CONTINUED FROM PART 1… STRENGTHEN THE WEAK HANDS….Part 1
How do you strengthen the weak hands? What makes your hands weak?
17 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may 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 chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?
8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9 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.
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 And the Lord said unto Moses, 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.
15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
16 For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Working with One Hand Tied Behind Your Back…
Anyone who has ever injured their dominant arm or hand knows how difficult it is to perform even the simplest of task, like tying a shoelace, buttoning a shirt, or driving a car.
Of course, we adapt and learn how to manage. But in the meantime, we must deal with the difficulty of completing everything we need to do, in an awkward, labored and time consuming manner.
These are the times when we truly miss the ease and balance we are accustomed to, when both hands are in sync.
The smooth and seamless efficiencies, our left hand and right hand, produce together are amazing.
This is what it is like when our spirit is not in sync with the Spirit of GOD, or when as the body of Christ, we are not in sync with each other, or when we as Christians are out of sync with our Jewish heritage in the scriptures.
Spiritually Speaking…
Whenever the right hand, and the left hand are restrained or restricted from working together, we are inefficient, off balance and simply working harder than we have to, Spiritually.
Are We There Yet?
17 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
Have you ever been driving/traveling to a location that you have not been before? I’m sure that you have. You have directions in your hand and you have been following them precisely. Yet, according to the directions you are almost there, but this street that you need to find…you can not locate.
You are beginning to wonder if you past it, so you turn around. Another mile passes, and you get the feeling that you are going in the wrong direction, so you stop and ask someone and you turn around once more…back toward the direction you were initially headed.
Finally, you see the street. This is the moment when you feel a little irritated with yourself because you were almost there, if you had just continued, a few more miles forward, you would have been there already!
Anyway, you shake it off, make your right hand turn and find the address you need and arrive. Perhaps a little late, but you can’t help being a tiny bit frustrated that you just didn’t keep going forward in the first place.
You Were Almost There!
17 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
When the children of Israel stopped and pitched their camp in Rephidim, they were virtually around the corner and down the block from Mt. Sinai.
They were right around the corner from the most important Prophetic Word they would ever receive…right around the corner from their breakthrough. They were almost there.
Instead of pressing in and going forward, they allowed themselves to degenerate into a place of negativity…getting frustrated, moaning, chiding, complaining, whining, worrying..
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
There is no water for the people to drink. Thirsty, they lash out at Moses.
Moses, is trying to tell the people that in fighting with him, they are actually fighting with, and rebelling against GOD.
When Scripture Repeats Itself 2 and 3 Times….
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
This is the 3rd mention we hear of the lack of water (verses 1, 2, 3). The repetition of any message found in scripture means that we need to pay close attention to what is happening and ask ourselves, Why is GOD repeating this so many times? What am I supposed to slow down and hear in this message?
GOD is trying to tell us something!
Instead of asking themselves, “What is really going on?, Why are we suddenly out of water?, What has shifted?” the people lash out at Moses.
Instead of praying..they are attacking… fighting with their leaders…accusing GOD and Moses of trying to kill them.
4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Horeb is the name of the mountain range in which Mt. Sinai is located. It means dryness or desolation. Horeb comes from the Hebrew root word, hareb חרב, a verb meaning to dry up or lay waste.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?
We know these places… Massah מסה (massah), means to test, or to prove.
Massah comes from the Hebrew root word nasas which is a mettalurgical term for heating up iron ore in the fire. The hotter the better. The hotter the fire gets, the purest metals surface and can be collected.
Once these metals are smelted together, the stronger the iron becomes, and the best weapons and tools are forged.
Meribah מריבה, a place of strife, or agent of strife, from the verb ריב (rib), to contend.
The understanding of meribah can range from complaining and moaning through endless dispute, contention and strife, to flat out combat.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?
Massah and Meribah, signs of our spiritual condition. Not just common names of cities or places, like Los Angeles or New York.
Scripture is providing us detailed information regarding the spiritual condition of the people.
Forgetting about the miracles they have witnessed, the blessings they have received, the people launch their accusations against GOD.
They are so full of flesh, that they are unable to see that the lack of water they are experiencing, is directly connected to the lack of the anointing.
Nothing in the Spirit= Nothing in the Natural
No Anointing = No Water
Whatever we loose in Heaven, is loosed on Earth. Matthew 16:19-20
8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
All the fighting, whining, moaning, and complaining…lashing out and threatning Moses, blaming GOD, rebelliuosness, etc unleashes a deadly spiritual enemy…
THEN CAME AMALEK…
Amalek is the grandson of Esau (Gen 36:12), the son of Jacob who despised his birthright (Gen 25:34).
Before we go into more details about who Amalek is spiritually and physically, notice that the Egyptians no longer pursued the children of Israel.
Look at your bible maps. When the children of Israel are coming out of Egypt, traveling through the wilderness it is not as if there are no other nations around.
