Bible Study Exodus 17
‹ Exodus

Exodus 17 · WEB

Water from the Rock and War with Amalek

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

Tap a verse to copy it, open the Hebrew, or write a note.

All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, continuing their journeys according to Yahweh's commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"
3The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, with our children and our livestock, with thirst?"
4Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
5Yahweh said to Moses, "Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the river, and go.
6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, "Is Yahweh among us, or not?"
8Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God's rod in my hand."
10So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky."
15Moses built an altar, and called its name "Yahweh our Banner;"
16and he said, "A hand upon the throne of Yah! Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
✶

Summary

Israel camps at Rephidim without water and quarrels with Moses so severely that he fears being stoned. God instructs him to strike the rock at Horeb with his staff; water pours out. The place is named Massah and Meribah ("testing and quarreling"). Immediately, the Amalekites attack. Joshua leads the fighting while Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up a hill; Israel prevails as long as Moses' hands are raised, so Aaron and Hur support his arms until victory is complete. God commands Moses to record the event and declares perpetual war with Amalek. Moses builds an altar named "Yahweh our Banner."

Themes

  • God meeting physical need through miraculous provision
  • Intercession as essential to spiritual warfare
  • Community support: we hold up each other's arms
  • Joshua's first appearance as a military leader

Key verses

  • Ex 17:11 — “When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.”
  • Ex 17:15 — “Moses built an altar and called it "Yahweh our Banner.”
  • Ex 17:6 — “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it.”

Context & background

Rephidim is located in the Sinai Peninsula (modern Egypt), south of the traditional Mount Sinai. The "rock at Horeb" is in the same mountain region. Paul identifies the rock in 1 Corinthians 10:4 as a type of Christ: "that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." The Amalekites were semi-nomadic people descended from Esau (Genesis 36:12) who lived in the Negev desert (southern Canaan, modern Israel). Their unprovoked attack on Israel became the defining reason for God's perpetual enmity against them (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Joshua appears here for the first time by name, introduced as a military commander who will loom large in the later Exodus narrative and in the book that bears his name.

Cross-references

  • 1 Corinthians 10:4 — Paul writes that Israel "drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."
  • Hebrews 3:7-11 — The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 about Massah/Meribah as a warning against unbelief.
  • Numbers 20:8-11 — Moses strikes the rock again at Meribah, but this time disobediently, costing him the promised land.
  • Psalm 95:8 — "Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness."

Check your reading

Log in to take the quiz and save your progress.

  1. Observe

    What were the two names Moses gave to the place where Israel quarreled about water?

  2. Observe

    During the battle with Amalek, what happened when Moses lowered his hands?

  3. Interpret

    According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:4, what does the rock at Horeb represent?

  4. Interpret

    What does the interplay between Joshua fighting and Moses interceding teach us?

  5. Apply

    What role do Aaron and Hur play that we should imitate in Christian community?

  6. Apply

    When Israel asked "Is Yahweh among us, or not?" (v. 7), what was the deeper spiritual issue beyond physical thirst?

Your journal

Write your own answers — they save automatically, and only you can see them.

Log in to write and save journal answers.

Apply (How does it apply to me?)

Personal notes (anything else about this chapter)