Water and War
Devotions for Growing Christians
Water and War
Exodus 17:5-6 - The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:10-13 - So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other-so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
Read all of Exodus 17
Background
“Water and War” sounds like the title of a novel, or the heading of a government report about disputed water rights. Disputes and wars over water were common in the frontier days of the “Old West,” and unfortunately they are all too common in many places around the world today. However, “Water and War” is not about a war over water rights. It’s actually about two events in Exodus 17: God’s provision of water for the people of Israel in their wilderness travels, and Israel’s war with Amalek.
Exodus 16 describes the Lord’s miraculous daily provision of manna, the food that would satisfy the physical hunger and proper nutrition of His people. Exodus 17 describes their need for water.
By this time in their travels, the Israelites should have learned that God would provide for them. Instead they grumbled and complained, and defiantly asked Moses why he had brought them out of Egypt to die of thirst in the wilderness! Moses actually feared that they were about to stone him to death. Once again, in spite of their complaining and lack of trust, God patiently provided for His people. He showed Moses a rock and instructed him to strike it with his rod. Miraculously, fresh water flowed from the rock!
The Amalekites were a fierce nomadic tribe that lived in the Sinai peninsula. They were descendants of Esau. Deuteronomy 25 reveals that on this occasion (Exodus 17) the Amalekites attacked Israel from the rear. But God protected His people, and the Amalekites were defeated under the military leadership of Joshua. As Moses overlooked the battle from a hilltop, keeping his arms upraised to God was key to Amalek’s defeat. As long as Moses’ arms were raised, Israel prevailed, but when Moses’ arms dropped, Amalek prevailed. Thus Aaron and Hur became important contributors to Israel’s victory by supporting his upraised arms.
Doctrinal / Teaching Points
In the Israel’s travels from Egypt to Canaan, water and war form parts of the spiritual lesson. All the events of their wilderness trek are examples, or “types,” from which we can learn spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 10:11). A type is an Old Testament person, place, event, or item that pictures New Testament truth. How do “water from the rock” and “war with Amalek” picture New Testament truth?
1. The water from the rock is a spiritual picture of the Water of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 10:4 says that the people in the wilderness drank “spiritual drink” from a “spiritual rock.” Does this mean that the water in the wilderness wasn’t real water, and the rock was not a real rock? No! The water and the rock were real. The rock from which water flowed is a spiritual picture of Jesus Christ, the Source of living water. On the cross the Lord Jesus was “struck” with the “rod of God’s judgment” because of our sins, and spiritual life, or living water, is now available for anyone who is spiritually thirsty.
Besides representing new spiritual life in Christ, the water also portrays the Holy Spirit who empowers that life. Remember what our Lord said at the Feast of Tabernacles? “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If a man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39).
This is the same “living water” that the Lord promised to give the woman of Samaria if she would turn to Him as the Messiah (John 4:13-14). The promise of new life empowered by the Holy Spirit is available today to everyone who will come to Jesus Christ, the smitten Rock, to fully satisfy their spiritual thirst.
2. The war with Amalek is a spiritual picture of the war with the sinful nature.
In the war with Amalek we have a spiritual picture of another aspect the Christian life. The Bible teaches that we are born with a sinful nature - sometimes called “the flesh” in the New Testament. When we become believers we receive the water of life that is empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. But our sinful nature has not yet been eliminated. In fact, there is an ongoing war between the flesh and the Spirit!
Galatians 5:16-17 says, “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other…” The war with Amalek pictures the war between the flesh and the Spirit. The Background Notes mentioned that the Amalekites were descendants of Esau, who was “godless” and ”immoral” (Hebrews 12:16). He was controlled by the desires of his fleshly or sinful nature. This background emphasizes how Amalek portrays the activity of the sinful nature in the believer’s life.
Although Amalek was defeated in this battle, Amalek was not destroyed (v16). As war continued between Amalek and Israel from generation to generation, so throughout our lives as Christians there will be war between our our sinful nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul wrote of this warfare from his own experience in Romans 7. Praise the Lord, the war between the flesh and the Spirit will be over when we get to Heaven! Then we’ll have our resurrected bodies that will be sinless (Philippians 3:20-21)!
In Exodus 17 there are several principles of victory in the war between the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. Moses on the mountain, as the leader of God’s people, pictures the truth of the Lord interceding for us on high. As we fight our spiritual battles, we need to gratefully recognize that our Lord is on high, “making intercession for us,” as Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25 clearly state.
Moses’ upraised hands emphasize the importance of prayer in spiritual battle. As long as Moses’ arms were raised in prayer, God’s people prevailed, but when he grew weary and his arms drooped, the enemy prevailed. The sinful nature is always active, so we must stay alert and “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And we must faithfully pray for other believers who are facing static attack.
Another principle of victory in the war between the flesh and the Spirit is seen in verse 13. The defeat of Amalek by “the edge of the sword” may portray the necessity of using “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God,” when we engage in spiritual battle with the enemy (Ephesians 6:17). The Holy Spirit, who lives within us, battles against the flesh by filling our minds with the Word of God so that we are strengthened to fight. He can bring specific verses or passages to our minds to oppose the persistent schemes of the sinful nature. Hebrews 4:12 says that through the sword of the Word, the Spirit can reveal problem areas in our lives - areas where the sinful nature has gained control over us.
But remember - if we don’t read and know the Word of God, will it be readily available for the Holy Spirit to use?
Practical Application
You can be a “Hur”!
Did you ever feel you’re just an ordinary believer - not a multi-talented, up-front, “important” Christian? Do you have the idea that your prayers are commonplace, even though you’d like to be a great prayer warrior?
Be encouraged! Maybe you’re a “Hur”! Hur supported one of Moses’ upraised arms. He didn’t have a “starring” role. He wasn’t in the spotlight. But Hur had an important role - a very important role!
You can be a “Hur” by doing whatever you can to support the work of the Lord and other workers for the Lord! Look for supporting jobs that need a willing helper- jobs that are often passed by or overlooked because they don’t seem very important or glamorous.
Look for people who need your everyday prayers and your encouraging words. Maybe a battle-weary leader in your fellowship needs your support! Maybe a hurting friend needs your comfort and practical help!
Your supporting job may not seem like a big role to you - but Christians who play the “supporting roles” are very important for winning the battles in spiritual warfare. In fact, the faithful, supporting-role believer may make the difference between defeat and victory! You can be a “Hur”!
- Dave Reid