Find Egypt, Goshen. Find the territory of Amalek. Find Rephidim. Find Mt. Sinai.
For a quick Reference: Click on this link if you do not have any bible maps handy and locate these sites on the map.
The territory of Amalek is above (North of) and behind Rephidim, where Israel makes camp (Ex 17:1).
Enemy Ambush…
Amalek attacked the children of Israel from behind…a sneak attack (Deut 25:17-18).
If they had not been cowardly, they would have attacked Israel before they left Egypt!
Consult your map again. Egypt and Amalek are almost directly west and east of each other.
If Amalek had gone to battle with the children of Israel after they defeated the Egyptians, it would have been more of a face to face confrontation, as they came out of Egypt.
But Amalek was a cunning hunter (like Grandpa Esau), and waited until they had passed (Gen 25:24, 27).
We know this because GOD tells us that Amalek came from behind and attacked the weak, the lame and the aged. Ref: (Deut 25:17-18)
Send Judah First…
The Tribe of Judah lead Israel out of the wilderness.
You will recall in Genesis 47:6, Joseph and his brothers were given “The Best of the land” to dwell in, i.e. Goshen (draw near), with the most elite among them given such important posts as rulers.
NOTE: GOD moved Pharaoh’s heart ot give them the best of the land in Goshen, so that they have a clear demarcation point between Egypt and themselves to worship GOD, i.e. to draw near to GOD. (This was the original plan with the move).
Pharaoh asked Joseph if any of his brothers were “men of activity” (chayil). If so, “make them rulers over my cattle.”
Rulers is the Hebrew word sari (H8269, sar), meaning generals, chiefs, captains, etc. aka mighty men of valor, princes in the land.
Out of all of Joseph’s brother’s who could these “men of activity” be?
Well, we know that the sons of Jacob were all very fierce! It only took 2 of them, Simeon and Levi to take out all the men in the Kingdom of Shechem (Gen 34:25).
Reuben had already disqualified himself from the rights of firstborn (Gen 35:22), now with this act, Simeon and Levi had done the same. This is why Judah now sits in the place as 1st born, i.e. and officially the scepter fell to Judah(Gen 49:10).
Why does any of this matter? because if and when you present this teaching to others, you need to know that pointless disputes are waiting in the shadows.
It’s About Connecting The Dots...
While I don’t teach my students to enter into pointless debates and disputes. I do think it is vitally important for you to have all the facts. (Which is why there is so much detial in these posts).
Never Forget…
Every jot and title of the Word that we consume makes us stronger, untouchable, undefeated, and invincible.
It’s the lack of knowledge that makes us fragile, vulnerable and weak.
That being said, the questions that arise over which tribe led the children of Israel out of Egypt – (as points of contention)we do need to know or have an understanding of who was placed at the head of the camp and why.
Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding of the scriptures is our strength. While some prefer disputes and may advocate confusion or consider these details trivial, I remind us all that, all scripture is profitable….(2 Tim 3:16).
We are not learning for our own self gratification….It may start there.. but it’s not just about us!
When the teachers and leaders in the ministry tire of the details, we leave the people open to attack and absolutely defenseless. The people have questions, and we need to be ready to provide as many infallible proofs as possible, through scripture itself, of what the Word has revealed. So that, they can decide for themselves what they believe and why?
In order to evaluate matters like this, we can apply some biblical reasoning to our questions.
How the children of Israel marched out of Egypt, the route they took, the nations they passed along the way, who attacked, who did not, how the attack came, how they defended themselves, each piece of information is critically important to how we prevent, protect and defend ourselves spiritually to this very day.
What they lived out physically and spiritually, we live out both spiritually and physically. (Notice how I phrased that).
CONTINUED N PART 3
Posts Included in This Series on Prayer:
Strengthening the Weak Hands is a Priority: Isaiah 35:3-5, Job 4:3-4, Zeph 3:16, Heb 12:12
Scripture in the Public Domain provided by Biblegateway.com KJV
Photos by:
- Olivia Snow, Praying Hands Folded on Lap
All of the above photo’s compliments of UNSPLASH.COM
Copyright 2019, Rev. S. Madison, torahisteaching.blog All Rights Reserved.
Disclosure: I am of the belief that any and all teachings on scripture, especially those on prayer should receive prayer before passing them along to others. For this reason, I encourage everyone who reviews these teachings to saturate each one in prayer before sharing, distributing or reproducing them in any fashion.
Anything that we hope to learn and accomplish through the Word of GOD must be born out of a spirit of prayer.
Prayer is the root of all our spiritual training. Study without prayer is futile. GOD ask that we meditate on His Word day and night, because without a dedicated personal prayer life, we can do very little for GOD and Man.
May GOD always send you a confirming word so that you will know that these words are true.
GOD Bless You Always,
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