whither to go, and appointed him to take some of the elders of Israel with him, to be witnesses of what was done, that they might themselves be satisfied, and might satisfy others, of the certainty of God's presence with them. He promised to meet him there in the cloud of glory (to encourage him), and ordered him to smite the rock; Moses obeyed, and immediately water came out of the rock in great abundance, which ran throughout the camp in streams and rivers (Ps. lxxviii. 15, 16), and followed them wherever they went in that wilderness: it is called a fountain of waters, Ps. cxiv. 8. God showed the care he took of his people in giving them water when they wanted it; he showed his power in fetching the water out of a rock; and he put an honour upon Moses in appointing the water to flow out upon his smiting the rock. This fair water, that came out of the rock, is called honey and oil (Deut. xxxii. 13), because the people's thirst made it doubly pleasant; coming when they were in extreme want, it was like honey and oil to them. It is probable that the people digged canals for the conveyance of it, and pools for the reception of it, in like manner as, long afterwards, passing through the valley of Baca, they made it a well, Ps. lxxxiv. 6; Num. xxi. 18. Let this direct us to live in a dependence, 1. Upon God's providence, even in the greatest straits and difficulties. God can open fountains for our supply where we least expect them, waters in the wilderness (Isa. xliii. 20), because he makes a way in the wilderness, v. 19. Those who, in this wilderness, keep to God's way, may trust him to provide for them. While we follow the pillar of cloud and fire, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us, like the water out of the rock. 2. Upon Christ's grace: That rock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to rivers of living water, John vii. 38, 39; iv. 14. These flow from Christ, who is the rock smitten by the law of Moses, for he was made under the law. Nothing will supply the needs, and satisfy the desires, of a soul, but water out of this rock, this fountain opened. The pleasures of sense are puddle-water; spiritual delights are rock-water, so pure, so clear, so refreshing—rivers of pleasure.

V. A new name was, upon this occasion, given to the place, preserving the remembrance, not of the mercy of their supply (the water that followed them was sufficient to do that), but of the sin of their murmuring—Massah, temptation, because they tempted God; Meribah, strife, because they chid with Moses, v. 7. There was thus a remembrance kept of sin, both for the disgrace of the sinners themselves (sin leaves a blot upon the name) and for warning to their seed to take heed of sinning after the similitude of their transgression.

The Conflict with Amalek; The Defeat of Amalek. (b. c. 1491.)

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 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. 10 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. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 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. 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16 For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

We have here the story of the war with Amalek, which, we may suppose, was the first that was recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord, Num. xxi. 14. Amalek was the first of the nations that Israel fought with, Num. xxiv. 20. Observe,

I. Amalek's attempt: They came out, and fought with Israel, v. 8. The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated Jacob because of the birthright and blessing, and this was an effort of the hereditary enmity, a malice that ran in the blood, and perhaps was now exasperated by the working of the promise towards an accomplishment. Consider this, 1. As Israel's affliction. They had been quarrelling with Moses (v. 2), and now God sends Amalekites to quarrel with them; wars abroad are the just punishment of strifes and discontents at home. 2. As Amalek's sin; so it is reckoned, Deut. xxv. 17, 18. They did not boldly front them as a generous enemy, but without any provocation given by Israel, or challenge given to them, basely fell upon their rear, and smote those that were faint and feeble and could neither make resistance nor escape. Herein they bade defiance to that power which had so lately ruined the Egyptians; but in vain did they attack a camp guarded and victualled by miracles: verily they knew not what they did.

II. Israel's engagement with Amalek, in their own necessary defence against the aggressors. Observe,

1. The post assigned to Joshua, of whom this is the first mention: he is nominated commander-in-chief in this expedition, that he might be trained up to the services he was designed for after the death of Moses, and be a man of war from his youth. He is ordered to draw out a detachment of choice men from the thousands of Israel and to drive back the Amalekites, v. 9. When the Egyptians pursued them Israel must stand still and see what God would do; but now it was required that they should bestir themselves. Note, God is to be trusted in the use of means.

