Sixth Saturday of Omer: The Lifter of My Hands

In the second half of Exodus 17, there is the little-known story of the battle between Israel and Amalek.  It's the first armed conflict for God's people in their wanderings.  There will come many more. These people, just a month before, were slaves.  When they left Egypt, they plundered their neighbors so that when the left, they were equipped for battle (Exodus 12:33-51), but they'd never before had to use the swords, shields, and spears with which they left.  

God brought a test of their resolve and of their faith in the form of Amalek and his soldiers.  These were a people who had been in battles before.  They had the upper-hand of experience and the upper-ground positionally.  All was in their favor.  All, that is, except for the God of the Universe.

Scripture does not record God giving the plan to Moses, but He must have.  Moses wouldn't have chosen this strategy himself.  The plan was simple-seemingly.  People would live or die--nations would rise or fall--on the strength of Moses' deltoids.

"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. So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed." Exodus 17:9-11

If the battle were short-lived, Moses could have done this on his own.  Holding your staff above your head isn't exactly a crossfit routine.  The problem was stamina.  Battles are not won in five minutes, or even five hours.  After a time, Moses' strength began to fade.

"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." Exodus 17:12

The real point of this story is the support that the body is to a person of God in times of difficulty, community, and the way God triumphed through seemingly impossible odds.  I'm seeing this passage, though, through the eyes of the Omer, through the season that we're in  where we look at the invitation to relationship that began at Passover and culminated at Sinai.  In that light, I'd like to make a few observations.

If the plan of God had been to have Moses stand on the top of the hill, raise his staff over his head, and God would send an angel to kill all the Amalekites, there wouldn't have been a need for Aaron and Hur to hold him up. If God had needed  an action in obedience and faith, Moses could have risen to the occasion on his own.  That wasn't the plan, through.  This called for protracted effort, for a seemingly impossible act of endurance, especially from an 80-year-old man.

God is about to give His people the law.  Up until now, they have had folk knowledge of God's requirement for living as passed down through oral tradition from the patriarchs, but there are not yet any of the "thou shalt not's" for which the law is famous.  God is about to call his people to obedience in a new, fuller, more life-altering way than they can imagine.  His call to obedience will not be something that they can accomplish short-term.  God does not call them to live righteously for an hour, a day, a season, or even for a span of holy days (think Mardi Gras before Lent).  Rather, God is calling His people to live differently for the rest of their lives, and for the rest of their generations to come.

"Honor Me Before All Others" FOREVER.

NEVER STOP "Keeping my Name Holy."

ALWAYS "Keep the Sabbath day."

AS LONG AS THEY LIVE "Honor your Mother and Father"

Every day. Always.  Never-Stopping.  Obedience.

We can't hold it up that long.  If it's up to our strength, Amalek wins every time.

This aspect of the enduring obedience of the Law is what makes it such a good schoolmaster for us regarding our sin.  Most people, if they knew it mattered, could live a day without breaking the 10 commandments.  Some would even stand a chance against all 613 requirements of the law for a few hours.  It's the fact that the record keeps going, that the time keeps counting.  You have to be perfect FOREVER.  Nobody's up for that task. I know I'm not.

So God sends two avenues for help to us.  We have our Aaron and our Hur, but they're better... because they're God.

The law has not passed away. Christ himself said that he had "not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it" (Matt 5:17).  So it's not that the battle is over.  Christ didn't come and remove Amelk from before us.  That will happen when we're glorified and enjoying the new Heavens and the new Earth.  No, for now, we still struggle against sin.

The Holy Spirit provides the first support.  He serves as our Aaron.  The Third Member of the Godhead is here to equip us to do rightly through "works of service,"  through gifts, and through the conviction of sin when our hands fall. He came in power at both Sinai and at Pentecost.  The first time He came, He was rejected by the Hebrews (we'll get to that next week), but He came to indwell fully at Pentecost.  The Jews were given the Law without the One who would empower them to live it out.  That is why so much of the OT is a train-wreck of sin that goes from bad to worse.  They couldn't keep the staff up in the air without their "Aaron."  They weren't that strong.  

Before you get too haughty--you aren't either.  Apart from the indwelling Spirit, you'd be bowing before Baal too.

The second support is Christ.  He came to fulfill the law, and He did it. Through the miracle of God's grace, Christ's satisfaction of the Law is credited to us when we fail, and our failure  is added to the account of Christ, which he paid on the cross.  When we lie, covet, take God's name in vain, steal, dishonor our parents, and work instead of worship, Christ is there, holding up our hand, and saying, "I got you.  I did that one right.  You can use my perfection here."

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Cor 5:21

You see, on one hand, we are being constantly supported in our spirit by the Holy Spirit, who is speaking into our souls, "Live this way.  Say these things.  Meditate on these scriptures. No. Don't go there.  You shouldn't have done that.  You need to confess."  On the other hand, we have Christ, who is standing in the gap created between our best efforts and God's perfect standard.  He is speaking to the Father, "I have paid his debt. He failed here, but I am perfect.  Look at me for his righteousness.  Punish me for his sin."

Moses had Aaron and Hur to hold him up during a trying time that he could never have endured on his own, and an infant nation was saved.  We have God the Holy Spirit and God the Son holding us up and guaranteeing our inheritance for an eternal reward.  Praise be to God for His unfailing love!

The first step toward a relationship with God on his terms, according to His rules, is to know that you are flawed.  You can't do it on your own.  You are not good enough to keep the staff in the air.  God already knows this about you.  Do you know it about yourself? 

The second step is to invite the support of the Holy Spirit and the Perfect work of Christ to stand in the gap of your failure and turn the mission of righteousness from impossible to accomplished in you. God is waiting to help in your battle.  Will you let Him? 

IF THIS BLESSED YOU, PLEASE "LIKE," "SHARE," AND "FOLLOW" MY BLOG.