Exodus 17

AND all the Congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys By divers stations, recorded Numb. 33. 12, 13. &c. but here omitted, because there was nothing extraordinary hapned in them., according to the Commandment of the LORD Expressed either by word of mouth, or by the motion or rest of the cloudy pillar, Exod. 13. 21., and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD By distrusting Gods power and providence, and faithfulness and goodness, upon such a small occasion, by refusing to submit to Gods will, and to wait upon him by humble and servent prayers for relief, and in stead thereof quarrelling with me as if it were my fault, and murmuring against God under my name.?

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?

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

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the Elders of Israel That they may be eye-witnesses of this glorious work, and may report it to the people.: and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river Either the Red-sea; for an arm of the Sea is sometimes called a river: or, the river Nilas., take in thine hand, and go.

Behold, I will stand before thee there In my cloudy pillar, which shall stand over that place., upon the rock in Horeb Horeb and Sinai are sometimes spoken of as the same place, and sometimes as two differing places, as here compared with Exod. 19. 2. The learned write, that this was one long mountain, whereof there were two eminent parts or tops, the one at a considerable distance from the other, and Horeb was the first part of it, and near Rephidim, and Sinai, the more remote, to which they came afterwards., and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall water come out of it. And Moses did so (i. e.) Smote the rock and the waters flowed out plentifully and continually, making a river, which God caused to follow them to their several Stations. See 1 Cor. 10. 4., in the sight of the Elders of Israel.

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD amongst us Viz. To protect and provide for us according to his word given to us. Will God be as good as his word, or will he not? for it is to us very doubtful., or not?

Then When they were upon their march from Rephidim to Horeb, Deut. 25. 17, 18. came Amalek, and fought with Israel The ground of the quarrel was the prosecution of the old hatred of Esau against Iacob, and the revenging of themselves and their father upon the posterity of Iacob: for which they thought this the fittest season, they being now a great and potent people, Numb. 24. 20. and Israel now weak and unarmed and dispirited with long servitude. in Rephidim.

And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go Out of the camp, to meet the enemy. out, fight with Amalek: to morrow, I will stand on the top of the hill Both to observe thy carriage, and success or defeat, that I may govern my self accordingly, and that I may in that retirement pour out my soul... to the Lord of hosts that he may give thee victory., with the rod of God having done so great exploits formerly, doubt no... of the same divine assistance to accompany it and make thee victorious. in mine hand.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur A person of eminency both for wisdom and experience and for place and authority, supposed to be the husband of Miriam. See Exod. 24. 14. went up to the top of the hill.

And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand With the rod of God in it. This gesture, though fervent prayer was doubtless joyned with it, seems not to have been the gesture of one praying, which is the lifting up of both hands, but of an Ensign-bearer, or of one ready to smite his enemies. Howsoever this was only a sign whereby Moses strengthned his faith and quickned his prayers and heightned the courage of the Souldiers below, and protested that he expected victory not from the skill and prowess of his Army, but from the assistance of God., that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed God so dispensing his favour, that the honour of the day and victory might be wholly ascribed to the rod and power of God, not to Israel..

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 Not that both hands were erected and joyned together, which was not a fit posture for one holding a rod in his hand, but that Moses shifted the rod out of one hand into the other when the former was weary, and that Aaron and Hur did each of them with both hands hold up that hand which was next to them successively, that they also might relieve one the other., the one on the one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady untill the going down of the Sun.

And Joshua discomfited Amalek, and his people Either 1. The King of the Amalekites, and his people: or 2. the people of the Amalekites, and those other people who were leagued with them., with the edge of the sword.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book Even in this book, which Moses was to write by Gods inspiration and appointment. See Exod. 34. 27. Deut. 31. 9, 22. and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua Thy successour and the captain of my people, that he and all succeeding governours may watch all occasions to execute this command.: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek (i. e.) I will utterly destroy them: for a person or people dead or destroyed are soon forgotten. Psal. 31. 12. and the grave is called the land of forgetfulness, Psal. 88. 12. Or thus, though they are now a numerous and flourishing people and in great repute, I will make them few and inglorious, for such are little minded or remembered: for this is not to be understood absolutely of a speedy and utter extinction of them, for he supposeth their being from generation to generation v. 16. but comparatively. from under heaven From the face of the whole earth..

And Moses built an Altar Both for the offering of sacrifices of praise unto God, and to be a monument of this victory and of the Author of it. and called the name of it viz. Of the Altar, which he so calls metonymically, because it was the sign and monument of Iehovah Nissi; even as circumcision is called Gods covenant. Gen. 17. 13. and the lamb the passeover, Exod. 12. 11. and the cup, the new Testament, Luk. 22. 20. because they were the signs of them. Or the word, altar, is to be repeated out of the former member, which is frequent, and the place to be read thus, he called the name of it, the altar of Iehovah nissi. Or the name given to it signifies only the inscription ingraven upon it, which was not the single name of God, but an entire sentence, the lord is my banner. By which words he takes all the praise of the victory from the Israelites, and gives it to God. JEHOVAH-nissi.

For Or, And, as the Hebrew particle properly signifies: for these words are not a reason of the passage next preceding, but an additional sentence. he said, Because Or, surely, as that particle is oft used, as Iob 8. 6. and 20. 20. Psal. 10. 14. and 44. 22, &c. Heb. the hand upon the throne of the Lord, for the hand of the Lord upon his throne, which is perfectly the same thing, only the order of the words is a little varied after the manner of the Hebrew tongue. These words then are a paraphrastical description of a solemn oath, by the usual posture of it, viz. the listing up the hand, which is usually put for swearing, and in that sense is ascribed both to men, as Gen. 14. 22. and to God, as Deut. 32. 40. And this hand of God lifted up upon his throne, where his Majesty does peculiarly and gloriously dwell, signifies that God swears by himself, as is said, Heb. 6. 13. And thus the Chaldee and Arabick Interpreters understand it. Others render the place thus, Because the hand (or, his hand, the pronoun being here understood, as it frequently is in the Hebrew language, of which several instances have been given before, i. e. the hand of Amalek, which may easily be understood out of the following clause in which Amalek is named) was against the throne of the Lord; i. e. was stretched out against God himself; for so God esteems it because it was done against that people among whom God had placed his throne or seat or dwelling, according to his covenant made with them; which also was well known to the Amalekites by the relation of their progenitours, who in all probability had acquainted them with their own rights, and with Iacobs arts whereby he robbed Esau, the father of Amalek, Gen. 36. 15, 16. of his birthright and blessing and consequently of the land of Canaan, to which now God was bringing them, that he might plant them there and set up his throne among them. And the Amalekites doubtless heard, as the other neighbours also did, in what a miraculous manner God had brought them out of Egypt and over the Red-sea. And they knew better then others, by tradition from their Parents that God had promised Canaan to them, and now they saw that he was conducting them thither. And therefore to prevent this they now commence a War against them and against God or his throne, whose presence with and conduct over them was most manifest: which was a great aggravation of their sin. And this latter translation and interpretation seems most probable, 1. because it exactly agrees with the Hebrew words and the order in which they are placed. 2. It makes the coherence more clear than our translation does, the former part of the verse containing a reason of the latter, to wit, of that severe curse and everlasting war denounced against Amalek, because they attempted by force to overthrow Gods throne and people, and that with so many aggravating circumstances, of which see Deut. 25. 17, 18. the LORD has sworne that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.