Moses was told to write an account of this battle with Amalek and put it in a book so that it might be rehearsed in the ears of Joshua. He needed to be reminded over and over again that victory was of the Lord. Sometimes, even in our own lives, God gives us some great victory and then we begin to take the credit ourselves. We forget that it was in His strength and not our own that we gained it, and then when the next difficulty arises we go right down to defeat. We try to meet it in our own wisdom and strength and we find out how utterly helpless we are. Just as Moses was told to remind Joshua over and over again how the victory over Amalek was won, so we need to go to the Lord each day, telling Him how weak and helpless we are and asking Him for strength to meet the difficulties of the way.
Future Freedom From the Flesh
We shall always have the flesh in us as long as we are in this world. We can never “rest on our oars” and suppose that the struggle is over. The Amalekites were the enemies of Israel for generations to come, and they are even to this day. But there is a day coming when God will “utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven” (ch. 17:14). When Israel is brought into blessing in their land in a coming day, Amalek will be cut off completely. We know, too, that when we get home to glory we shall never have the old nature to trouble us there. We shall be perfectly like Christ then, and shall be able to relax and forever enjoy the presence of the Saviour whom we love without having a single bad thought to trouble us. What a glorious prospect — our Amalek will be cut off then!
To hear Thy voice, to see Thy face,
And grieve Thy heart no more;
But drink the fullness of Thy grace,
Thy love for evermore.
In the meantime, as we pass through this scene, may we do as Moses did and build our altar, calling it Jehovah-nissi, which means “The Lord our Banner.” We have nothing to fear — not because of any strength in ourselves, for there is none — but because the Lord is our banner. Let us then raise our banner high, so that all can see it, and give Him all the glory.
History’s Spiritual Lessons
We have traced the journeys of the children of Israel all the way from Egypt and have seen how God was sufficient to meet their every need. We may notice, too, that, as He always does, God has meaning in the order of these events. In the sixteenth chapter we have the manna, which speaks of Christ as the Bread of God who came down from heaven. Then in our chapter we have the smitten rock which reminds us of Christ bearing the judgment of God for our sins. This is followed by the water flowing out, for the believer is now indwelt by the Holy Spirit because Christ has gone up on high. After this comes conflict with Amalek — the sinful nature within — and victory is assured because Christ is our Great High Priest above.
All this is most beautiful and instructive, and reminds us afresh that the Bible is not just a history book, or a collection of interesting stories. It is God’s Word and every page bears the stamp of divine inspiration.
Further Meditation
1. What does Jehovah-nissi mean?
2. Why does G. Hayhoe suggest that the order of events at the beginning of Israel’s journey through the wilderness shows the divine inspiration of God’s Word?
3. The internal proof in Scripture for its inspiration is immense. One very long, somewhat challenging, but very helpful work on this subject can be found in God’s Inspiration of the Scriptures by W. Kelly.