The Scrolls is a weekly Bible study written by pastors and other leaders at Central Bible Church, based on that week’s sermon topic. Use The Scrolls as a personal Bible study tool, for family devotions, and for small group discussions. You can read part of it below. The downloadable PDF also includes discussion questions, more in-depth commentary, end notes, and a kids’ page designed for families to study the topic together. This lesson goes with the sermon "Hands Toward Heaven."
Exodus 17:8-16 describes the Israelites’ first encounter with a fighting foe after leaving Egypt—the first of many they will face before successfully taking the Promised Land. The Amalekites are poised to prevent God’s people from arriving at Sinai and Canaan. If they succeed, the Exodus may just as well have never happened. That said, the battle itself, as well as its outcome, are harbingers of conflicts to come. Joshua, whose appearance foreshadows the many military encounters the Israelites will have later, is mentioned for the first time here. According to verses 11-12, the outcome of the battle is rather strangely determined by Moses’ ability to keep his arms raised during the skirmish. These verses read: “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” The text does not explain the significance of Moses’ raised arms, staff in hand.
Does he raise them in prayer? This is most often assumed to be the case, but the text makes no mention of prayer. It’s true that raising one’s hands is a common posture for prayer. In Exodus 9:29, Moses tells Pharaoh, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.” But on this occasion, prayer is neither explicitly mentioned, nor does Moses actually say anything to God, as he frequently does in similarly desperate circumstances.
Does he raise them to draw attention to his staff? On other occasions, Moses uses his staff, called the “staff of God” (4:20; 17:9), to perform signs (see 4:17; 7:9-15, 17-20; 8:5, 1617; 10:13; 14:16). Through Moses’ staff God works great acts to bring Israel out of Egypt, not the least of which is the parting of the Red Sea. The defeat of the Amalekites is yet another act of deliverance by the God of the Exodus using Moses’ staff. That said, Moses’ staff is clearly no magic wand; it’s merely a tool in God’s hand, a tool God chooses to use to demonstrate his might and power. As one commentator explains: “Moses lifted his hands, in symbol of the power of Yahweh upon the fighting men of Israel, surely, but in some miraculous way Moses’ upraised hands became also conductors of that power . . . About Yahweh’s consequential involvement in the battle, an involvement closely linked to Moses’ raised or lowered hands, there can be no doubt” (John I. Durham, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 3, Exodus, 236).
Another commentator suggests both significances are valid. He writes: “Moses’ actions suggest that he was engaging in intercessory prayer, although any reference to prayer is absent in the text. The emphasis is on the staff that Moses held in his hand, the instrument of God's power” (Thomas L. Constable, “Notes on Exodus, 2022 ed., 158, planobiblechapel.org/ tcon/notes/pdf/exodus.pdf). In reality, prayer involves more than saying words to God either out loud or in one’s mind. Moses’ holding the staff of God above his head with both hands amounted to an expression of Israel’s total dependence on the power of God to defeat the Amalekites, and as such, amounted to prayer of trust.
Other suggestions can be rejected out of hand. Moses is not performing a magic trick, neither is he simply encouraging the troops. Nowhere do we find him using magic on behalf of God’s people, and a psychological explanation seems hardly adequate to account for the fact that “Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” (17:13).
Central Message of the Text
Just as the Israelites needed to trust in the power of God accessed through prayer, God’s people today need to do the same.
Family Talk
I have long hair and braid it a lot during the heat of summer. As I’m wrapping and twisting my hair into submission, I wonder what it would have been like for Moses. Honestly, I can barely hold my arms up to get one good braid in and generally need to stop for a rest before I attack the other side of my head. When Moses’ arms got tired, did he have to ask Aaron and Hur to step in and help? I want to believe they were so in tune with their friend they just knew. They could see by the look on his face, or they recognized his weary demeanor and knew unequivocally that he needed help. I imagine they were creative in their problem solving and knew exactly what to do to support their friend. We all need a few good friends that can read the look on our face and take over, especially in parenting. I’m so thankful for the lovely group of friends that surrounded me during my early parenting season. When exhaustion took over and my patience ran thin, they could see it on my face and knew it was time to step in to help. They had a full measure of grace where I was skimming the bottom of the barrel. The beauty of these friends is that they did it all for the glory of God. They were fully aware of the frustration and anger simmering and rescued me before I exploded in an ungodly way. Who are your friends that will hold your hands when weariness takes over? Tell them today how much you appreciate them!