Water and Hands of Faith

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

Background and printed text: Exodus 17

 

Exodus 17:1 And all the Witness of the children of Israel journeyed from the Thorn Desert to their journeys according-to the mouth of Yehovah. And they camped in Spreads. And there is no water to ‘water’ the people. ²And the people fought with Draw [Moshe]. And they said, “Give-ye water to us! And we have drunk!” And Draw [Moshe] said to them, “What? Ye will fight with me? What? Will ye tempt Yehovah?” ³And the people thirsted there for water. And the people lodged upon Draw [Moshe]. And he said, “Why is this? Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!”

 

⁴And Draw [Moshe] screamed unto Yehovah to say, “What shall I do to this people? A little further, and he will stone me!” ⁵And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Cross-over to the faces of the people. And take from the elders of Israel with thee. And take thy rod via thy hand that thou smote the canal via him. And thou shalt walk! ⁶And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry. And thou shalt smite into the rock. And waters shall exit from him. And the people shall drink.” And Draw [Moshe] did, established, to the eyes of the elders of Israel.

 

⁷And he called the name of the place Temptation and Her-Fighter concerning the fight of the children of Israel and concerning their tempting Yehovah to say, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?”

 

⁸And Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] came. And he warred with Israel in Spreads. ⁹And Draw [Moshe] said unto Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua], “Choose men to us! And exit-thou. War via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] tomorrow. I am positioning upon the head of the hill. And the rod of the Gods is in my hand!” ¹⁰And Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua] did just-as Draw [Moshe] said to him to war via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek].

 

And Draw [Moshe], Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] and Cave [Hur] ascended the head of the hill. ¹¹And he was, just-as Draw [Moshe] will elevate his hand, and Israel will prevail! And just-as he will rest his hand, and Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] will prevail!

 

¹²And the hands of Draw [Moshe] are heavy! And they took a stone. And they put under him. And he sat upon her. And Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] and Cave [Hur] supported via his hands, from this: one, and from this: one. And his hands were faith unto [until] the sun came! ¹³And Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua] disabled Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] and his people to the mouth of a sword.

 

¹⁴And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Write this remembrance in a scroll, and put into ears of Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua]. For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!”

 

¹⁵And Draw [Moshe] built an altar. And he called his name, Yehovah My-Ensign. ¹⁶And he said, “For a hand is according-to an estimate of Yah! War is to Yehovah via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from generation to generation!”  

 

 

 

I. A Fight with Moshe (verses 1-3)

 

The group of the children of Israel (being one witness) journeyed from Thorn Desert to the rest of their journeys as Yehovah gave instruction. They camped in a place called Spreads. This place had no water to ‘water’ (give drink to) the people.

 

The people of Israel became angry and fought with Moshe. They said, “Give-ye water to us! And we have drunk!” Moshe responded, “What? Ye will fight with me?” Moshe couldn’t supply them with water, and fighting with him didn’t make sense. He also said, “What? Will ye tempt Yehovah?”

 

The people of Israel thirsted there for water. And the entire group lodged upon Moshe, coming closer to violence. The people said (as if one person), “Why is this? Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What does “according to the mouth of Yehovah” mean? This means according to whatever Yehovah told them to do. Yet, Moshe was a prophet. A true prophet is the mouth of Yehovah, speaking the speeches that Yehovah gives him/her to speak. Thus, Moshe was acting as the mouth of Yehovah.

 

2.    Why did Yehovah lead the Israelis to a place in which there was no water? Yehovah later explains,

 

       Deuteronomy 8:14 “And thy heart shall elevate. And thou shalt forget Yehovah thy Gods—thy Exiter from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, ¹⁵thy ‘Walker’ in the big and terrifying desert—burning serpent and scorpion and thirst—that there isn’t water, the Exiter of water to thee from the Rock of the flint, ¹⁶thy Feeder of män in the desert that thy fathers didn’t know in order to humble/answer thee and in order to test thee to thy doing-good during thy afterward!”

 

       Thus, Yehovah led the Israelis to a place in which there wasn’t any water in order to both humble and answer Israel, and to test Israel so that Israel will do good during Israel’s ‘afterward’—that is, during the End Times (many centuries from now) when doing good will be the riskiest it has ever been in earth’s history.

 

3.    Why did the people fight with Moshe since Yehovah was the One Who led them to the place with no water? They couldn’t see Yehovah, and they couldn’t ‘get at’ Yehovah. Therefore, they went after those most closely associated with Yehovah: Moshe and Aharon. This is normally what folks do!