2. The post assumed by Moses: I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand, v. 9. See how God qualifies his people for, and calls them to, various services for the good of his church: Joshua fights, Moses prays, and both minister to Israel. Moses went up to the top of the hill, and placed himself, probably, so as to be seen by Israel; there he held up the rod of God in his hand, that wonder-working rod which had summoned the plagues of Egypt, and under which Israel had passed out of the house of bondage. This rod Moses held up to Israel, to animate them; the rod was held up as the banner to encourage the soldiers, who might look up, and say, "Yonder is the rod, and yonder the hand that used it, when such glorious things were wrought for us." Note, It tends much to the encouragement of faith to reflect upon the great things God has done for us, and review the monuments of his favours. Moses also held up this rod to God, by way of appeal to him: "Is not the battle the Lord's? Is not he able to help, and engaged to help? Witness this rod, the voice of which, thus held up, is (Isa. li. 9, 10), Put on strength, O arm of the Lord; art not thou it that hath cut Rahab?" Moses was not only a standard-bearer, but an intercessor, pleading with God for success and victory. Note, When the host goes forth against the enemy earnest prayers should be made to the God of hosts for his presence with them. It is here the praying legion that proves the thundering legion. There, in Salem, in Sion where prayers were made, there the victory was won, there broke the arrows of the bow, Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3. Observe, (1.) How Moses was tired (v. 12): His hands were heavy. The strongest arm will fail with being long extended; it is God only whose hand is stretched out still. We do not find that Joshua's hands were heavy in fighting, but Moses's hands were heavy in praying. The more spiritual any service is the more apt we are to fail and flag in it. Praying work, if done with due intenseness of mind and vigour of affection, will be found hard work, and, though the spirit be willing, the flesh will be weak. Our great Intercessor in heaven faints not, nor is he weary, though he attends continually to this very thing. (2.) What influence the rod of Moses had upon the battle (v. 11): When Moses held up his hand in prayer (so the Chaldee explains it) Israel prevailed, but, when he let down his hand from prayer, Amalek prevailed. To convince Israel that the hand of Moses (with whom they had just now been chiding) contributed more to their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands. It seems, the scale wavered for some time, before it turned on Israel's side. Even the best cause must expect disappointments as an alloy to its successes; though the battle be the Lord's, Amalek may prevail for a time. The reason was, Moses let down his hands. Note, The church's cause is, commonly, more or less successful according as the church's friends are more or less strong in faith and fervent in prayer. (3.) The care that was taken for the support of Moses. When he could not stand any longer he sat down, not in a chair of state, but upon a stone (v. 12); when he could not hold up his hands, he would have them held up. Moses, the man of God, is glad of the assistance of Aaron his brother, and Hur, who, some think, was his brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. We should not be shy either of asking help from others or giving help to others, for we are members one of another. Moses's hands, thus stayed, were steady till the going down of the sun; and, though it was with much ado that he held out, yet his willing mind was accepted. No doubt it was a great encouragement to the people to see Joshua before them in the field of battle and Moses above them upon the top of the hill: Christ is both to us—our Joshua, the captain of our salvation who fights our battles, and our Moses, who, in the upper world, ever lives making intercession, that our faith fail not.

III. The defeat of Amalek. Victory had hovered awhile between the camps; sometimes Israel prevailed and sometimes Amalek, but Israel carried the day, v. 13. Though Joshua fought with great disadvantages—his soldiers undisciplined, ill-armed, long inured to servitude, and apt to murmur; yet by them God wrought a great salvation, and made Amalek pay dearly for his insolence. Note, Weapons formed against God's Israel cannot prosper long, and shall be broken at last. The cause of God and his Israel will be victorious. Though God gave the victory, yet it is said, Joshua discomfited Amalek, because Joshua was a type of Christ, and of the same name, and in him it is that we are more than conquerors. It was his arm alone that spoiled principalities and powers, and routed all their force.

