Ex. 17:8-16, “Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”  Amalek means “Warlike or dweller in the valley,” he is the son of Eliaphaz and the grandson of Easu and the founder of the tribe of Amalekites, Gen, 36:12, 16; I Chron. 1:36. He appears to have separated from his brethren and became the head of a warlike tribe. Balaam describes them as, “the first of the nations,” in Num. 24:20; (first to have attacked Israel, that is). How, from behind like terrorists, attacking the women, children, sick and feeble, Deut. 25:17-19. These weren’t warriors looking for a fight, they were nomads looking to pillage, rape and plunder. So, Moses tells Joshua to choose some men and go out and fight Amalek and he will stand on the hill with Aaron and Hur and the rod of God in his hand and pray, v.10. While Moses held his hands up in prayer Joshua prevailed and when he got tired and let his hands down Amalek prevailed, v.11.  So, they set Moses on a stone and Aaron and Hur stood on each side of him and held his hands up with the rod of God until the sun went down and Amalek was defeated that day.

There is a principle for prayer here that is so vital to us and our lives and ministries. We also need ‘Prayer-Partners’ to hold us up before the throne of grace as we do battle with the enemies of God. We are in spiritual warfare and it can not be won on our own. We have ‘Rope-Handlers’ those who sacrificially give financially to our ministry so we can go with the gospel and minister to God’s chosen people and we have ‘Prayer-Partners’ who hold us up before God’s throne of grace and do battle with His enemies so we can reach out to the ‘apple of His eye.’ Sometimes they are the same people but not always, both are extremely important, they are like two oars in a row boat, if you only have one you just go around in circles and never really get anywhere. Without prayer on the hill, Joshua was vanquished in the valley, never forget that or underestimate the power of prayer. NEVER! If I had to choose between a church giving us $10,000.00 every month for support or 10,000 ‘Prayer-Warriors’ to pray for us daily, I would choose the ‘Prayer-Warriors’ every time!

The LORD told Moses to write this for a memorial in a book or scroll and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua! v.14. It is good for us to read it over and over and to rehearse it too. The LORD says, “He will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” v.14. But He has also sworn in v.16 that, “The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” So, I guess He is not going to wipe them out until He sets up His Kingdom or the new heaven and new earth. So, who are the Amalakites today that are waring against Israel and attacking them from the rear killing their women, children, the infirm, feeble, faint and weary and never really sending their army of men to do battle with the army of Israel. Just shooting missiles at them, blowing up their buses, and killing their babies and children in their beds, and they have no fear of God?

Moses builds an altar in Rephidim (The resting place) and called the name of it “Jehovah-nissi” (The LORD is my banner). Usually a banner of flag represented conquest of victory. After defeating your enemy you raised your flag or banner on the highest hill to proclaim your victory. Like ‘Iwo Jima’ when five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raised our flag on Mt. Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945. However, here Moses builds an altar on the top of this hill and an altar consists of ‘Prayer, Worship, and Sacrifice.’ In the Septuagint, ‘The LORD is my Refuge;’ In the Vulgate, ‘The LORD is my Exaltation;’ In our modern translations, ‘The LORD is my Banner.’ Matthew Henry says, “The rod of God was the banner in this action under which they rallied together. It represented the presence and power of God, therefore they erected an altar and named it, Jehovah-Nissi.” What banner do you rally under when in conflict with your spiritual enemies? How many ‘Prayer-Warriors’ do you have on your team, interceding for you and your family? We could not go forward one day without our team, not one day! Right now my wife is fighting a battle with cancer, it doesn’t seem bad at the moment but no one but God can see inside her body. I am fighting an evil, hateful, invisible enemy of the Jewish people, but what else is new? So we need our ‘Prayer-Warriors’ to hold their hands high, to raise their banners on the top of the hill, to hold that rod up where we can see it as well as the presence and power of our God.

Amalek is alive and well today, he knows his time is short, he is about to be put out of remembrance, but right now he is still at war with the LORD and with His people and we better never forget that. He will sneak up from behind and attack you in your most weak, feeble, vulnerable spot when you are not looking, probably your prayer life. He fears that weapon the most, that’s what defeated him in Rephidim, the resting place. Listen to me, there is no time to rest right now, the enemy is preparing for war, he is gathering his forces, he is stock piling ammunition, he is drawing his battle plans and we sit around with our heads in the sand. The only thing that gave Joshua victory over Amalek was the prayer on the hilltop. We need to pray, better yet we all need to find “TWO” prayer-partners to pray with and to be accountable to on a regular basis, an Aaron and a Hur and the sooner the better. By the way, Joshua or Yahoshua in Hebrew means, ‘Yahweh is salvation,’ and the English form of the Greek transliteration of Yahoshua via Latin is Jesus/Yeshua.  “…Between The Lines…”

“LORD, help us to build our own ‘Jehovah-Nissi‘ and find an Aaron and a Hur to be our ‘Prayer-Partners’ in this battle with Your enemy and ours. It isn’t enough to just pray, we need to be accountable, we need prayer partners, we need someone to hold our hands high and we need You to help us to do this. In Yeshua’s name. Amen!”

“The Value of Prayer-Partners”  ‘Exodus 17:8-16’