Exodus 17 - Water from the Rock and Amalek

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Exodus 17 joins two wilderness crises. Israel thirsts at Raphidin and quarrels with Moses; then Amalec attacks, and Israel learns that courage in the field needs sustained intercession before God. Water and victory are gifts the people cannot secure by their own strength. The chapter brings our bodily need, anxious hearts, and weariness in service before the Lord who remains among His people.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Exodus 17 stands after the manna and Sabbath training of chapter 16 and before Jethro’s visit in chapter 18 and the Sinai covenant in chapter 19. The people have already seen plagues, Passover, the sea crossing, sweetened bitter water, and daily bread from heaven. Their complaint is the relapse of a people whose memory is still unstable. The next chapter will carry the lesson of supported weakness into shared judgment: the people need both help on the hill and wise care in the camp.

Brenton prints “Raphidin,” “Or,” “Amalec,” and “Choreb” where many other English Bibles have “Rephidim,” “Hur,” “Amalek,” and “Horeb.” These are corresponding names, not different people or places. The forms in the Scripture below remain Brenton’s.

Thirst becomes accusation (Exodus 17:1-4; Greek/Brenton 17:1-4)

A note on numbering. This study follows NKJV chapter and verse numbering and prints Brenton’s English Septuagint with its own verse labels. The numbered passage units here correspond in the two editions, although their wording can differ.

1: And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the wilderness of Sin, according to their encampments, by the word of the Lord; and they encamped in Raphidin: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2: And the people reviled Moses, saying, Give us water, that we may drink; and Moses said to them, Why do ye revile me, and why tempt ye the Lord? 3: And the people thirsted there for water, and there the people murmured against Moses, saying, Why is this? hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to slay us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4: And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, What shall I do to this people? yet a little while and they will stone me.

The first crisis is real thirst. Scripture does not mock bodily need. The people need water, and Moses himself cries to the Lord because the situation is genuinely dangerous. Yet verse 1 says that they have traveled “by the word of the Lord.” Obedience has brought them into a place of deprivation. The absence of water does not mean that God has ceased to guide them.

Need hardens into accusation when Israel treats deliverance as a scheme to kill its children and cattle. Moses brings his fear of being stoned to God; the people turn their fear against Moses and the Lord. Biblical lament brings pain to God. Testing God demands that He prove Himself on our terms. There is a difference between crying, “Lord, help me,” and concluding that suffering must mean He is absent. A frightened or grieving person need not hide distress to be faithful. The wilderness is not proof of abandonment.

The Lord stands on the rock (Exodus 17:5-7; Greek/Brenton 17:5-7)

5: And the Lord said to Moses, Go before this people, and take to thyself of the elders of the people; and the rod with which thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and thou shalt go. 6: Behold, I stand there before thou come, on the rock in Choreb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and water shall come out from it, and the people shall drink. And Moses did so before the sons of Israel. 7: And he called the name of that place, Temptation, and Reviling, because of the reviling of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?

The Lord tells Moses to take the rod with which he struck the river. The same rod that signified judgment on Egypt becomes an instrument of mercy toward Israel. The God who judges oppression gives life to His people. The elders accompany Moses, and he acts before the sons of Israel: the water is a public gift to be remembered, not a private technique to be imitated.

Before Moses reaches the rock, the Lord is already there: “I stand there before thou come.” The question “Is the Lord among us or not?” is answered by His presence and provision. He gives water even while the people doubt Him. His answer is grace, not vindication of their accusation. A miracle does not justify the unbelief that preceded it.

St. Paul identifies the wilderness Rock with Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:4. The real gift of water bears a pattern fulfilled in the Lord who gives life to His people. John 19:34 brings the Christian reader before His pierced side, from which blood and water flow. This is a Christological contemplation of the event, not a claim that every detail of the two scenes is identical. The life we receive comes from the Lord who willingly gives Himself for us.

