Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 17:8-9

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

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.

The account makes a sudden and dramatic shift, telling us now of an army of Amalekites that came to fight with Israel, even while they were still in the wilderness. As we have already seen, Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness was a time for them to prepare for life in the Promised Land. They had already had several lessons on how to rely upon the Lord and obey His word exactly, and now they were rehearsing the art of war, something that they would become very familiar with when they strove against the Lord’s enemies in the land of Canaan, including the Amalekites.

This is not the first that we have heard of the Amalekites, either. We heard of their forebearer back in Genesis 36:16, Amalek, who was the grandson of Esau, who was the brother of Jacob, who was himself the forebearer of the Israelites. As noted at the time, many of the nations that Israel fought in Canaan were people that branched off from the covenant bloodline. These fallen-away nations were a perfect foil to the Israelites, because they were similar, with a shared root, but had been twisted in pagan ways. They represent the beast that is too familiar, the evil that is too close for comfort, the worst version of our own selves.

The coming fight with the Amalekites also foreshadows Israel’s future in another way. Moses chose Joshua to lead God’s people in this battle, just as he would be chosen to preside over all of Israel after Moses’s death. Moses explains that he will help Israel in their fight, but from afar, while Joshua would be down in the ranks with them. So, too, Moses’s law would continue to aid and guide Israel after his passing, while Joshua would continue in the ranks.

Posted on by Abe Austin · 2 Comments

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 21:32-34

32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

34 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.

Something we did not know until these verses is that Abimelech was king over the Philistine people. Obviously the Philistines will come to be one of the constant vexations to the people of Israel, but at this time their leader is friendly with the forefather of the entire Israelite nation.

I never realized before how the early records in Genesis take special care to detail the origin of nations that will become significant later on. For example we also learned how the Ammonites and Moabites came from the daughters of Lot, and they, too, will eventually be long-time enemies of the Israelites.

I had always assumed that when the Israelites were led out of Egypt the nations they warred against in Canaan were complete strangers to them. Evidently that viewpoint was incorrect, all these countries already had a history with each other.

Another interesting foreshadowing in these verses is that Abraham planted a grove to worship the Lord. Later on his descendants would keep the practice of worshipping in groves of trees, but they would be dedicated to pagan gods instead of the Lord. In today’s culture we have lost the connection between groves of trees and worship, but evidently it was a strong idea back in biblical times.