IV. The trophies of this victory set up. 1. Moses took care that God should have the glory of it (v. 15); instead of setting up a triumphal arch, to the honour of Joshua (though it had been a laudable policy to put marks of honour upon him), he builds an altar to the honour of God, and we may suppose it was not an altar without sacrifice; but that which is most carefully recorded is the inscription upon the altar, Jehovah-nissi—The Lord is my banner, which probably refers to the lifting up of the rod of God as a banner in this action. The presence and power of Jehovah were the banner under which they enlisted, by which they were animated and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners, Ps. xx. 5. It is fit that he who does all the work should have all the praise. 2. God took care that posterity should have the comfort and benefit of it: "Write this for a memorial, not in loose papers, but in a book, write it, and then rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, let him be entrusted with this memorial, to transmit it to the generations to come." Moses must now begin to keep a diary or journal of occurrences; it is the first mention of writing that we find in scripture, and perhaps the command was not given till after the writing of the law upon the tables of stone: "Write it in perpetuam rei memoriam—that the event may be had in perpetual remembrance; that which is written remains." (1.) "Write what has been done, what Amalek has done against Israel; write in gall their bitter hatred, write in blood their cruel attempts, let them never be forgotten, nor yet what God has done for Israel in saving them from Amalek. Let ages to come know that God fights for his people, and he that touches them touches the apple of his eye." (2.) Write what shall be done. [1.] That in process of time Amalek shall be totally ruined and rooted out (v. 14), that he shall be remembered only in history." Amalek would have cut off the name of Israel, that it might be no more in remembrance (Ps. lxxxiii. 4, 7); and therefore God not only disappoints him in this, but cuts off his name. "Write it for the encouragement of Israel, whenever the Amalekites are an annoyance to them, that Israel will at last undoubtedly triumph in the fall of Amalek." This sentence was executed in part by Saul (1 Sam. xv), and completely by David (ch. xxx.; 2 Sam. i. 1; viii. 12); after his time we never read so much as of the name of Amalek. [2.] This is the meantime God would have a continual controversy with him (v. 16): Because his hand is upon the throne of the Lord, that is, against the camp of Israel in which the Lord ruled, which was the place of his sanctuary, and is therefore called a glorious high throne from the beginning (Jer. xvii. 12); therefore the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This was written for direction to Israel never to make any league with the Amalekites, but to look upon them as irreconcilable enemies, doomed to ruin. Amalek's destruction was typical of the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his kingdom. Whoever make war with the Lamb, the Lamb will overcome them.

CHAP. XVII.

AND all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wildernesse of Sin, after their journeyes, according to the mouth of Iehovah: and they camped in Rephidim; and there were no waters for the people to drinke. And the people contended with Moses, and said, Give ye us waters, that we may drinke: and Moses said unto them, Why contend you with me? why tempt ye Iehovah? And the people thirsted there for waters, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our sonnes, and our cattell, with thirst? And Moses cried unto Iehovah, saying, What shall I doe unto this people? they bee almost ready to stone me. And Iehovah said unto Moses, Goe on before the people, and take with thee of the Elders of Israel; and thy rod, that wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and goe. Behold, I will stand before thee there, upon the rocke in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rocke, and waters shall come forth out of it, and the people shall drinke: and Moses did so, in the eyes of the Elders of Israel. And hee called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contention of the sonnes of Israel, and because they tempted Iehovah, saying, Is Iehovah among us, or not? And Amalek came, and fought with Israel, in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Iesus Ioshua, Chuse us out men, and goe thou out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God in my hand. And Ioshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, went up to the top of the hill. And it was, when Moses hold up his hand, then Israel prevailed; and when he let downe his hand, then Amalek prevailed. And Moses hands were heavy; and they tooke a stone, and put it under him, and he sate upon it: and Aaron and Hur staied up his hands, one on this side, and one on the other side; and his hands were steadie untill the going downe of the Sunne. And Ioshua discomfited Amalek, and his people, with the edge of the sword. And Iehovah said unto Moses, write this for a memoriall in a booke, and put is in the cares of Io[illegible: 1 span], That wiping▪ I will wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it, Iehovah Nissi. And said, Because the hand upon the throne of Iah, Iehovah will have warre with Amalek from generation to generation.