 

4.  What does tempting Yehovah involve, and what is wrong with this? Tempting Yehovah is doing something wrong before Yehovah that will push Yehovah to react in violent anger. In this case, the Israelis were about to attack Moshe and Aharon, and were speaking to them with great contempt. Since Yehovah placed them there, and since Yehovah would not permit the Israelis to attack them, they were tempting Yehovah to attack them in order to rescue Moshe and Aharon!

 

5.    Verse 3 states, “And he said, ‘Why is this? Thou “ascended” us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!’” Who is he in, “And he said”? He refers to the people of Israel. The word people is singular, and refers to the entire group. (Peoples is plural.) Yehovah views the entire group of Israelis (the people of Israel) as one person.

 

6.    Since the entire group spoke as one person, were the Israelis unselfishly demanding that Moshe and Aharon do something about the lack of water? The wording of what the people said answers this: “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!” They were thinking of themselves, and not of their Israeli brethren.

 

7.    When the people stated, “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst,” he (the people) did a great wrong that often ruins relationships. What did he do? The great wrong is claiming to know the motives of others. Not too long from now, you will likely see this happen. Someone will tell someone else why some person did something, and that person will be convinced that what he/she said is true. More often than not, the person will be wrong. This will cause some great problem or ruin of a relationship, and can easily lead to violence. When folks are ‘put on the defensive,’ some of them lash out and attack instead.

 

       In the text, the accusation, “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst,” is an example of claiming to know motives. We readers know that Moshe and Aharon didn’t ascend the Israelis from Egypt to harm them, but rather to save them; yet, that didn’t matter to the accusers of Moshe and Aharon. They had their reasons for saying what they said, and their actions nearly got Moshe and Aharon killed (except that Yehovah would have attacked the Israelis instead, had they tried).

 

       Never claim to know the motives of others, especially if the motives you think are true are also bad motives. Instead, look at the behaviours and not the motives. Wrong behaviours are wrong, regardless of the motives; good behaviours are good, regardless of the motives!

 

 

 

II. The Command to Smite the Rock (verses 4-6)

 

Moshe screamed unto Yehovah, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little further, and he will stone me!”

 

Yehovah told Moshe what to do: “Cross-over to the faces of the people. And take from the elders of Israel with thee, and thy rod that thou smote the canal via him. Take via thy hand. And thou shalt walk! And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry. And thou shalt smite into the rock. And waters shall exit from him. And the people shall drink.”

 

Moshe did what Yehovah said to the eyes of the elders of Israel.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What did Moshe mean by, “What shall I do to this people?” He didn’t intend any harm; we would say, “What shall I do for this people?” Moshe desired to benefit them and to allay (to calm down and make much less) their fears.

 

2.    What does stoning involve? It involves picking up rocks and throwing them at a person who is in the middle of a circle of folks all doing the same rock throwing. (Eventually, hitting the head is the objective.) The idea is to kill the person by hitting him (usually in the head) enough times until he can’t recover. It normally showed outrage at the person for some violation.

 

3.    Yehovah told Moshe to cross over “to the faces of” the people. If the Israelis are angry enough to stone him, how could he do this without them attacking him while he walked? Yehovah made certain that none of the Israelis interfered with Yehovah’s orders and plan.

 

4.    Why would the elders of Israel go along with Moshe? They were also viewed as part of the trouble! They knew that Moshe had been right to this point.

 

5.    Why was taking the rod so important, and why did Moshe have to take the rod via his hand, as if there were some other way to take the rod? The Hebrew word for rod is matteh, indicating an ‘incliner’ (something that makes one incline or bend toward a direction or view). It is also used as a word indicating a tribe (of Israel, for example). Yehovah will use the tribes of Israel to incline non-Israelis toward Yehovah and toward Truth as the tribes of Israel do what is right. The tribes will also demonstrate an inclination (a leaning) toward Yehovah and Truth.

 

       Taking this via Moshe’s hand shows that Moshe had the power to direct that rod and to use that rod as Yehovah commanded. Taking anything by the hand is manipulation; this is always good when it is done for benefit and with beneficial results.

 

6.    Why did Moshe have to walk? Moshe had to leave the camp of Israel in order to approach this rock. He could not approach it by standing still or staying where he was. He had to leave his location to go to the place where it was positioned.

 

7.    Who is speaking and saying, “And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry”? Yehovah is saying this! He is the One standing to Moshe’s faces (right in front of him), and He is the One standing upon the rock which is located in the dry region (outside the camp, I propose).

