Exodus Chapters 17-18
The Israelites did not know that they were about to begin 40 years of wanderings through the desert. They had left Egypt in a hurry with little provisionings of food and water to last them even a few days. Yet, as the Lord had provided them with their daily manna and quail, He would supply their every need. Yet the Israelites doubted.
They left the Wilderness of Sin in the western portion of what is now called the Sinai Peninsula, and the thousands of them headed in a south direction toward Mt. Sinai. They next camped at Rephidim, at the northern base of Mt. Sinai. The logistics of moving an encampment that large had to be monumental.
There was no water for them to drink there at Rephidim. They started complaining to Moses. Moses told them not to test the Lord with their impatience and lack of faith.
But the people began to complain more and more about the lack of water. They ask Moses why did he lead them out of Egypt, only to let them die in the desert without water.
Moses turned to the Lord, saying that the people were almost ready to stone him. The Lord responded to Moses, telling him to take the elders of the tribes of Israel with him and travel ahead of the tribes and to have his rod (which he had used to perform miracles in Egypt),
The Lord told Moses to use his rod to strike a rock at Horeb at the base of Mt. Sinai and "there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." Exodus 17:6.
Moses did as the Lord commanded in front of the elders, and water flowed from the rock. Moses named the place "Massah" and "Meribah" which meant "tempted" and "contention" because of the people’s lack of faith and their constant contentions to Moses. As the water flowed from the rock, Moses stated to his elders "Is the Lord among us, or not?"
Beginning with the 8th verse of Chapter 17 of Exodus, the Israelites ran into an old enemy: Amalek. The Amalekites generally occupied the desert territory along the Mediterranean Sea on the main travel route between Egypt and Canaan. It is the Amalekites that are thought to generally have blocked the Israelites from the direct normally traveled route from Egypt to Canaan, instead sending them on a southern route through the Sinai.
The Amalekites were descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:12), brother of Jacob and from whom Jacob had "stolen" Esau’s first-son father’s blessing of Isaac (Gen. Chap. 27). Jacob, of course was the father and namesake of "Israel", and for whose sons were named the tribes of Israel.
Their historical background made the Israelites the natural foes of the Amalekites.
The Amalekites came down to Rephidim and fought with the Israelites. Moses directed Joshua to select men for an army to fight with the Amalekites. Moses moved to the top of the hill with "the rod of God" in his hand". Joshua went to fight, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. Exodus 17:10
When Moses held up his hand, the Israelites won the battles; when Moses let his hand down, the Amalekites would begin
winning. Moses’ hand grew tired, and he grew tired. Aaron and Hur moved a rock for Moses to lead and sit upon; and Aaron and Hur each held up one of Moses hand’s as Moses’ arms would grow tired. They continued to do this until the sun set. Exodus 17:12. With Moses’ support, Joshua defeated the Amalek.
The Lord then directed 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." Exodus 17:14.
This is apparently the first recorded instruction of the Lord to "write" in a book in a form of Scripture and official Hebrew records. Moses apparently kept a diary of the wanderings of Israel, as we will later learn in Numbers (Num. 33:2).
Moses built an altar at the site of the battle with Amalek, and called it "Jehovah-nissi" (interpreted in Hebrew to mean "The Lord is my Banner"); Moses noted that the Lord had sworn that "the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." Exodus 17:16. This statement from the Lord (along with the statement in Gen. 16:12 referencing the descendants of Ishmael as a great nation, but wild men) may help explain the historical religious battles of the Middle Eastern countries.
When Jethro, the priest of Midian and Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all the Lord was doing to help Moses and the Israelites, he brought Moses’ wife and two sons to Moses at the base of Mt. Sinai. Exodus 18:1-7)
Moses informed Jethro of all the Lord’s deeds and miracles. Jethro praised the Lord, and Moses, Jethro, Aaron and all the elders gathered for a great meal in celebration of the Lord’s great works.
Soon Jethro began noticing that Moses occupied too much of his time being judge to the problems between the Israelites. Moses explained that he used the opportunities to teach the people about the Lord’s laws and saw it as his duty . Exodus 18:13-16.
Jethro questioned why Moses acted as the sole judge, and that taking so much on himself was not good because it would "wear" Moses out; Jethro told Moses he could not oversee such a huge chore by himself. Jethro urged Moses to listen to his counsel and advice. Jethro told Moses that Moses’ primary job was as a liaison with the Lord. Moses should be the primary teacher and minister of the Lord’s commandments. However, Jethro advised Moses to select from the tribes "able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness". Jethro told Moses to appoint these men "to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: and let them judge the people at all seasons."
Jethro advised Moses to let all these lower judges cover all the smaller issues among the people, and to let Moses judge over the greater, more important issues. "So it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee." Exodus 18:21-23.
Moses followed his father-in-law’s advice. He appointed able men, made them heads over the Israelite people, rulers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. These men judged the small matters, and brought the important and hard decisions to Moses.
By this action, Moses established a type of judicial system that we observe today. Moses set up several levels of judges to handle small , local groups of people, then stair-stepped it up for appeals, and more important matters, with himself acting as the ultimate appeal. This is analogous to the justice courts we have, with progressively more powerful courts with county courts, district and circuit courts, courts of appeal, and the supreme court. This "judicial" system was started with Moses on the advice of Jethro, and it has worked well more than two thousand years later.