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Water from the Rock

Sunday, August 29, 2021
Pastor Justin Chan

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Exodus 17:1-16

Ex. 17:1    All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2  Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you  test the LORD?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and  the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready  to stone me.”5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with  which you struck the Nile, and go. 6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place  Massah  and  Meribah,  because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Ex. 17:8    Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to  Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with  the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So  Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and  Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses  held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and  Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And  Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Ex. 17:14   Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of  Joshua, that  I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses  built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne  of the LORD!  The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” 

Outline
I. The Test
II. The Rock
III. The Banner

I. The Test
Verse 2, “Why do you quarrel with me, and why do you test the LORD?”

Verse 7, “And he called the name of the place  Massah  and  Meribah,  because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Psalm 78:17-20
Yet they sinned still more against him,
        rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18     They  tested God in their heart
        by demanding the food they craved.
19     They spoke against God, saying,
        “Can God  spread a table in the wilderness?
20      He struck the rock so that water gushed out
        and streams overflowed.
        Can he also give bread
        or provide meat for his people?”

Num 14:20ff
Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned,  according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all  the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 22  none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these  ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23  shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

Walter Kaiser: “God’s people tempt or test their Lord when they distrust his kindness and providential care of them and grumble against him and/or his leaders.”

Verse 7, “And he called the name of the place  Massah  and  Meribah,  because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

II. The Rock
Verses 4-6- So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready  to stone me.” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with  which you struck the Nile, and go. 6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Deut 32:4- The Rock,  his work is perfect,
        for  all his ways are justice.
         A God of faithfulness and  without iniquity,
        just and upright is he.

1 Cor 10:1-4- For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,  that our fathers were all under  the cloud, and all  passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and  all ate the same  spiritual food, 4 and  all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 

III. The Banner
Verses 7-13- Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to  Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with  the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So  Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and  Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses  held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and  Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And  Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Verses 14-16- Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of  Joshua, that  I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses  built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne  of the LORD!  The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.