 

8.    What is the benefit of smiting into the rock? This will show a vital picture. That rock isn’t an ordinary rock; it is a very special rock. Smiting that rock with the rod of Yehovah will teach very important teachings about Yehovah and about His Messiah. (I will ask a question about this in a short time.)

 

9.    How can an ordinary rod break a rock? It can’t—not without Yehovah causing it to have that kind of power.

 

10. How can enough water come out of a rock to water that many humans and their cattle? It can’t—not without Yehovah causing it to occur, or, not without that rock being a special rock that is unlike any other rock.

 

11. The text continues, “And waters shall exit from him.” Who is him? That refers to the rock.

 

12. What is this rock? The Bible much later explains,

 

       1 Corinthians 10:1 “Now, I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brethren, that all our Fathers were under the cloud. And all passed through the sea. ²And all were baptized to Moshe in the cloud and in the sea. ³And all ate the same spiritual food. ⁴And all drank the same spiritual drink. For, they drank of a spiritual, following rock! And the rock was the Messiah! ⁵Yet, God wasn’t well pleased with most of them, for they were strewed in the desert!”

 

13. If the answer to the previous question is true, what was this water? It was the greatly sought waters of life! Yet, if those drinking the waters of life don’t have Biblical faith, the waters don’t give everlasting life.

 

       Some explorers used to travel the world looking for the ‘fountain of youth.’ They didn’t know that those who drink from the waters of life and have Biblical faith have, or will obtain, everlasting life; everlasting youth will be what they obtain in the resurrection of life.

 

14. What benefit will the people of Israel gain from drinking this water from this rock? They will get the same benefits as anyone who has a good, clean, good-tasting source of water from which he/she drinks.

 

15. What did Moshe do to the eyes of the elders of Israel? He smote into the rock. Yehovah was standing on that rock.

 

16. Why is Yehovah’s standing on that rock so important? Because the rock is Messiah Yeshua Himself, this shows that Messiah Yeshua must be smitten directly in front of Yehovah in order for the Israelis to obtain the waters of life (or better, the waters of lives). Moshe did what all Israel did: he smote the Messiah!

 

17. Did the Israelis understand the importance of these things? No! They still haven’t understood the importance of these things! Almost no readers have really grasped what Yehovah was showing!

 

18. Will the Israelis later understand these things? Yes!

 

 

 

III. Tempting Yehovah (verse 7)

 

Moshe called the name of that place Temptation and Her-Fighter because of the fight of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Yehovah by saying, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?”

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did Moshe call the name of the place Temptation? The Israelis tempted (strongly and dangerously tested) Yehovah!

 

2.    Why did Moshe call the name of the place Her-Fighter? Who is Her? Her refers to the temptation (which is feminine in Hebrew). The Israelis became the temptation’s fighter, fighting for the temptation that they were doing as if it were a person. They were fighting for the right to tempt Yehovah (which is a good way to get killed).

 

3.    Why did Moshe name the place? When very significant events occur in particular locations mentioned in the Bible, those locations are often named according to the events (even if the locations already have names).

 

4.    What were they asking when they said, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?” They were asking whether Yehovah even existed in the location to which they were coming closer! Humans often associated gods with particular locations, and thus they often believed that gods of one location were not in another location. They were suspicious that Yehovah wasn’t located in the places to which they were going!

 

 

 

IV. War with Amelek (verses 8-10)

 

A group called Amalek came to do battle with the Israelis. And Amalek warred with Israel in the place called Spreads. Moshe knew one of the Israelis whose name was Joshua (Yehovah is Salvation) and who was either a military fighter or was willing to become one. Moshe told him, “Choose men to us! And exit-thou. War via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] tomorrow. I am positioning upon the head of the hill. And the rod of the Gods is in my hand!” Joshua did exactly what Moshe said, and went to war with Amalek.

 

Questions

 

1.    What does Lick-Lapped mean? The work Amalek can be divided into two words in Hebrew: Am, meaning people, and Lek or Lak, which I propose is from Lakak in Hebrew with the following meanings: to lap or lap up; to lick. Now, I propose that the original person who was given the name Amalek (from which the entire people of Amalek came) was given that name either at birth or shortly after birth. I can think of a reason for being named this way, although I don’t have any evidence of this without the Bible telling me. Suppose that the little newborn baby both licked milk and lapped it up with his tongue, just like a puppy would do. I could see his parents naming him from this, and placing it with the word people, hoping that he will become a great people. Thus, I propose that this is what occurred; again, I have absolutely no evidence except that the name has importance.

