The Raised Staff and the Raised Standard Text: Exodus 17:8-16
Introduction: The Christian Life is War
We live in an effeminate age, an age that has tried to domesticate the Lion of Judah and turn Him into a housecat. We have been told that the Christian life is primarily about being nice, inoffensive, and accommodating. But the moment Israel is delivered from bondage in Egypt and has drunk from the miraculous rock in the wilderness, which rock was Christ, what happens next? They are immediately plunged into a bloody war. This should instruct us. Salvation is not an evacuation from conflict; it is enlistment into one. God delivers you from slavery to Pharaoh so that you might become a soldier for King Jesus.
The world, the flesh, and the devil do not lay down their arms simply because you have been baptized. In fact, their hostility intensifies. Amalek does not attack Israel while they are still making bricks for Pharaoh. Amalek attacks them after they have been redeemed. This is because the conflict is not fundamentally about territory or resources; it is a holy war, a spiritual war. It is a war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Amalek, a descendant of Esau, represents the perpetual, carnal enmity of the world against the people of God. As we will see, this is not a one-time skirmish. This is the declaration of a generational war that God Himself vows to prosecute.
This passage in Exodus 17 is therefore a paradigm for the entire Christian life. It teaches us how the battle is to be fought and how the victory is to be won. And the central lesson is this: the battle below is won by the intercession above. The soldiers in the valley fight with the sword, but the decisive action takes place on the hill. This is a picture of the two fronts of our spiritual warfare. We are called to fight, to strive, to contend for the faith. But all our fighting is futile unless it is empowered and sustained by the ascended Christ, our great high priest, whose hands are ever lifted for us before the throne of God.
We must therefore reject two opposite errors. The first is quietism, the error of those who say, "Let go and let God," refusing to take up their sword. The second is activism, the error of those who trust in the strength of their own arm, forgetting to look to the hill. Joshua must fight, and Moses must pray. The sword and the staff, the battle and the intercession, are two sides of the same coin of victory. This is how God's kingdom advances: with calloused hands on the sword and calloused knees in prayer.
The Text
Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." And Joshua did as Moses told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it happened when Moses raised his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it in Joshua’s hearing, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." And Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh is My Banner; and he said, "Because He has sworn with a hand upon the throne of Yah, Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation."
(Exodus 17:8-16 LSB)
The Unprovoked Attack and the Two-Front War (vv. 8-10)
The battle begins with an unprovoked, predatory assault from Amalek.
"Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, 'Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.'" (Exodus 17:8-9 LSB)
Amalek's attack is pure aggression. Deuteronomy 25:17-18 fills in the details: Amalek "attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you." This was not a noble battle; it was a cowardly strike against the weak, the stragglers, the vulnerable. This is how our spiritual enemies operate. They attack when we are tired, when we are discouraged, when we are isolated. And notice, they "did not fear God." This is the root of their wickedness. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the lack of it is the beginning of every atrocity.
Moses' response is immediate and two-pronged. He does not hesitate. First, he delegates the earthly battle to Joshua. This is the first mention of Joshua in Scripture, and he is introduced as a military commander. "Choose men for us and go out, fight." Notice the active responsibility. God had just parted the Red Sea for them, but now they are commanded to fight. God's sovereignty does not negate our responsibility; it establishes it. We are to fight because God fights for us. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us.
Second, Moses establishes the heavenly front of the battle. "Tomorrow I will take my stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." This is crucial. The staff is the instrument of God's power. It turned the Nile to blood, it brought the plagues, it parted the sea. It is the symbol of God's delegated authority and miraculous intervention. Moses is not going up the hill to get a better view of the battle. He is going up the hill to prosecute the war in the heavenly places. He is engaging in intercessory warfare. The real battle is not between Israel's swords and Amalek's swords. The real battle is between the staff of God and the principalities and powers that stand behind Amalek.
"And Joshua did as Moses told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill." (Exodus 17:10 LSB)
Here we see the beautiful order of God's people. Joshua obeys. He doesn't argue that this is a spiritual matter that requires no fighting. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up the hill. They understand that the physical battle is downstream from the spiritual reality. This is a picture of the church militant. We need Joshuas in the valley, leading the charge against the cultural Amalekites of our day. And we need Moses, Aaron, and Hur on the hill, upholding the ministry of the Word and prayer, which is the true source of our strength.
The Decisive Intercession (vv. 11-13)
The direct correlation between the action on the hill and the action in the valley is made explicit.
"So it happened when Moses raised his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed." (Exodus 17:11 LSB)
This is one of the clearest demonstrations in all of Scripture of the power of intercession. The outcome of the battle is not determined by Joshua's military strategy or the skill of his soldiers, though those things are necessary. The outcome is determined by the posture of Moses on the hill. When his hand, holding the staff of God, is raised, Israel drives back the enemy. When his hand falls, the enemy surges forward. This is not magic. This is a divinely ordained object lesson. God is teaching Israel, and us, that victory comes from Him alone, and it is accessed through dependent prayer.
