Exodus 17:9

And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

Moses said unto Joshua, х Yªhowshua` (H3091)] - the name, according to Gesenius, of one 'whose help is Yahweh;' according to others, it signifies 'God the Saviour.' The original form of it was Oshea or Hoshea -

i.e., Salvation, deliverance; and it was afterward changed by Moses himself, through conjunction with the divine name, into the more lengthened appellation, Jehoshua, Jeshua, and Jesus (Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8).

It is most probable that the new and extended form of it was given in connection with this memorable occasion; for although Kurtz ('Hist. of Old Covenant,' 3:, p. 284) and others maintain that it originated at a later period (see the note at Numbers 13:16), a prolepsis being in this passage, Hengstenberg ('Genuineness of the Pentateuch,' 2:, p. 323), followed by Ranke (vol. 2:, p. 202), has conclusively proved that there was nothing in the nomination of Joshua with the other spies to suggest a change of his name; whereas the signal victory over the Amalekites was an occasion worthy of associating the sacred name with his. The new appellation became thus not only commemorative of the past, but prophetic of the still more important services which the bearer was destined to render in introducing Israel into the promised land.

The parentage of Joshua is recorded at length, 1 Chronicles 7:27; but the passage under consideration contains the earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is not here a wide-open plain on which the battle took place, as according to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trained than themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and open country around this Wady would afford ample space' (Robinson).

Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. The Israelites were now entering on their special mission, and hence, it became them, in conformity with their national calling, to make an active, vigorous opposition to the enemies of God. The circumstance of their being possessed of military weapons to such an extent as to enable a considerable body of them to engage in battle with a hostile band is easily accounted for, not only by the few and simple accoutrements required for warfare in that early period, but by the fact of their having gathered up the arms of the drowned Egyptians, which were washed on the shore of the Red Sea.

Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill. The engagement took place, it appears, on the day after the attack; and it could not be otherwise, because as the rear was the portion of the Israelite camp on which the assault had been made, and the main body under the command of Moses was considerably in advance in Rephidim, some time would necessarily elapse ere the leader could receive intelligence of the occurrence, and prepare a select party to chastise the assailant. х `al (H5921) ro'sh (H7218) hagib`aah (H1389), on the top of the Gibeah (hill). The word Gibeah denotes a curve, a small round hill, in distinction from har (H2022), a high hill, a mountain.]

With the rod of God in mine hand (see the note at Exodus 4:20).