And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
9. Joshua ] mentioned here for the first time. Afterwards he appears frequently in the Pent. as Moses’ attendant, Exo 24:13, Exo 32:17, Exo 33:11, Num 11:28, and elsewhere. According to P, he only received the name of Joshua at Kadesh, Num 13:8; Num 13:16, having been till then called Hoshea.
the rod of God ] as Exo 4:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Joshua – This is the first mention of the great follower and successor of Moses. He died at the age of 110, some 65 years after this transaction. His original name was Hosea, but Moses calls him by the full name, which was first given about forty years afterward, as that by which he was to be known to succeeding generations. From this it may perhaps be inferred that this portion of Exodus was written, or revised, toward the end of the sojourn in the wilderness.
The rod of God – See Exo 4:20. The hill is supposed to be the height now called Feria an the north side of the plain Er Rahah; (or, Jebel Tahuneh over Feiran. Palmer).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 17:9
The rod of God.
Moses rod, the emblem of power and faith
I. The rod served to join man and God in the work of the Lord. At the one end, Faith; at the other, Almighty Power.
II. The rod served to increase the confidence of the people in their God, Success everywhere attended the rod.
III. The rod served to teach the people dependence upon God for their success in battle.
IV. The rod served to teach the people the need of holy and devout men. (Homilist.)
Man as a servant of God
The words (Exo 4:17) lead us to contemplate man as a servant of God–a servant to promote the true progress of the race. They suggest four things which God requires man to do in this grand service.
I. To use the instrument most at his command,
II. To turn old things to new uses.
III. To aim at mighty ends by apparently insignificant means.
IV. To follow gods will, rather than the dictates of our own wisdom. (Homilist.)
The old rod, or the inspiration of common ministries
Wondrous is one little line in the history:–And thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go, and afterward Moses, having spoken to Joshua, said, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. Never forget the old rod, the old book, the old truth;–the sword that cut off the head of Goliath–Give me that, said David, there is none like it. Thus God hides inspiration in things of apparently little value, and touches the imagination and the faith by books, ministries, churches, altars, which we thought had passed away into desuetude, perhaps oblivion. Your first prayer may help you to-day. The faith of your youth may be the only thing to win the battle which now challenges your strength. One little hour with the old, old book may be all you need to obtain the sufficiency of light which will drive away the cloud of mystery and bring in the heaven of explanation. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Moses said unto Joshua] This is the first place in which Joshua the son of Nun is mentioned: the illustrious part which he took in Jewish affairs, till the settlement of his countrymen in the promised land, is well known. He was captain-general of the Hebrews under Moses; and on this great man’s death he became his successor in the government. Joshua was at first called Hoshea, Nu 13:16, and afterwards called Joshua by Moses. Both in the Septuagint and Greek Testament he is called Jesus: the name signifies Saviour; and he is allowed to have been a very expressive type of our blessed Lord. He fought with and conquered the enemies of his people, brought them into the promised land, and divided it to them by lot. The parallel between him and the Saviour of the world is too evident to require pointing out.
Top of the hill] Probably some part of Horeb or Sinai, to which they were then near.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Go out; out of the camp to meet the enemy.
I will stand on the top of the hill, both to observe thy carriage, and success or defeat, that I may govern myself accordingly, and that I may in that retirement pour out my soul unto the Lord of hosts, that he may give thee victory.
