Aaron and hur held up moses hands

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February 24, 2021·Enma Gonzalez

Exodus 17:10-13
“So Joshua fought against the Amalekites, just as Moses had ordered. Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But every time he lowered his hands, the Amalekites began to win. When Moses’ arms got tired, Aaron and Hur got a stone and put it under him. Then he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands. Aaron was on one side, and Hur was on the other. Moses’ hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua destroyed the Amalekite army with swords.”

As I read through Exodus this week, I couldn’t help but reflect on v. 11, “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning.”

Throughout Scripture, we read about the power in raising our hands to the Lord. I began to see and realize the following…

Raised hands are part of biblical prayer!

Exodus 9:29-30
“Moses replied, “When I’ve left the city, I’ll lift up my hands and pray to the Lord. The thunder will stop. There won’t be any more hail. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord. But I know that you and your officials still don’t have any respect for the Lord God.”

Moses raised his hands to the Lord and was able to stop a hailstorm! I believe and know that this same authority and power is given to us when we Raise Our Hands to the Lord!

Raised Hands Win Battles!

While Joshua was on the battlefield fighting the Amalekites, Moses was fighting alongside him too!

Are you facing a battle and feeling alone or misunderstood? So often, when we face a hardship, we’re quick to feel alone, defeated, misunderstood, targeted, etc. These are the schemes the enemy uses to keep us from seeing God in the midst of our worries.

If we’re going to face the world, we need to know the power of lifting our hands in prayer. Unless God is present and with us, we cannot win!

Exodus 17:12
“Aaron and Hur held up his hands. Aaron was on one side, and Hur was on the other.”

Know that as a church family we’re covering you in prayer, and you are not alone. But may I invite you to surround yourself with others. We all need people to lift our hands when we no longer have the strength to lift them up ourselves. Don’t let pride, shame or fear keep you from seeing God’s loving hand through others.

Raised hands remind us that God is our defender!

Exodus 17:14
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is something to be remembered. So write it on a scroll. Make sure Joshua knows you have done it. I will completely erase the memory of the Amalekites from the earth.”

If you ask my husband, he will be the first to tell you that my memory is of a goldfish… so often I find myself making notes because I forget!

As I read v. 14, I began to ask myself, “Lord, how much have You done for me, and how much of it have I forgotten?”

How easy it is for us to forget the Lord when our battles are won. We begin to boast on how much stronger our adversities made us, how we conquered them… but fail to see the ONE who made us stronger!

The Lord knew that if Moses did not log this moment, generations to come would forget what He did.

Exodus 17:15
“Then Moses built an altar. He called it The Lord Is My Banner.”

I invite you to begin a praise journal, jar, board, etc. Begin to build your altar to the Lord.

May I encourage you to Raise Your Hands and pray to the Lord… we are to be dependent on prayer, because we are dependent on God!

Pastor Enma Gonzalez

© 2022 The Church on the Way

Exodus 17:12

But Moses's hands were heavy
And hung down through weariness, holding up the rod first in one hand, and then in another, for so long a time; and thus sometimes, through infirmity, the best of men grow remiss in prayer, their hands are weak and hang flown through the corruptions of their hearts, the power of unbelief, the temptations of Satan, and want of immediate answers of prayer, or through long delays of it, and then the enemy gets an advantage over them:

and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon;
so that it seems not only that his hands were heavy, but he could not well stand on his feet any longer, being a corpulent man as well as in years, as Ben Gersom suggests; and therefore Aaron and Hur took a stone that lay on the mount for him to sit upon, where he might be raised as high, and be as well seen, as standing: this stone may be an emblem of Christ the stone of Israel, the foundation of his people, their prop and support, which sustains and upholds them, their Ebenezer, or stone of help in all their times of difficulty and distress:

and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the
other on the other side;
the one was on his right, and the other on his left; and when the rod was in his right hand, he that was on that side held up that; and when it was in his left hand, he that was on the left side supported that: these may be an emblem of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ, from whom the saints have their supports and assistance in prayer: Aaron the priest may represent Christ, from whose blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and from whose advocacy, mediation, and intercession, the people of God receive much encouragement and strength in their addresses at the throne of grace: and Hur, who has his name from a word which signifies freedom and liberty, may be an emblem of the Holy Spirit of God; who helps the saints in prayer under all their infirmities, and makes intercession for them, by filling their hearts and mouths with arguments, and is a free spirit to them; by whom they are upheld, and where he is there is liberty, and a soul can come forth in prayer to God, and in the exercise of grace with freedom:

and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun;
when the victory was decided in favour of Israel; this may denote steadiness of faith in prayer, the constant performance of it, and continuance in it as long as a man lives.

What does Aaron and Hur represent?

Why did Aaron and Hur lift Moses?

Where in the Bible did Aaron and Hur hold up Moses arms?

Who helped Aaron hold up Moses arms?