Unexpected

The Bible has so many stories that really doesn’t make sense at times. This is one of them…

Reading: Exodus 17: 8-13

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.

This is a story of war. In this story it says that “Amalek came and fought,” which most likely means that Amalek must have started a fight with Israel. So with that thought in itself, wouldn’t it be easier for God to just do what He did before with the plagues and stuff in Egypt? Why did Moses have to go and lift is arm with the staff? The Battle clearly wasn’t a quick thing so it’s only natural that his arm would tire out. If Aaron and Hur had not gone up with Moses to support his arm, it seems like the battle would have been lost.

What is God trying to show here?

At this point of the BIble we have seen miracles after miracles. One action was taken and the rest took care of itself pretty much. For example, when Moses parted the sea, He lifted the staff and BOOM there goes the dividing of the sea. He didn’t have to keep his arms up. Yet, this time he had to. Here what I think God is trying to show here….at least this is what stuck out to me.

1 Leaders be sensitive to what God is saying.

2 Have people who will walk with you and believe in you no matter what.

3 Those people who walk with you must be sensitive to see what’s really happening.

1 Moses was clearly the leader. That was established from way back when God called him to free the people from Egypt. Though the people didn’t acknowledge him at first (he didn’t even acknowledge himself), through his obedience to God the people saw things they have never seen before and have acknowledged him as leader. This obedience isn’t a one time thing. It is a constant thing in being a leader. There are always new and UNEXPECTED things that happen. When things happen, what do we do? Many of us panic. In fact, there has been a few times in the beginning of his leadership that Moses ask God for the reason as to why He called him to Egypt. He asked because as he obeyed God, Pharaoh became more severe in dealing with the people of Israel. But regardless of all that, Moses stayed sensitive and moved as God said to move.

2 Moses always had Aaron with him since God first called him to free the people. In fact, Moses was pretty scared and kept trying to tell God to find someone else (at the burning bush Exodus 3) because he felt unqualified to go. So God told him to listen to His voice and tell Aaron what He was telling him (kind of like the telephone game lol). Through all of that, Aaron, who’s Moses’ brother, became his most trusted companion. But what about Hur? I didn’t hear much about him except that he’s from the tribe of Judah? He must have been with Aaron and Moses for a while. Well, in any case, he was by Moses’ side when Moses went to the hill.

3 This point is very important. Sometimes we are surrounded with people who are always with us, but never see what God is doing in our lives and around us. Having those kind of people in your inner circle can be very damaging. In this case, it was because of Aaron and Hur that the battle was won. They were looking at what Moses was looking, the battle. They must have been looking very intently because I’m sure that it wasn’t a sudden flip that Israel started overpowering the enemy when Moses had his arm up. It must have been a gradual thing. Looking at the surface, it could have seen like there were high points and low points in the strength of Israel or maybe they were losing because they were tired? There’s no way that the victory of this battle depended on someone who wasn’t even fighting—someone on a hill with his staff raised. But Aaron and Hur were sensitive and realized what was really happening. As a result, Israel won the battle.

What battles have you been going through? Have you been victorious? Who do you have around you? Are they helping you as you get tired? Are they supporting you as you have no strength? Sometimes the battles what we go through are not meant to be fought alone. There some battles that can only be won with the right people around you. And it doesn’t have to be so many people. Moses had 2 people. Yes, God is with you just like God was with Moses during that battle, but there was an extra component that I believe God wanted to show. Maybe it was to keep Moses humble? That way he doesn’t feel like “I have God so I don’t need anyone else” kind of thing? I don’t know, but the clear thing is that unless those 2 supports were there, the battle would have been lost.

God bless you