With the rod of God; by which having done so great exploits formerly, doubt not of the same Divine assistance to accompany it, and make thee victorious.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Moses said unto Joshuaor,”Jesus” (Act 7:45;Heb 4:8). This is the earliestnotice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in thehistory of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is nothere a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as accordingto the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe,making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trainedthan themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and opencountry around this wady would afford ample space [ROBINSON].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Moses said unto Joshua,…. The son of Nun, who was his minister, and was a man of war from his youth, trained up in the art of war, and afterwards succeeded Moses, and was captain of the armies of Israel, and fought at the head of them, and subdued the Canaanites. Moses knew he was a fit person for the present purpose, and therefore gave him the following orders:
choose us out men; the stoutest and most courageous, best able to bear arms, and engage in war; for the multitude in common was not qualified for such service, nor was there any necessity of engaging them all in it:
and go out; out of the camp, and meet them at some distance, that the women and children might not be terrified with the enemy:
fight with Amalek; for their cause was just, Amalek was the aggressor, Israel was on the defensive part; and should it be asked where they had arms to fight with, it may be remembered that the Egyptian army that was drowned in the Red sea, and whose bodies were cast upon the shore, might furnish them with a large quantity of armour, which they stripped them of, and arrayed themselves with:
tomorrow I will stand upon the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand: on the top of Mount Horeb or Sinai, where he might be seen by the army of Israel with that rod in his hand, lifted up as a banner, by which God had done so many wonderful things; and by which they might be encouraged to hope that victory would go on their side, and this he promised to do “tomorrow”, the day following; for sooner a select body of men could not be taken out from the people, and accoutred for war, and go forth to meet the enemy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(9) Moses said unto Joshua.This is the first mention of Joshua. He was an Ephraimite, the son of a man called Nun, and the tenth in descent from Joseph (see Note on Exo. 6:16), in the prime of lifeabout 45 years oldand probably known as possessing military capacity. His actual name at the timo was Hoshea, which might have been viewed as a good omen, since the word meant Saviour. Moses afterwards changed his name to Jehoshua (Num. 13:16), which became by contraction Joshua. We find him, later in Exodus, acting as Moses personal attendant, or minister (Num. 24:13; Num. 32:17; Num. 33:11), accompanying him to the top of Sinai, and placed by him in charge of the first Tabernacle. Afterwards he, with Caleb, was the only one of the spies who brought back a true report of Canaan. (Num. 14:6-9.) His choice as leader to succeed Moses resulted naturally from his antecedents, and is related in Num. 27:18-23.
Choose us out men.The weakness of Israel was in its unwieldy numbers. Moses saw this, and, after deciding that he was himself unfit for battle, and passing the command on to Joshua, made the one suggestion that a select body of troops should be employed against the assailants. The advice was good, and Joshua did as Moses had said to him (Exo. 17:10).
I will stand on the top of the hill.A particular hill was no doubt meanta hill, and not a mountain. But the exact scene of the battle is too uncertain to make it possible to fix on any one particular eminence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9-13. Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men Moses’s great successor, the second leader of Israel, and the type of the great Redeemer both in name and in office, now first abruptly appears before us . His name was originally Hoshea, (or Oshea,) which means Help, or Deliverance; but it was changed by Moses, (Num 13:16,) probably after this victory over Amalek, into Jehoshua, or Joshua, by the addition of the Memorial Name, JAH, thus making it mean, JAH (is) DELIVERANCE or SALVATION, the JEHOVAH SAVIOUR . This name is rendered in Greek, in English JESUS, the “Name which is above every name,” before which one day “every knee shall bow.” Joshua was an Ephraimite, the son of Nun, and was now about forty years old. See note on Mat 1:1. He was the military leader of Israel under Moses’s direction through all the desert sojourn, and now in this, his first recorded expedition, is ordered to pick a body of warriors to carry on the main battle with Amalek in the plain and valleys of Rephidim .
With the rod of God in mine hand He calls his rod “the rod of God,” for all the wonders wrought by it were revelations of God’s power, not of his . This rod he was to elevate as a standard, a symbol of God’s presence with Israel . It was the rod that had smitten the Nile, and the Red Sea, and the rock of Meribah; and the sight of it would inspire the warriors of Israel with a consciousness that Jehovah was their real leader in this their first conflict with heathen powers. The gesture was at the same time an act of prayer, as he stood on the hill, above the battle, pointing heavenward with “the rod of God.”
Aaron and Hur This Hur is said by Josephus to have been the husband of Miriam, and identical with the Hur who was the father of Uri and grandfather of the artist Bezaleel. Exo 31:2. Moses was thus accompanied by his near kinsmen his brother and the husband of his sister as he went up into the hill to inspire Israel and plead with God.
