Exodus 17 - Water from the Rock / Victory over the Amalekites

Water from the Rock and Israel’s Grumbling at Rephidim

All right, let's turn to Exodus chapter 17. We'll pray and then listen to the video. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness towards us. We thank you that as Dennis was saying in the music that none of our sins, as long as we trust in Christ, none of our sins ever will be held against us because they were nailed to the cross with Christ.

And we thank you so much for that. We thank you for your word. We pray that you would teach us through your word and spirit here as we examine Exodus chapter 17. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

Exodus 17.

The children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord and camped in Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people contended with Moses.

Give us water that we may drink. Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?

And the people thirsted there for water. And the people complained against Moses.

Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

So Moses cried out to the Lord.

What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.

Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also, take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Nereid because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not?

God’s Provision in the Wilderness and the Meaning of Testing

But Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua,.

Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.

So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Herb went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses' hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sanded it. Aaron and Herb supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses,.

Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under hell.

And Moses built an altar and called its name, The Lord is my banner.

For he said, Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Okay, so we've been looking at the past couple chapters, really God's provision, the Lord providing for the Israelites. Last time, you remember that they were grumbling and complaining because they lacked food.

Okay, so they didn't have any food, they grumble and complain against Moses. And what does the Lord do? He gives them the manna, the bread from heaven. Well, now the problem is similar. They have food, they just don't have any water.

So they come to this place and they camp. And remember, the Lord is guiding them. How is he doing that? Who remembers? Okay, so the cloudy pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night. So they're at where they're at because God led them there, just like he led them to the Red Sea.

And they said, oh no, what are we gonna do now? We have nowhere to go. So God leads them to this place and it's, oh no, we don't have any water. So they lacked food last time, now they lack water. And once again, what's their response?

It's the pastor's fault. It's the pastor's fault. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, it's true. It says they contend, verse two, they contended with Moses. And this time it's so fierce that Moses thinks that they're about ready to kill me, he says.

Look at verse four. So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, what shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel.

Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. And where is Horeb? What's another name for Horeb? No. Mount Horeb is on Sinai.

Is Mount Sinai. Okay, so go to the rock in Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Jim.

I looked up that word contended. Yeah. And it's really a very strong word. They really quarreled. And if you think of someone quarreling with someone else, there's a lot of anger, a lot of frustration there.

Right. And Moses only came out with, why are you contending with me? I'm only doing my job. Take it to the Lord. And that's one of the things that they didn't do. They didn't pray about any of this stuff.

Yeah, and oftentimes when things go wrong, well, as Dennis said, you know, the pastor gets the blame. When things went wrong with Cain and Abel, I mean, what was Cain gonna do to God? So he attacks the man of God, Abel.

So they're really, their complaint is with God, but they take it out on Moses. So this is just the way that it works. But we're getting the idea of God testing his people. And notice I said, testing, not tempting, because we know that the Lord tempts no man.

That is God never entices people to sin. He will test people and put them in a situation with the hope that he'll get a response of faith. But is he getting a response of faith here? No, no, he's not.

So God led them to the Red Sea. He delivered them, led them into the wilderness where they had no bread. He gives them the bread from heaven. Now the cloudy pillar leads them to Rephidim where there is no water.

And what's he gonna do? Despite their grumbling and complaining and lack of faith, he still gives them water. All right, any, yes.

I looked up the word, the name Rephidim. Yep. And it really means resting place. So God led them to a place where they could have rest, but it also was a place of testing. And that's what happened. He tested them and they failed.

Christ the Rock, the Water from the Rock, and the Curse of the Law

Yeah, so we're getting this pattern of the Israelites acting poorly, yet God is still faithful through all of this. And the contrast here is the sinfulness of mankind contrasted with the faithfulness and holiness of God and the grace of God, because they really didn't deserve it.

But remember, God made a promise. So he's gonna keep his promises. Dennis.

I've seen, you could probably look on YouTube. There's both film and photographs of not only in the proper region, not where Constantine's mother said Sinai was, but over in, yeah, on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba.

And there's mountains that are all burnt on the top, without explanation. And right near those mountains, there's a rock as high as this building, split down the middle, and there's no water in the area, but there's no explanation why there's water erosion coming out from it.

And also an area where you could have had like a giant lake. There's no explanation, make any sense at all. But it's been just left there like that.

