2026_07_26_Exodus

Okay, chapter 17, verse 8, we're ready for. Exodus chapter 17, we're beginning with verse 8.

! So we have just come from Mara, right?

And now we're ready to take up what happens in these verses. This is the first what for Israel since Egypt.

Okay, this is the first fight since Egypt. Now, we're going to ask a preliminary. Is this their first war for the taking of Canaan?

I see shaking. No. This has nothing to do with the taking of Canaan. They're not near Canaan yet. They're going away from Canaan.

They're headed toward where? Sinai. Sinai. So they're going away from the promised land at this point.

This has nothing to do with the taking of the promised land. But that will be mentioned by the Lord here. Okay, so it's the first battle.

There's a marked difference in the people that we read of here and what we read in 17, verse 2, isn't it?

Compare verse 2 to verse 10 as far as the people. What did you see in verse 2?

Well, they're complaining. And what did they say? Give us water to drink. You brought us out here to die of thirst.

Now, verse 10, what do we see? Okay, what do they do in verse 10?

What do we read? Okay. Joshua and Moses said to him, or had said to him, he did, rather.

Joshua, this is the first mention of Joshua, by the way. Did, as Moses told him to do, what had Moses told Joshua to do?

Right, he said, get up a bunch of men and go out and fight against Amalek. Now, why did God tell him to go out and fight against Amalek?

Why is he picking a fight? Okay, what makes you say that? What's he say? Okay.

Okay, Amalek came out. Now, I couldn't find that Amalek had a definite country, but they were as many of the tribes at this time.

And we're going to research him just a bit. The tribe is named after a person. So, Amalek came out.

And do you remember how they attacked Israel? It's not in these verses, by the way. But if you have a Bible with some side verses, you'll see some reference to Deuteronomy, I think.

Don't read too much. Just read enough to tell how Amalek attacked Israel. Okay, you have it. See, you did that from memory, didn't you?

Or did you look it up? Okay. Amalek raided. Now, many of the peoples in that time, part of their income was from raiding.

Amalek came and attacked the stragglers in the rear. So, the ones that were furthest back, the raiders came in and hit them.

And Moses told Joshua, by the way, what does Joshua's name mean? God saves, or salvation is of God.

Who else has that name? Go ahead. Jesus. That's the name that English translations will render in the New Testament.

They will render that name Jesus. It's the same name. And by the way, it means the same thing, doesn't it? It's especially fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

So, Moses tells Joshua, get up some guys and go out and fight with Amalek.

He tells him to choose men and go out and fight. So, this isn't a full scale every fighting man in Israel's going out necessarily.

But Joshua is to choose them. Now, what does Moses tell Joshua he's going to do? That is, Moses is going to do. Okay.

I will take the rod of God in my hand and I'm going to the top of the hill. Again, he's going to use a sign for Israel.

Yes. It's something that became the rod of God when Moses was on the backside of the desert shepherding Jethro's sheep.

It was Moses' rod. God told him to throw it on the ground and what happened? It became a serpent.

And then God told him, now, the throwing it on the ground I can get along with. The next one was a little harder for me. What's he say?

Pick it up. And what happened? It's a rod of God now. That's kind of a picture of what my life should be when I come to Christ, shouldn't it?

Things were mine before but now they don't belong to me. I I wouldn't have so I doubt that.

Actually, okay, you're recording this? Then I'd better be careful. I was going to I was going to tell you a story. So, who went up to the top?

Moses, Aaron, and Ben-Hur. Her.

Yeah, the father of Ben-Hur. This is the only mention of her except perhaps Exodus is in Exodus 24.

The tradition in Israelite tradition is that Hur was married to Miriam, Moses' sister.

But there's nothing scripturally that definitively says that. But that's been a traditional thing. At any rate, Aaron and Hur go up the hill with Moses.

And apparently it's a good thing, right? Why will it be good? I'm sorry?

Okay. So, give us a scenario of how the battle's going. This is a battle going all day, by the way. when the rod of God is elevated.

Hmm. Another picture comes to mind. When the Lord is elevated, when I drop the Lord in general.

Now, I want to be careful with that because it's a picture of a generality. Because is it always true that the person who elevates the Lord Jesus does better in life?

Well, it might depend upon what I call better, yes, but prosperity. Does honoring God bring prosperity?

Not necessarily. At least not in this life. What about the apostles? By the way, and I know I've rehearsed this before, but that makes the witness of the apostles very plausible to me.

Because they witnessed at their own lives expense, they said, yes, Jesus did rise from the dead. Now, had they known that that wasn't true, true.

It's highly unlikely to me that they would have maintained that story if they knew it wasn't so. If we had really stolen the body, and all I have to do is admit it, no.

And what about the apostle Paul? Tossed around on the sea, going hungry, sometimes with plenty, sometimes with nothing.

