Read Exodus 17

The story so far
There are two significant events here at Rephidim. Having camped at Dophkah and Alush on the way without any notable occurrences we arrive here and the story starts to warm up a little. As they set up camp they are once again thirsty and out of water, they don’t just complain to Moses, there is the beginning of a revolt. Things get so heated that Moses is in fear they may stone him to death! Moses faithfully ( if not with a sense of exasperation) brings this to the Lord whose response is for him to take the staff that split the sea and strike a particular rock with it. He is to take with him the elders to witness this next miracle.
The Lord is demonstrating his power and provision to the respected leaders knowing their influence over the rest of the flock. Moses does as commanded and water pours from the rock irrigating the fractious Israelites. Living water cooling and soothing angry, doubting and fearful souls. The disposition of the hearts of the Israelites, their uprising and almost revolt against God and His chosen leader display a weakness that is always an invitation to the enemy….a house divided against itself, we are warned will fall. So although it was a surprise to the Israelites that they are attacked, to us with the gift of hindsight it was almost inevitable. Moses gathers an army together, led by the upcoming Joshua and they fight. A battle had in some ways been expected as they had left Rameses but the Lord had spared them from conflict, now it was time to fight.
As Joshua heads out to battle with the Israelite army Moses ascends a hill with Aaron and Hur. He raises his hands in prayer over the battlefield, whilst his hands are raised the Israelites are winning, but as his energy waned and his arms started to drop the Amalekites start to take the lead. Aaron and Hur sit Moses on a rock and support his weary arms until the battle is won. I’m struck by how much this could have been an image of Calvary, Moses, central, arms held in a cruciform pose with the outline of the two others either side arms aloft too. Moses has to stay in this place until the fight is over, as of course did our Lord Jesus until the victory was His…and ours. Priesthood supporting the Law,
What’s happening with Moses?
As he stood in front of a baying crowd of Israelites I wonder if Moses was expecting a little smiting to be happening. I also wonder if he was little crest fallen that the Lord doesn’t appear to take sides. God replies by sorting and calming the situation and He does so with the Elders present. Then He leaves them to workout some forgiveness and reconciliation between them.
Oh wouldn’t it have been a delicious temptation to stand with your hands on your hips right there and await the apology? We don’t hear that Moses did that, not at all, for as soon as they have all drank from the rocks water, they are under attack and an army has to be formed. Nothing unites quite like a common enemy does it? Is the Lord training Moses to love those who persecute you? We don’t see evidence of a hardened his heart towards his people, or the instigators being called to account. No Moses takes his place as Intercessor, the staff of prayer wielding far more power than the sword of Joshua. As he tires Moses is taught another valuable lesson, the Lord didn’t expect him to do this all alone, that he wasn’t the saviour and that others needed to be trusted and included in the mission. The Holy Spirit always plants a seed of a lesson or idea and then builds on it, and in the next stop we see this in action.
What’s happening with the Israelites?
I keep coming to this section and struggling to see if the Israelites have actually learned anything at all, but I know the Lord is above our failings so I’m digging deep to find it. Oh my, it needs a God sized patience to see this through.
The Israelites incredibly put God on trial here at Rephidim. Whilst they are meant to be tested they spin this around and put Moses and God himself on trial. Moses stands in the dock defending God before an angry doubting mob. There are at least three ways the Israelites are turning away from God here.
Demanding Gods provision – Testing God isn’t the order of how things go, trust is the answer here. God WILL provide, He will do it in His time and in the best way for our good and His glory. I’m hoping the Israelites started to learn this, but I fear at this point they represent a spoilt demanding child.
Denying Gods goodness- Read as, if you don’t give me what I demand then you can’t be good, you don’t want good things for me, and if you don’t want good thing for me then are you even God? Oh that spoilt child needs to be addressed doesn’t it?
Denying Gods existence or presence – There is a logical next step to that perhaps you aren’t God at all, it is a swift progression to perhaps you don’t even exist! Despite all the miracles that had been witnessed up till now, this comes as a sulky half hearted rejection bordering on blackmail. Show up God or we wont believe in you anymore and certainly not in this man you’ve put in charge. God responds and in one move disproves every one of their flawed thought processes. He does and can provide, here the fresh water. He does prove that he cares, that he will not let them die of thirst, He does prove He is present and real. He does show that Moses is the one He has chosen to lead them. I wonder if it was one person that voiced a grumble, just one grumpy Hebrew that raised his gripe and the dissatisfaction rode through the camp like a wildfire. The water at the newly named Meribah and Massah ( meaning to strive, argue and testing) puts the fire out, but there’s still a smell in the camp. The attack of the Amalekites clears the air. Suddenly there is a bigger issue and a common enemy to fight. The timing comes for the Israelites not only as a result of their division and rebellion but also as a cure for it. These spoilt children are suddenly in the face of a hostility they had just themselves threatened Moses with. As Moses stood on that hill covering them with prayer and begging for the Lords protection in their name, did they feel a little pang of guilt? I wonder if there was a moment of self reflection in anyone of them? I hope so, because then there is some hope for us, unity in a common enemy. They had the tools to fight but these were nothing compared to the prayer, He would not let them lift a sword until they had learnt the battle was won in the submission to God not in their own strength
What do we learn about God?
