Ambushed on the way to Sinai

They are approaching the mountain. God is about to give them His commandments. And out from the hills come the Amalekites — desert pirates, attacking the stragglers, the people at the back who were already struggling.

Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear, but you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.

Deuteronomy 25:17–18  ·  Legacy Standard Bible

So a council is called. These people had been slaves for four hundred years. They did not know how to fight. Moses had been a general in Pharaoh’s army — and Moses says: I am going to hold up my hands and pray.

Who the Amalekites were

Amalek was a descendant of Esau (Genesis 36:12) — the man who sold his birthright and gave away his blessing from God. His children are despisers of the things of God. They hated Israel, the descendants of Jacob. They hated God.

And there is something behind it. Contained within the nation of Israel was Jesus — so there was a demonic urge to destroy the people who would bring Him to us. This is the first time we see demonic power invested in people to destroy the people of God. In Egypt they were not yet a nation, only a family. Now they are a nation, and now they are attacked.

So at this first occasion, God shows us how it is to be handled: not by human might, but by intercession.

The first time Moses does not know what to do

Notice what is new here. Before this, Moses simply pronounced and it happened. He put forth the rod. God told him what to do and he did it — no prayer involved.

This time there is no direction. He does not know what to do. But he knows God is committed by covenant. So he does the obvious thing: he sends out the troops, and then he goes up the mountain to pray.

So it happened when Moses raised his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

Exodus 17:11–12  ·  Legacy Standard Bible

Upright hands are always an expression of prayer and surrender. They say: we are helpless in and of ourselves; we are dependent.

And the people see something new in God. They see that they are to be the people of God among the nations, that God has a purpose for them, and that God will fight their battles because of that purpose. The enemies will not be defeated through our efforts, but by the Spirit of God.

Why did it depend on a man?

This is the hard question in the chapter, and it should not be smoothed over. As Moses stood in intercession, the power of God flowed. Somehow Moses was the channel. If Moses did not do it, the people of God failed.

God has chosen to do His work among men through man. He would see His people defeated rather than violate that principle. He does His work through human beings.

The rod, and the covenant

The rod is the symbol of God’s right arm of power — the rod of the Elohim. Held over that valley it says to Amalek: whether you like it or not, you have come up against God. And to Moses it says: you are one with Me; now enter with Me into My purpose.

Moses is calling on a covenant term, and he knows it:

Five of you will pursue one hundred, and one hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

Leviticus 26:8  ·  Legacy Standard Bible

The battle was not on the battlefield. It was in the covenant. Moses, who could have directed the fighting expertly, laid down all his natural understanding of battle and took hold of the promise instead.

The altar, and the name

And Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh is My Banner; and he said, “Because He has sworn with a hand upon the throne of Yah, Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

Exodus 17:15–16  ·  Legacy Standard Bible

A banner is not a weapon. It is a sign of who you belong to and who is fighting for you — and it is lifted up, like a pair of hands on a hill.

Where this goes — the intercession never stops

Hold on to the two things this account puts together: a man who did not know what to do, and arms that had to be held up. Both come back in the New Testament, and both are answered.

The Spirit, for the one who does not know how to pray

The page above turns on Moses reaching the end of his competence. Paul says that is the ordinary condition, not the exception — and that something is done about it:

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26–27 · Legacy Standard Bible

Read that slowly, because it is more generous than we usually let it be. It does not say the Spirit helps once we have got the words right. It says we do not know how to pray as we should — flatly, about all of us — and that the intercession happens anyway, underneath the words, in groanings that never make it into language. The prayer you could not form is still being made.

Moses on the hill had to hold his hands up. We are told the help is now inside us.

And the Son, at the right hand

Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Romans 8:34 · Legacy Standard Bible

So the intercession runs from both directions at once — the Spirit from within, the Son at the throne. Neither of them is waiting for us to ask well.

The detail that answers the tired arms

Here is the line that finishes what Exodus 17 started. Moses’ arms grew heavy; the battle turned when they dropped; two men had to prop him up, and eventually he had to sit on a stone. The intercession was real, and it was limited by the man doing it.

Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:25 · Legacy Standard Bible

Always lives. No fatigue, no sundown, no Aaron and Hur required. The hands do not come down.

Which is why this name is not only a memorial to one afternoon in the desert. What Moses did for a few hours on a hilltop, at the limit of his strength, is being done for you continuously by someone who does not tire — and it was being done long before you thought to ask.