Knowing God 11—God Prepares—Exodus 17:8-18:27

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” 1 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”), 4 and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6 And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” 12 And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God. 13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” 24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. (Exodus 17:8–18:27, ESV)

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These two episodes—the battle against the Amalekites and Jethro's visit with Moses—go together. In the first episode, the descendants of Amalek come to fight with Israel. In the second episode, a Midianite priest comes to bless Israel. One came for war, while another came to promote peace. One was distraught at Israel's presence outside of Egypt; another rejoiced that God had given them victory over Egypt. In the first episode, Moses sits on a stone while the people war in the valley below. In the second episode, Moses sits to judge the people and settle their personal wars with other Israelites. And in both episodes, able men are selected—Joshua was to choose warriors, and Moses was to choose judges—to help with the task at hand.

But the great commonality between the episodes is that Moses is tired in both of them. In the first, he gets tired while holding the staff of God above his head, so his brother Aaron and a man named Hur support him. In the second, he gets tired while judging the people all day every day, so qualified men are selected to support him. We should not miss this shocking development. Yes, Moses is eighty years old, but Exodus has not presented him as a man slowed down by the aging process in any way. He has become strong, competent, and a true instrument in Yahweh's hand. With God's help, Moses was able to confront the most powerful man, nation, and military in the world, all on the way to setting God's people free. But now, our fearless leader is growing weary. What is happening?

The placement of these stories in the middle of the Exodus scroll is important. A transition is happening here. Remember, Exodus describes a transformational work of God in the lives of his people. At the beginning of the story, they are presented as a chaotic swarm of people inhabiting Egypt as a mass of slaves. By the end of the story, they are presented as an organized multitude of worshippers who are governed by God. And this part of the story will help get them there.

In it, God prepared them for the future. He allowed a battle into their lives to prepare them for the many battles they would fight in response to the attacks of the nations. There also seems to be something in these episodes about how God prepared them to deal with the nations—the Amalekites attacked, but a Midianite blessed (and even counseled) them. And God would also prepare them to be governed by the Torah by reorganizing their teaching and leadership structure according to Jethro's counsel; Israel needed to learn to love God and neighbor by keeping the Ten Commandments and hundreds of statutes that shot out from those first ten, but Moses could not make that transition happen all by himself.

These are all lessons we must interact with today. After being set free from our Egypt of sin and death, we must prepare for a long war in order to go into our Promised Land of personal growth and sanctification. Through it all, we must be prepared to interact with those who are closed off or open to the good news of Christ's gospel—sometimes, we'll have Amalek-like interactions, and sometimes we'll have Jethro-like ones. And after being delivered from the clutches of our old taskmasters, we must allow God's statutes to govern our lives.

Before thinking about each lesson, however, I think it would be good to celebrate the fact that God prepares his children. When Jesus introduced Yahweh to his disciples, he spoke of him as our Father in heaven, and good fathers work hard to prepare their children for the future. This preparation, however, is often an uncomfortable experience. I can recall teaching my kids to ride a bike—I know it was uncomfortable for them; it was often uncomfortable for me as well. But, for them to be able to ride, it had to be done. And for us to be the community God wants us to become—and the individual in that community we are meant to be—we must celebrate and embrace his preparatory work in our lives.

1. For The Long War

So first, God prepared them for the long war when the descendants of Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim (17:8). This battle would not be like the one-sided affair at the Red Sea, a place where Israel only had to watch God go to war rather than engage in it for themselves. Here, they were called upon to engage in the conflict. Still, it became clear that their ultimate strength came from God. Whenever Moses held the staff of God high, Joshua and his warriors prevailed, but whenever his hands grew heavy and he let down the staff, Amalek prevailed (17:11).

This cannot be explained in a naturalistic way. Joshua and his men were not looking up to the ridgeline to see if Moses would inspire them with his hands raised. They were struggling in a bloody conflict. But the whole story focuses not on Joshua and his methods but on what happened on top of the hill. Were Moses' hands up or down? Was the staff of God held high or not? And what would Aaron and Hur do when Moses' hands sagged?

