Here, we see an interesting story as the Israelites are in or near Raphidim. The Amalekites come out of Southern Canaan to fight Israel. Israel prevails, and God promises to utterly blot out Amalek from under heaven. During the battle, it is written that as long as Moses held his hand up, presumably holding the staff he had in Egypt, Israel prevailed. When his hand was down, Amalek prevailed.
Instead of speculating as to why and adding some weird theology to the text, we simply recognize that this is a descriptive portion of the narrative. Nowhere does God tell Moses to lift his hand with his staff. Nowhere is there any indication, except by unhealthy inference, that the battle depended on the position of Moses’s hand. I personally think that the staff in Moses’s hand was, in this case, served as a standard that affected the morale of the Israelite army, like a waving flag would be for an army today—but the text does not say that either. Remember what you are fighting for. The God who parted the Red Sea will part the army coming against us. The God who drowned Pharaoh’s army under water will drown Amalek’s army under the sword. When Israel claims victory, credit is not given to Moses, who raised his hand, but to Joshua who led the defense.
At the end of the passage, Moses builds an alter and name the Alter, “Yahweh-Nissi,” meaning, “Yahweh is my banner”—the standard under whom we march to victory. Moses celebrates God’s promise to go against Amalek, the fulfillment of a four hundred year old promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15.
Leave a Reply