When Moses held up his hand The hand that held the rod. It will be noticed that the word hand is used in the singular. We are not to think of him as kneeling, with both hands stretched to heaven in prayer, as the scene is generally represented in paintings. At first he stood, raising the rod first in the right hand and then in the left, until he became weary; then he sat upon the stone which Aaron and Hur put under him, Aaron on the one side helping him keep the rod raised, and Hur on the other. Had both hands been constantly elevated, and Aaron and Hur thus constantly employed in staying them up, they would soon have become as weary as he; but they relieved each other in this toil. Elevating the hands is not essential to prayer; and the Scripture nowhere represents success in prayer as dependent upon any posture or gesture: but continuance in prayer and faith was essential to success, and the elevated rod was the symbol of this continuance. Aaron and Hur not only stayed up his hands, but his heart, blending their prayer with his. When, through weariness, Moses ceased to exercise and inspire faith, the battle turned against Israel; but by the help and sympathy of his brethren he was strengthened to continue his spiritual struggle till Amalek was defeated. The leader chosen by God, whom they had just been ready to stone, and the rod, which was the symbol of Jehovah’s power, were thus shown to be essential to Israel’s success. Here also is beautifully shown the divine-human partnership in fulfilling the plans of Providence. The rod of Moses and the sword of Joshua were both essential to the victory over Amalek; the prayer upon the hill and the battle upon the plain were both necessary to Israel’s success. Joshua could not have conquered unless Moses had prayed and inspired prayer; he could not have kept up this spiritual struggle without the help of his two brethren; yet his soul would have wrestled in vain unless Joshua had fought. The battling host was victorious only while struggling both in earth and heaven.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 17:9. Moses said unto Joshua This is the first time mention is made of Joshua, or Jesus, who makes so distinguished a figure in the subsequent part of the sacred history. He is often styled the servant of Moses. Formed under the conduct of that great master, he is appointed general under his direction, and ordered to select proper men to fight with Amalek; while Moses proposes to stand on the hill, with the miraculous rod in his hand, in sight of the warriors, to inspire them with faith and courage; and to teach them and all succeeding generations, that though all human power is weak without the aid of GOD; yet, we should not so rely on that aid, as to omit the use of all rational means. God blesses his people in the use of these. Chosen men were appointed to fight; but they prevailed only while Moses held up his hands, Exo 17:11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Is not Joshua a type of the Lord Jesus and particularly in this instance?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 17:9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
Ver. 9. I will stand on the top. ] Where the people might see him with that ensign in his hand, and be encouraged. Xerxes used to pitch his tent on high, and stand looking on his army when in fight, for their encouragment.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Joshua. First occurance. (250 times in all). Hebrew. Jehoshua. Now fifty-three years of age. Hence a bondman in Egypt. Twenty-seven years younger than Moses. See App-50.
men. Hebrew, plural of ‘ish or ‘enesh. App-14.
fight. There was a large population in the peninsula at this time. A wilderness, a place of pasture, not a desert.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
unto Joshua: Exo 17:13, Exo 24:13, Num 11:28, Num 13:16, Oshea, Jehoshua, Deu 32:44, Hoshea, Called Jesus, Act 7:45, Heb 4:8
Choose: Num 31:3, Num 31:4
the rod: Exo 4:2, Exo 4:20
Reciprocal: Exo 7:20 – he lifted Exo 17:10 – and Moses Exo 32:17 – Joshua Exo 33:11 – his servant Num 13:8 – Oshea Num 20:8 – the rod Num 27:18 – Take thee Deu 1:38 – which standeth Jos 1:1 – Joshua 2Sa 18:1 – numbered 1Ch 7:27 – Jehoshuah Psa 56:9 – When Psa 68:11 – Lord Eze 13:5 – have not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 17:9. I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand See how God qualifies his people for, and calls them to various services for the good of his church; Joshua fights, Moses prays, and both minister to Israel. This rod Moses held up, not so much to Israel, to animate them, as to God, by way of appeal to him. Is not the battle the Lords? Is not he able to help, and engaged to help? Witness this rod! Moses was not only a standard-bearer, but an intercessor, pleading with God for success and victory.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the {f} hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
(f) That is, Horeb, which is also called Sinai.