Annotations. AFter their,] or, by their journeyes; which were from Sin to Dophkah, from Dophkah, to Al[illegible: 1 span] and from thence to Rephidim, the place here spoken of, Num. 33. 12.—14. the mouth] that is, as the Greeke and Chaldee doe translate, the word of the Lord. See Gen. 24. 57. Rephidim] in Greeke▪ Raphidein. V. 2. contended] or, did chide: with many & reprechfull provoking speeches: so they did again in Num. 20. 3. 4. upon the like occasion. give ye,] thou and Aaron who have brought us hither: see Exod. 16. 2. 3. tempt ye] by unbeleefe: for they doubted of Gods presence with them, verse 7. and would by miracles be assured thereof: which is to tempt God; as Matth. 16. 1. Psal. 78. 18. 19. Vers. 3. us,] so the Greeke also translateth in the Hebrew is, me, and my sonnes, &c. speaking of the multitude, as of one man. Vers. 4. cried,] the Chaldee translateth, praied This was Moses usuall refuge, in such troubles: see Exod. 14. 15. and 15. 25. Num. 11. 10. 11. they be almost ready:] Hebr. yet a little, and they [illegible: 1 word] stone me. Like outrage they shewed also in Numbers 14. 10. Vers. 5. Goe on,] or, passe on: that is, journey towards Mount Horeb, and goe thou and the Elders foremost. rod,] or staffe, mentioned also in Exod. 7. 20. Num. 20. 8. 9. Vers. 6. I will stand,] Hebr. I standing: to wit, in the pillar of the cloud, (the signe of my presence) standing at mount Horeb: whereof see Exod. 3. 1. in the eyes,] or, before the eyes of the Elders, as witnesses of this glorious miracle; whereby God (turning the Rocke into alake of water, the fli[illegible: 1 span] fountaine of water, Psal. 114. 8.) gave them drinke, both for their bodies and soules. For the Rocke, and water out of it, signified Christ, and is therefore called a spirituall Rocke, 1 Cor. 10. 4. Hee being smitten with Moses rod, and bearing the curse [illegible: 1 word] the Law, for our sinnes; and by the preaching of the Gospell also, crucified among his people, Gal. 3. 1. from him floweth the spirituall drinke wherewith all beleeving hearts are refreshed; and ou[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word] their bellies flow rivers of water of life, Ioh. 7. 37, 38. 39. Esay. 53. 4. 5. Gal. 3. 13. Therefore this water out of the rocke, is often mentioned to the praise of God, and strengthning of his peoples faith, Deut. 8. 15. Psal. 78. 15. 16. and 105. 41. Ne[illegible: 1 letter] 9. 15. The Hebrew Doctors say, the turning of the rocke into water, was the turning of the property [illegible: 1 word] judgement, signified by the rocke, into the proper[illegible: 1 span] mercie, signified by water. R. Menachem, on Exod. 17. Vers. 7. Massah] that is in English Tentati[illegible: 1 span] which name was given both for a memoriall of their sinne, and a warning to generations following, that they should not tempt the Lord, as they tempted him in Massah, Deut. 6. 16. Psal. 95. 8. 9. Heb. 3. 8 9. Meri[illegible: 1 letter]ah,] that is, Contention, or, [illegible: 1 letter]itter ehiding, and so provocation to anger: which therefore the Holy Ghost calleth in Greeke Para [illegible: 1 span], that is, Provocation, or bitter contention: which here was with Moses v. 2. and not so much with him, as with the Lord himselfe, Exod. 16. 8. Num. 20. 2. 13. Heb. 3. 8. 9. Is Iehovah, &c.] that is, the gracious presence of Iehovah, and testimony thereof: or, are we deluded by Moses? The Chaldee explaineth it thus; Doth the Majestie of the Lord dwell among us, or not? Of this they would be confirmed by some signe or miracle, which was to tempt God; whose presence and power they had so often seene. Vers. 8. Amalek] the Amalekites, the posteritie of Amalek, a Duke of Eliphaz, the sonne of Esau, the brother of Israel, Gen. 36. 15 16. This was the first of the nations, who warring against Israel, procured their owne utter destruction, Numbers 24. 