Israel Defeats Amalek

 

 

 

Exodus 17:8-16

September 10, 2024

Israel Defeats Amalek

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  So, Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So, Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, ^“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

 

AI Overview

The Bible verse "a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" appears in Ecclesiastes 4:12. The verse can be interpreted in a few ways: 

 

·      Strength in numbers: Three people are stronger together than an individuals. 

 

·      Defense: Two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. 

 

·      Unity: God's people are stronger together than they are as individuals. 

 

·      Need for each other: People need each other.

As I read this account of Moses, the verses from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 came into my mind, God could have given Moses Victory by holding his hands up, but instead, God wants to show us how much better we are when we work together.  “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

But as I began to look there was a lot of Bible instruction on coming alongside another person to help or encourage.  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(Hebrews 10:24-25)

I was sure glad that God did this, I do not want to think about my life without Jan; Genesis 2:18, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So many verses, what if the follower of Christ obeys this verse in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

         From the Back Porch,

         Bob Rice