The lesson was clear: the same power of God that was unleashed when Moses lifted his staff at the Red Sea is the same power of God that was unleashed when Israel defended themselves. And, clearly, the power was not in Moses—his hands grew weak. He needed the support of Aaron (from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of the eventual priests) and Hur (from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of the eventual kings). Just as Israel would do well when their prophets were supported by a holy priesthood and just kings, so Israel did well when Moses was supported by Aaron and Hur. Moses, like Abraham and others before him, built a memorial altar to God and called it, The Lord Is My Banner, a military term meaning God would go out with them in battle (17:15). To Moses, the lesson was clear: while we battle and struggle with our actual hands, we must extend our metaphorical hands to God's throne to grab hold of his power (17:16).

So Israel, in battle down in the valley, learned that God's power was with them in their struggle with Amalek and would be with them in their future struggles with enemy opposers. I will talk later on about God's ongoing opposition to the Amalekites, along with what we can compare them to today (hint: a bad landlord or someone who cuts you off in traffic are not "modern-day Amalekites" that God wants to destroy). But for now, we should learn what they learned. When they tested God at Maasah and Meribah, they asked, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Ex. 17:7). Here, they received a decisive "Yes!"

We should also allow God to prepare us for the long war ahead by reminding us that we must everlastingly look to his power. As I said earlier, this is the first time Israel has been asked to fight for itself. But this does not mean God is like a coach on the sidelines calling out a few plays while forced to depend on the skill of his players to execute. Instead, it is the ability of God up on the hill that helps us in the valley below.

Jesus said he is the vine, and we are the branches. When we remain in a constant life-receiving relationship with Jesus, good things come out of our lives, like fruit growing on the vine (John 15:5). The source of life and strength isn't in the branch, but still, the branch must abide. Its responsibility is to look to its source of energy, and we must do the same. We must look to God for his strength.

And, here, in this episode, God signaled that though the Red Sea victory did not require them to fight, the long war ahead would. Good men were sent down into the valley with Joshua, and we also must be ready to engage in the long war to which we are called. After we are saved by Christ, he spurs us on to a life of personal transformation to become like Christ.

Consider another picture from agriculture. A flower grows when it opens its petals and turns to the sun, but it is the sun that produces the light and warmth essential to that growth. The power is in the sun, but the flower must position itself to receive it.

As Paul said to the Philippians, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12–13). If you've believed in Christ, like the Israelites after the Passover and the Red Sea, you have your salvation. Through Christ's blood and the baptismal waters, it is your own. But now you get to work it out—God's power joining you in the process. Before a great house is built, the land must be acquired, the plans must be drawn, and the foundation must be set. But once it is, the building can begin in earnest. Our salvation—our foundation—has been won, but now we get a chance, with God's power, to build.

2. For The Nations

The second thing God prepared them for in this episode was interaction with the nations. Here, they dealt with Amalekites and a Midianite. Allow me a few moments to talk about the Amalekite people because, at this point, some of us are again feeling uncomfortable in Exodus. God had already judged Egypt, but here he defeated the Amalekites. We are, at first, comforted that this was self-defense, but then God tells Moses to write a memorial in a book that he would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek and war with them from generation to generation, and some of us are disturbed afresh (17:14).

The Amalekite people are always presented in the Bible as aggressors against Israel. They will forever be known as the "first among the nations" to wage war against Israel (Num. 24:20). They appear to be desert-dwelling people who were threatened by Israel's presence (they didn't know Israel brought their own water and food). In other Bible passages, their battle against Joshua is remembered because they apparently tried to attack the rear of Israel's long train of pilgrims as a way to "pick off the weakest and most vulnerable of Israel's community" (Deut. 25:17-19).[^1] This first interaction with Amalek repeats itself throughout the Bible—and they are never shown to have humbled and repented of their desire to destroy Israel. Forty years later, at the end of Israel's wilderness wandering, they will try to discourage the Hebrews from going into the Promised Land (Num. 14:45). In Saul's day, they still continued in wickedness (1 Sam. 15). And in the book of Esther, it was an Amalekite man named Haman who concocted a plan to destroy the Jews worldwide (Est. 3:1). So what you have in the Amalekites are a group who craved the extermination of Israel before Israel had produced the Messiah-Savior of the world. One scholar even claims that feeling sorry for the Amalekites is like feeling sorry for the Nazis.[^2]

