Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." Then the LORD said to MosesThis phrase indicates direct divine communication, emphasizing the authority and importance of the message. Throughout the Pentateuch, God frequently speaks to Moses, establishing him as a key mediator between God and the Israelites. This divine instruction underscores the seriousness of the subsequent command. Write this on a scroll as a reminder
The act of writing serves to preserve the message for future generations, highlighting the importance of memory and record-keeping in Israelite culture. This is one of the earliest instances of written documentation in the Bible, emphasizing the permanence and significance of God's words. Writing on a scroll was a common practice for preserving important decrees and events. and recite it to Joshua
Joshua is introduced as a significant leader who will succeed Moses. By instructing Moses to recite the message to Joshua, God is preparing Joshua for his future role and ensuring that the next generation understands the importance of this divine decree. This also establishes a pattern of oral tradition, which was crucial in ancient cultures for passing down important teachings and history. because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven
The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe that attacked the Israelites shortly after their exodus from Egypt. This phrase indicates a divine judgment against Amalek for their actions. The complete eradication of their memory signifies a total and irreversible judgment. This prophecy is fulfilled in later biblical narratives, such as in 1 Samuel 15, where Saul is commanded to destroy the Amalekites. The Amalekites are often seen as a symbol of opposition to God's people, and their ultimate defeat foreshadows the final victory over evil. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who commands Moses to record the event. 2. MosesThe leader of the Israelites, chosen by God to lead His people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. 3. JoshuaMoses' assistant and future leader of Israel, who is to be reminded of God's promise concerning Amalek. 4. AmalekA nomadic tribe that attacked the Israelites at Rephidim, representing opposition to God's people. 5. RephidimThe location where the Israelites camped and were attacked by the Amalekites. Teaching Points The Importance of RemembranceGod instructs Moses to write down the event as a reminder. This highlights the importance of remembering God's acts and promises in our lives. Keeping a spiritual journal or regularly recounting God's faithfulness can strengthen our faith. Divine JusticeGod's promise to blot out the memory of Amalek underscores His commitment to justice. We can trust that God will ultimately deal with evil and injustice in His perfect timing. Leadership and LegacyMoses is told to recite the event to Joshua, indicating the importance of passing down God's promises and instructions to future generations. As leaders, we should mentor and prepare others to continue God's work. Obedience to God's CommandsThe account of Amalek serves as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience. We are called to fully obey God's commands, trusting in His wisdom and sovereignty. Spiritual WarfareThe battle with Amalek represents the spiritual battles we face. We must rely on God's strength and guidance to overcome opposition and remain faithful. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the command to write and recite the event to Joshua emphasize the importance of remembering God's promises in your own life? 2. In what ways can you ensure that you are passing down your faith and God's promises to the next generation? 3. How does the account of Amalek challenge you to trust in God's justice and timing when facing opposition or injustice? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced a spiritual battle. How did you rely on God's strength to overcome it? 5. How can the account of Saul and the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 serve as a warning about the importance of complete obedience to God? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 25:17-19This passage reiterates the command to remember what Amalek did and the promise to blot out their memory, emphasizing the importance of justice and divine retribution. 1 Samuel 15The account of King Saul's incomplete obedience in dealing with the Amalekites, highlighting the importance of following God's commands fully. Psalm 83:4-7A prayer for God to deal with Israel's enemies, including Amalek, showing the ongoing struggle against those who oppose God's people. Revelation 3:5The promise of having one's name in the Book of Life, contrasting with the blotting out of Amalek's memory, illustrating the eternal consequences of one's relationship with God. People Aaron, Amalek, Amalekites, Hur, Israelites, Joshua, MosesPlaces Egypt, Horeb, Massah, Meribah, Nile River, Rephidim, SinaiTopics Amalek, Am'alek, Blot, Book, Completely, Ears, Hears, Heaven, Heavens, Joshua, Kept, Memorial, Memory, Recite, Record, Rehearse, Remembered, Remembrance, Sky, Sure, Uprooted, Utterly, WipeDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 17:14 1443 revelation, OT
5515 scroll
5638 writing
8467 reminders Exodus 17:8-15 5597 victory, act of God Exodus 17:8-16 1305 God, activity of Library Nature of the Renderings
From the text we now turn to the renderings, and to the general principles that were followed, both in the Old and in the New Testament. The revision of the English text was in each case subject to the same general rule, viz. "To introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorised Version consistently with faithfulness"; but, owing to the great difference between the two languages, the Hebrew and the Greek, the application of the rule was necessarily different, and the results …
C. J. Ellicott—Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy ScriptureJehovah Nissi
'And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi [that is, the Lord is my Banner].' --EXODUS xvii. 15. We are all familiar with that picturesque incident of the conflict between Israel and Amalek, which ended in victory and the erection of this memorial trophy. Moses, as you remember, went up on the mount whilst Joshua and the men of war fought in the plain. But I question whether we usually attach the right meaning to the symbolism of this event. We ordinarily, I suppose, think …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The War of Truth
Now, beloved, this scene of warfare is not recorded in Scripture as in interesting circumstance to amuse the lover of history, but it is written for our edification; for we remember the text which says--"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our profit." There is some profit to be derived from this--and we believe a peculiar profit, too, since God was pleased to make this the first writing commanded by Divine authority as a record for generations to come. We think that the journeys …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857 How Churches Can Help Ministers.
Text.--And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses's hands were heavy, and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side: and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.--Exodus xvii. 11-13. You who read your Bibles will …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion Exhortation to Prayer.
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns The Waters of Meribah
'Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4. And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Intercessor
'These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Reaction against Egypt
THE XIth DYNASTY: HARMHABI--THE HITTITE EMPIRE IN SYRIA AND IN ASIA MINOR--SETI I. AND RAMSES II.--THE PEOPLE OF THE SEA: MINEPHTAH AND THE ISRAELITE EXODUS. The birth and antecedents of Harmhabi, his youth, his enthronement--The final triumph of Amon and his priests--Harmhabi infuses order into the government: his wars against the Ethiopians and Asiatics--The Khati, their civilization, religion; their political and military constitution; the extension of their empire towards the north--The countries …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 5 Jehovah. The "I Am. "
WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14). He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory "Because the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God, for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. "
Rom. viii. 7.--"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Unbelief is that which condemns the world. It involves in more condemnation than many other sins, not only because more universal, but especially because it shuts up men in their misery, and secludes them from the remedy that is brought to light in the gospel. By unbelief I mean, not only that careless neglect of Jesus Christ offered for salvation, but that which is the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Epistle xxviii. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [136] . Gregory to Augustine, &c. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14); because a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, has died, that it might not reign in heaven alone; even He by whose death we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose suffering we are rescued from suffering, through whose love we seek in Britain for brethren whom we knew not, by whose gift we find those whom without knowing them we sought. …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 17:14 NIVExodus 17:14 NLTExodus 17:14 ESVExodus 17:14 NASBExodus 17:14 KJV
Exodus 17:14 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