 

2.    Why did Amalek war with Israel? Was Israel threatening Amalek? When one very large group came to the territory of another group, that group felt very threatened. Suppose that this very large group decides to stay there? Where will they get food except by taking food that the group already there has grown? Thus, Amalek felt very threatened by the Israelis. They didn’t ‘waste time’ asking the Israelis what they were doing there; they just attacked them. That way, if Amalek won, they would have both slaves and property, including much cattle! Amalek had much incentive (reasons that push a person to do something) to attack Israel!

 

3.    What was Spreads? It was a location. (I can only guess why it was called Spreads. One guess would be that different persons had spreads—that is, fields—for growing crops. Another guess would be different ranges for cattle; those could be called spreads.)

 

4.    Why did Moshe tell Joshua to choose men and to go to war? Joshua was a young military fighter. He somehow learned military techniques, like sword fighting, handling a shield, etc. Joshua was also an able commander of men; others were willing to be under his leadership.

 

5.    Why didn’t Moshe go to war with Joshua? Moshe was quite old! He was over 80 years old! He would have been a concern for the young men who went to war.

 

6.    Why did Moshe tell Joshua that the rod of the Gods is in his hand? Why was that important? That was the instrument by which most (if not all) the other miracles had been performed. That information gave Joshua confidence.

 

7.    Again, why is it called the rod of the Gods (plural)? It is the rod of all the Gods there are! Yehovah is the God of the land, the God of the sea, the God of cities, the God of war, the God of protection, the God of judgment, etc.

 

8.    What did Joshua do that was so significant (in verse 10)? He did just as Moshe commanded him—that is, just as Yehovah commanded him. He obeyed.

 

9.    Should one always obey a spiritual leader? No! Many spiritual leaders have led followers to their deaths. Every head of a gang is a spiritual leader (like it or not), since he leads his followers to do moral and/or ethical works! If they rob someone, that is unethical, and it is immoral. If they murder someone, that is immoral. If they illegally buy and sell drugs, that is immoral. All things that are immoral and/or unethical are morally wrong and/or ethically wrong! Thus, a member of a gang follows the spiritual leader of the gang. There have been pastors of congregations who had led their followers to death, too. Only follow a spiritual leader if you know that the leader isn’t corrupt, isn’t arrogant, handles the Bible properly, doesn’t claim Israel’s position in Bible promises, fears Yehovah, etc. If you don’t know all these things, determine whether you will follow him in each individual case. (You certainly can ask for assistance regarding each case; ask someone who has sense and who isn’t under that leader, or who is independent of that leader.)

 

 

 

V. Prevailing Hand (verses 10-11)

 

Moshe, Aharon, and another man named Hur ascended the head of the hill to watch the battle. Whenever Moshe will elevate his hand, Israel will be winning the war (will prevail), and whenever Moshe will rest his hand, Amalek will prevail!

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did the three men ascend the head of the hill? They wanted to watch how the battle went!

 

2.    Who is Hur? He is another wise and Yehovah-fearing man who believed Yehovah.

 

3.    Did Moshe elevate only his hand? Yehovah had told Moshe to take the rod with him. I propose that he elevated his hand with the rod in it!

 

4.    What caused Israel to prevail (to be winning) when Moshe raised his hand? I could say that Yehovah did this, but verse 12 will give another answer; we will cover this when we get to verse 12.

 

5.    Why did Moshe rest his hand if Amalek prevailed when he did this? Moshe didn’t know that this would occur until he had done this several times! Yehovah hadn’t told Moshe that this would occur.

 

6.    Was the rod magic? No! It wasn’t at all magic. Such magic is against Yehovah! Moshe’s hand also was not magic.

 

7.    What, then, or who, then, gave Israel success when Moshe’s hand was elevated? This will be answered in the next verse. (See if you can figure it out.)

 

 

 

VI. Hands are Faith (verses 12-13)

 

Moshe’s hands are heavy. Thus, the two men, Aharon and Hur, took a stone and put it under Moshe. Moshe sat on the stone. Aharon and Hur supported the rod by means of Moshe’s hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. Moshe’s hands were Faith until the setting of the sun!

 

Joshua disabled Amalek and his people “to the mouth of a sword.”

 

Questions

 

1.    Why are the hands of Moshe heavy? The battle went on for quite a while. Moshe also held the rod in his hand (at least, this is my impression). Try raising your hand and keeping it straight up for quite a while!

