Fighting Amalek (Exod 17:8-16)

As I read blogs on the internet, I am aware of the sense of despair that many around the world feel facing the COVID pandemic. While NZ lives in a bubble of safety for now, other countries around the globe struggle in the midst of illness, masks, and social distancing wishing they could see or hug loved ones, their emotions shuttling between semi-normality with partially lifted restrictions and the next shutdown as the infections start to rise again. Israel on her journey is likewise shuttled between relief at God’s provision as their thirst is assuaged and the next onslaught of difficulty. This time, it is Amalek, a nomadic tribe descended from Esau (Gen 36:12), who attacks Israel. As slaves, God’s people have no experience in fighting, but they still have to face the enemy.

Once again, however, we are reminded that they are not alone. While Israel fights on the ground, Moses stations himself on a hill and lifts up his staff, the one that is associated with God’s power, the one that brought the plagues on Egypt and defeated an oppressive enemy. In the ancient world, banners were a rallying point for the troops going out to battle and the gesture of raising the staff here has the same function. It reminds Israel that God is fighting for them. More than an aide-mémoire, however, Israel must fight her battles with this consciousness and rally around the Lord as their banner. It is a necessity for overcoming the enemy. As the psalmist so memorably says, ‘Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain’ (Ps 127:1). Thus, when the staff is lowered, the battle turns against Israel (Exod 17:11).

As with so many of these OT stories, the events are so described that they become a kind of enacted illustration of a spiritual reality. Unless we recognise that the battle belongs to the Lord, we only have our own strength to depend on and so often that is not enough. Living in the reality that God is fighting for us is, however, a battle in itself. Just like Moses’ hands grew heavy and he needed support to keep the staff lifted (Exod 17:12), so we are constantly knocked out of that mindset of trust and need to pull back into a posture of confidence in the Lord.

At the same time, this story also illustrates the need not only to let God do the work but to work together with Him. Israel has to fight on the ground. Moses has to keep the staff lifted and he has no supernatural strength to do so. Aaron and Hur have to support him when he grows tired. As we face challenges in our lives, we have to put one foot ahead of the other, do our daily tasks and keep going. We also need to yank our wayward heart and mind back into a place of trust from time to time knowing that God is there, and He is fighting for us. And when despair overwhelms us and we forget whose battle this is, we may need the support of others emotionally, mentally, physically to find our way back to the Lord, our centre and our banner.

Commentators routinely dismiss interpretations that connect Moses’ uplifted hands with prayer, and they are correct that in the story Moses is not praying. Yet, I am convinced that the Christian intuition connecting the spiritual message of the passage with prayer is essentially right because it is in prayer, as we encounter God’s presence, that we refocus our attention on Him. It is there that the deeper dimensions of reality become visible: the battle belongs to the Lord and He fights for us and with us.

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For interest – the Amalekites

God’s verdict that He will utterly wipe out the Amalekites (Exod 17:14-16) seems harsh, but once again, we need to understand the wider picture to make sense of it. According to Deut 25:17-18, Amalek attacked the stragglers and the weak, an attitude that even in a pagan context was seen as despicable, as expressed in the phrase ‘no fear of God’. Having fear of God or the gods (the Hebrew Elohim can mean either) assumes that people adhere to a basic morality particularly by not taking advantage of those who are weaker and cannot defend themselves. Their restraint is due to the recognition that there is a higher power who sees what they are doing and holds them accountable. The phrase is used similarly by Abraham who fears that Abimelech will kill him to get his wife, Sarah, i.e. Abimelech will take advantage of Abraham’s weakness because he has ‘no fear of God’ (Gen 20:11).

To return to Amalek, this people group harassed Israel for centuries. Besides the incident at Rephidim (Exod 17:8-16), they also fought against God’s people when the latter tried to enter the land (Num 14:45). The Amalekites later made incursions into Canaan when Israel became settled there (Judg 6:3). God took the kingship from Saul because of his disobedience in sparing, among others, Agag, the king of the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:9, 23). It was not until the time of King Hezekiah in 8^th century BC (about 500-700 years after the incident in Rephidim) that the Amalekites were finally eliminated (1 Chron 4:41-43).