And the LORD said to Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. And the LORD said to MosesThis phrase indicates direct divine communication, emphasizing Moses' role as a prophet and leader chosen by God. It reflects the ongoing relationship between God and Moses, where God provides guidance and instructions. This communication is consistent with other instances in the Pentateuch where God speaks directly to Moses, such as in Exodus 3:4 at the burning bush. Walk on ahead of the people
Moses is instructed to lead, signifying his leadership and the trust God places in him. This action also serves as a test of faith for the Israelites, who are in a state of complaint and doubt. Walking ahead symbolizes moving forward in faith, a recurring theme in the journey of the Israelites. and take some of the elders of Israel with you
The inclusion of the elders serves multiple purposes: it provides witnesses to the miracle that is about to occur, it reinforces the authority of Moses among the people, and it involves the leadership structure of Israel in God's plan. The elders represent the tribes and are often seen as mediators between Moses and the people, as seen in Exodus 24:1. Take along in your hand the staff
The staff is a symbol of God's power and authority, previously used by Moses to perform miracles in Egypt, such as turning the Nile into blood (Exodus 7:20). It represents God's presence and the divine authority given to Moses. The staff is a recurring symbol throughout the Exodus narrative, signifying God's intervention and support. with which you struck the Nile
This reference to the past miracle in Egypt serves as a reminder of God's power and faithfulness. It connects the current situation to the past deliverance from Egypt, reinforcing the idea that the same God who performed miracles in Egypt is still with them. It also serves as a reminder of judgment and deliverance, themes central to the Exodus story. and go
The command to "go" is an imperative, urging immediate action and obedience. It reflects the urgency of the situation, as the Israelites are in desperate need of water. This command is similar to other instances where God instructs His servants to act promptly, such as in Genesis 12:1 when God tells Abram to leave his country. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORDThe covenant-keeping God of Israel, who guides and provides for His people. 2. MosesThe leader of the Israelites, chosen by God to deliver His people from Egypt and lead them through the wilderness. 3. The Elders of IsraelRepresentatives of the Israelite community, signifying leadership and witness to God's actions. 4. The StaffA symbol of God's power and authority, previously used by Moses to perform miracles, such as striking the Nile. 5. The Wilderness of RephidimThe location where the Israelites camped and experienced a lack of water, leading to their complaints against Moses. Teaching Points God's Faithful GuidanceGod provides clear instructions to His leaders, ensuring His people are cared for even in dire circumstances. Symbol of AuthorityThe staff represents God's authority and power. Believers are reminded to rely on God's strength rather than their own. Community LeadershipInvolving the elders signifies the importance of shared leadership and accountability within the community of faith. Trust in God's ProvisionJust as God provided water in the wilderness, He continues to meet our needs today. Trust in His timing and methods. Witness to God's WorksThe presence of the elders as witnesses underscores the importance of sharing testimonies of God's faithfulness with others. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the instruction given to Moses in Exodus 17:5 demonstrate God's method of leadership and provision? 2. In what ways does the staff serve as a symbol of God's power throughout the Exodus account, and how can we apply this understanding to our lives today? 3. Why is it significant that Moses was instructed to take the elders with him, and how does this relate to the concept of community in the church? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's provision in a challenging situation. How can this passage encourage you to trust Him in future difficulties? 5. How can the account of water from the rock in Exodus 17:5-6 inspire us to be witnesses of God's faithfulness in our own communities? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 7:20This verse describes Moses using the staff to strike the Nile, turning it into blood. It highlights the staff's role as a tool of divine intervention. Numbers 20:8-11Another instance where Moses is instructed to use his staff to bring forth water, showing a pattern of God's provision through Moses. Psalm 78:15-16Reflects on God's miraculous provision of water from the rock, emphasizing His faithfulness and power. Hebrews 3:7-9Warns against hardening hearts as the Israelites did in the wilderness, urging believers to trust in God's provision. People Aaron, Amalek, Amalekites, Hur, Israelites, Joshua, MosesPlaces Egypt, Horeb, Massah, Meribah, Nile River, Rephidim, SinaiTopics Ahead, Chiefs, Elders, Hast, Nile, Pass, River, Rod, Smite, Smitten, Smotest, Staff, Stretched, Struck, Taking, Walk, WherewithDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 17:1-6 5580 thirst Exodus 17:1-7 4278 spring of water
5473 proof, through testing
5924 quarrelsomeness Exodus 17:3-6 1330 God, the provider Exodus 17:4-7 8614 prayer, answers Exodus 17:5-6 1680 types
4230 desert Exodus 17:5-13 4512 staff 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.
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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 17:5 NIVExodus 17:5 NLTExodus 17:5 ESVExodus 17:5 NASBExodus 17:5 KJV
Exodus 17:5 Commentaries
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