20. Deuteronomie 25. 19. 1 Sam. 15. 2. 3. But for Israels sinne, came this chastisement upon them; as the Iewes themselves acknowledged, saying, After they had passed through the sea, they murmured for waters: then came against them, the wicked Amalek, who hated them for the first birth right and blessing, which our father Iakob had taken from Esau; and he came and fought against Israel, because they had violated the words of the law, &c. Thargum on Song 2. 15. fought,] or, warred; but treacherously: for hee smote the hindmost of Israel, even all that were seeble behinde them, when they were saint and weary, and bee feared not God, Deut. 25. 18. Vers. 9. Ioshuah] or, Iesus: in Hebrew Iehoshuah, whom the Holy Ghost calleth in Greeke Iesus, Acts 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. Hee was first called Hoseas. and Moses called his name Iesus, that is, Saviour, Num. 13. 17. Hee was a figure of Iesus Christ the Saviour of the world, both in his name and actions, fighting the battels of the Lord, and bringing his people into Canaan: hee was the minister or servant of Moses, and his successor in the government of Israel, Exodus 24. 13. Numbers 27. 18.—23. Deuteronomie 34. 9. Ios. 1. &c. the top] Hebr. the head of the hill: so in vers. 10. There Moses holding up his rod as an ensigne, might be seene of the people, for the strengthning of their faith. Compare Ios. 8. 18. 19. rod of God:] the Chaldee expoundeth it, the rod wherewith miracles have beene done from before the Lord. Of it, see Exod. 4. 20. and 7. 9. &c. Vers. 10. to fight] that is, as the Greeke explaineth, it, and fought. See the notes on Genes. 2. 3. A like phrase also is in Numb. 18. 22. Deut. 2. 16. 1 King. 12. 33. The Hebrew text sometime manifesteth this; as to build, 1 Chron. 14. 1. for which in 2 Sam. [illegible: 1 word]. 11. is written, and they built. To say, (or, Saying) 1 Chronicles 13. 12. for which in 2 Sam. 6. 9. is written, and said. So in 1 Chronicles 34. 16. compared with 2 Kings 22. 9. Hur] or Chur: called in Greeke Oar, hee was a Prince of the Tribe of Iudah, being the sonne of Caleb, the son of Ezron, the sonne of Pharez, the sonne of Iudah, 1 Chronicles 2. 5. 9. 18. 19. This Hur was also left with Aaron to judge controversies, when Moses went up unto GOD, upon mount Sinai, Exodus 24. 14. His sonnes sonne B[illegible: 2 letters]aleel, was the master workeman of the Lords tabernacle, Exod. 31. 2.—5. Vers. 11. held up,] or, held al[illegible: 1 letter]ft his hand with the rod of God in it, for a signe of Gods power and helpe unto his people; and consequently, praying unto God for assistance; as the lifting up of the hands also signifieth, Psal. 28. 2. And so the Thargum Ierusalemy explaineth it, when Moses held up his hands in prayer, the house of Israel prevailed; and when he let downe his hands from prayer, the house of Amalek prevailed. Hand is here for hands as the Greeke translateth, and the verse following manifesteth. Vers. 12. heavy:] that he could not continue to hold them up: a signe of mans infirmities, not able to indure long in spirituall exercises. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weake, Matth. 26. 41. 43. See also Luke 18. 1. Rom. 12 12. a stone:] under this similitude of a stone. Christ is often signified, Esay. 28. 16. Psalme 118. 22. Zacharie 3. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 4. upon whom our weake faith is sustained in prayer, and by whose spirit our infirmities are holpen, Ioh. 14. 13. 14. 16. 17 Romans 8. 26. were steadie] Hebr. was steadinesse, (or faith fulnesse.) And here the force of the Hebrew word amunah, which signifieth faith, is shewed to bee a steadie or firme perswasion in the promises of God: and that which is most necessary in prayer, Matth. 21. 22. Iames 1. 6. 