 

2.    Who are they who took a stone? Aharon and Hur took a stone.

 

3.    How big was this stone? It was big enough that Moshe sat upon it! That stone must have weighed a lot!

 

4.    What does “And Aharon and Hur supported via his hands, from this: one, and from this: one” mean? First, if Aharon and Hur supported via his hands, that indicates that Moshe did have the rod in his hands. Secondly, Aharon and Hur didn’t take the rod out of Moshe’s hands, but they instead held onto Moshe’s hands, and Moshe’s hands held onto the rod! I am thinking that they held Moshe’s wrists. Thirdly, “from this: one” means that Aharon stood on one side (“from this,” referring to “from this side”), and held one hand; Hur did the same from the other side. The word this is used twice, once to refer to one side and once to refer to the other side.

 

5.    According to the text, what gave Israel the power to prevail when Moshe’s hand was elevated? The text states, “And his hands were Faith unto [until] the sun came.” Thus, when either hand or both hands were elevated, the Israelis had faith, and therefore they fought with much less fear. When both hands were not elevated, the Israelis didn’t have faith that they could win. Thus, Moshe’s hands were faith—faith for the Israelis!

 

6.    How long were Moshe’s hands faith? They were faith until the sun ‘came’ (the Hebrew way of describing a sunset, since the light from the sun appears to come down to the land or sea—that is, it appears to come down to the horizon.

 

7.    What does “to the mouth of the sword” mean? The sword eats its victims (in Hebrew). Therefore, it is described as having a mouth (since very young children would imagine the sword eating with a mouth if they heard and understood this in Hebrew). Every person killed by the sword was eaten by the sword; that required the sword to have a mouth, though swords don’t physically have a mouth.

 

8.    What did Joshua do that disabled Amalek? Joshua kept prevailing, and Amalek kept losing. Amalek wasn’t able to prevail, and was therefore disabled from victory. Amalek kept losing its best fighting men (Israeli swords ‘ate’ them).

 

 

 

VII. Blotting the Remembrance of Amelek (verse 14)

 

Yehovah told Moshe, “Write this remembrance in a scroll, and put into ears of Joshua. For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens!”

 

Questions

 

1.    What remembrance did Yehovah tell Moshe to write? He told Moshe to write what He is about to say in the next sentence: “For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!”

 

2.    Why does this need to be written in a scroll? This way, it is a written record that isn’t just a piece of paper (or better, animal skin); it is actually a scroll that is formally made.

 

3.    Why must it be “put into ears of Joshua”? Joshua must also remember this!

 

4.    What will Yehovah do to Amalek? He will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens!

 

5.    Has Yehovah already done this? No, He hasn’t, since we can easily remember Amalek, and we are under the heavens!

 

6.    When will Yehovah do this? He will do this in the future, although I don’t know when.

 

7.    What does blot mean? Blotting always has to do with a liquid that can be soaked up. A paper towel is designed to blot liquids—that is, to soak them up so that the surface will be dry. Some things that Yehovah writes are written in blottable ink; if some of those writings are blotted, there isn’t even a mark indicating that they had ever been written. An example is the names of folks who are all written in the Book of Life; most will die without faith, and their names will be blotted from that book. Thus, the Book of Life and another Book, the Lamb’s Book of Life will agree by the end of the Millennium! Until then, there will be many whose names are still in the Book of Life because they haven’t yet died in unbelief.

 

8.    Now, since Yehovah recorded about Amalek in the Torah (Teaching) given to Israel, and since Yehovah will write that entire Torah on the heart (mind) of every Israeli throughout the Millennium, how can Yehovah blot the remembrance of Amalek as long as the Torah keeps reminding folks of Amalek? This problem goes one step further; for, the Torah will continue into the New Earth. Yet, this text states, “from under the heavens,” which indicates this earth, since this earth is under the heavens.

 

       Part of the answer is that Yehovah will not permit any archaeological artifacts (items left over that humans left behind) to be found in the soil. That will keep archaeologists (folks who study civilizations from years ago) from finding any signs of the Amalekite civilization. This still doesn’t solve the remembrance problem, however.