Yeah, you know what, I shouldn't bring this up. I don't wanna get sidetracked, but I do remember there was a TV special about what could be Mount Sinai and how it was, yeah, burnt at the top. And you know what they recommended?

There's this show, Ancient Aliens. The aliens came down, because that's much more reasonable than God, right? Yeah, okay. Yeah. But you wonder how many pieces of evidence are all throughout the Middle East, but you're not exactly going to hear about them on the nightly news.

It's dangerous to get in there, yeah.

Jim. Just one other thing, I'll stay quiet for the rest of the night. If you look at the first couple of verses there in 17, it says, according to the commandment of the Lord. So the Lord was the one that led them to Rephidim for testing.

Yes. I honestly believe that's what it was. He led them there. It wasn't just that they decided, okay, this is where we need to go, and let's go. It was a place where God used to test them to see, because they already had an incident with the bitter water, and they complained because they couldn't drink it, so God took a special sort of a tree, put it in the water, and they drank it.

So that was another test thing. Now you might think, well, they're in the desert, and they have no water. Maybe it's reasonable for them to complain. I don't think we should look at this. We don't get all the details, but I don't think we should look at this as they're really dying of thirst.

They're in the process of dying of thirst. They probably had some water. When they're traveling, they must have water to carry with them. So I don't think they've run out. I think they're thinking ahead maybe a day, tomorrow we're gonna run out.

It's not as if they're about to die. If they waited on the Lord, you have to assume that the Lord would have provided for them, but they're just grumbling and complaining and not really giving the Lord an opportunity.

So the people, they do end up getting water from the rock. The people are unfaithful. God is faithful. Who's in between the sinful people and the holy and faithful God? Who's in between? Moses. So Moses is acting as the mediator.

Moses is interceding on behalf of the people. Therefore, Moses is a type of what? Moses is acting as a type of Christ. So they get water from the rock. Last time they needed food, God provided the bread, which we talked about.

What does the bread represent? So Moses is a type of Christ. The bread represents Christ. He's the true bread, which came down from heaven, John chapter six. Now they're gonna get water from the rock.

Guess what the water, actually it's not the water, it's the rock. Guess what the rock represents? The rock represents Christ. See, now we're starting to see that in the Old Testament scriptures, it's like everything's about Christ.

Everything represents Christ. And this is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. You can just make a note of this. 1 Corinthians 10, three and four. Paul says, speaking about Israel in the wilderness, all ate that same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them.

And that rock was Christ. Another thing, we don't have time to get sidetracked on, but there's an idea, there's a belief when Jesus said, on this rock, I will build my church. And some have taken that, okay, the church is built on Peter, therefore Peter is the first Pope.

And because Peter's the rock on which the church is built. No, Peter's not the rock. In the Old Testament, if you look throughout the Old Testament, the Lord is our rock. That's repeated again and again and again.

And then in the New Testament, Paul says, Peter's the rock. No, Christ is the rock. Okay. So that's just something for free there on the side. So Jesus is the rock. Now turn to Numbers chapter 20. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.

Fourth book of the Bible, chapter 20. Now, one thing you notice here is that the Lord told Moses to do what to the rock? Strike. Okay, to strike the rock, which he did. What's the significance of this?

If the rock represents Christ, the idea here is that Christ was struck by the rod of Moses, which is symbolic for Christ being struck by the curse of the law. So Moses had his rod. Moses represents the law.

He strikes the rock, which represents Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, he's being struck as a kind of a picture of being struck by the curse of the law. So Jesus became a curse for us. We know that Jesus is the only man who is ever able to keep the law of God or the law of Moses perfectly.

And even still, because people die, not because of illness, although that's part of it. People die not because of accidents, although that's part of the curse. Ultimately, people die because of sin. If there was no sin, there'd be no curse, there'd be no death, there'd be no sickness, nothing would go wrong.

So Jesus kept the law and he became a curse. He took the penalty for us breaking God's law. He took it upon himself. So Jesus was struck. So that's the symbolism here. Also, when Jesus was on the cross, remember what happened?

Think about the rock. Moses strikes the rock, what comes out? Water, right? When Jesus is on the cross, John 19 .34 says, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out.