7. and 5. 15. Romans 4. 20. 21. And this phrase his hand was, meaneth that both his hands were steadfast. For steadinesse, the Chaldee saith; Moses hands were spred-out in prayer. going downe] Hebr. going in of the Sunne: which was the end of the day, and withall of the victory and salvation of Israel. So he that indureth to the end, he shall be saved, Matth. 24. 13. Vers. 13. edge:] Hebr. mouth: which the Greeke translateth slaughter of the sword: and that phrase the Apostle followeth, in Heb. 11. 37. So in the Greek version of Num. 21. 24. Deut. 13. 15. Vers. 14. put in the eares,] that is, rehearse it in the bearing of Iesus; he was to be Moses his successor; and so the charge was to continue successively, till it was accomplished. wiping I will wipe] that is, will utterly wipe (or blot) out. This God performed by the hands of Israel, to whom hee gave this charge, thou shalt wipe out the remembrance of Amalek, from under the heavens; forget it not, Deuteronomie 25. 19. Whereupon the Hebrew Canons say, Wee are commanded to destroy the remembrance of Amalek, (Deuteronomie 25.) and commanded to remember continually his evill deedes, and his treacherie; to the end to stirre up enmitie against him, &c. and it is unlawfull to forget his enmity and hatred, Maimony in Misn. treat. of Kings, c. 5. S. 5. This, as it figured the destruction of Antichrist; so the fulfilling of it, is by the Iewes themselves referred to the dayes of Christ: for they say; [illegible: 1 letter]n the dayes of the Mesias, the seed of E[illegible: 1 span] und of A [illegible: 1 letter]alek shall be wiped out through the strength of Israel, which shall prevaile most highly. [illegible: 2 words] on Exodus. 17. Vers 15. Iehovah [illegible: 1 word] that is Iehovah is any [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 span] So the altar was to sacrifice thanke offring[illegible: 1 letter] upon to the Lord and acknowledge the victorie to be from him. The Greeke translateth it, the Lord my refuge. It is a sacramentall speech; whereof see Gen. 22. 14. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus, And Moses built an altar; and served upon it before who had done signes (or miracles.) for him. Vers. 16. upon the throne] or against the throne of [illegible: 1 span] of God. This referred to Amalek, meaneth thus: because the hand of Amalek is upon (or against) the throne of the Lord: therefore Iehovah will have warre with Amalek. By the throne of Iah, meaning heaven, (as Esay. 66. 1.) and so God him-selfe that sitteth thereon, (as Matthew 23. 22.) against whom Amaleks hand was, while it was against his people and Church, Zach. 2. 8. Acts 9. 4. 5. And so Ierusalem is called the Lords throne, Ier. 3. 17. Otherwise, if it bee referred to God, or Moses his servant, and his hand upon (or unto) the throne of Iah, it may signifie an oath, vowing perpetuall warre with Amalek: for so the lifting up of the hand to heaven, (which is Gods throne,) is a signe of swearing, Revel. 10. 5. 6. Gen. 14. 22. And thus the Chaldee paraphraseth upon this place: With oath this is said from before the fearefull (God,) whose maijestie is upon the throne of glory; to wage warre from before the Lord, against the men of the house of Amalek, to destroy them from the generations of the world. So Thargum Ierusalemy explaineth it to bee an oath, and applieth the fulfilling of it, to King Saul, and to Mordecal and Esther, 1 Sam. 15. Esth. 8. and 9. &c. The Greeke translateth, with hidden hand, the Lord will warre against Amalek, from generation to generation. In Perkci R. Eliezer, c. 44. it is said, When God would root out and destroy all Amaleks sead, hee stretched forth his right hand, and tooke hold on the throne of his glory, and sware to root out and to destroy all Amaleks seed, out of this world, and out of the world to come.