 

       I propose this as an answer: The Israelis, who will have the Torah written on their minds, and all readers of the Torah will be able to read about the Amalekites and to recite the Torah. Yet, they won’t be able to remember anything about this race; it will be impossible for them to remember anything apart from what they will read in the Torah; and even this will be gone from their memory shortly after they have read about this race. If I am right, it is like what occurs with a woman who births a child. She sometimes goes through terrible pain, but after she has birthed the child, she is no longer able to remember the pain. (That is why women are willing to become pregnant again.) Now, if she sets her mind to it, she can reconstruct the pain, but she has had it blotted from her mind in such a way that it doesn’t affect her the way other pain issues in life affect folks.

 

       Yet, there is one other way to solve this problem. Look at the word remembrance. It is exactly the same word in Hebrew as male. Now, if this is the correct rendering, it would be: “For blotting, I will blot a male of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!” That means that Yehovah will destroy every male of Amalek, and Yehovah will not permit any male to come to old age. He will blot out the male—removing him from the Scroll of Life—and He will do this in every generation! Thus, if a male among the race of Amalek has children, the male himself will then be blotted (more than just killed), and his children will grow just enough to keep the race going, each male then likewise being killed. (See verse 16.)

 

9.    Why did Yehovah so hate Amalek, that He determined to do this blotting when there have been other races who were worse than Amalek toward the Israelis? Another text may give the reason:

 

       Deuteronomy 25:17 Remember-thou what Amalek did to thee in the way in your exiting from Egypt ¹⁸who happened-upon-thee in the way. And he tailed into thee—all the feeble-ones after thee. And thou art tired and weary. And he didn’t fear Elohim! ¹⁹And he shall be via Yehovah resting to thee from all thine enemies from around in the land that Yehovah thy Gods [Elohim] gave to thee an inheritance to possess her, thou shalt blot a remembrance/a male of Amalek from under the heavens. Thou shalt not forget!

 

       Amalek tailed the Israelis, killing off the most feeble of them who were the slowest. Yehovah therefore determined to ‘pick off’ every male of Amalek as long as the earth lasts.

 

 

 

VIII. The Hand and Yah’s Estimation (verses 15-16)

 

Moshe built an altar, and he named the altar Yehovah My Ensign. He then stated, “For a hand is according-to an estimate of Yah!” Moshe added, “War is to Yehovah via Amalek from generation to generation!”

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did Moshe build an altar at this time? Moshe saw the great victory that Yehovah gave to Israel over this race that had well-developed guerilla tactics (attacking and running, attacking and hiding, attacking and picking off the weakest). Moshe saw that a group’s strength is according to Yehovah’s measure, and not according to the capabilities of enemies.

 

2.    What is an ensign? It is something lifted up that signifies (stands for) something. It is used as a signal, as a flag, as a banner, or a sign to give information to others.

 

3.    Why did Moshe name the altar Yehovah My Ensign? Is naming an altar Yehovah right to do? Moshe was prophesying. Yehovah Himself will be Israel’s ensign in several cases during the Tribulation. When He reveals Himself in the heavens on His way down to Mount Zion, He will be Israel’s ensign, showing that Israel will certainly win and Israel’s enemies will certainly lose! When Yehovah appears as a high-towered rock in which Israelis and friends of Israelis will take refuge, and into which enemies will not be able to come, Yehovah will again be an ensign—an ensign in the form of a giant rock! Perhaps you will be able to find other texts that give other examples of Yehovah being physically seen as an ensign!

 

       Naming the altar with this name is right because the name is prophetic. (Calling any object or person Yehovah other than Yehovah Himself would not be right unless the name/title is prophetic.)

 

4.    What does Moshe mean by a hand in, “For a hand is according to an estimate of Yah”? The Bible uses hand in many ways, and nearly all have to do with power. View an adult’s hand from the perspective of a very young child; that hand can do anything and everything! It can move objects that the young child cannot move; it can fix things that the child cannot fix; it can rescue the child; it can chastise the child; it can console the child and show affection to the child… The hand of an adult can do anything, in the view of a very young child. Since the Bible uses words from the perspective of young children, the hand is used for many things in Hebrew.

 

       Now, Moshe raised his hand, and Israel began to prevail. When Moshe lowered his hand, Israel began to lose. Yehovah did the estimating of the importance and power of Moshe’s hand.

 

5.    Who is Yah? He is Yehovah. Yah is a contraction (a shorter form) of Yehovah.

 

6.    What does “War is to Yehovah via Amalek from generation to generation” mean? Yehovah will never have peace with Amalek because of what this race did to the Israelis, and because Amalek will never turn and confess the evil the Amalekite forefathers did. Thus, in every generation, Yehovah will attack and kill the males of Amalek.