So, it's not always a picture. However, there is the picture of, what do we call, what, the law of the harvest, if you will, for God.

A man, be not deceived, God is not mocked, a man reaps what he sows. Now, in general, if I'm obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ, my life's going to go better.

In terms of, in terms of, spiritually, certainly spiritually, but also in terms of family relationships and things like that, in general, if I'm obedient to Christ, things will be better in life.

My Christian brother who's with the Lord used to say, look, life's hard, life's hard, some things are harder, don't make it stupid too.

You know, don't add, don't be foolish, Roger. So, when Moses' hands are extended, when the rod of God is lifted up, Israel prevails.

When the rod of God drops, Israel's losing. So, what are Aaron and Hur there for? To hold his arms up.

So, what's the result of the battle? Joshua overwhelmed Amalek his priesthood. Okay.

So, Joshua prevailed. That is, the people of Israel overwhelmed Amalek. And, what does God say about that?

Make a memorial. What's he say? What kind of memorial? Well, yeah, but he says, you write this down in a book.

And, what? Recite it? Recite it to whom? Joshua.

And, what's he to recite? to write? Okay.

This is what you write, Moses. And, you're going to write this in a book, and this will serve as a memorial. Israel. And, you're going to read this to Joshua so that he doesn't forget that God will blot out the memory of Amalek from the face of the earth.

That's what God says. Now, what does Moses do in response to God's word? He builds an altar.

What's he call it? Yeah, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord is my banner. Jehovah is the banner.

And, why? Why does he call it that? Right.

So, he says this, so Moses builds an altar, he names it Jehovah Nisi, the Lord is my banner, or the Lord our banner.

And, he says, because, God has sworn that he will have war with Amalek forever.

All right. Now, let's take a little bit of time, and who is this Amalek? Or, who are these people? they are.

They are. They're descendants of Esau. So, Genesis 36, 9 through 12, if you refer to that, you'll see that Esau is the father of the Edomites, dwelling around Mount Seir, and these are the sons, or the names of Esau's sons, Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau, and, dropping down to verse 12 there in Genesis 36, Timnah was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bare Amalek.

So, Amalek, for whom the tribe is named, is the grandson of Esau. Alright.

So, these are blood relatives to Israel through who's their common ancestor?

Isaac. So, they're blood relatives, but God has chosen that his covenant is going to be given through Jacob and not Esau.

Now, whose choice was that? It was God's choice. He said so. In fact, you'll read that reiterated in Romans, won't you?

that before either of them had done anything, I said that Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. So, the Lord had already determined where this is going to go as far as who the descent is going to be through.

Who's going to reap the covenant? It's going to be the descendants of Jacob, not Esau. However, the Lord will protect the territories that he's given to Esau from Israel and he's going to tell them later on, don't you go in there because I gave that to Esau.

However, Amalek steps out and comes to get them and attacks them and now God says, I will have war against Amalek forever.

So, Amalek by name is the grandson of Esau. His name shows up again or the people's name, this people group, show up again when Balak hires Balaam to do what?

He hired Balaam to curse Israel. Now, we won't go through that whole scenario too deeply, but real quickly, you know this, Balaam was the first one to listen to, well, no, I'm not going to go there.

I was, yes, I am. he was the first one to listen to political propaganda because he heard the voice of an ass.

So, but Balak sent people to hire Balaam to come and curse Israel because Israel's coming toward the Canaan now, and he wants to stop them and he's heard about them and he says, I'm going to go get the seer, the prophet, to come and curse these people.

So, he, God told Balaam the first time, don't go. And another lesson for me, well, I must not have heard it.

I read it in the scripture that I oughtn't to do this, but I'm going to ask again. And again, God tells him, don't go. And the third time, God says, you're not listening.

Go ahead. So, he puts the angel before the ass, remember? And the ass speaks to Balaam and says, why are you beating me?

And then God opens Balaam's eyes, he sees the angel, he says, I'll go back home. God says, no, it's too late. You go on. So, God sends him on.

He goes up and he does tell Balaam, look, I can only say what God tells me to say. So, he builds altars, he looks for an omen from God and he goes out to curse Israel, but instead he blesses them.

he does this three or four times because Balak says, well, maybe you didn't do it there, maybe you can do it over here. And he keeps going around.

So, obviously, Balaam, which by the way, when you research Balaam, you will find that he is punished because he kept trying to end around God.

He kept trying to say, okay, Lord, can I do it here? Because he wanted the money. And he wound up and Amalek is mentioned in this group.

So, Balak was head of Moab and he had the Moabites, the Midianites, and the Amalekites that he wanted to fight against Israel and he wanted Israel cursed.

to and by the way, there is an interesting thing in there about in Balaam's prophecy and if you want to check it out, check out Numbers chapter 24 and especially verse 17 and said, but I'll just read the reference starting with verse 15 of Numbers 24.