The living-water promise also reaches beyond relief from one crisis. In John 4:10-14, Christ offers the Samaritan woman water that becomes a fountain springing up into everlasting life. John 7:37-39 identifies the promised rivers of living water with the Holy Spirit received by believers. Wisdom of Solomon 11:4 (Septuagint) remembers water from hard rock as an answer to the thirsty people’s prayer. These texts turn us from treating God as an emergency supplier toward receiving life in communion with Him.

The memory carried by “Temptation, and Reviling”

Brenton translates the names in verse 7: “Temptation, and Reviling.” These correspond to the names “Massah” and “Meribah” in Hebrew-based English Bibles. The Greek text has “πειρασμός” and “λοιδόρησις,” testing and reviling. The names preserve the people’s accusation as well as the Lord’s mercy. The event must be remembered truthfully if its gift is to heal the heart.¹

Deuteronomy 6:16 recalls this testing, and Christ answers the tempter with that command in Matthew 4:7. He refuses to demand a spectacular rescue as proof of the Father’s care. Psalm 95:8-9 (LXX 94:8-9) warns against hardening the heart in the wilderness. Hebrews 3:7-4:11 brings that warning into the Church’s present: hearing God today must become faithful obedience, sustained by mutual encouragement. The warning is addressed to us, not a reason to despise ancient Israel.

Numbers 20:2-13 records another water crisis. There God commands Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock, and Moses strikes it twice; the Lord rebukes their unbelief. Here the Lord expressly commands the striking. Faithfulness follows His present word, rather than turning a former miracle into a method we control.

The Church’s Voice in Worship: The Lord stands on the rock

The First Hour of Pascha Wednesday includes Exodus 17:1-7. As the Church approaches the Passion, we hear the people question God’s presence beside the rock where He stands to give them drink. The reading prepares us to recognize His saving presence precisely where the Cross will seem, to frightened eyes, to contradict it.²

Joshua in the field, Moses on the hill (Exodus 17:8-10; Greek/Brenton 17:8-10)

8: And Amalec came and fought with Israel in Raphidin. 9: And Moses said to Joshua, Choose out for thyself mighty men, and go forth and set the army in array against Amalec to-morrow; and, behold, I shall stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in my hand. 10: And Joshua did as Moses said to him, and he went out and set the army in array against Amalec, and Moses and Aaron and Or went up to the top of the hill.

After manna and water comes battle. Israel moves from provision into resistance, not into comfort. Grace equips God’s people for struggle. Joshua chooses mighty men and sets the army in array, while Moses stands on the hill with the rod of God. Visible obedience and hidden intercession belong together. The chapter rejects both activism without prayer and prayer-talk that refuses concrete obedience.

Amalec is a historical aggressor here. Genesis 36:12 places Amalec in Esau’s family line, while Deuteronomy 25:17-19 remembers the attack on Israel’s weary rear and the absence of fear of God. The later judgment in 1 Samuel 15 (Septuagint 1 Kingdoms 15) belongs to this grave biblical history. Its violence is not a mandate for Christians to attack any people now. The chapter must never become ethnic hatred, racial caricature, or a license to demonize present-day peoples. In Christian spiritual application, the struggle is against sin, the passions that master us, and demonic assault. Human beings remain neighbors to be loved and protected.

The name “Joshua” in Greek

The Septuagint calls Joshua “Ἰησοῦς” (“Iēsous”), the same Greek name rendered “Jesus” for our Lord. This is more than a shared root. Exodus 17:9 has the inflected form “Ἰησοῦ,” and verse 10 has “Ἰησοῦς.” Acts 7:45 likewise uses “Ἰησοῦ” for Joshua, and Hebrews 4:8 uses “Ἰησοῦς” for him. English translations distinguish the two men by writing “Joshua” and “Jesus”; the Greek reader hears the shared name.³

The shared name opens a typological connection without making the two persons identical. Joshua serves under Moses and wins this battle; Christ is the Savior who brings the final rest Joshua could not give. Hebrews 4:8 keeps that difference clear. The name prepares the ear, but the fulfillment exceeds the earlier servant.