The raised hand is a posture of appeal to heaven, of surrender to God's power, of reliance on His strength. It is a visible declaration that the battle belongs to the Lord. Our effectiveness in spiritual warfare, whether in our personal lives, our families, or our culture, is directly proportional to our dependence on God in prayer. When our hands are raised in prayer, we prevail. When we drop our hands and begin to rely on our own cleverness, our own resources, our own strength, the Amalekites of sin and unbelief begin to prevail against us.
"But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set." (Exodus 17:12 LSB)
Here is a glorious picture of the church in action. Moses, the great leader, is still a man. He gets tired. His arms grow heavy. Intercession is hard work. Spiritual leadership is exhausting. And he cannot do it alone. This is a profound lesson for us. No man is an island. We are not meant to fight alone or pray alone. We are a body. Aaron, the priest, and Hur, who tradition says was Miriam's husband, come alongside him. They don't criticize him for his weakness; they support him in it. They find a stone for him to sit on, and they physically hold up his arms.
This is what faithful fellowship looks like. It is holding up the arms of your pastor when he grows weary. It is supporting those who are on the front lines of the spiritual battle. It is the ministry of encouragement, of bearing one another's burdens. Victory is a community project. The battle was won not just by Moses, but by the combined efforts of Moses, Aaron, and Hur on the hill, and Joshua and his men in the valley. And because of this corporate faithfulness, his hands were steady "until the sun set." They persevered to the end.
"So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." (Exodus 17:13 LSB)
The result is decisive. Joshua "overwhelmed" them. The Hebrew word here means to weaken, to disable, to prostrate. It was a crushing defeat. The victory in the valley was total because the intercession on the hill was sustained.
The Memorial and the Vow (vv. 14-16)
God commands that this event be recorded and remembered, for it establishes a principle for all time.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it in Joshua’s hearing, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.'" (Exodus 17:14 LSB)
The victory is to be memorialized in writing. This is sacred history, revealing the character and purposes of God. And it is to be recited specifically in Joshua's hearing. Why? Because Joshua, the man of action, the soldier, must never forget where the victory truly came from. He must know that his sword is only effective when the staff of God is raised on the hill. This is a lesson for all Christian leaders. Your success is not your own. It is a gift of grace, mediated through prayer.
And with this memorial comes a terrible vow. God Himself declares His intention to "utterly blot out the memory of Amalek." This is not a petty grudge. This is a judicial sentence. Amalek, by attacking God's redeemed people and showing no fear of God, has aligned himself with the serpent. He represents a principle of evil, a spirit of antichrist, that must be eradicated. This is a holy war, and God is declaring that there will be no truce, no negotiated peace. This enmity is permanent, and it will end only with the total annihilation of the enemy.
"And Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh is My Banner; and he said, 'Because He has sworn with a hand upon the throne of Yah, Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.'" (Exodus 17:15-16 LSB)
Moses responds with worship. He builds an altar. All true victory must lead to worship. And he gives it a name: Yahweh-Nissi, "The Lord is My Banner." A banner, or a standard, is a rallying point for an army. It is the flag under which they fight, the symbol of their king's presence and authority. To say the Lord is our banner is to say that we fight under His authority, in His name, and for His glory. He is the one who goes before us. He is our victory.
The final verse is a solemn confirmation of the vow. "A hand upon the throne of Yah." This is an oath formula. God has put His hand on His own throne and sworn that this war will not end. "Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation." This is not just about a nomadic tribe in the Sinai Peninsula. This is about the cosmic conflict. The spirit of Amalek, the cowardly, godless spirit that preys on the weak and hates the people of God, will continue to manifest itself throughout history. And the church must understand that we are in a perpetual, generational war against it. There are no furloughs in this war.
Christ Our Banner and Intercessor
As with all Old Testament narratives, this story finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Joshua, the captain of our salvation, who fights for us in the valley. He descended into the valley of death itself to engage our ultimate enemy. And on the cross, He overwhelmed sin, death, and the devil with the edge of the sword of His own sacrificial death.
But He is also our greater Moses. He has ascended the hill of heaven itself, and there He stands at the right hand of the Father, with His hands perpetually raised in intercession for us (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25). His hands are not weak. They do not grow heavy. They are the nail-scarred hands that bear the marks of His finished victory, and they are ever lifted on our behalf. The battle we fight below against the remnants of sin and the Amalekites of this world is only victorious because our ascended King is interceding for us above.
And He is Yahweh-Nissi, the Lord our Banner. The cross itself is our standard. It is the banner of God's triumphant love raised high over the field of battle. As Jesus Himself said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). The cross is the signal of victory, the rallying point for the people of God. It is the throne from which He wages war against all His enemies.
Therefore, let us fight like Joshua, taking up the sword of the Spirit and contending earnestly for the faith. But let us also, like Aaron and Hur, hold up the arms of our leaders and bear one another's burdens in prayer. And above all, let us fix our eyes on the hill, on our ascended Lord Jesus. For the battle belongs to Him, we fight under His banner, and because His hands are forever raised for us, the victory is not in doubt.