He took up this parable, this is Balaam, and said, Balaam, the son of Beor, has said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said, he's a seer, and he has said which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High which saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance but having his eyes open.

And this is what he says, verse 17, you've heard this elsewhere, I shall see him but not now, I shall behold him but not nigh.

There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. And then he goes on to say, and shall smite also the possession and Moab destroy the children of Seth.

Edom shall be a possession. Seer shall become a possession for his enemies. Israel shall do valiantly verse 19, out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.

And when he looked on Amalek, he took up this parable and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end, he shall perish forever.

you heard a verse in there in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. A star shall rise from Jacob and a scepter come from Israel.

He's talking about the Messiah. Now, by the way, it was interesting to me to see this in the Old Testament. When the Magi came looking for Jesus, when the Magi came from the east, where did they go?

This is at the birth of Jesus. Where did they go? Where would that be? They went to Jerusalem.

What did they ask Herod? We've recorded, we have recited these verses a hundred times almost.

Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east. See, even the Magi in the east knew there was going to be a sign of the star coming out of Jacob.

So they went where they knew to go. Where's the king? No, they weren't Jewish, they were Chaldean. We have no idea what their native heritage would be because the Magi remember Daniel was one.

I suspect, by the way, Babylon collected had the largest library in the known world of the days. And one of the things that the kings of Babylon were doing, especially Nebuchadnezzar, was collecting the best people from every nation he conquered to come in and serve in his government.

Daniel was one. There were three other Jews mentioned. Remember? and so they are serving in this metropolis that has a huge library and it seems to me that because of Daniel and the Israelites who were taken captive now by the way was Daniel godly or ungodly?

he was godly. Why did he go to Babylon? Because that's the way it happened. Because Babylon because others had been ungodly in Israel.

Sometimes sin carries over far beyond the person who sins. But nevertheless so somewhere in there these magi were aware of the Jewish scripture which prophesied this and it's even prophesied by a guy who was trying to curse Israel.

But God's plan is going through. So that's Amalek now or that's Amalek except that we're not done with him.

In Deuteronomy chapter 25 you will read in Deuteronomy chapter 25 if you wish to double check that you will read starting with verse 17 that God tells them to remember what Amalek did to you by the way and he feared not God and he ends with thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven you shall not forget says God now God uses Amalek to chase in Israel in the time of the judges in the time of the judges in chapter 3 verses 11 through 14 Judges chapter 3 if you want to check on it and

Eglon the king of Moab came against Israel because Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord and he gathered him unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek and smote Israel and so they served Moab for 18 years and then in Joe in later on in Judges chapter 6 we're talking about Gideon there aren't we and Midian came against Israel and raided Israel and amongst the Midianites were Amalekites so they haven't disappeared and God's prophecy and his orders have not yet been fulfilled but they're supposed to be and we see that then in 1st Samuel chapter 15 at this time in 1st Samuel chapter 15

Saul is king of Israel and when Samuel is anointing Saul he says the Lord has anointed me or called me to anoint you as king over the people now hearken unto the voice of the words of the Lord thus saith the Lord of hosts I remember what Amalek did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came from Egypt now verse 3 this is in order to Saul go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have and spare!

them not but slay both man and woman infant and suckling ox and sheep camel and ass now before I go on did Saul do that what what do you mean he didn't do that what did he do he saved out Amalek and the best of the sheep and the oxen and if you remember then Samuel will come to Saul and he'll say have you done what God told you to do I like this is almost a humorous verse if it wasn't so pathetic what's going on and what does Saul say I did everything the Lord told me to do and Samuel replies then what is the bleeding I hear why do

I hear sheep and oxen if you did what you were supposed to do what's going on here and eventually Saul is going to say well I feared the people and so we save these out for sacrifices and then these verses these famous verses to obey Samuel will say is better than sacrifice and the sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft no Saul no Saul you rebelled you didn't do what God told you to do and then Samuel says bring me Agag and Agag comes easily because he thinks that the fear of death surely the bitterness of death is past he says and he comes before

Samuel and Samuel hues him in pieces before the Lord and at that point Amalek is finished so God did fulfill what he had said now that finishes off chapter 17 we'll just make some preliminary statements and then we'll take an earlier break Exodus chapter 18 is about whom Moses and Jethro okay now when you read these chapter 18 you'll notice that this is not given in a chronological order because it will tell you that

Jethro came where to see Moses where okay now have we we've just gotten through with the battle of Amalek have come to Sinai yet not yet so it's not delivered in a chronological order so we'll just remember that when we're reading it physically at this point through the through the narration we're still still in the wilderness coming to the mount of God but chapter 18 is delivered as though we're already there it won't have any bearing upon what

God says about it it just means that we won't get too confused about well how they get to there and then now we're not there so we'll just remember that it's written without the chronological order and having said all that have a wonderful week God bless you and God willing we'll see you next week