Heavy hands and faithful friends (Exodus 17:11-13; Greek/Brenton 17:11-13)

11: And it came to pass, when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands, Amalec prevailed. 12: But the hands of Moses were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it; and Aaron and Or supported his hands one on this side and the other on that, and the hands of Moses were supported till the going down of the sun. 13: And Joshua routed Amalec and all his people with the slaughter of the sword.

The image of uplifted hands is unforgettable, but the text also refuses romanticism. Moses’ hands become heavy. He needs a stone beneath him and friends beside him. Aaron and Or, the Hur of other English Bibles, do not replace Moses; they uphold him.

Even true intercessors become tired. Holiness does not cancel creaturely weakness. The Church should not turn exhaustion into a badge of spiritual superiority. If Moses needed support, no servant should think he is above receiving it. Some people are called not to be visible commanders, but to steady the hands of those carrying heavy burdens. This is not lesser work. Taking a difficult task from tired hands, making rest possible, or keeping a promised prayer shares in the work of support. This rebukes both isolation and hero worship. Moses is central, but not solitary. Joshua is active, but not self-sufficient.

Gems from the Fathers : The Cross and the saving name

St. Justin Martyr reads Moses’ extended hands as a figure of the Cross. In Dialogue with Trypho 90, he joins that sign to Joshua’s Greek name: “while one who bore the name of Jesus (Joshua) was in the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of the cross.”⁴ Justin is explaining why the disgrace of crucifixion does not contradict Christ’s saving work. His point is not that a bodily pose mechanically compels God, but that the ancient sign anticipates the crucified Savior.

In chapter 111, Justin explains that the two servants together bear signs fulfilled in one Lord: “one of them could not bear up both the mysteries: I mean, the type of the cross and the type of the name.”⁵ Moses grows weary and must be sustained; Christ offers Himself willingly and perfectly. His arms are stretched out on the Cross, not merely until sunset, but unto death. John 19:28-30 brings us to the completion of His self-offering. The type is real, but the fulfillment is greater. The early Epistle of Barnabas 12 also reads the uplifted hands and Joshua’s name in relation to Christ. Its retelling develops the biblical scene freely; the Scripture displayed here remains Exodus itself.⁶

The Church’s Voice in Worship: Heavy hands and faithful friends

The First Hour of Covenant Thursday includes Exodus 17:8-16 in both Coptic Reader and the Ottawa Katameros of the Holy Pascha.⁷ Moses’ supported arms in verses 11-12 prepare the heart to contemplate Christ’s arms stretched out on the Cross: the victory belongs to the Lord who gives Himself for His people. The Ottawa edition also reads the Marah-to-hunger passage, Exodus 15:22-16:3, with a printed heading beginning at 15:23. Water, the longing for bread, and uplifted hands are heard together in that edition as the Church approaches the Lord’s institution of the Holy Eucharist and His Passion.⁸ Coptic Reader has no such companion Exodus prophecy at this hour; the sources agree on Amalek but differ in the accompanying readings.

A memorial, an altar, and the secret hand (Exodus 17:14-16; Greek/Brenton 17:14-16)

14: And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and speak this in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly blot out the memorial of Amalec from under heaven. 15: And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord my Refuge. 16: For with a secret hand the Lord wages war upon Amalec to all generations.

After victory, the Lord commands a written memorial, and Moses builds an altar. Israel’s future must be shaped by worshipful memory rather than self-congratulation. The battle is remembered as the Lord’s deliverance, not simply the army’s achievement.

Brenton calls the altar “The Lord my Refuge.” The familiar rendering “The Lord is my Banner” belongs to Hebrew-based translations; it is not the wording of the verse displayed here. The Greek has “κύριός μου καταφυγή,” corresponding to Brenton’s refuge language. Both renderings direct thanksgiving to the Lord, but this text places the victorious people under His shelter.⁹

Verse 16 adds something easily missed: “with a secret hand the Lord wages war.” The Greek “ἐν χειρὶ κρυφαίᾳ” speaks of a hidden or secret hand. Moses’ hands have been visible throughout the battle; the final word names the Lord’s hidden action. Israel’s deliverance cannot be measured only by what the eye sees.⁹

Gems from the Fathers : Power hidden in the Crucified

Justin cites this hidden-hand wording in Dialogue with Trypho 49, while discussing Christ’s humble first coming and His glorious return. He sees divine power concealed in the apparent weakness of the Passion: “You can perceive that the concealed power of God was in Christ the crucified, before whom demons, and all the principalities and powers of the earth, tremble.”¹⁰ The Cross is not the absence of God’s strength. His saving strength is at work where worldly power sees only defeat.

