Sunday, December 19, 2004 Fish, Wine, and Oil (Tone 4)
Sunday Before the Nativity
Kellia: Exodus 17:8-16 Epistle: Hebrews 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40 Gospel: St. Matthew 1:1-15
Exodus 17:8-16, especially vs. 16: "The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to
generation." In summarizing the life of Moses as a forerunner of the Lord, the Apostle Paul notes that Israel foreshadowed
Holy Baptism in their crossing of the Red Sea. As he states, the People were Baptized into Moses in that event, rather than
into Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-2). They partook of heavenly food in the manna, foreshadowing the Gospel; and all of them "drank
the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4).
The Apostle's point is that Christ our God was present among His People in the age of Moses under the Old Covenant, but
in an adumbrate manner.
The giving of water from the Rock "that was Christ" took place early in Israel's desert years after leaving Egypt. In the arid
Sinai peninsula, with few water resources, the People grew thirsty just a few days after they saw the Egyptians drowned in
the sea. In their thirst, the People murmured against Moses for bringing them up out of Egypt to kill them in a place with
no water (Ex. 17:3). The Lord guided Moses to "the rock at Horeb" that he was to strike with "the rod with which [he had]
struck the Nile," and water came out for the People to drink (Ex. 17:5,6). Immediately following this miracle of water from
the rock, Amalek came and fought with Israel. Who were these Amalekites? All of Israel's contacts with them, as
recorded in Holy Scripture, reveals them as marauding, warlike troublemakers. They constantly attacked the ranks of
Israel and took advantage of their fatigue (Deut. 25:17). Scripture traces their ancestry from "the concubine of Eliphaz,
Esau's son" (Gen 36:12). Balaam, the prophetic son of Beor, declared that "Amalek was first among the nations, but shall
be last until he perishes" (Num. 24:20). Moses directed the People to "blot out the remembrance of Amalek" (Deut.
25:19). Samuel, Saul, and David fought against them, until finally, in the reign of King Hezekiah (729-686 BC), some men
of Simeon went to Mount Seir and defeated the last of them (1 Chron. 4:43).
Amalek certainly is a type of the forces of evil that war against the People of God in every generation. During His
wilderness fast, the Lord Jesus directly confronted the Devil, the head of the forces of evil. Thereafter, during the whole of
His ministry, He was plagued by demons who cried out to Him and against Him, injuring, sickening, and driving God's
People to madness. The Lord exerted His authority against the demons, casting them out and silencing them (Mk. 9:17-27;
Mt. 12:22-29). In His conquest of sin and death, the Lord Jesus exposed the vulnerability of the dark powers, so that St.
Paul could say with assurance: "I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers...nor any
other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38,39).
The Lord's decisive defeat of the evil powers on the Cross was foreshadowed at the first of Israel's battles with Amalek.
On a hill, overlooking the battlefield, Moses stretched out his two arms forming himself in the same position as would the
Lord Jesus centuries later on the Cross. However, being a mortal man, the Prophet could not hold this outstretched position
without tiring and lowering his arms, and when he did, "Amalek prevailed" (Ex. 17:11).
To accommodate the Prophet, he was given a stone to sit upon, "and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and
the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun" (vs. 12). Thus, as Moses stood in a
cruciform, God defeated Amalek and foreshadowed the conquest of sin and death at the Cross by our crucified Savior,
Jesus Christ.
O Christ our God, Who didst stretch out Thine arms on the hard wood of the Cross for our salvation, ever assist us by the
power of Thy Cross to defeat every assault of the enemy.