Exodus 17:11-12

17:11 Whenever Moses would raise his hands, ¹  then Israel prevailed, but whenever he would rest ²  his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 17:12 When ³  the hands of Moses became heavy, ⁴  they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, ⁵  and so his hands were steady ⁶  until the sun went down.

[17:11]  ¹ tn The two verbs in the temporal clauses are by וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר (vÿhaya ka’asher, “as long as” or, “and it was that whenever”). This indicates that the two imperfect tenses should be given a frequentative translation, probably a customary imperfect.

[17:11]  ² tn Or “lower.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here – of time.

[17:12]  ⁴ tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kÿvedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.

[17:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”

[17:12]  ⁶ tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (’emuna) from the root אָמַן (’aman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word – firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power – to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit – the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.