Spiritual Friendship!

Exodus 17

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 1.

We all need people around us. Spiritual friends who hold up our arms by helping us in times where we are overwhelmed. They pray for us, come along side of us, and help in practical ways.

We see two new people in today’s chapter in the ongoing saga of God’s people: Joshua and Hur. While Joshua becomes a main character, Hur is only in this one scene, but will always be remembered as the “friend of Moses.”^[1]

Exodus 17:9-12 gives us a powerful image of spiritual friendship:

So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” … So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

Can you see this picture of spiritual friendship in your mind’s eye?

While Joshua commanded the army in battle, Aaron and Hur were on either side of Moses. For whatever reason, the army fought to victory only when Moses was able to keep the staff of God raised up, but Moses physically couldn’t keep the staff raised over his head. Aaron and Hur supported Moses and raised up his hands for him.

That is a beautiful picture of spiritual friendship!

Seize the moment and help raise up the arms of the people in your life. You never know what victory will come from supporting another person.

YOUTUBE:

FOOTNOTES:

[1] John D. Barry et al., eds., “Hur the Friend of Moses,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).