Remember, God had told Abraham that it would be through him that all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). And before Abraham, God had told Adam and Eve that even though the serpent figure had deceived them, one day a descendent of hers would be harmed by that snake while simultaneously crushing that snake. We have a painting we put up at Christmastime of a weeping Eve, with a serpent's tail wrapped around her leg, being comforted by a pregnant Mary who is stepping on the serpent's head. Jesus, the baby in Mary's womb, is the snake-crusher the Old Testament anticipated, but at this point in Exodus, he has not yet come. If Amalek, at any point in the Old Testament era, had their way and was able to exterminate Israel, the snake crusher would not have come, and the world would have been lost. So when God says he is going to blot out Amalek and war against them from generation to generation, I take him to mean that when Amalek arises to fight, God will defend his program for saving all the people groups of the world rather than allow one people group to continually attack that plan.

Amalek had every opportunity—like Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria did at various points in biblical history—to turn and repent. As God said through Jeremiah: "If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it" (Jer. 18:7–10). But Amalek would not budge, so God's hand was forced. He would defend his plan.

So the Amalekites rejected God's plan for Israel, but one Midianite loved what God was doing for Israel. Moses' father-in-law Jethro reunited Moses with his family.[^3] It is fascinating to get a glimpse into Moses' family life here. We know Moses as a deliverer, leader, and prophet, but Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer knew him as husband and dad. We don't know why, where, or when Moses sent them home, but I suspect Moses was refreshed by being in their presence again. Like many good fathers, God spoke to Moses through his family, especially since his sons' names reminded him that he was a sojourner whom God had helped and delivered from Pharaoh (18:3-4). Every time he called his sons, he was reminded that God had been faithful to him.

It seems Jethro had been following the news reports coming out of Egypt, so he knew how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt (18:1). He couldn't wait to get together with Moses to hear it for himself. So Moses reported it all to Jethro. All he had to do was open his mouth and tell his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them (18:8). Jethro rejoiced, blessed the Lord, and repeated lines from the Red Sea Song when he said, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods" (18:10-11). Then this priest of Midian gave burnt offerings and sacrifices to God while eating a meal with Aaron and the elders of Israel (18:12).

We can't know with certainty what Jethro's status was before God—Was he a new believer? A seasoned believer? Or not a believer at all?—but there are enough clues to persuade me that he had converted to Yahweh at some point, perhaps as a result of Moses' testimony.[^4]

But these stories, put together, give us an Amalekite people who hate God's plans for Israel and a Midianite man who celebrates God's plans for Israel. These contrasting figures would help Israel see their role among the nations. They were meant to be the light of the world—some would reject, and some would accept. And watching Jethro, a newly converted Gentile, give nation-shaping counsel to Moses would've helped Israel welcome anyone who wanted to worship Yahweh. As God said through Isaiah, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Is. 56:7). That is God's heart, and these stories would help Israel embrace that perspective.

An important thing to note is that Moses merely told Jethro what God had done for them. Their whole encounter was so gospel. We are meant to simply tell people what Jesus has done for us. Of course, this often takes relationship building, but as we talk simply of what Jesus did for us, we are like farmers planting seeds in a field. Some seeds will take. Others will not. But we must share.

3. For The Torah

Lastly, Yahweh used these episodes to prepare his people for life under the Torah, the law of God. When Jethro saw Moses judging the people all day, every day, he confronted him (18:13-14). Moses told him that the people came to him to settle their disputes and inquire of God (18:15-16). If it took all day, it took all day. We have already learned that the Hebrews were capable of grumbling and complaining, so it's not surprising that they had disputes they needed to settle. But when Jethro heard what Moses was doing, he told Moses he and the people were going to burn out (18:17-18). Moses would grow tired and worn out, but the people would also grow tired of standing in line all day to hear what God thought. They say, "Justice delayed is justice denied," and if the people had to go to Moses for every little thing, it would lead to a denial of justice time and time again.