All right, let's look at Numbers 20 and you're probably, most of you are familiar with this incident. It's very similar, but there's one detail that's different. Numbers 20, verse seven. We'll start there.

It says, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, this is years later, okay? Long time later, 40 years maybe, close to it. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the rod, you and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together and strike the rock.

No. The Lord tells Moses, speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water. Thus, you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them, hear now you rebels.

Okay, Moses has been living with these people in the wilderness for a long time. He's about sick of it. He's had it up to here with the complaining. So what does he say? Hear now you rebels, must we bring water out of the rock or for you out of this rock?

Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out abundantly in the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and said, because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

So what's the result? God says, Moses, speak to the rock. He's mad, he's yelling at the people, he strikes the rock instead of speaking to it. So he disobeys God, what's his penalty? Now you can't go into the promised land.

I'm sure, and maybe you're one of these people, but I'm sure there have been a lot of folks who have been puzzled by this. Why would God keep Moses out of the promised land for this? I think some people, this seems like a minor offense.

Obviously it's not, obviously it isn't. Larry.

Well, the rest of the people were, because their unbelief with the 12 spies, they weren't allowed to go into the promised land. And so here it says, because of your unbelief, that speaking to the rock instead of striking the rock.

So because of his unbelief, now he's joined with the rest that died in the wilderness in the 40 years.

Because of unbelief. Don't ever think that there's, well, I know this is wrong, but this is a minor offense against God. Don't ever think that way. Take Adam and Eve. Adam eats a piece of fruit and it was enough because he disobeyed the clear word of God, it was enough to cast the entire human race into darkness.

So never think that disobedience against God, willful disobedience. Well, this is just a little, little thing. So this wasn't little, obviously. So the Lord tells Moses, speak to the rock. This is number one, why is this a big deal?

Number one, it's flagrant disobedience. Moses does basically the opposite of what God tells him to do. And Moses is the leader. And he's doing this in front of everybody, which makes it that much worse.

So number one, it's flagrant disobedience. Number two, the rock is symbolic of what? Christ. So the first time the rock is struck, I think the symbolism is Jesus died once for all. Jesus was struck once.

And now that Jesus has died and rose again and has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the father, now we get to speak to him in prayer as our intercessor, bringing our prayers before the throne of the father.

So I think there's some symbolism as he's only struck once, then speak. But Moses, it's like he's gonna strike Christ again. So hopefully that makes it seem, yeah, it actually three times. Yes. This is Jesus you're referring to.

There was the great big stone that was rolled in front of the tomb. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, there is that rock that one man wouldn't have been able to move. Did I see another hand?

Yes, Ray. It's just one other thing he did wrong was here. Now he revels must we bring for two out of the rock. He's taken the rock for one time.

Right. So now it's not just God doing this, it's me and God now. Well, wait a minute. What is he talking about just in the air? So you could say that he's not giving God all the credit or not giving God all the glory.

And the next thing, so he's calling them rebels, which admittedly they were, but guess who else is a rebel?

Yeah. I thought everybody called them stiff neck people anyway.

Hard calling the kettle black. Yeah, so now Moses is engaging in hypocrisy. He's just rebelled against God in front of the whole congregation while he's angry at them, accusing them of being rebels. So, you know, and because of all this, Moses is not allowed to enter into the promised land.

That doesn't mean he wasn't a great man of faith. Doesn't mean that he didn't love the Lord. Just because somebody sins, it doesn't mean that they don't love God. It doesn't mean that God didn't love him, but there still are consequences.

Do Not Tempt the Lord and the Warning from Hebrews

All right, let's go back to Exodus 17. So don't ever think there's just a minor offense, that God will look past this. It's a dangerous mindset to fall into. And there's gonna be consequences to our behavior.

All right, now there was a statement that was made that we didn't really touch on. Moses says to the people in Exodus 17, verse two, why do you tempt the Lord? What does it mean to tempt the Lord? It means basically you're putting God to the test to make God prove himself.

Okay, this is also a very serious offense, putting God to the test. Let me give an example. Even though these aren't the words that they spoke, essentially this is what they're doing. Lord, we're not really sure that you're gonna keep your word.

So you better prove to us that you're faithful. Otherwise, you know, we really can't trust you. You never wanna try to put God, like who do you think you are, right? Tell God, you need to prove yourself to me.

