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The sermon interprets Israel’s battle with Amalek as a typological picture of the Christian church’s conflict with sin, Satan, error, and spiritual wickedness. It stresses that Christians must love people while opposing the falsehood and sin that enslave them. Victory requires both diligent labor and earnest prayer, since neither activity nor prayer is presented as sufficient in isolation. Every believer has a God-given sphere of service, and the church must persevere in transmitting and defending gospel truth until Christ’s reign brings final victory.
Theological center: God sovereignly advances his truth and kingdom through believers who combine obedient effort with dependence expressed in prayer.
Applications: Fight Sin and Error · Awaken for Truth · Combine Effort with Prayer · Serve in Your Calling
Primary texts: Exodus 17:9 · Exodus 17:12 · Exodus 17:15-16
“And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.” Exodus 17:9 THE children of Israel were led out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. They were conducted into the vast howling wilderness where there were few, if any, permanent abodes of men. For some time they pursued their march in solitude, discovering wells and other traces of a nomadic population, but not meeting with any to disturb their loneliness. But it appears that then, as now, there were wandering tribes who, like the Bedouin Arabs, wandered to and fro through that very country which the people of Israel were now treading with their feet. These people, excited by the hope of spoil, fell suddenly upon the rear of the children of Israel, smote the hindmost of them in a most cowardly manner, took their spoil and then swiftly decamped. Gathering strength and courage from this successful foray, they then dared to attack the whole host of Israel, which at that time must have amounted to two or three millions of souls, who had been brought out of Egypt and fed by miracle in the wilderness. This time Israel was not to be surprised, for Moses had said unto Joshua—“Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand,” pleading with God, in order that every blow struck with the sword might be made doubly powerful by the mighty assistance of God. We are told that a great victory was achieved. The Amalekites were put to the rout and because of their unprovoked attack upon the children of Israel, they were condemned to extermination, for we find it written thus—“Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it JEHOVAH-nissi. For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Now, beloved, this scene of warfare is not recorded in Scripture as an 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 of the children of Israel f…