Exodus 17:4 Komentář

Two passages of story are recorded in this chapter, I. The watering of the host of Israel. 1. In the wilderness they wanted water (Exo 17:1). 2. In their want they chided Moses (Exo 17:2, Exo 17:3). 3. Moses cried to God (Exo 17:4). 4. God ordered him to smite the rock, and fetch water out of that; Moses did so (Exo 17:5, Exo 17:6). 5. The place named from it (Exo 17:7). II. The defeating of the host of Amalek. 1. The victory obtained by the prayer of Moses (Exo 17:8-12). 2. By the sword of Joshua (Exo 17:13). 3. A record kept of it (Exo 17:14, Exo 17:16). And these things which happened to them are written for our instruction in our spiritual journey and warfare.

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 17 The children of Israel coming to Rephidim, want water, and chide with Moses about it, who, crying to the Lord, is bid to smite the rock, from whence came water for them, and he named the place from their contention with him, Exo 17:1 at this place Amalek came and fought with Israel, who, through the prayer of Moses, signified by the holding up of his hands, and by the sword of Joshua, was vanquished, Exo 17:8, for the remembrance of which it was ordered to be recorded in a book, and an altar was built with this inscription on it, "Jehovahnissi": it being the will of God that Amalek should be fought with in every generation until utterly destroyed, Exo 17:14

And Moses cried unto the Lord..... Or prayed unto him, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which shows the distress he was thrown into, the vehemence of his prayer, and perhaps the loud and lamentable tone in which he expressed it: this was the method he always took, and the refuge he fled unto in all his times of trouble; in which he did well, and set a good example of piety and devotion to God, of faith and trust in him: saying: what shall I do unto this people? or, "for this people" (h); to relieve them in their present exigency; suggesting his own inability to do any thing for them: yet not despairing of relief, but rather expressing faith in the power and goodness of God to keep them, by his application to him; desiring that he would open a way for their help, and direct him what he must do in this case for them: something, he intimates, must be done speedily for the glory of God, for his own safety, and to prevent the people sinning yet more and more, and so bring destruction upon them; for, adds he: they be almost ready to stone me or, "yet a little, and they will stone me" (i); if the time of help is protracted, if relief is not in a short time given, he had reason to believe from the menaces they had given out, the impatience they had showed, the rage they were in, they would certainly take up stones and stone him, being in a stony and rocky place; and this they would do, not as a formal punishment of him as a false prophet, telling them they should be brought to Canaan, when they were brought into the wilderness and perishing there; which law respecting such an one was not yet in being; but this he supposed as what an enraged multitude was wont to do, and which was more ready at hand for them to do than anything else, see Exo 8:26. (h) "populo haic", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (i) "adhuc paululum et lapidabit me." V. L. "parum abest", Tigurine version; "adhuc modicum", Pagninus, Montanus; "adhuc paulisper", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.

When [Moses] was being stoned by the people, he made intercession for them. Even more so he wished to be blotted out of God’s book sooner than that the flock committed to him should perish. He sought to imitate the Shepherd who would, he knew, carry on his shoulders even the wandering sheep.

The Israelites journey from the wilderness of Sin to Rephidim, Exo 17:1, where they murmur for lack of water, Exo 17:2, Exo 17:3. Moses asks counsel of God, Exo 17:4, who commands him to take his rod and smite the rock, Exo 17:5, and promises that water should proceed from it for the people to drink, Exo 17:6. The place is called Massah and Meribah, Exo 17:7. The Amalekites attack Israel in Rephidim, Exo 17:8. Joshua is commanded to fight with them, Exo 17:9. Moses, Aaron, and Hur go to the top of a hill, and while Moses holds up his hands, the Israelites prevail; when he lets them down, Amalek prevails, Exo 17:10, Exo 17:11. Moses, being weary, sits down, and Aaron and Hur hold up his hands, Exo 17:12. The Amalekites are totally routed, Exo 17:13, and the event commanded to be recorded, Exo 17:14. Moses builds an altar, and calls it Jehovah-Nissi, Exo 17:15. Amalek is threatened with continual wars, Exo 17:16.

THE PEOPLE MURMUR FOR WATER. (Exo 17:1-7) the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin--In the succinct annals of this book, those places only are selected for particular notice by the inspired historian, which were scenes memorable for their happy or painful interest in the history of the Israelites. A more detailed itinerary is given in the later books of Moses, and we find that here two stations are omitted (Num. 33:1-56). according to the commandment of the Lord, &c.--not given in oracular response, nor a vision of the night, but indicated by the movement of the cloudy pillar. The same phraseology occurs elsewhere (Num 9:18-19). pitched in Rephidim--now believed, on good grounds, to be Wady Feiran, which is exactly a day's march from Mount Sinai, and at the entrance of the Horeb district. It is a long circuitous defile about forty feet in breadth, with perpendicular granite rocks on both sides. The wilderness of Sin through which they approached to this valley is very barren, has an extremely dry and thirsty aspect, little or no water, scarcely even a dwarfish shrub to be seen, and the only shelter to the panting pilgrims is under the shadow of the great overhanging cliffs.

Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people?--His language, instead of betraying any signs of resentment or vindictive imprecation on a people who had given him a cruel and unmerited treatment, was the expression of an anxious wish to know what was the best to be done in the circumstances (compare Mat 5:44; Rom 12:21).