Yeah, I think a lot of people do that. A lot of people will say, well, God, I'll believe in you and I'll be your most faithful servant if you prove yourself and do this. And God's sitting in heaven, knowing that that's totally not true and you won't follow through with that.

Yeah. Do you remember when Jesus was tempted by the devil, the 40 days that he was in the wilderness, Satan brought him up on the pinnacle of the temple and he says, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

And what did Jesus say in response to the devil's temptation? What did he say? Yes, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So Jesus knew why he came to this earth. He came to die by crucifixion. There was no way that the father would allow him to die in any other way.

So theoretically, yeah, theoretically, if Jesus jumped from the pinnacle of the temple, there's no way he could die. So logically, yeah, the angels would have to catch him and there's no way he could die that way.

But Jesus was not going to put God the father to the test. He believed, he trusted, he doesn't need to see it. And this should be our response. We should believe God and we don't need God to do all these things to prove himself.

Also, Jesus isn't gonna do what Satan tells him to do. Here's the point. As believers, we need to trust God's word and not expect God to be in a position to prove himself to us. Look at verse seven. So he called the name of that place, Masa and Meribah because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not?

So Masa means temptation and Meribah means contention. And this event, I know we're kind of going from one chapter to another and maybe all these things kind of blend together, but this is a very significant event in Israel's history.

This event is mentioned, I think, four times in the book of Deuteronomy. And in Hebrews chapter three, I just wanna read verses seven through nine. Hebrews three, seven through nine. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness.

So the author to the book of Hebrews, which I believe is Paul, but that's another story for another day. He's pointing back to this event and just like first Corinthians 10, it's an example of what Christians are not to do.

Don't be like them. Don't do what they did. And certainly you remember by now, right? First Corinthians 10, right? These things were written for our admonition. This is an example for Christians of what not to do.

Although I'm sure this kind of hits home for a lot of people. You think of what the Israelites were complaining about, not having food. They're in the wilderness with no food. They're in the desert with no water.

Do you think there have been people who have complained and grumbled to God about far less? I suspect there probably has been. All right, I'd like to read something. It says, but this attitude among the Israelites was their great sin.

In this time of difficulty, the children of Israel directly or indirectly doubted the loving presence and care of God among them. Under the stress of an immediate black, these people doubted the one fact of which they had overwhelming evidence.

I mean, really they had no excuse. Later when Israel remembered God's provision in the wilderness at the feast of tabernacles, they had a specific ceremony where they recalled this miracle from water from the rock.

In that exact context, Jesus said, this is John 7, 37 and 38. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

So the point is this, the living water Jesus spoke of was the Holy Spirit. So Jesus is the rock, there's the rock and the water. Jesus is the rock, out of Christ proceeds the spirit, out of the rock comes the water.

He says, and it is no less of a miracle for God to bring the love and power of the Holy Spirit out of our hearts than it is to bring water out of a rock. Why? Because our hearts can be just as hard. Okay, the hearts of human beings can be just as hard, if not harder, metaphorically, than this rock.

The Amalekites, Joshua, and the Banner of the Lord

Okay, now we come to this next section, the victory over the Amalekites. This is a very memorable battle, isn't it? It's because Moses has to lift up his hands and if he drops his hands, well, they start to lose.

So we better prop this guy up as long as we can. So the victory is over the Amalekites. Who are the Amalekites named after? I think it tells you. Amalek, who is the grandson of Esau. Very good, so they're almost family, but not really.

Exodus 17, verses eight and nine says, now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, this is the first time we hear about Joshua, who obviously becomes the successor to Moses.

And Moses said to Joshua, choose some men and go out, fight with Amalek. And tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. Excellent, so the Amalekites would kind of be a thorn in Israel's side for a long, long time.

The Lord will later command that they be wiped off the face of the earth. And notice it's the Amalekites who come and attack Israel. Okay, Israel didn't go after them. They came after Israel and they did it in a very dishonorable way.

So instead of attacking the troops, even though Israel just come out of Egypt, they weren't exactly a fighting force, what did they do? They went around back and attacked the stragglers. So probably men, women, people that were tired, people that were not warriors.

They went around back and just started picking off people on the tail end. So God is not very pleased about this. Israel is traveling and they're attacked. And look at Exodus 17, verse 10. So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek.