The Lord’s war against Amalec “to all generations” keeps the history of enmity before Israel. For Christians, watchfulness means resisting sin without giving hatred a holy name. Prayer, repentance, truthful obedience, and mercy belong together. The final victory belongs to the Lord.

Glossary

• “Raphidin,” “Or,” “Amalec,” “Choreb”: Brenton’s forms corresponding to “Rephidim,” “Hur,” “Amalek,” and “Horeb.”
• “Temptation, and Reviling”: Brenton’s translated place-names in verse 7, corresponding to “Massah” and “Meribah.” They remember testing God and reviling rather than merely recording thirst.
• Typology: reading real Old Testament events as God-given patterns fulfilled in Christ and the Church. The earlier event remains real; Christ’s fulfillment is greater.
• Intercession: prayer offered to God on behalf of another. Aaron and Or show that those who pray for others also need support.
• Passions: disordered desires and habits that rule the heart. Spiritual warfare confronts these and demonic evil, not the ethnic identity of our neighbors.

Spiritual Fruit

Bring thirst to God without hiding it. When a need becomes urgent, name it plainly in prayer and seek the help it requires. Resist the next step from “I am suffering” to “God must have abandoned me.” Moses’ frightened cry was heard. Faith can speak from distress.

Receive mercy without using it to excuse hardness. Water came even after accusation. If the Lord has helped you while you were bitter or demanding, thank Him and confess the demand. Let His patience soften you rather than become another reason to insist on your own terms.

Join prayer to the work before you. Pray for the person whose burden you are taking up, then do the task faithfully. Joshua’s obedience and Moses’ intercession belong to one deliverance. Neither excuses neglect of the other.

Become an Aaron or an Or, and accept one. Offer one concrete support to a weary servant: cover a responsibility, make a meal, give time for rest, or keep a promised prayer. If you are the tired person, receive help without shame. The hands were held steady by a community, not by a solitary hero.

At the altar, victory becomes thanksgiving. Bring both the thirst and the battle to Christ, the Rock who gives life and the Savior whose power is hidden in the Cross. Ask Him to free your heart from accusation and your service from pride. Leave the neighbor you might have called an enemy under His mercy as well as yourself.

Teaching Notes

Keep the chapter’s two scenes together: both ask whether the people will live by trust. Linger at verse 6, where the Lord stands on the rock; verse 7, where need becomes testing; verses 11-12, where intercession needs support; and verses 15-16, where altar and hidden hand turn victory toward worship.

Discuss: Thirst becomes accusation (Exodus 17:1-4; Greek/Brenton 17:1-4)

• Ask: What distinguishes Moses’ cry for help from the people’s accusation?
• Watch for: Shaming frightened or grieving sufferers. Honest lament and requests for practical help are not proof of unbelief.

Discuss: The Lord stands on the rock (Exodus 17:5-7; Greek/Brenton 17:5-7)

• Ask: How does the Lord’s promise in verse 6 answer the people’s question in verse 7?
• Watch for: Treating a merciful answer as approval of testing God, or confusing the command here with the different command in Numbers 20.

Discuss: Joshua in the field, Moses on the hill (Exodus 17:8-10; Greek/Brenton 17:8-10)

• Ask: What would be lost if Israel had only action in the field or only prayer on the hill?
• Watch for: Turning Amalec into a label for present-day peoples or people we dislike. Explain the historical aggression, then keep Christian spiritual warfare tethered to repentance, obedience, and love of neighbors.

