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The Amalekites were Defeated by Raising the Staff of God

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As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset. [Exodus 17:11-12]

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The way to Egypt from Canaan was full of danger for the Israelites.

But every time when they encountered difficulties or dangerous situations,

God would help them out.

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When there was no water, God gave water by making water flow out from a rock.

 And when there was no food, God sent manna and quail from heaven to feed the Israelites.

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As always, the Israelites faced a different problem, this time it was war

between the Amalekites. The Amalekites were barbaric and tough people who loved war. They gathered at Rephidim to fight with the Israelites.

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For the war with the Amalekites, Moses called Joshua and said,

“Select people and go to war with the Amalekites.

Tomorrow, I`ll hold the staff of God and stand on top of the hill.”

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Joshua followed what Moses told him to do.

So he gathered the Israelites to select those who could go to war and fight.

He brought them to fight with the Amalekites.

They were inexperienced in war but they went on their way relying on God.

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Moses, as he promised to Joshua, went to the top of the hill together with Aaron and Hur. At that place, Moses could see everything that would go on between the Israelites and the Amalekites doing war.

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Moses raised his hands while facing the Israelites doing war.  

While Moses raised his hands high in the air, the Israelites were winning the war.

10

But as time passed and Moses felt tired, the staff of God began to face the ground, so the army of the Amalekites started to win the war.

And when the staff of God completely went down,

the army of the Amalekites started to chase the Israelites.

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When Moses saw this, he gathered up his power and raised his hands one more time. Then suddenly the Israelites started to win the battle and the war once again. But, in the end, Moses couldn`t keep his hands raised by his own power alone.

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When Aaron and Hur saw this, they brought a rock and let Moses sit on that rock.  Then they held up the hands of Moses. With the help of Aaron and Hur,

the staff of God once more stood up high and mighty in the air.

13

Aaron and Hur raised the hands of Moses until the end of the day  

so that Joshua could defeat the Amalekites.

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All the Israelites gave thanks to God who made the victory that day.

When the staff of God stood up in the air by Moses, God let the Israelites win the battle.  The Israelites won the battle when they simply followed God`s order,

"raise the staff of God high.”

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God told Moses, Write all about this war on a scroll so that others will not forgot about this.  

And tell Joshua personally, 'I`ll completely destroy Amalek.' ”

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Moses made an altar to give thanks to God for letting them win the war.

And the name of altar was,“The LORD is my banner,”which is ‘Jehova Nissi’. Moses announced to all the Israelites, “For I raised up my hands to the throne of the LORD, therefore, the LORD will be at war with Amalek forever.”

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God let the Israelites win the war with the Amalekites. He used Moses to raise the staff of God for them to win. But when his hand faced the ground they were being defeated by the Amalekites. This showed the people of God that by believing in Him and following what He says will make them win all of their battles. So from now on, we need to follow all of God`s orders like Moses who raised the staff of God and by knowing we can defeat anything if we obey God, we need to become faith-believing people of God.