So that's just a name that represents the whole people. And Moses, Aaron and Hur, H-U-R, went up on the top of the hill. This is the first time we hear about Hur. What do we know about him? Or what do you know about Hur?

Ben Hur, yeah, that's a different one, but yeah. No, hey, that's in the Bible too, the name. Hur was an important figure. He is the son of Caleb, who we'll read about him and Joshua are connected. And he is the grandfather of Bezalel.

Who's Bezalel? Bezalel. He was the chief artisan who built the tabernacle. So Hur has some very important family members. Look at verse 11. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed.

And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands, so obviously, hey, we need to keep the hands up. But Moses' hands became heavy. So 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 the other on the other side. You can just imagine this, right? You can just picture this in your mind. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. All right, now let's go to Deuteronomy 25. This will be the last place we turn. So even though Israel won the battle, the Lord will not forget this attack upon his people.

We think of the Lord as, well, the most forgiving. He's more forgiving than any person. And God is forgiving. But God also has a very long memory. As in, he never forgets. If someone does not seek God's forgiveness, God never forgets.

And he's not gonna forget this. Deuteronomy 25, verse 17. The Lord says, remember what Amalek did to you on the way, did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary, and he did not fear God.

Therefore, it shall be when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will do what?

Blot out the remembrance.

Yes, blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Wipe them off the face of the earth, basically. You shall not forget. Now, Israel would have to do their part. So God's kind of decreeing that this is what you're to do, but they had to follow through with it.

And of course, like this is a problem for the Israelites. They just, God will tell them something, but you know, they just don't listen. And when they don't listen, bad things happen. Here's a spiritual rule.

When you don't listen to God, bad things happen. That's exactly what takes place. So when they go into the land, they leave a bunch of the Canaanite tribes there. And again, because of this Amalek, the Amalekites are just a constant thorn in their side all the way past the days of King Saul.

Matter of fact, and I forgot about this. I was listening today. There was an Amalekite later on in Israel's history that almost wiped the Jews off the face of the earth. What was his name? Close, Haman.

Haman was a descendant of Amalek. So you can just imagine if they would just obeyed the Lord, it could have saved them so many problems later on down the road. But still in the end, God's promises come to pass.

Amalek eventually will finally be destroyed. In fact, all of the enemies of Israel eventually are destroyed. Have you ever met an Amalekite? No, you haven't. You've never met an Edomite. You've never met a Philistine, right?

You've never met a Babylonian. Have you met a Jew? Yes. This is one of the greatest proofs throughout history that the Bible's true. You wanna know that the word of God is true? Look at Israel, look at the Jews.

They're still around. All these other people groups, gone. It's proof that the word of God is true because God made a promise to them. They can't be exterminated, although many have tried. And people are still trying today.

And of course, the Jews have enemies today. Arguably, they're the most hated people group on the face of the earth. And they're enemies like Haman and like the Amalekites and all the rest of them. And we know this, that Israel's enemies want to wipe them off the face of the map.

Yet, if you look at all the prophecies about the end times, the end of days, most of the prophecies about the end times deal with who? Israel. So they're not going anywhere because the end of history, they're still there and they play an important role.

So this is how I'm gonna close because we're talking about Israel battling with the Amalekites, God fights for them. I mean, really, what difference would it make that Moses has his hands in the air? I mean, is that really gonna affect the outcome of the battle?

Well, when God's involved, it did because that was just symbolic of God was fighting for them. In Zechariah 14, speaking of Israel and their enemies that still persist to this day, Zechariah 14 says, behold, the day of the Lord is coming.

This is where the Lord says, we'll gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. I would suspect this would be World War III, could be World War IV or V. I'm betting it would be World War, I don't actually bet, but probably World War III, the Lord says, I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem.

And this will culminate in the battle of Armageddon. The prophet Zechariah continues and he says, then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, amen?

So the Lord is going to return. Jesus is going to return at the battle of Armageddon, the second coming, his feet, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. God fights for his people. When soldiers in the United States military fight, what do they fight under?

The flag, right? They fight under the banner of America, under the flag. Well, let's look at Exodus 17. It closes with these words, verse 15. Because the Lord fought for his people, Moses built an altar and called its name Jehovah-Nissi, which means the Lord is my banner.