Discuss: Heavy hands and faithful friends (Exodus 17:11-13; Greek/Brenton 17:11-13)

• Ask: What specific support could steady a tired servant’s hands in our parish or household?
• Watch for: Hero worship, romanticized exhaustion, or treating the sign of the Cross as a technique that secures success. Justin’s reading concerns Christ’s saving fulfillment.

Discuss: A memorial, an altar, and the secret hand (Exodus 17:14-16; Greek/Brenton 17:14-16)

• Ask: Why does Moses build an altar after the battle, and how does the secret hand change the way victory is remembered?
• Watch for: Replacing the printed “Refuge” with “Banner” without explaining the translation difference, or reading judgment as permission for cruelty.

Sources

Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX).

• Exodus 17, Brenton’s English Septuagint: 🔗. Greek Exodus 17: 🔗.

• The testing and rest warning: Deuteronomy 6:16 🔗; Matthew 4:7 🔗; Psalm 95:8-9 (LXX 94:8-9) 🔗; Hebrews 3:7-4:11 🔗, 🔗.

• Water and Christ: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 🔗; John 4:10-14 🔗; John 7:37-39 🔗; John 19:34 🔗; Wisdom of Solomon 11:4 (Septuagint) 🔗; Numbers 20:2-13 🔗.

• Amalec in biblical history: Genesis 36:12 🔗; Deuteronomy 25:17-19 🔗; 1 Samuel 15 (Septuagint 1 Kingdoms 15) 🔗.

• St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 49, 90, 111, English translation by Marcus Dods and George Reith in Ante-Nicene Fathers 1 (1885); direct links in the footnotes. Epistle of Barnabas 12, translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson in the same public-domain volume. The epistle is cited under its traditional title without assuming apostolic authorship.

• Katameros of the Holy Pascha, St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Ottawa, English edition, pp. 285-286 and 372-374; consulted in the church’s service book. The Wednesday reading is Exodus 17:1-7; Thursday is 17:8-16. The Thursday companion reading is printed as 15:23-16:3, but begins with the departure from the Red Sea, the content of 15:22, and continues through 16:3. This is a printed-reference discrepancy, not an omitted opening verse. The book labels the day “Great Thursday”; “Covenant Thursday” is the Coptic diocesan usage: 🔗.

Footnotes

1. Greek Exodus 17:7, “πειρασμὸς καὶ λοιδόρησις,” alongside Brenton’s translated names: 🔗. The corresponding Hebrew-based English names can be compared in the Pascha book, pp. 285-286. ↩

2. Katameros of the Holy Pascha, St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Ottawa, English edition, First Hour of Wednesday, pp. 285-286. Coptic Reader, Coptic Orthodox Metropolis of the Southern United States, official app: Special > Pascha > Wednesday > Wednesday Day > 1st Hour, printed Exodus 17:1-7. The app link does not select a service; follow the named menu path. ↩

3. Greek Exodus 17:9-10 🔗; Acts 7:45, “μετὰ Ἰησοῦ” 🔗; Hebrews 4:8, “Ἰησοῦς” 🔗. ↩

4. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 90, Dods and Reith translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: 🔗. ↩

5. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 111, Dods and Reith translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: 🔗. ↩

6. Epistle of Barnabas 12, Roberts and Donaldson translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: 🔗. ↩

7. Coptic Reader, Coptic Orthodox Metropolis of the Southern United States, official app: Special > Pascha > Thursday > Thursday Day > 1st Hour, printed Exodus 17:8-16. The app link does not select a service; follow the menu path. Printed references are retained separately from the Brenton text displayed here. ↩

8. Katameros of the Holy Pascha, St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Ottawa, English edition, First Hour of Thursday, pp. 372-374. The companion reading is printed as Exodus 15:23-16:3 but opens with the departure from the Red Sea, the content of 15:22. ↩

9. Greek Exodus 17:15-16 🔗, compared with Brenton 🔗 and the Hebrew-based “Banner” wording in the Pascha book, p. 373. ↩ ↩²

10. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 49, concluding paragraph, Dods and Reith translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: 🔗. ↩