So, Jethro floated a proposal. He told Moses to keep on teaching everyone but designate leaders over smaller groups. They had to be able men who feared God, were trustworthy, and hated a bribe (18:21). These men would take God's statutes and laws Moses had warned them about and make them known to the people through their judgments (18:19-20). If issues came up that they couldn't handle, the leaders could bring them to Moses. Otherwise, they would keep it from Moses and handle it themselves.

Moses adopted this organizational structure, and it prepared Israel well for the Torah they were about to receive. In smaller groups—thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens—the law could be distributed to everyone (18:25). In a couple of chapters from now, God will give them the Ten Commandments and the expanded law, and this organizational structure would enable them to distribute the law among the populace.

It would be tempting to stop our interpretive work here to make some applications. Moses could not do it all alone—we cannot accomplish life alone. Moses was going to wear out if he tried to do it all alone—we will also wear out if we try the same. Moses was called to create a Scripture-saturated environment—we should do the same. In fact, passages like these have helped our church emphasize the public reading and teaching of Scripture, followed by lots of small groups scattered throughout the church that are centered upon the word. In a sense, you could make a case that various denominations, churches, Sunday gatherings, small groups, classes, and discipleship groups are all in line with the counsel God delivered through Jethro.

These are all great ways to understand this passage. When Jesus ascended, "he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11–12). Like gardeners tending different sections of a large garden, various pastors, leaders, teachers, mentors, and mature believers are called to distribute the word in their settings.

But there is something more in this passage. It shows us how God was not content for the knowledge of the word to reside in Moses alone. He wanted it to spread everywhere. He wanted his priests and kings to be submitted to it. He wanted men and women to know it. He wanted parents to pass it on to their children. But, ultimately, he wants to put it inside us. In the New Testament era, Jesus still breaks us up into groups and churches and calls us to center ourselves upon his word, but he is also busy writing his word on our individual hearts. So he said things like this:

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34)

What does this mean? It means that the counsel Jethro gave Moses pointed forward to a greater day when God would not only distribute his word through smaller groups, leaders, and teachers but would inscribe it on the internal drives and motivations of his people. It means that, before Jesus came, people devoted to the word were like musicians reading sheet music and trying to play what they read. But after Jesus came, because he gave us the Spirit, we can become like musicians who know the song so well we can play it like it is second nature—his word in us.

Study Questions

Head:

• What do the stories of the battle with Amalek and the visit from Jethro have in common regarding Moses?
• Why does God say he will war against Amalek from generation to generation?
• How did Jethro's organizational structure help prepare Israel for receiving the Torah?

Heart:

• When have you experienced weariness like Moses did, and how did you respond?
• How would you summarize the contrast between how the Amalekites and Jethro responded to Israel?
• What stuck out to you emotionally about Moses reuniting with his family?

Hands:

• What can you do this week to remind yourself to look to God's power in the midst of struggles?
• How can you simply tell others what God has done for you, like Moses did with Jethro?
• How can you help Scripture become more deeply inscribed on your heart this week?

[^1]: Wright, Christopher J. H. 2021. Exodus. Edited by Tremper Longman III and Christopher J. H. Wright. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [^2]: Quoting David Lamb. Copan, Paul. 2022. Is God a Vindictive Bully?: Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments. Baker Academic. ↩ [^3]: He is also called Reuel, Jether, and Hobab in the Bible (it was common in that era to have many names). See Exodus 2:16-22, 4:18, 3:1, Numbers 10:29, Judges 4:11. [^4]: Here are some clues Jethro may have been a legitimate believer. First, Jethro's praise of Yahweh seems sincere. Second, he sees God as greater than any false god. Third, Moses told Pharaoh they would offer sacrifices to Yahweh in the wilderness, and Jethro got to offer the first one. Fourth, he shows deep concern for Israel. Fifth, Moses listened to his counsel. And sixth—and perhaps most importantly—he feels awfully similar to a mysterious character in Genesis that Abraham met after a battle (Gen. 14:17-24). Like Jethro, Melchizedek was a priest of some kind who praised God after a victory for God's man and ate a meal with that man. Both are mysterious characters, but since Hebrews depicts Jesus as a priest according to the line of Melchizedek, I wouldn't be surprised if Jethro was also an important figure in God's kingdom (Heb. 7).