Bible Study - Sidekicks (1) - Aaron and Hur - Exodus - July 21, 2024

Bible Study - Sidekicks (1) – Aaron and Hur – Exodus – July 21, 2024

This begins a new series of study entitled sidekicks – serving alongside others.

Leaders don’t lead without the help of others.

Let’s read Exodus 17:1-13:

The journey of the children of Israel to the Promised Land was a journey of building their faith in their One True GOD. However, their connection to GOD was through the leadership of Moses.

When we accept JESUS as our Savior, that is just the beginning of our faith walk with GOD, as HE leads us by HIS indwelling Holy Spirit.

Water from the Rock is a beautiful song of faith in GOD for HIS provision of Spiritual refreshment as Spirit-born Christians journey through life. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the living water that quinches our Spiritual thirst.

The Israelites saw the hand of GOD at work while they were in Egypt and HIS protection when they followed the command of Moses by placing the blood of the lamb over the doorpost of their homes. When Pharoah finally let them go, GOD was visibly with them with the cloud by day and the pillow of fire at night.

They witnessed the parting of the Red Sea. Again, through the leadership of Moses.

Where do we turn when we need to quinch our physical/Spiritual thirst? Let’s explore? A rock is an unlikely source of water but with GOD all things are possible.

Let’s read Exodus 17:1 - The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

How soon do we forget. They saw Moses as their deliverer, not GOD.

Moses represented GOD to the Israelites. The Israelites witnessed the handiwork of GOD, through Moses. Yet, when they were faced with a crisis, they blamed Moses, not GOD. When we walk with GOD through faith in JESUS, our first go to authority is GOD. HE may direct us to the solution or to whom we can turn to for a solution.

To Whom do we go when we encounter trouble?

Moses knew where to go to resolve the issue. The Israelites were yet to be taught to seek GOD to resolve their issues. Learning to trust GOD is Spiritual growth.

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”

Moses went straight to GOD for help.

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with, in your hand and go. ⁶ I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah^[a] and Meribah^[b] because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Good News is that GOD, as Spirit born Christians, will never leave us or forsake us as HIS chosen Children through faith in JESUS. Often life in the wilderness builds our faith in GOD.

Dr. Vance Havener often quoted, “We must practice in the dark what we learn in the light.”

Now to our focus scripture - The Amalekites Attack

⁸ At Rephidim, Amalek^[c] came and fought against Israel. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ While Moses held up his hand,^[d] Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand^[e] down, Amalek prevailed. ¹² When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army^[f] with the sword.

This is such a graphic event. As long as Moses arms were stretched out and his hands up, the Israelites prevailed. When Moses dropped his hands, the Israelites lost ground. This went on until the sun went down.

Aaron, Moses’ brother, and Hur, the son of Caleb, not Caleb who was one of the spies that went into the promised land. (According to tradition, Moses’ older sister, Miriam, married Caleb, son of Yefuneh. Miriam and Caleb had a son, whose name was Hur.)

¹⁴ The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.”^[g] 16 He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward^[h] the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Victory is always worth honoring GOD. GOD’S banner over us is love, through a person’s faith in JESUS.

GOD won the victory over Satan and sin when JESUS arose from the grave, after the third day.

Exodus Chapters 19, 20, 21 and 22 are very interesting reads. Rule of Law.

The focus verses are Exodus 24:13-15, but to me these other chapters are so interesting and informative.

The Covenant Ceremony

24 Then he (GOD) said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and bow in worship at a distance. ² Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” ⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. ⁵ Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar. ⁷ He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.”

⁸ Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ God did not harm^[a] the Israelite nobles; they saw him, and they ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

Focus verses 13-15:

¹³ So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God. ¹⁴ He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.” ¹⁵ When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it. 

The remaining scripture in this chapter is 16-18:

¹⁶ The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. ¹⁷ The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

JESUS was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for forty-days at the beginning of HIS ministry upon earth.

 

As a side note: I have noticed much on the Internet regarding what happens to a person when they are going through the dying process.

I had an experience a number of years ago while fully awake and driving from Charlotte, NC to Spartanburg, SC on I-85 in broad open daylight before 4 PM. If you care to read it, it is published on actsclass.blogspot.com, look at the left-hand top corner and you will see search. Type in - Mrs. Green.

There are other milestones in my life published in this blog, such as when our son, Ted died and my discussion with GOD. In the search box, type in - I hate death.

Blessings!!!