Exodus 17:1-16 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Exodus 27. Water from the Rock (Exodus 17 :1 P (Rephidim), Exodus 17:1 b - Exodus 17:2 a (strove, strive) E, Exodus 17:3 and Exodus 17:2 b (tempt) J, Exodus 17:4 E, Exodus 17:5 a (people) J, Exodus 17:5 bd (and go) E, Exodus 17:5 c, Exodus 17:6 a J, Exodus 17:6 b E, Exodus 17:7 a (Massah) J, Exodus 17:7 b (Israel) E, Exodus 17:7 c J). After an extract from P's itinerary (Exodus 17:1 a), a second water story is given from JE. The blooming oasis near Kadesh, with its spring and its trees, was a lasting reminder of the goodness of God. The two variants relate to Massah (J) and Meribah (E) respectively, while a Meribah story is also given in Numbers 20:2-13 (J and P), and a trace of E's Massah story has been found in Exodus 15:25 b, Yahweh proving Israel there, while here Israel tempts (same Heb.) Yahweh. Both uses of the word are found in D, and the ancient Blessing of Moses names both places (Deuteronomy 33:3). The analysis rests on various clues, and can only be conjectural. In J, Moses passes on alone before the people, but the account of the descent of Yahweh (cf. Exodus 19:20-24, Genesis 28:13 ff.) has been displaced by E's narrative of Moses's striking the rock with his rod (Exodus 4:2 *) in the presence of some of the elders of Israel (cf. Exodus 18:12 E).

Exodus 17:2 b, Exodus 17:7 b. tempt: better put to the proof.

Exodus 17:6. the rock in Horeb: the phrase is peculiar; perhaps the name has been misread.

Exodus 17:8-16 E. The Fight with Amalek. This incident is latest in order of time in Ex. Moses is old and feeble, and does not head the host himself, though he settles the details of time and command. Joshua is the well-known commander of the host (contrast Exodus 33:11; Exodus 24:13); and Israel has gained a unity over against Amalek (both sing.). The people are beginning to move northwards after their prolonged stay at Kadesh. But Amalek, a nomad Bedawin tribe (cf. the Azâ zimeh Arabs in that region now), roaming over the southern Negeb, was bent on blocking the way to Cana an. Out of many encounters (cf. Numbers 14:40-45) this was a pronounced success after a desperate struggle. Moses surveys the battlefield from high ground above, and holds up the symbol of power and victory, the rod, in his hand (Joshua 8:18 *). So long as thus visibly he trusts God and prompts man, his side wins. When his strength flags his cause fails. So Aaron and Hur, his two aged companions, set a stone under him as seat and take turns in holding up the hand that holds the rod. In Exodus 17:15 the old form of memorial of the event is described, an altar (probably based on the stone, Exodus 17:12) for sacrifice, in honour of the victory and its symbolic means, as the title Yahweh my staff shows. A snatch of song has survived in a corrupt text. It ran probably, Hand on the staff of Yahweh, war for Yahweh with Amalek [on and on]. Perhaps the last words and all Exodus 17:14, which gives a variant memorial in a book, are glosses based on Deuteronomy 25:17 ff., where the action of Amalek in cutting off Israel's tired stragglers does not fit anything here. The long feud was ended only by Saul (1 Samuel 15) and David (1 Samuel 30). With the rod we may compare the king's sceptre, the field-marshal's baton, the chamberlain's staff or wand, the mayor's mace, and the ecclesiastical crozier, pastoral staff, and verge (or poker). They all mean more than in themselves they are, and have, or may have, something sacramental about them.

Related Commentaries of Exodus 17:1

Exodus 17:1-16

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 And he called the name of the place Massah,a and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said unto Joshua,b Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:c

16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.