THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #117 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #98
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3802
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #117
THE LIFE OF MOSES #98
FROM ELIM TO THE WILDERNESS OF SIN #9
Th Battle of Rephidim #2
This battle is one of the very first major battle for the Israelites after the came out of Egypt.
In fact, God was avoiding wars for the Israelites so far for a good reason.
1. The people under Moses are mainly people who just started their journey, and they are not trained in the military warfare.
2. There are 2 ways to reach the promise land, one is known as “The Way Of The Philistines” which is a land route along the Mediterranean sea, it is a popular trade route and is protected by many Egyptian forts along the way.
The second way is known as “The Way Of The Wilderness” which is taken by shepherds usually.
God did not chose the way of the Philistines as He is knew that the battles would lower the morale of the people and they would turn back to Egypt . (Ex 13:17-18)
Yet this is the first time God allowed war to happen to His beloved people, hence it is a very significant battle.
A. Prelude to the Battle
Although Exodus 17:8 simply mentioned that Amalek was attacking the people of Israel, but Moses speech to the second generation Israelites in Deut 25:17-18, he said that Amalekites were attacking the rear ranks, the stragglers who are tired and weary. Amalekites did not come to fight Israel head on, but choose to kill the weak and the struggling who are at the back.
This is when Moses had to make a very big decision to gather the armies of Israel to defend the people.
But being old, Moses was unable to fight the battle at the forefront, this is when he approached Joshua to choose people to fight against the enemies.
Joshua just went on obediently into battle, bearing in mind that the young men of Israel have no formal military training and have no combat experience, while they are fighting against Amalekites who at least knew some basic strategies as they have choose to attacked from the rear.
I would think that to find man to join the battle would have been difficult. Yet Joshua was able to choose people to fight (Ex 17:9) .
I tend to imagine this force as a group of volunteers who are moved for their love for the weak and struggling brethrens being attacked by the enemies and they are willing to lay down their lives for their brethrens even if they are in face of a trained enemies.
B. The Battle Rages
As Joshua and his group of volunteers fought against the Amalekites, Moses, Aaron and Hur went up the hills to pray for the them, we all know the story, when Moses hands dropped, the Amalekites were winning and when Moses hands were lift up, Joshua won.
This is when Aaron and Hur took a stone to support Moses. They held on to Moses hands until Joshua and his volunteers defeated the enemies. (Ex 17:10-13)
C.The Battle Ends
Through the prayers of Moses, and the volunteers under Joshua, God defeated the enemies. God commanded Moses to write in the Torah to commemorate the battle, and in this battle God judged the Amalekites that He will judge them for their treachery to attack Israel (Ex 17:14).
Moses built an altar and called it YHWH Nissi, (The Lord is my banner)
N.B.Tomorrow we shall discuss the spiritual lessons of this first battle.
