THE WATERS OF MERIBAH

BOOK OF EXODUS

CHAPTER 17

            A wilderness welcome to all of you Daily Bread readers!  We’re traveling with Moses and the children of Israel, through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.  They just left the wilderness of Sin and by the Lord's command they made camp in Rephidim, about 15 miles away from Horeb.  Remember, that Mt. Horeb is where the burning bush was and God told Moses that He would be with him, and as a sign of that, Moses would return with the children of Israel to the same mountain to serve Him.  Here’s a Daily Bread Stick!  Horeb, also known as the mountain of God is also Mount Sinai!

            Again, there was no water for the people to drink and they blamed Moses.  Give us water so we can drink, they said to him.  Moses answered, Why do you blame me?  Why do you tempt the Lord?  They grumbled against Moses and said, Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and cattle with thirst?

            Moses cried to the Lord, saying, What can I do for your people?  They’re ready to stone me.  And the Lord said to him, Go ahead of the people and take your staff that you struck the river with.  Also take the elders of Israel with you.  I’ll stand in front of you on the rock in Horeb and you will strike the rock.  Water will come out of it so the people can drink.  Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  Moses called the name of the place Massah, which means temptation and Meribah, which means quarrel.

            Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  At this point, we’re going to take a little Bible detour to find a little bit more out about what happened from Deuteronomy 25:17-19.  Now the Amalekites were the people who lived in the southern part of Canaan, in the valley, and logic would say that coming from Egypt, they would be the first place for Israel to conquer.  Keep in mind that the Promised Land is inhabited by people who aren’t Israelites, and they are either A) afraid of Israel, coming with the power of God to take over their land, or B) very defensive of what they feel is rightly their property and are preparing to, or in some instances, eager to fight for it.  So instead of waiting for God’s people to come to their land and cause the kind of disasters that they heard had happened in Egypt, Amalek went to Rephidim thinking they would take care of business before Israel arrived and save their land from being plundered. 

            So while Israel was on their way to Canaan, Amalek (the Amalekites) attacked the Israelites from behind where all their elderly and feeble travelers were who were faint and weary, and they had no fear of the Lord in doing it.

            There was a man named Joshua, who was a descendant of Ephraim and a man named Caleb from the tribe of Judah who were very dedicated to Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.  Moses said to Joshua, Choose men and go out and fight with Amalek.  Tomorrow I’ll stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.  So Joshua did what Moses said and Moses, Aaron and Hur (Caleb’s son) went up to the top of the hill.  When Moses held up his hand holding the staff of God, Israel was winning, and when he let his hand down, Amalek was winning.

            Soon Moses hands grew heavy, so they brought a stone for Moses to sit on and Aaron and Hur held up Moses hands, one on each side of him, until the sun went down.  Joshua and the people with him weakened Amalek with the edge of the sword.  Remember that Israel went out of Egypt armed with the Egyptians weapons, because as slaves, they wouldn’t have owned any.

            The Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and repeat it to Joshua because I will totally wipe out all remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.  Moses built an altar there and named it Jehovah-nissi, which means, the Lord my banner.  He said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

            So, the children of Israel have questioned Moses’ motives once again, and once again, the Lord has shown them His grace.  We have Moses, almost back to Horeb where the Lord first spoke to him in the burning bush, and Israel has triumphed in their first battle against people from Canaan.  We have a few new characters introduced to us, and it appears that Joshua may become important in the future.  And we have God telling Moses that there will be more conflict with Amalek to come.

            In our next story, Moses gets a visit from his father-in-law, his wife, and his two sons, so join us again at Daily Bread as we follow the exodus of the children of Israel.

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