Bible Commentaries
Exodus 17

Verse 13

Exodus 17:13

I. Amalek, as we learn from Deuteronomy 25:18 , had "smitten the hindmost, even all that were feeble." The stragglers are always a temptation to the foe. The hindmost and the feeble are sure to be the first attacked, and therefore should have special care.

II. Joshua discomfited Amalek, not Moses or some other friend. Let us keep our bitterness for sin, and our swords for the King's enemies.

III. Amalek is not to be beaten without a fight. The struggle against sin is real, as we shall find to our cost if we are not wary.

IV. Moses was for each minding his own work, Joshua to fight, and himself to take the top of the hill.

V. Moses on the hill is an emblem of public prayer. There is a mystery about prayer that we cannot unravel. One of the bravest of Christian soldiers, scarred with many a fight, said, "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands."

VI. How much even the mightiest of men are dependent upon others much weaker than themselves. It was well for the fortunes of the day that Moses was not alone.

VII. An altar marked the place of battle, and glory was given to the Lord of hosts. The soldiers of the Cross should call the battlefields where they have won their bravest fights by the name of Him to whom they ascribe all might and majesty.

T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 66.

Verse 15

Exodus 17:15

I. The fight with Amalek was Israel's first battle, and God made it to them the revelation of the mystery of all battles the unseen spiritual things on which depend the final issues of all struggles and the progress of the world. (1) The main purpose of Israel's history is the revelation of the unseen influences which mould the character and guide the progress of all people or minister to their decay and death. ( a ) The first apparent condition of success was the courage and skill of the commander and of the troops. The successes of life are to the capable, the brave, the enduring; but and here is the great lesson of Rephidim they are to capacity, courage, and energy married to, and not divorced from, the fear and the love of God. ( b ) There was a second and higher condition. Joshua fought while Moses was praying, and while he knew that Moses was praying. The people had a conscious hold on the strength of the arm of God. (2) It may be fairly asked if in all battles the victory is with those who can not only fight, but pray. The answer is that it is only on a very large scale that we can trace the ways of God. Yet we may say that in any conflict the best reinforcement, that which stands a man in best stead and raises the surest hope of victory, is the assurance that God is on his side.

II. The text is the revelation to us of the mystery of the great battle in which we are all combatants, the battle of life. "Jehovah-nissi" must be our watchword if we would not doom ourselves to go down before the foe. (1) The Lord is our banner against self, that baser part of us which is ever ensnaring, enslaving, and dragging us down into the pit. (2) The Lord is our banner against the world. (3) The Lord is our banner against the devil.

J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 235.

References: 27 Parker, vol. ii., p. 132.Exodus 18:1-27 . W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 164.