The Lord remembers their infancy, this is still a time of courtship, no vows have been exchanged, so God remains patient, though they challenge His goodness doubt his provision, even question His existence over and over and he doesn’t take sides, he looks over like a parent with squabbling children and simply resolves the situation. Here is a God who millions of years before, at creation foresaw that one day a people chosen by him would need to drink and to once more be shown his power and providence at this very spot. His wisdom knew that they didn’t need an easily reachable wadi, no that at this point in their journey to the promised land they would need testing again, that their leader would need to grow in forgiveness and compassion. That His chosen leaders heart would need stretching to capacity if he were ever to come to mirror the God who had called him into this place. So the Creator places a hidden spring in the middle of a wilderness, under a rock which in time he would lead them to, Just like Zacchaeus’ tree. The Amalekites would continue to try and prevent the Israelites reaching the Promised land, God shows them they have the upper hand as long as they remain in His. He will wipe them out completely but it needs to be the Israelites that face this enemy and overpower it. God uses the Amalekites to teach them the art of war His style, before they are defeated forever. The Lord teaches us this again in the Martha and Mary story – Battles may be fought in the valley but they are won from the mountain. There is a need for the action yes, but Mary chose the better part.
What are we to learn from this?
This is such a powerful image isn’t it? Moses covering his people in prayer and Moses himself being supported and held-up in prayer by Aaron and Hur. What a beautiful example of a church community. What ever the battle our family is facing we need first to pray but also support in that prayer, the people who stand with us in our intercession, and I mean really stand by us who take the battles on as their own, not just light a candle and leave us to it. I know I’ve been guilty of this. The challenge Moses faces here also can teach us something. Moses begins to tire, I’m sure it looked like the battle was won already so to rest his arms a little was the most natural thing to want to do. BUT just like finishing the whole course of antibiotics even though your feeling much better, we need to continue to pray …to the end of the battle, till the last person is home, till the enemy doesn’t stand back up or retreats. As good as finished isn’t the same as actually finished. It’s called finishing the race, we have a video of my daughter in a nursery sports day, she races to the finish line but stops dead at the rope, for us it seemed obvious to charge through it as a victor, but no one had ever told her you keep going to the other side.
Moses begins to learn his role and Gods role in getting these people home. Its a fine balance and not always easy to get right. Whilst everything is done through the Lord we also need to see the part He has asked us to play in making it happen, we cant assume that we are spectators in our journey, neither are we the directors-of it or anyone else’s for that matter. Breaking news the world already has a saviour. Being humble enough to ask for help is one of life’s most important lessons, it creaks open the door for the Lord to enter and the more we shove self sufficiency out the back door the more room in the house there is for His grace.
So lets talk about the grumbling…again. Things have stepped up a gear here with Moses being in fear of his life, whilst we may not threaten to kill someone in our feelings of fear and insecurity we can easily look for someone to blame. There isn’t actually an issue for the Israelites other than fear, but fear is a big deal and can take over rational thought and action quicker than a finger click. The root of the fear is a lack of trust in God….always. That’s not meant in a condemning wagging of the finger way but in a ‘you are so loved and held, don’t let fear drive your actions or emotions’ way. Healthy fear, like running away from bears, is a natural instinct we have been given to preserve ourselves. Fear is not healthy when the fear isn’t thought through for the actual truth of its threat.
What does this tell us about the spiritual journey?
Our revolt against God is an open door to the enemy. It doesn’t matter what justification we can come up with for complaining about our lot, its an indication of a disconnection with God. That’s a void in our relationship that Satan is waiting to fill, in fact he delights to fill it because as he steps into it he can push and stretch the void wider and wider, distract and distort our limited vision of who God is. Remember the garden, the whispers of discontent, Gods holding out on you, God wants to keep the good things from you, its God that is the liar…and we tragically buy into that, despite our knowledge of the opposite. Sometimes the role of victim is a comfortable place to be, no one expects too much of a victim, the expectations of a victor take some living up to. Why doesn’t the Lord just cast Satan out then you could ask? The simple truth is we have invited the deceiver in and we have the free will to do so. God gave us that free will so our love and obedience to him would never resemble a slavery but a gift given from our hearts. The battle with the Amalekites is telling us that we become vulnerable to attack when we start to turn away from the goodness and mercy of the Lord, not as a punishment but as a direct result of our choices, the Lord permits this because only in the school of failure do we learn how to turn back and most importantly our need to. Ahhh the wisdom of God, its not all lost despite the attempts of Satan, He uses even our weakness and unfaithfulness as the means by which to strengthen us for the on going journey, that indelible stamp on our souls from baptism and confirmation means our souls are now set on seeking Him, the choice to seek Him is of a perfect volume, those who wish to hear it can, and those who don’t can easily ignore the voice. The first battle to be won is the internal one – then the external ones are more easily won.